kiwimormon wrote:Last Sunday our Relief Society teacher asked, “What prevents us sharing the gospel with others?”. My immediate thought was, “Nothing prevents me from sharing the gospel, but a thousand things seem to prevent me from actively recruiting for the church”.
We have a wonderful ward, full of very bright, thoughtful and open-minded women. A couple of months ago one of the more mature women in our ward stood and expressed her gratitude for the church for the support it gave her over the years as she coped with the challenge of raising two lesbian daughters. The church for her was her soft place to fall in a world of judgment and bitterness. When our current Relief Society president taught a lesson she once famously stated with legendary fervor, “If you go home after our services today and have a smoke, guess what? God still loves you!!”. And so I had no hesitation raising my hand and sharing my thoughts.
“I don’t recruit other prospective members because I’m still confused about my religion. There are things I love about it but there are things that bother me. Why would I bring anyone else into this mess?”
Trying to be helpful, a sister missionary from the Utah Valley lent over and asked me what problems I had in particular. “Too many”, I replied. “But right now, the use of church finances bothers me”.
“Why so?” was her next question.
“Because I can’t reconcile the fiscal behaviour of the church with its stated theological position. There is a moral dimension to financial behaviour and I can’t resolve the gospel of Jesus Christ with the laissez-faire, neo-liberal, free-market financial ideology of the church. I’ve tried, I can’t, end of story. If it wasn’t so deeply American I think there would be some space to rethink its fiscal operations. As it is – I’m ashamed of it, and in the case of the City Creek “let’s go shopping” fiasco there are $3billion USD more reasons compounding my suspicion and disappointment.”
I’ve blogged about this before and I’m doing so again in response to the ripples currently occurring in the US as a result of the last week’s media event over the church’s finances. Look, I can deal with historical inconsistencies in the record. I’m into discourse analysis – I understand somewhat how stories are told, untold or retold over time. Our language is always constituting social realities and reforming them. As W.I Thomas observed, “if people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.” But the way that money is harvested from its members and used in the operations of the church gets my goat, and that issue is with us now and needs to be addressed.
"Petition wasn’t meant to start a witch hunt as I’ve said 6000 times." ~ Hanna Seariac, LDS apologist
Because I can’t reconcile the fiscal behaviour of the church with its stated theological position.
This is, in a nutshell, the question that the Church cannot answer:
How does a $5 billion spend on a non profit generating commercial project in one of the least impoverished cities in the world move the stated mission of the Church forward?
Stated Mission of the Church: 1. Preach the Gospel 2. Redeem the dead 3. Perfect the Saints
“We look to not only the spiritual but also the temporal, and we believe that a person who is impoverished temporally cannot blossom spiritually.” Keith McMullin - Counsellor in Presiding Bishopric
"One, two, three...let's go shopping!" Thomas S Monson - Prophet, Seer, Revelator
Drifting wrote:Stated Mission of the Church: 1. Preach the Gospel 2. Redeem the dead 3. Perfect the Saints
The Church added a fourth mission statement around 2009:
4. To help the poor and needy.
Seems a lot of members never heard of this new mission statement. Perhaps it only passed the Quorum on a split decision.
CFR from an official source!
“We look to not only the spiritual but also the temporal, and we believe that a person who is impoverished temporally cannot blossom spiritually.” Keith McMullin - Counsellor in Presiding Bishopric
"One, two, three...let's go shopping!" Thomas S Monson - Prophet, Seer, Revelator
Very interesting post. I would really love to hear more comments from people outsite of the US on the issue of church finances in general and the mall in specific
I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo
Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man. - The Dude
Don't you know there ain't no devil, there's just god when he's drunk - Tom Waits
This dude doesn't know his doctrine. What he calls "laissez-faire, neo-liberal, free-market financial ideology" is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Just ask Droopy or bcspace.
"It doesn't seem fair, does it Norm--that I should have so much knowledge when there are people in the world that have to go to bed stupid every night." -- Clifford C. Clavin, USPS
"¡No contaban con mi astucia!" -- El Chapulin Colorado
Bob Loblaw wrote:This dude doesn't know his doctrine. What he calls "laissez-faire, neo-liberal, free-market financial ideology" is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Just ask Droopy or bcspace.
I think the "dude" is a woman.
I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo
Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man. - The Dude
Don't you know there ain't no devil, there's just god when he's drunk - Tom Waits
Bob Loblaw wrote:This dude doesn't know his doctrine. What he calls "laissez-faire, neo-liberal, free-market financial ideology" is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Just ask Droopy or bcspace.
I think the "dude" is a woman.
You're right. Still she doesn't understand the gospel.
"It doesn't seem fair, does it Norm--that I should have so much knowledge when there are people in the world that have to go to bed stupid every night." -- Clifford C. Clavin, USPS
"¡No contaban con mi astucia!" -- El Chapulin Colorado
