No, you weren't. You were trying to sit in my bishop's (retarded bishop at that) seat and call me to some sort of repentence. And my response to that is: take a long walk off a short pier.
No, I'm asking you to clarify what you believe and accept about the LDS Church. I used the Temple recommend interview for one reason and one reason only: you claim to have one, and the questions in the interview are pivitol to the reception of that recommend. I'd like to see how many of them you think you can reject and still get the recommend. Since these questions speak to fundamental areas of belief and practice, the relevance in clear. Obviously Harmony, the more things in that interview you unambiguously reject, the more your claim to hold a recommend becomes suspicious, or the more it becomes obvious that you have not been honest with your Priesthood leaders about your real feelings.
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Do you support your leaders?
Of course. It seems prudent at this moment to point out that you are not one of my leaders. And you never will be. And you have no stewardship, no inspiration, and no discernment for me at all.
So you support GBH, BKP, all of the Brethren and sustain them as Prophets, seers and revelators?
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Was Joseph Smith a Prophet?
Right up until the moment he walked outside his marriage vows to Emma. Which means, right up until he took Fanny to bed. After that... he abdicated the mantle.
But he never did Harmony, not according to any credible historical sources or according to the Lord's laws as regarding Plural marriage. There isn't shred of evidence he ever slept with Fanny Alger. None. Zip. Assumption and Presumption is all you have there.
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Does the old dude in the Bishops office have spiritual authority?
My "old dude" is younger than I am. And any spiritual authority I grant him is within my own inspiration. In other words, my inspiration Trump's his spiritual authority if we don't agree. However, we have never not agreed.
You don't grant him his authority Harmony. He holds it, as he is worthy, regardless of your subjective impressions regarding it. Strike number one. You don't understand LDS doctrine.
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Does he even have the right to interview you?
He has no rights regarding me. He asks; I grant. He does not demand. He is cognizant that his authority is something I grant, not something he demands that I recognize.
He is not cognizant that his authority is something you grant. If he is, he is the semi-autistic retard you have portrayed him to be. He is the Shepard of a flock; a Ward in a Stake of Zion. If he is worthy, then he has the authority to preside. You grant him nothing except to sustain him in that position. If your entire Ward decides to thrown him out because they want to become Wiccans, so be it, but he does not lose his authority, only his ability to preside, which he cannot do by force.
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Are the standard works of the Church the word of God?
Some of them are. Some of them are the works of men that have been agreed upon as binding. Since I had no part in that agreement, I am free to accept that which is inspired according to my own inspiration, and to disregard that which is not applicable.
You are also free to accept or reject that which you choose to accept or reject based upon your own personal desires, agendas, and self referential perspectives, but please don't' pretend to "inspiration".
My intelligence has already been insulted enough on this thread. And thank you for proving my point. The Church of Harmony. Not something I'd want to be a part of, or the Church of Coggins. I'd prefer the Church of Jesus Christ. The one you have rejected, essentially, in toto.
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Do you believe in missionary work?
Completely.
You can get away with this because of the vagueness of the question. I won't make that mistake again.
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Do you support anti-Mormon groups or entities hostile to the Church and its teachings?
I don't know any. I certainly don't send money. All of my contributions and support go to the LDS church.
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Do you sustain the Brethren as prophets, seers, and revelations?
Uh, I think you mean revelators. And yes, I do. Unfortunately I see little in the way of prophecy or revelations from the Brethren. I'm holding out hope for the next group.
Does anyone but me see an inconsistency and a hedging of bets going on here?
Let me point out that you have just admitted that you quite patiently do not support, sustain, or accept the Brethren in their callings, that you accept only portions of the word of the Lord, and that you believe it is you who grants authority to your leaders (not Jesus Christ). You have also made it perfectly clear what I've been saying all along: You accept
only what
you deem acceptable. If you could find me a biblical reference for this concept, I'd be appreciative. The last time I checked, we, as human beings, either accept what the Lord gives to us or we do not. We do not choose the doctrines, practices, disciplines, and principles of the Gospel, only whether we will accept them. This is really something approaching sheer hubris; an engulfing narcissistic pride that would knock even Alma for a loop.
Oh, by the way, speaking of Alma, do you believe that the Book of Mormon is a record of actual historical characters and events?