Droopy wrote:Since when does criticizing a church make someone a bad person?
It doesn't, of course. However, depending upon the level of criticism and its relation to fundamental, core truth claims, at some point such criticism would require one to, at a minimum, recuse oneself from the Temple as a matter of one's own personal integrity, as Temple Worship is the highest form of Worship in the gospel, and presupposes acceptance and allegiance (indeed, a personal, revealed knowledge of) the core truth claims of the Church and a sense of faithfulness to them at any cost.
Harmony does not now accept, as best I can tell after debating here for nearly a decade, virtually any of the core truth claims/doctrines of the Church (including the story of its origin as told by Joseph Smith and recounted today by missionaries throughout the world) nor does she consider the Brethren, as a body and perhaps save for a few select individuals, as either inspired representatives of the Lord to the Church, or, in many cases, even as sincere, decent human beings seeking the welfare of their flock.
As she does not, and
cannot possibly be answering the vast majority of those recommend questions honestly, this then bespeaks something rather dark and entropic about her character.
I say this with especial reference to:
Do you sustain the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the Prophet, Seer, and Revelator and as the only person on the earth who possesses and is authorized to exercise all priesthood keys?
Do you sustain members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators?
Do you sustain the other General Authorities and local authorities of the Church?
Do you support, affiliate with, or agree with any group or individual whose teachings or practices are contrary to or oppose those accepted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
Are you honest in your dealings with your fellowmen?
Do you keep the covenants that you made in the temple?
Do you wear the garment both night and day as instructed in the endowment and in accordance with the covenant you made in the temple?Harmony has dismissed one of the four standard works altogether as fraudulent (perhaps the most doctrinally profound among all modern revelation, as it ironically turns out), and her views of many other issues in LDS history, practice, and doctrine are well known.
And most of them are not peripheral, but central.
Let's take a look at those questions:
1. Do you have faith in and a testimony of God the Eternal Father, His Son Christ, and the Holy Ghost?
2. Do you have a testimony of the Atonement of Christ and of His role as Savior and Redeemer?
3. Do you have a testimony of the restoration of the gospel in these the latter days?
4. Do you sustain the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the Prophet, Seer, and Revelator and as the only person on the earth who possesses and is authorized to exercise all priesthood keys? Do you sustain members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators? Do you sustain the other General Authorities and local authorities of the Church?
5. Do you live the law of chastity?
6. Is there anything in your conduct relating to members of your family that is not in harmony with the teachings of the Church?
7. Do you support, affiliate with, or agree with any group or individual whose teachings or practices are contrary to or oppose those accepted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
8. Do you strive to keep the covenants you have made, to attend your sacrament and other meetings, and to keep your life in harmony with the laws and commandments of the gospel?
9. Are you honest in your dealings with your fellowmen?
10. Are you a full-tithe payer?
11. Do your keep the Word of Wisdom?
12. Do you have financial or other obligations to a former spouse or children? If yes, are you current in meeting those obligations?
13. If you have previously received your temple endowment: Do you keep the covenants that you made in the temple?
Do you wear the garment both night and day as instructed in the endowment and in accordance with the covenant you made in the temple?
14. Have there been any sins or misdeeds in your life that should have been resolved with priesthood authorities but have not been?
15. Do you consider yourself worthy to enter the Lord's house and participate in temple ordinances?
If Mormon apologetics has taught us anything, it's that you can interpret LDS theology and events and texts any way you like if you think it's serving a good purpose. I don't know a lot about Harmony, but I would assume she might have problems with these:
4. Do you sustain the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the Prophet, Seer, and Revelator and as the only person on the earth who possesses and is authorized to exercise all priesthood keys? Do you sustain members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators? Do you sustain the other General Authorities and local authorities of the Church?
7. Do you support, affiliate with, or agree with any group or individual whose teachings or practices are contrary to or oppose those accepted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
Well, what does sustain mean? What does it mean to be a prophet, seer or revelator? These are open to interpretation. Just like the literalness of Joseph's translation of Abraham is now open to interpretation. Once you enter the world of Mormon apologetics, the meaning of words and concepts becomes endlessly fluid. What's good for the apologists and the general authorities must also be good for the members. If they can hedge on meaning when it's expedient, so can the members.
As far as 7 goes, if you take that literally, I doubt anyone would be able to answer 'no' honestly.
Also note that there's no question about whether you accept all four of the standard works as scripture.