Letter: We enjoy our Mormon friends, and we're not Satanic
Concerning the report of Elder Russell M. Nelson's "eleventh hour" comments "to help prepare…for the second coming…" (Jan. 11):
As a native and lifelong resident of Utah, I can shrug off most of his apocalyptic rant with an indulgent smile as simply another amusing quirk of an amusingly quirky religion.
One comment, however, is deeply personal and highly offensive. It demands a response.
Elder Nelson and his associates should understand the world is full of people like me who enjoy many fond and enduring friendships with devout Mormons. What are we to think of our Mormon neighbors, friends and family members now that God, through their prophet, has told them we are "servants of satan" because we are not disgusted by the idea of gay marriage?
What are they to think of us? Why can we not exist in harmony?
“When we are confronted with evidence that challenges our deeply held beliefs we are more likely to reframe the evidence than we are to alter our beliefs. We simply invent new reasons, new justifications, new explanations. Sometimes we ignore the evidence altogether.” (Mathew Syed 'Black Box Thinking')
The honest answer here, within the Mormon paradigm, is that if they stand in the way of the Lord building up his kingdom on Earth, then they really are servants of Satan, unwitting or not, since that's what Satan is working toward.
And Mormons sometimes wonder why non-Mormons often don't like them. Hint: it's not because we really know the church is true but can't summon the intestinal fortitude to give up whatever we'd have to give up in order to join it.
Mormonism ceased being a compelling topic for me when I finally came to terms with its transformation from a personality cult into a combination of a real estate company, a SuperPac, and Westboro Baptist Church. - Kishkumen
deacon blues wrote:We all should be grateful to Elder Nelson for calling 'em how he sees 'em.
I am grateful that due to his advanced age and senility the truth of how he sees those of us that are sympathetic to same gender marriage are. Perhaps there is method to Mormon god's madness in having a gerontocracy--the older ones no longer have the decorum and discretion to hide their beliefs like GBH did on Larry King Live.
Does my being in favor of gay/lesbian marriages mean I've become an esquire to Paul Stanley of KISS (Knights in the Service of Satan--or so goes that myth)?
