They were very much a joke, and one that I got you to play on yourselves, though your irony deficiency and other humor impairments prevented you from getting it. Oh well...that was over 4 years ago. I've moved on. Hopefully, for your sake, you eventually will too.
The joke, wade, is that you think you're being clever and playing a joke on us, while in reality, you're not being clever at all and are simply being repetitive and inane. You see, no one needs your "object lesson" in the first place. I immediately understood your point, but refuses to play along with your "object lesson/joke". You stamped your feet petulantly and demanded that I play along. So I did play along, and then you admit that I actually did understand your point, after first denying it. The real joke is that you apparently can't even recognize comprehension in others when it doesn't follow your "object lesson" formula. My first response was right on target. Yet you insisted it was not. You're annoying.
That is certainly the belief of some, though not all, members--not unlike, according to Rick, the idea of some ex-Mormons that LDS beliefs and practices regarding blacks and gays were/are wrong and in need of apology is sacrosanct, and to abandon it would allegedly prevent healing and therapeutic help.
If the LDS leadership stopped teaching this idea, then members would gradually (it may take a generation or two) discard it as well. The examples I provided weren't from "some members", they were from General Authorities who heavily influence what members believe.
But the problem is that General Authorities are the "some" who hold this idea as sacrosanct, and a reflection of reality and truth, only to be abandoned by loss of integrity.
If you actually got my point, such ideas on either side are impediments to bridging the divide. What I propose instead, is to shift from such mutually judgemental and conditional perceptions (I.e. let go the prejudices) and focus instead on doing what works in terms satisfying the basic human needs to love and be love, respect and be respected, and to become the very best people possible (as we each respectively determine).
It's sad that you don't realize how idiotic and illogical this is. As long as one group insists on holding a teaching that is the complete OPPOSITE of "respect", bridging the divide is impossible, which has always been my point.
I'll use a different example to try and help you understand.
The Christian Identity movement teaches that people with dark skin are the descendants of "mud people" or the "beasts of the field". Apparently they believe that Eve had sex with Satan to produce Cain, and that his descendants have dark skin. So their descendants are, in a way, actually soulless and the embodiment of evil. A final battle with occur between the descendants of Adam and Eve (ie, white people) and the descendants of Eve and Satan (ie, dark skinned people).
Now, how could the divide be bridged between the Christian Identity movement and dark skinned people?
In wade's world, by simply respecting each other's beliefs!! VOILA!!
In the real world, there is no way to "respect each other's beliefs" when one belief is inherently disrespectful to the other group.