"This is NOT the place to ask questions"!

[_Gazelam]

zzyzx,

Too many here are quick to label on a liar. Should I meet you in person I will deal with it then, up close, personal and final. You are no better than the trash I have met in Utah. You may not be LDS but you are the same damn people.

[_Yong Xi]

This isn't the first time that zzyzx has just made stuff up. He appears to be a pathological liar.

It's possible. However, I am going to give him a pass as I have a thing for ZZYZX road. We always look for the ZZYZX exit sign on I-15 when traveling to Socal to visit relatives.

[_Jersey Girl]

agent

Guess what? Neither LDS.org nor FamilySearch.org show anything about Joseph Smith marrying Fanny Alger period, much less prior to 1836.

Even I know you're wrong. Imagine that. Just how many times have you accessed and/or navigated FamilySearch.org, agent? How many LDS family history meetings have you attended? How many Bishops have you interacted with in a geneaological setting?

[_beastie]

Encourages was probably a poor choice of words on my part. It would have been more precise to state that the LDS culture fosters the type of attitude that results in members cutting off business ties with known apostates.

[_Jersey Girl]

Encourages was probably a poor choice of words on my part. It would have been more precise to state that the LDS culture fosters the type of attitude that results in members cutting off business ties with known apostates.

Tell me if you will, beastie, and you don't have to. Do you see/think that this fostering has ties back to the beginnings of the LDS Church?

My impression is that it does. But I know nothing.

[_Seven]

"dblagent007"

The Bishop will not issue a temple recommend to a member who shops at an apostate's business?!?!?!? Then the high councilor backs him up?!??!?!?! That is so freakin insane and in violation of any and all applicable Church policies that it is just beyond rational belief. Back in the 1800s sure it was plausible, but today? No way.

Why not? I know of a Bishop/Stake Pres. who denies temple recommends to men with facial hair. (it happened to close friends of mine and he was forced to shave it) They tried to fight it and were denied. Church leaders are free to interpret the questions how they wish. We've had some leaders ask if we watch rated R movies in the temple interview. Denying TR's for supporting an apostate's business could be derived from this question:

6. Do you affiliate 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, or do you sympathize with the precepts of any such group or individual?

I agree with the points Sethbag and Beastie made.

I find the story possible, but it was the sensational writing and coming from a poster I don't know that made it seem fabricated. Imagine if the same story had been told by Liz, Jason Bourne, or another trusted poster on this board who actively attends church. Would you have the same reaction?

There are crazy stories like this that happen in the Mormon church and most of us know one. If this happened in Utah, I find it even more believable.

I'm not saying I believe the story is true (my gut reaction when I first read the story in the OP was that it was BS), but it's no less plausible than some of the other wacky things I've personally witnessed as a Mormon.


I saw TBMs on MAD display the same reaction to John W's post on a woman feeling for his garment lines. Most of them find the story ridiculous and don't believe it. I've had LDS garment checking me after I began to question the church and know it happens. TBMs aren't going to experience it firsthand because they aren't the ones doubting the church. One of the first things friends and family want to know is if they still wear the garment.
I never felt anyone for their garments as a TBM, but most of us have looked for the lines when trying to figure out if someone is LDS. Yet TBMs on MAD find his story false.

[_harmony]

LDS members need no "encouragement" to cut ties, business or otherwise with apostates. They just do it. If you don't believe this, try living and owning a business in Utah as an active member before leaving the church.

A good reason to avoid living in Utah.

[_dblagent007]

agent
Are you saying that zzyzx should give cinepro (or some other person) the name of the ward so that cinepro (or some other person) can verify it? By what? Calling someone in the ward?

or

Are you saying that zzyzx should give cinepro (or some other person) the name of the ward and that giving the name of the ward would be the verification that the OP actually took place?

This is the person whom you advised on how to hide himself.

Do you think he's going to give anyone his location who might actually call someone in the ward?

Do you think that giving the location to another poster (without contacting someone in the ward) is verification?

Are you capable of thought?

Jersey Girl, you honestly can't think of a scenario where someone who zzyzxyx trusts can verify the story without outing zxzzyx to his ward?

Are you capable of intelligent thought?

[_dblagent007]

What makes you think she hasn't?

Simply because Jersey Girl is a non-member doesn't mean that she has never attended a Sunday School class.

Jersey Girl has been around these boards for a long time. I don't think I am amiss in repeating the story she has told publicly on more than one occasion.

Jersey Girl's initial interest in Mormonism occurred because of her in real life friendship with a Mormon neighbor. Although Jersey Girl is an active member of her own Church, she has attended meetings in our church as well, and has interacted with the LDS community both in real life and online for many years. She is certainly not someone who sets out to attack the Mormon Church, by any means. I enjoy her perspective, because it is fresh. She is able to observe things without being so close to it. Jersey Girl has not grown up in the LDS culture, but to claim that she is not familiar with it is an insult.

Correction: I am not currently an active member of any church.

I chose not to meet the demands for # of meetings attended, etc. because they have not a damn thing to do with the plausibility of the OP.

The demands are the equivalent of a TBM confronting an ex-Mo on their loss of testimony with "you probably never really had a testimony to begin with" as if their loss of testimony had more to do with the validity of their prior held testimony than it does the outcome of their investigation of church history.

Give me a break, people.

In this case it is assumed that a never can have no in real life knowledge of LDS culture or have attended any meetings/functions at the local Ward or Stake. In other words, I'm posting on an LDS board just for the flippin' hell of it.

Again. Give me a break.

Yeah, sure that's the reason you won't respond. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that it would undermine your opinion.

[_dblagent007]

LDS members need no "encouragement" to cut ties, business or otherwise with apostates. They just do it. If you don't believe this, try living and owning a business in Utah as an active member before leaving the church.

Of all the scenarios, I think this is the most likely, but I still don't think it is all that common.