Mormon counterculture revolutionaries/missionaries
I have many Mormon friends. Most go faithfully to their meetings and try to avoid the ward politics while being generally available to serve. Most are respectful and try to be understanding of others.
Typical of most, my last experience of being asked for advice was an older lady, meaning older than me, who has several gay clients she has treated for years in a professional and respectful way the same way I am treated. Two of these recently invited her to attend their "wedding" and she was feeling just mortified? If she went, would she be giving the impression that she morally supported such unions? She said she preferred to just not think about it, and generally wouldn't involve herself in such self-analysis, but she just felt uncomfortable.
I said most Mormons do the same thing by inviting non-LDS folks to their wedding ceremonies, or by running for national elected office, but nobody needs to do anything they just feel uncomfortable about. Period.
This whole human sense of community/civic responsibility/conforming to expectations/fear of being singled out as some kind of noncomplying anachronistic or non-cool person psychology just merits the indifference of the masses.
I think people who speak their minds clearly and fearlessly, without making it a personal attack, are works of art. Beautiful.
In my opinion, the whole concept of a "Prophet" or "leaders" annointed of God to direct the decisions of humans en masse is inherently non-conforming with a view of Christ as the teacher of individual conscience and personal morality.
Now that doesn't mean it's inconsistent with the idea of prophets and priests as recorded in the Bible, or with missionaries/apostles as seen in the New Testament, just that youngsters with excess enthusiasm for their own interpretations will need to learn intellectual balance in the long run. And learn to just say stuff without personal attack implications.
I have many Mormon friends. Most go faithfully to their meetings and try to avoid the ward politics while being generally available to serve. Most are respectful and try to be understanding of others.
Typical of most, my last experience of being asked for advice was an older lady, meaning older than me, who has several gay clients she has treated for years in a professional and respectful way the same way I am treated. Two of these recently invited her to attend their "wedding" and she was feeling just mortified? If she went, would she be giving the impression that she morally supported such unions? She said she preferred to just not think about it, and generally wouldn't involve herself in such self-analysis, but she just felt uncomfortable.
I said most Mormons do the same thing by inviting non-LDS folks to their wedding ceremonies, or by running for national elected office, but nobody needs to do anything they just feel uncomfortable about. Period.
This whole human sense of community/civic responsibility/conforming to expectations/fear of being singled out as some kind of noncomplying anachronistic or non-cool person psychology just merits the indifference of the masses.
I think people who speak their minds clearly and fearlessly, without making it a personal attack, are works of art. Beautiful.
In my opinion, the whole concept of a "Prophet" or "leaders" annointed of God to direct the decisions of humans en masse is inherently non-conforming with a view of Christ as the teacher of individual conscience and personal morality.
Now that doesn't mean it's inconsistent with the idea of prophets and priests as recorded in the Bible, or with missionaries/apostles as seen in the New Testament, just that youngsters with excess enthusiasm for their own interpretations will need to learn intellectual balance in the long run. And learn to just say stuff without personal attack implications.
