CURIOSITIES & CONTEMPORARY CRITICISMS
Aside from doctrinal, historical, and leadership problems of the past, critical thinking about current problems is equally challenging.
The breach of trust between the Church and its members has caused a growing divide of mistrust.
At the highest level, the Church is criticized for not matching the level of honesty they require from their members. If the institution makes a mistake, they do not apologize. When their leaders are wrong, members are not allowed to criticize them in any way.
Among those who question is the inability of Prophets, Seers, and Revelators along with other General Authorities to discern truth from deception.
Sterling Van Wagenen, the producer of all the temple films for decades, was molesting children and boys, hiring prostitutes, and having affairs while working with the First Presidency on the most sacred productions in the Church.
President Nelson recently said in General Conference that he never imagined the pandemic.
Mark Hoffman collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments for his forgeries
The inability of every Prophet since Joseph Smith until President Monson to not recognize how wrong the priesthood ban was. All such teachings have since been disavowed by the Church in their essay Race and the Priesthood.
The LDS Church is conspicuously not engaged in its own defense.
Rather, it appears they funnel money to other non-profits who go to great lengths to defend the Church.
Of recent concern are new, more combative strategies that employ ad hominem attacks, sarcasm, and other attack tactics unbecoming of the Church they are trying to represent.
The general perception of proxy apologetics is the Church maintains plausible deniability if an argument becomes untenable, a fact unsustainable, and a practice undesirable.
Here’s an example of the new low employed by apologists:
“The most harm of all is done when power is in the hands of people who are absolutely persuaded of the purity of their instincts-- and the purity of their intentions” ~ Milton Friedman
The 11th Article of Faith reads: “We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.”
Yet, members are not allowed to practice Mormonism to the dictates of their own conscious; nor can they worship how, where, or what they may.
Lorenzo Snow became the church's president in 1898 and worked to solve the church's money problems.
When enforced, members were told it would only be temporary.
A brief look at Church finances per their own financial disclosures.
IMPORTANT
1.6 Million+ Acres of Cattle Ranches
13 Radio Stations
1.3 Million+ SQFT in Office BUildings
13 Apartment Complexes
4 Media Retailers
3 News Stations
100+ For-Profit Companies
One of the largest landowners in the US
Investment Firms
Marketing Companies
$120K/year for the Brethren
5 Billion on City Creek Mall & SLC
5 Shopping Centers
NOT IMPORTANT
0 Hospitals built for diseased areas
0 Schools built in regions of poverty
0 Plans for access to clean water
0% of for-profit income to humanitarian aid
1.5% of tithing went to charities over a 30-year span
.7% of tithing spent on humanitarian efforts
SEE SOURCES
Although “feeling” is central to gaining a testimony, examples drawn from our lived experiences shows that feelings are unreliable sources of truth.
One only need to look at Paul H. Dunn, popular speaker and general authority whose stories were characterized as “filled with the Spirit” and later discovered all fabrications and lies. Members were confused how they could feel the Spirit when lies were being told.
THE ABSENCE OF EMPATHY
A curious characteristic of the faithful is the absence of empathy for those who struggle holding on to once-cherished beliefs and faith. Often, the faithful will judge the doubter and point to unbelief, doubt, frustration, and even anger as evidence of “how far they’ve fallen.” What the believers fail to recognize is those are signals of grief, the isolation of being misunderstood, and the existential stress of sorting out fact from fiction. When a religious system that nurtured someone’s worldview is challenged, that loss of certainty turns traumatic.
