What is their motivation? They don’t even approve of free will – why tempt people to abuse it?
Sure, but I don’t think he’ll gain much. He’s winning in the court of public opinion, and doing this would hurt him.
He’s already asked to be allowed to have someone take notes and they refused.
Excommunication as a punishment for airing doubts is so medieval. It’s a 16th century approach to a 21st century problem.
Yes, but did you see the word “apologize” in there? Everyone knows that Christianity involves asking for forgiveness and only a lawyer such as Elder Oaks could possibly argue that this doesn’t imply admitting wrong. Members are commanded to apologize to those they have harmed. The point is so asinine that it belongs in GD here in out own forums. 
I was listening to a smackdown of this on a podcast by a some ex-Mormons and one of the guys brought up the Mr. Oaks had been a justice on the Utah Supreme Court, and was surprised that someone of that caliber would say someone so clearly stupid.
Others pointed out the Oaks was arguing as an attorney and not as a judge. Great, the apostles, with one of their titles as “Special Witness to Christ” are no worse than ambulance chasers. Sign me up, baby.
This is the difference between looking at this as a former member rather than most of you who are complete outsiders, who never believed that they had any special power or authority. Finding out that your neighbor’s cousin cheated is much less distressing than your own spouse.
It’s because they are miserable and want all of us to be equally so. This is why it’s important to not drink that cup of coffee.
They’re going to get kicked out into Outer Darkness after the millennium ends and we all go off to our respective heavens. Along with them go some of the apostates. According to early Mormon prophets, I’d be one.
Satan and his followers are bend, stupidly so, on thwarting God’s Plan. But they do it all wrong. According to Mormon theology, anyone who dies before turning eight automatically gets a VIP ticket to the top level of heaven. So, if you’re Satan, historically, why bother tempting people, just teach hygiene and tell everyone to boil their water. Infant and early child mortality drops like a rock and less people go on to become new gods.
There’s a debate on how Mormon theology, if it’s really deep or equally as shallow. Whatever it is, the religion is actually a lot more whacky than what most people know. Now that they are mainstreaming, most of the more bizarre teachings are getting swept under the rug, but they are still on the books.
These are things like Satan has control over the waters. How to tell an angel of darkness apart from an angel of light (no, not by skin color, that’s how to tell good people from evil). The Garden of Eden was in Jackson County Missouri. Joseph Smith found the stone upon which Adam made an alter. America will be in a fight for her life and a Mormon elder will save her.
Just in case you need it, the way to tell angels apart, and this knowledge is important because angels of darkness try to masquerade as angels of light, is to offer to shake hands. Angels of light who are still not resurrected beings will decline because they don’t have a physical body, so you wouldn’t be able to feel them. Angels of light who are resurrected beings will shake your hand. Angels of darkness will accept your invitation but when they do, you can’t feel them.
Cool? When I was growing up, I really got into these kind of things. I was ready as a six-year-old to shake someone’s hand to see if they were angels or not. Thank the gods that a pedophile didn’t try that trick.
In one of the strangest lectures on astrophysics, the Mormon version of Abraham receives an explanation from God about how the Universe works.
my emphasis. God isn’t using the divine language for anything, why can’t he just say “stars?”
I have no idea why I never though through this when I was a believing member.
Mormons believe that God revealed all these to Joseph. Unfortunately, God didn’t provide a method to distinguish between revelation and making shit up.
Oh, and just for fun, here’s a Mormon hymn. Hie to Kolob
Sooo – I could be baptized as a Mormon and be married as a polygamist wife and not know it?!!
Technically, they wait until the corpse is at least lukewarm, but they’ve been known to stretch that at times. (OK, only at extremely rare times, but it’s happened. While not common, swimming baptisms have occurred. I knew of one in Japan, the guy had no idea that he had become a member. More common is misleading potential converts.)
You’ll have to wait for your resurrection to see who God “gives” you to. The church has really backed off trying to explain this doctrine, now all they say is that it will all work out in the end.
The Mormon Stories postcast founder and host just got his walking papers on Monday.
The NY Times has one of the better articles on it.
The church is used to managing the media, but this one has gotten away from them. Dehlin has been in the podcast / social media arena for a decade and knows how to control the message much better than the guys in white shirts. He’s appeared on a number of news shows and radio programs, in addition to newspapers.
Recording the August meeting last year rather than the actual excommunication itself was brilliant. As the transcript shows, the local area authority is out of touch with current Mormon teachings, as he wasn’t aware of a number of inconvenient facts which the church as finally publicly acknowledged.
The stake president (a lay leader over six to ten congregations or so) wouldn’t even admit that he may question the historicity of the Old Testament such as the Flood.
Despite its attempts to appear mainstream, Mormonism is really still quite fundamentalistic by nature. Very few people openly question the literalistic history which is taught. Well educated friends who are scientists, attorneys and professors will weasel by saying things such as they “have trouble” with the age of the Earth as presented in Mormonism (6,000 years), rather than come flat out (no pun intended) and say the church doctrine and current teachings are incorrect, even in something so obviously wrong.
Joseph Smith’s own death is a direct result of some of their early efforts in that regard. 
At least they’ve moved on in the last 150 years from literally smashing printing presses. Progress!