0 Votes
RE: Disappearing Options
So. There are people out there that don’t like the Church or have grudges against it … The discipline of LDS! I don’t get it. Sorry.
Let’s take your example of the woman having a baby out of wedlock. If you’re a Bishop, you sometimes ask to meet with people who are struggling. So, you make an appointment with them (if they accept) and you talk about things – either at their home or at the church. You do your best to show them you love them and help them make good choices.
Oh, the discipline of the LDS!
People who sin aren’t excommunicated; people who fight against the church are. Think about it like a soccer team. You don’t have to be good at soccer to be on the team. You don’t even have to try to help your team succeed. All you have to do is not try to help the other team score goals.
The discipline! The discipline!
If you choose to get married in the temple, you know who will be able to go and who won’t. If there’s someone who doesn’t have a temple recommend who you really want to be at your wedding, then get married outside the temple in a traditional wedding and then later go to the temple to get sealed. Or, get sealed and then have a ring ceremony where everyone can attend. You can even hold it in an LDS chapel (for free).
The LDS and their discipline!
You’re trying to cobble together negative Internet whispers, a handful of experiences from disgruntled former members, and your anti-religion inclinations into a coherent picture of what the Church is like … and you’re failing. If you want to start discussing the Church in an informed manner, you’re going to have to put some time into real study or experience.
RE: Disappearing Options by Occams
You do your best to show them you love them and help them make good choices.
That is not how she described the meeting.
If you choose to get married in the temple, you know who will be able to go and who won’t. If there’s someone who doesn’t have a temple recommend who you really want to be at your wedding, then get married outside the temple in a traditional wedding and then later go to the temple to get sealed. Or, get sealed and then have a ring ceremony where everyone can attend. You can even hold it in an LDS chapel (for free).
It was her mother for Heck’s sake. How would it hurt the church to let her be there? The point was clearly to hurt the mother.
Since you find it so strange, why don’t you try Googling “LDS discipline.” It is certainly not an unknown expression, on the contrary, it is a term used by LDS spokespersons..
It gets pretty silly.
This guy faced a disciplinary hearing for making a shirtless calendar
_*Church spokeswoman Kim Farah* declined to comment on Hardy’s specific situation, but said that “any church discipline is the result of actions not beliefs.” Decisions are made at the local level and are based on individual circumstances and merits, she said.
Members have been excommunicated for reasons including criminal activity and scholarly works of history or theology that contradicted church claims.
Then there is Informal Discipline
If you are gay or lesbian and your bishop knows it, you may have already encountered the Church’s system of informal discipline. As part of this system, a bishop may suspend your right to partake of the sacrament, hold a Church position, exercise the priesthood, or enter the temple. Thus, informal discipline allows a bishop to punish a member without holding a “disciplinary council” (a church court). According to church policies, a bishop can apply informal discipline to a person who confesses voluntarily, who commits the fault for the first time, who has not violated temple covenants, and whose situation has significant mitigating circumstances.
In the case of gays and lesbians, informal discipline works only for those who are willing to abandon their homosexuality. Through a program of frequent interviews, the bishop could attempt to control the most personal and intimate aspects of your daily life. He may ask you if you masturbate, if you have sexual fantasies, or if you are sexually active. He may suggest or require that you participate in some “ex-gay” group such as Evergreen. More dangerously, he may suggest or require that you undergo some form of so-called “reparative” or “conversion” therapy. Some bishops will even offer to pay for this therapy.