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Permalink Reply by Suspicious Minds on March 22, 2011 at 11:07am

What I am about to share is the actual exchange between our 17 year old son and a 16 year old TBM boy at the ward we used to attend back in 2007.  They messaged each other on facebook.  It's a clear example of how mind control, indoctrination and conditioning poisons relationships and how members choose friends!

Friend: yah i aint trying to pressure u into it but i just see a friend in trouble and i want to help you....u know we werent really that good of friends b4 but now i see that you are a good kid and i wanna help you, thanx for the good times

Son: Yeah I know you do man.... yeah we werent really good friends before but maybe that will change

Friend:  what do u mean will?? it already has [name removed]...if i didnt think we were good friends i wouldnt care about ur spiritual welfare....so i believe we are.

Son:  lol I meant like more like become better friends than we already are even though we have come along way

Friend:  [name removed] i met you thru church and i think the only way we can progress is thru church

Friend:  we will always be friends but the truth is that my "best friends" are and always will be members because they believe what i believe

Son:  yeah you are probbaly rihgt with that one

Friend:  yah i really cant wait til i see the day when you bless the sacrament next to me and get to see you come home from a mission and marry a worthy woman of god, i would love that for you

Son:  yeah I know but I dont really know about going on a mission I have alot of reasons but one big one is that the church just cut back on the money the missonarys get everymonth and yet the church is building a two billion dollar mall in utah

Friend:  [name removed] u cant expect the church to pay for u....a good thought but a selfish one, we are expected to pay for most of it anyways and i promise you that if you go on your mission that everything (school, work, wife, kids, money, etc.) will work out for you.

Son:  But yeah i'm going to work now ttyl

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Permalink Reply by BCandfree on March 28, 2011 at 7:57pm

thanks for sharing, amazing story, makes me think of adult friends that will no longer be my friends because i chose not to be a mormon.

If one does not fit, then no point on friendship,

 

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Permalink Reply by Suspicious Minds on March 22, 2011 at 11:41am

Mormom Church Representative Michael Otterson saying that bullying or intimidation based on sexual orientation are “strongly condemned” by the Mormon church and that “such actions have no place in our society.”

Hypocrisy in action! http://w...ww.youtube.com/watch?v=tsR9HPhsjJ4

So much for a "softer approach" as issued a short six months ago.

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Permalink Reply by MikeMichigan on March 23, 2011 at 9:09pm

I read this article to my grandmother, who is TBM and I live with at the moment.  I'm excommunicated and gay...you put the pieces together.  Anyways, I was reading this and she was shocked.  She didn't think it was right to have the church dictate with whom you should be friends and so on.  With this in mind, her association with me, and even considering attending a PFLAG meeting with me next month will put her temple recommend in jeopardy if not her standing in the church.  So much for the church of a god that is supposed to love all unconditionally.  

Way to go you bloody hypocritical, bigoted, self-centred hateful mormons!

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Permalink Reply by Natalie on March 24, 2011 at 12:09pm

I am outraged by this man being required to give up his gay friends in order to keep his temple recommend and his job! One of my best friends is gay and I would never give him up as a friend! I am so glad that I followed my heart and left the church 1 1/2 years ago even though it was so hard at first to face life without everything that I had grown up with. And also knowing my big mormon family might disown me or at least ostrisize me for sinning! Im so much happier now and am free to make my own decisions based on what I want rather then if it is good or bad according to the church. And I an slowly but surely telling everyone in my family. Yay!

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Permalink Reply by CamBam on March 27, 2011 at 9:26am

Wow.  

The churches stance on homosexuality was one of the biggest issues that drove me out of the church (along with how women are viewed within the church).  It's also a constant source of contention for my Mom and I.

I mean WTF!!!!  Give up your friends?!  Really?????  

A god of love shouldn't drive wedges between people- he should build bridges between them.  

So frustrating.  And my heart goes out to all people born both mormon and gay- what a horrible situation to be thrust into.

 

I thought this quote was particularly touching:

“I had no idea how many great people are in the gay community,” he says. “I have better friends than I’ve ever had in my life and I’m happier.”

I feel the same way except I'd substitute 'gay community' with non-mormon community.  Friendship is so much sweeter when people aren't secretly judging your 'righteousness'.

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