Hi jsfisher, of course I've spoken up in the past, and I feel that it's time to speak up again. No, Janadele does not speak for the Church, she speaks for Janadele and only Janadele. I have been shocked by some of the things she has said here on this thread in the name of the Church. Not to mention some pretty big untruths about what LDS believe, particularly pertaining to the afterlife. For example:
deaman asked "Is the end result that you will be
a Goddess with your Husband?" To which she responded that she was a
widow and he was a Presbyterian. Okay, but she said her
deceased husband came to her son and asked to be baptized. Thus,
since she believes that he asked for the baptism, and her son performed the baptism, then he'd be LDS right? So her answer should be Yes. "
D&C 132 vs. 19-20"] Then shall they be gods, because they have no end..."
The other bizarre thing she brought up is the Hollow Earth. When
Pakeha asked her if the hollow earth idea forms part of LDS doctrine, she ventured out on her own and basically said yes. Above she gave a list of scriptures from the D&C and then she told Pakeha the D&C is LDS scripture so therefore the hollow earth is doctrine. I gave a review of the scriptures, nope, no hollow earth there.
Her determination not to engage in critical thought, but merely cutting and pasting and out and out
plagiarism led to frustration and the opinion that Latter-day Saints "are
incapable of independent thought." And Adman was not the only one to come to that conclusion. Making people angry or upset about the Church is
not LDS teachings or doctrine. And what I don't understand is why she kept coming back! She just kept creating more and more hostility.
Her hostility in this thread has been unconscionable, and totally outside LDS teachings. Take, for example, D&C 4 where it talks about how the members of the Church should have "faith, hope, charity and love," toward mankind. Or the 13th Article of Faith that states that we should do "good to all men."
Elder Christofferson says we "need to be civil and listen to one another and try to understand." Attitudes like I've seen here from Janadele, if I weren't already a member and know that she's the exception and not the rule, would have turned me away from the Church. I
am embarrassed as a LDS, but not only embarrassed but deeply hurt. Along with just having other things to do in my life, that's one of the reasons I quit coming to this thread -- I just couldn't bare the pain of watching what was happening.
I treasure my religious beliefs, they are based on faith, not evidence. I know that there are discrepancies, and I can live with those. I find that being a member also makes me happy. The people have the same basic social needs (don't drink, don't smoke, dress conservatively), great work ethic, community service, strong emphasis on family...
Since the church is a church of continuing revelation, there can be changes (i.e. blacks receiving the priesthood, the coming and going of polygamy...) Maybe somewhere in the future there will be a prophet who retires to his prayer room and receives the same kind of message that President Kimball received about blacks, only it will be about the homosexual community. I don't know, all I know is that there have been some rather large changes within the church over the course of its history. The mere fact that the Church is beginning to address the issues with more seriousness, and setting up a website, etc. seems to tell me that maybe, just maybe things will change. I know the site says the church isn't softening on the subject, but from my many years within the church I'd say I'm seeing some ice breaking.
I have no ill feelings toward Janadele, personally. But the mere fact that she goes around starting threads on various forums about the LDS Church, and then refuses to discuss it in her own words leaves me saddened by the reflection it casts upon those of us who do openly and freely discuss our religion. I hope that Janadele can find the comfort she appears to be seeking.
One thing that I do take away from this entire thread is a
greater love for those who are different from me. I've never exhibited any animosity toward anyone, at least I hope not. I have met some really nice gay guys lately, and you know what? They're just like everyone else with a need to love and be loved. Come on now, what would Jesus do? He loved everyone regardless of their differences, so why can't we?
