Spiritual Thoughts and Gold Plates

[græy]

Excuse this post, I'm just venting. I have an upcoming meeting for which I'm supposed to prepare a spiritual thought. I've been spending nearly 1000% (one thousand percent) of my daily gospel study time delving into the messed up world of mormon polygamy. Some adjectives that come to mind while studying are... fascinating, aggravating, and possibly even infuriating. Nothing about this subject is uplifting.

No problem, I thought. I'll find a quick thought to share from lds.org. From the web page there is a link titled "Three ways to remember Christ." I thought that sounded perfect. Something I can still express my hope, maybe even faith in. But as I opened the link the very first line reads "Can you picture with me the prophet Moroni inscribing the final words of the Book of Mormon on the golden plates?"

Bah! It didn't happen! It isn't true! Why do we need to picture those stupid fake plates to think of Christ? Why can't we back off just a little about insisting on the existence of the plates. We have built up so many stories to build faith that have no real connection to reality. And we just keep pushing.

I'll just talk about some recent service instead.

/rant

[Wonderment]

As far as I am concerned, feel free to vent about this topic ! I wish that the myth of the golden plates would vanish, as it becomes more evident that they never existed. Whoever wrote that line....."Can you picture me"....... etc. etc. has an over-active imagination, which happens frequently in these faith-promoting stories. . You're on the right track to share a story about doing recent service, and you can add on that doing service is one way to honor the Lord in our own way. Etc. Etc. Etc. That will sound great. Much, much better than having everyone imagine Jesus with Moroni as they do a wrap on the golden plates project. -- Wndr.

[JustHangingOn@57]

A spiritual thought on Polygamy. Hm. Is the audience LDS? I have a hard time envisioning the sisters in the audience "feeling the spirit of confirmation as you outline the doctrine of the "new and everlasting covenant", which is, as I understand it correctly, plural marriage. Hell, 2/3 of the FP are already set up nicely to live this divinely mandated law. I can tell you that noooo, my wife is not on board with the whole kit and caboodle.

[Reuben]

The StayLDS quotes thread is a gold mine. It's full of great stuff that won't make you want to claw your eyes out. Just pick a random page and start reading.

http://forum.staylds.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4042

If you want to undo some of the damage caused by polygamy, humanize and empower women. Quotes by modern Mormon prophetesses can help a lot. For grace, independence, and a little bit of subversion, I recommend Chieko Okazaki.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes ... _N_Okazaki

You could also go full-on crazy and use quotes from InspiroBot.

http://inspirobot.me/

[Corsair]

There is a quote that you will inevitably come across in the apostate, exMormon world. I am pretty sure it is from John Larsen of the Mormon Expression podcast:

Everything good about the church is not unique, and everything unique about the church is not very good.

Yes, just come up with an idea of love and service from Jesus Christ for your spiritual thought. It's difficult to find LDS teachings that are both good and exclusive to Mormons. Perhaps "the God who Weeps" in Moses 7 is a reasonably good concept. Enoch asks God in Moses 7:29

And Enoch said unto the Lord: How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?

God answers in verse 33:

And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood;

They hate their own blood, their own family and children. How does this coincide with current LDS attitudes towards their LGBT children? I quote from Dallin Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency on the attitude he recommends:

PUBLIC AFFAIRS: At what point does showing that love cross the line into inadvertently endorsing behavior? If the son says, ‘Well, if you love me, can I bring my partner to our home to visit? Can we come for holidays?’ How do you balance that against, for example, concern for other children in the home?’

ELDER OAKS: That’s a decision that needs to be made individually by the person responsible, calling upon the Lord for inspiration. I can imagine that in most circumstances the parents would say, ‘Please don’t do that. Don’t put us into that position.’ Surely if there are children in the home who would be influenced by this example, the answer would likely be that. There would also be other factors that would make that the likely answer.
I can also imagine some circumstances in which it might be possible to say, ‘Yes, come, but don’t expect to stay overnight. Don’t expect to be a lengthy house guest. Don’t expect us to take you out and introduce you to our friends, or to deal with you in a public situation that would imply our approval of your “partnership.”

(Emphasis added)

Well, Elder Oaks, how do you feel about your own blood? Perhaps this is not the inspirational message you were looking for.

[græy]

You could also go full-on crazy and use quotes from InspiroBot.

http://inspirobot.me/

Lol, I'd never heard of inspirobot before. Mark my words, I will find a way to use it soon!

[Brent]

Simple, read the quote, pull a stone out of your pocker, stare at it and then say, "okay, it's coming into focus..."