The Covenant Hand?

[Mormorrisey]

Has anybody caught this on reddit? Some kid made a recording of Oaks coming in to a group of youth and telling them all to take the sacrament with the right hand:

https://youtu.be/d0siBml8crY

Of all the pearls of wisdom you could have given a group of impressionable youth, and this is the best you've got?

As a side note, some years ago I was given heck by an old white dude in the ward for taking the sacrament with my left hand, so now I consciously became a switch hitter when taking the sacrament. Not always with the left to be rebellious, but I mix it up to show how little I care for stupid, pharasitical rules like this. Unwritten order of things, yo!

[aoirselvar]

These youth are dealing with some serious shit and a representative of God has a chance to share something that could profoundly change their life. And... wait what?!?


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[jfro18]

As a lefty I must say this is as stupid as saying gay people choose to be evil.

Thankfully my parents didn't force me to be a right handed kid or I would've never known the pain of pens smudging and notebooks being designed against me my whole life.

[Reuben]

Mormonism: Putting the Old Testament back into Christianity since 1830.

Mormonism: Unfulfilling the Law of Moses, one vain little rule at a time.

I can't help imagining Jesus rebelling against this by taking the sacrament with his left foot.

[crossmyheart]

I remember being taught this at one point. I had a strong case of scrupulocity when I was younger- so I absolutely would not touch the sacrament with my left hand, ever.

Now? I usually skip the bread and take the water. Just to mess with people- they cant decide if I am a sinner or not.

[nibbler]

Of all the pearls of wisdom you could have given a group of impressionable youth, and this is the best you've got?

I think this goes beyond the opportunity cost of giving youth instruction that could benefit their lives. Oaks didn't just pass on an opportunity to pass on a pearl of wisdom, he took his opportunity to find fault.

Like crossmyheart, I had a serious case of scrupulosity when I was an orthodox member. An apostle of Jesus Christ coming down, noticing that I took the sacrament with my left hand, and then publicly calling me out on it would have been devastating.

So no, for me it's not a simple case of misplaced priority, it's a case of abusive behavior. Reprimanding children. Over something that does. not. matter.

Oaks also set an example for all the righteousness police. It's pharisaical to the core.

I get the feeling that's just how Oaks is wired though. He's the guy in charge in that situation and everyone is looking towards him, he's got to make some show of his authority. He grasps at straws for a bit, then finally lands on calling out people for interacting with the sacrament with their left hand, regardless of whether he actually saw someone use their left hand. In the end it's just a power play to remind people he's in charge. That's what he believes people in charge do, correct others.

[2bizE]

I find this so stupid. This is my number one pet peeve: mormon people making $hit up and expecting everyone else to follow. And getting mad if they don’t.

I listened to the audio and in it Oaks talks about how as part of the ordinance of baptism, they raise their arm to the square. The priests also used to do the arm to the square sign for the sacrament, but quit several years ago (example of an ordinance changing). It felt like Oaks was going to say that about the sacrament, but decided to use the baptism as an example.
There are too many OCD Q15.

Oh, let me add this. The right hand cleanliness thing comes from olden days and third world countries where people maintained a clean hand (right) and wiped their butt with the left. Where hygiene isn’t great, this is what they did.

[Linked]

Now? I usually skip the bread and take the water. Just to mess with people- they cant decide if I am a sinner or not.

Hahaha, that is fantastic! Reminds me of the guy I know with a big BYU tattoo.

[Just This Guy]

Someone needs to do a tattoo of this:

Utah: 34
BYU: 31

[RubinHighlander]

That's what I was taught and taught my kids as a TBM; it's one of those true unwritten order of things BS. You can see how far the church takes this, especially at the local level, when you see the evolution of the white shirt and tie, the exact marching orders of the deacons passing the sacrament (like it's some sort of marine military academy ceremony), the switching of the robes in the temple. I think this militaristic marching to the beat of the same drum is not just correlation, but the male leadership getting off on a militaristic style of management over the TBM population.

A lot of the locals just make shiz up as well. I remember on bishop that insisted a male priesthood holder must open the sacrament meeting with prayer. That guy is probably sorely disappointed the women no longer have to veil their faces in the temple and make a covenant with their husbands.

[Kishkumen]

Now we know one more piece of the puzzle for our march toward perfection

Or how to be as perfect as we know how.

• White Caucasian
  Male
  Mormon
  American (preferrably West Coast)
  Heterosexual (polygamist exception may apply)
  Upper middle class or better
  Right-handed

[lostinmiddlemormonism]

Not a cult...


Not a cult...


Not a cult...


...right?

[Red Ryder]

Mormonism... so focused on the minutia, the big picture gets overlooked!

Ex-Mormonism... so focused on the Mormonism minutia, living life gets overlooked!

[dogbite]

Oh, this is old old thinking all the way back to the Latin dexter and sinister. Just from thise words can you guess which is the left hand.

[slavereeno]

Ex-Mormonism... so focused on the Mormonism minutia, living life gets overlooked!

I bear my testimony that what RR says is true.

[deacon blues]

I hope there were’t any one armed kids in the audience. They might have had some’splaing to do

[wtfluff]

I remember one of my parents making a big deal about how important the right hand was when it comes to the temple ceremony, like it was one of those super-secret things only mormons knew.

I didn't really question it, except for the "What The Fluff?" I was asking myself in my head.


Once again, mormonism (Dallin F. Oaks) really teaches no real life skills, nothing about reality; just useless pablum.

[MalcolmVillager]

I heard if you use your left hand it almost feels like it's someone else . . . Oh wait. I guess I thought you were talking about something else.

Yeah, I always heard the right hand was the covenant hand. I was a pretty judgmental YM seeing all those careless member flippantly using their sinister hands for something so sacred.

Bwahahaha

Seriously though. W THE A F!!!!!

[DPRoberts]

Of all the pearls of wisdom you could have given a group of impressionable youth, and this is the best you've got?

I think this goes beyond the opportunity cost of giving youth instruction that could benefit their lives. Oaks didn't just pass on an opportunity to pass on a pearl of wisdom, he took his opportunity to find fault.

. . .

Oaks also set an example for all the righteousness police. It's pharisaical to the core.

I get the feeling that's just how Oaks is wired though. He's the guy in charge in that situation and everyone is looking towards him, he's got to make some show of his authority. He grasps at straws for a bit, then finally lands on calling out people for interacting with the sacrament with their left hand, regardless of whether he actually saw someone use their left hand. In the end it's just a power play to remind people he's in charge. That's what he believes people in charge do, correct others.

I think fault finding may be his raison d'être. I was teaching 12 and 13-year-olds in Sunday School over 20 years ago when Lord Oaks showed up unannounced in the class. As it turned out, that was probably the week I was the least prepared and had to just wing it from the manual.

His Loftiness visited a few more classes in the ward and did not say anything critical at the time. However in a conference talk that followed thereafter he mentioned doing these drop-in visits and pontificated on how the quality of gospel instruction in our meetings needed to improve. So fault finding has been his modus operandi for quite a while.