NOM

Thanks for the write up Consiglieri!!

Sounds like a nice meeting all around, way to dodge the mine of leading people out of the church.

Hmmmm.....

Really interesting play by play here Consiglieri.

Kind of like Mooseman said, I don't think they're done with you yet. This was probably just a friendly exploratory surgery to make a diagnostic determination.

I'm sure the SP is going to go back and do some serious research on you at this point. Everything depends on whether he perceives you as a threat or just a small benign tumor that needs to be watched from time to time.

If you are perceived as a threat you can bet that "I'm a protector of the faith!" notion will kick in in the more primitive parts of the SP's brain and everything will be down hill from there.

I'm curious, what would be your preferred outcome here? Not in a perfect world but dealing with things as they are?

Yup. Your in trouble.

This sounds like a lot of "first encounters" you find online from people who get disciplined. In his mind, you weren't driving the bus, you were gathering the rope he'll hang you with.
"You might not understand this, but im your priesthood leader" hes implying he can see where you got off track. You gave him encouragement he can save you, your not an agnosit and believe the BOM, so he sees hope. Just has to remind you. Hes not familiar with what youve wrote, cant say who you lead away until you mention a topic/name and thats it, no matter how loosely associated.

He thinks he can save you, and is going to make this very uncomfortable for you til he gives up and drops the axe.

This process is fascinating. We are witnesses to the standard procedures of an apostasy investigation.

Do they realize they don't hold any authority over you other than to officially kick you out of the treehouse club?

He's church broke and probably went home after your meeting and stayed up late typing up his report or calling his area authority above him to report up. Middle management ordered an inquisition straight out of SLC and he was obligated to participate in the due diligence.

Something tells me he'll be back like Peter, James, and John and reveal his true identity and purpose. Then he'll try to cast out satan and queue up the melodramatic music while imploring you to repent and return to the fold or face church discipline.

I say stay behind enemy lines and continue broadcasting!

The "I'm your leader" line seems to be a set up for a future discussion along the lines of "I have read your stuff, and I council you to stop or face church discipline."

Congratulations on having navigated that minefield. Not sure if they will require any additional Herculean labors of you, but it sounds like you are equal to the task.

Too bad there wasn't an Annie Hall moment where the Stake President paused and said, "I just happen to have Daniel Peterson here behind this ficus plant and he has a detailed list of reasons why any men being named Alma in Joseph Smith's time wasn't worth mentioning. He would share them but he is late to his meeting with the Albanian Ambassador."

Well played meeting, Cons.

Watch your back.

My bet is on the strengthening members committee sent information to the SP and asked him to follow up...

Hey Consiglieri, I've been thinking about this statement recently:

"He said that he didn’t know if I understood this, but he is my priesthood leader, and bore his testimony about how the priesthood is in the LDS Church and the ordinances are there and it is the only way to salvation."

I find it ironic that he is more than happy to remind you of his authority and what his views are which also carry the implication that your membership is in his hands and yet he is utterly powerless to answer or address any of your questions or concerns with any authority whatsoever.

He cannot speak to your concerns on behalf of the Lord or the church. He has no authority to do so and the men who do claim to have such authority wouldn't be caught dead having to explain or answer your questions. To them you/we (and all others like you/us) are a can of worms. They really don't want to go there...think Steve Benson. When he rejected their pitiful explanations it made them feel powerless. They don't like that....it ruins the bubble.

So all they can do is happily point you towards sycophantic apologists whose words carry zero weight, zero authority and are illogical to boot.

And yet, this person, your SP, has portions of your life in his hands while you are totally powerless to directly effect his or the lives of those whose bidding he does.

What's wrong with this picture???

Very interesting indeed. Waiting for the next chapter!

Thanks for sharing! You handled it so well! Along with previous posters I found the reminder of his authority-albeit uneducated authority-off putting.

Anon70 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 16, 2017 11:26 pm Thanks for sharing! You handled it so well! Along with previous posters I found the reminder of his authority-albeit uneducated authority-off putting.

Ditto.

We'll be looking forward to more posts about this - btw, loved your articles on Rational Faiths, and starting to listen to your RFM podcasts. My first was the apostolic coup d'etat series. Wonderful!

This was very interesting. Thanks for writing this up. I agree with the others that "I'm your leader," sounds ominous, especially since he didn't think you knew what that meant. Good luck.

I had already told him previously that I had increasingly felt marginalized in the church and even ostracized, though I said that ostracized was probably too big a word, but there was an element of that in there; that the members were happy to see me in church because it made them feel better about themselves but they weren’t interested in hearing anything I had to say.

Well done sir. You are like a Wiley cat toying with naive mice. The above is exactly why I decided to be done with attendance. You stated it so well.