NOM

I started listening to the podcast "A Little Bit Culty" hosted by Sarah Edmondson and Nippy Ames, a married couple who got out of NXIVM. In the episodes, they have a segment called "That Really Chaps My A$$" (not sure about the rules regarding vulgarities here). They don't talk about the really brutal stuff, just little abuses that they could not deal with before. I find it awesome and decided to share something here that really chapped my posterior.

Several years back I was the ward mission leader. During a ward council, the missionaries came. They happened to be the zone leaders. During their time, one of them asked everyone in the room to give them 10 names on the spot. We were not to worry about whether they were "prepared." "The Sprit will prepare them," we were promised by this 20 year old who knew he was the Lord's anointed. No one made any effort to give names. The bishop moved on. I don't remember exactly what he said, but he made it clear that he did not think this was a good idea, which objectively it was not.

A couple weeks later, we had a either a stake priesthood leadership meeting or a general stake priesthood meeting. The stake president at one point in his talk shared that he had recently met with the zone leaders in their monthly meeting. The zone leaders had shared that they asked members of their ward council to participate in missionary work and were treated coldly. He added, "Brethren, missionary work is our responsibility. We must work with the missionaries." The stake president either did not know or did not tell the men present that we had been asked to immediately share names without any preparation. It was also widely known where the zone leaders served, so we were being publicly rebuked. I was embarrassed. The bishop was looking down a lot during that meeting. The experience really chapped my a$$.

Anyone have any stories.

That sounds like the perfect opportunity to dust off your best fake names.

Ben Dover
Anita Cox
Amanda Mount
Harry Johnson

And so forth.

What really chaps my ass (said it!) is stuff like when my Asian wife was told on her mission by the area representative that she has dark skin because she was less valiant in the preexistence. And when I taught the YM lesson about marriage a few years ago it still had the Kimball quote about not marrying outside of our pure, lovely, white race. Meanwhile, they were plastering pictures of interracial couples all over their publications for the outside world to see. Pictures of the kind of people one of their most revered prophets had said he would happily murder, and their children too, to deliver them from their state of atrocity. And no subsequent apologies. I guess it's hypocrisy and dishonesty that causes my painful and unsightly chaffing.

Another major chafe: I can understand why the church would have a problem with same-sex marriage when it completely undermines their prejudiced and near-sighted eternal plan of salvation. BUT for a church whose most respected founders and leaders prided themselves on creating harems of as many teenage girls as they could round up to be so arrogant as to hold themselves up as the only authority worthy of proclaiming what is or isn't a valid marriage for everybody else... well, that chafes right to the bone.

Being told the YW couldn't do a canoe or rafting trip because it's too dangerous.

hmb wrote: ↑Sun Sep 26, 2021 6:02 am Being told the YW couldn't do a canoe or rafting trip because it's too dangerous.

I was once in a ward where the young women asked their leaders for more camping trips. The leaders said they couldn't because they would have to have a priesthood holder to go with them. Whether it's a rule or not, it sucked that young women were not allowed to have outdoor fun.

blazerb wrote: ↑Sun Sep 26, 2021 9:48 am

hmb wrote: ↑Sun Sep 26, 2021 6:02 am Being told the YW couldn't do a canoe or rafting trip because it's too dangerous.

I was once in a ward where the young women asked their leaders for more camping trips. The leaders said they couldn't because they would have to have a priesthood holder to go with them. Whether it's a rule or not, it sucked that young women were not allowed to have outdoor fun.

It was later explained that the reason was really about insurance being too expensive. The boys were covered under the scouting program. Do the boys still do adventures after leaving the BSA? Do they have insurance for camping, rafting, etc?