NOM

"The good things about the LDS are not unique, and the unique things about the LDS are not good."

Neo-Galileo

The "uniqueness" and "goodness" of the church are not appreciated by non-members. What does the LDS church have left if it gives up the "one true church upon the face of the earth" idea along with exclusive priesthood power for essential ordinances of salvation?

The church has lost the one thing that might have made a difference.... ME!

Corsair wrote:The "uniqueness" and "goodness" of the church are not appreciated by non-members. What does the LDS church have left if it gives up the "one true church upon the face of the earth" idea along with exclusive priesthood power for essential ordinances of salvation?

Funeral potatoes!

I attended a Mormon funeral on Friday - and we ate very yummy funeral potatoes.

Yea, and as doth this brother's physical body go into the ground to await it's time to come forth and bear it's celestial harvest, let us consume this bountiful harvest brought to nourish us from deep within this same ground as a symbol of resurrection and life........

Well, all good traditions should be symbolic of something right? Even funeral potatoes?

Funeral potatoes are no joke. My ward does a really nice Christmas dinner for a family shelter that focuses on job training and money management skills. It's actually a really good program and I am certifiably happy that my ward contributes. The organizers of the shelter have annually asked for our ward to continue bringing funeral potatoes along with the turkey and gravy. The funeral potatoes always run out from people coming back for seconds. I leave my testimony that funeral potatoes are the one true side dish of holiday meals.

Confession: I have never eaten funeral potatoes in my entire life. I'm pretty sure I never will.

My initial response is that the degradation (could we say denigration?) of the LDS claims of a) Exclusive Divine Mandate ("EDM")and b) Truth is well underway.

The Q15 et al. won't accept and/or acknowledge and/or admit it publicly, because they view these two as their "one-up" on all other religions. As pointed out by Corsair, the EDM is the LDS' raison d'être, from an official standpoint.

If you eliminate EDM and Truth, you would ostensibly still have LDS Good Fruits, which Prince and Givens and others are trying to get everyone and their mother/father/brother/sister/DW/DH/DD/DS to focus on, largely because Prince and Givens and others know that the "Emperor has no Clothes".

In my view, the LDS house-of-cards is falling down from the inside-out:

- Attentive members cannot abide the incongruity of the historical record with the EDM, and they bolt.

-Other attentive members come to the same conclusion, but stay LDS for reasons other than Truth.

-Inattentive members don't want to know anything other than that the EDM is valid.

As such, I believe we will continue to see a focus on LDS Good Fruits more than on the EDM.


Neo-Galileo

Continuing neo galileo's thought.

The ga's are not called because of any sort of oratorial or philosophical talent. They rule by their "so called"(mmmmm, right back at ya Dallin) authority. If they lose that, they are incapable intellectually to deliver meaningful or helpful content. They have no formal training in religion and philosophy, no degrees in counselling, nada. People turning their hearts to lawyers and businessmen who left the businessworld before the 50's bigger hammer management style was found to officially be ineffective is what you have. Not very filling content for the soul. Without fear of going to "not the celestial kingdom" ie hell, most Mormons would skip church, stop hometeaching, and find something better to do.

Can I ask a stupid question? What the sam hill ARE funeral potatoes? I hear about them all the time, and are they just potatoes you serve at a funeral? They kill you? Is this a Midwest thing us Canucks have no clue about? Please enlighten me.

Mormorrisey wrote:Can I ask a stupid question? What the sam hill ARE funeral potatoes? I hear about them all the time, and are they just potatoes you serve at a funeral? They kill you? Is this a Midwest thing us Canucks have no clue about? Please enlighten me.

Funeral potatoes are one of the ultimate comfort foods, always delicious but especially appreciated with the obligatory ham at funeral dinners. There are many things I regret about my experiences in Mormonism, but I do love funeral potatoes, and have been known to fix them just because we're having ham for dinner.

Here's my recipe:

Funeral Potatoes

1 stick butter, divided
1/2 cup diced onion
1 (32-ounce) package frozen shredded hash browns, thawed
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 (10-1/2-ounce) can cream of celery soup
2 cups sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup coarsely crushed butter-flavored crackers

Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat a 9-x13” baking dish with cooking spray.

In a small skillet over medium heat, melt 1/2 stick butter. Add onion and sauté 4 to 5 minutes, or until soft.

In a large bowl, combine hash browns, cheese, soup, sour cream, salt, pepper, and onion; mix well. Spoon mixture into prepared baking dish.
In a small microwaveable bowl, melt remaining butter in microwave; stir in cracker crumbs. Sprinkle cracker mixture over potatoes.
Cover baking dish with foil and bake 35 minutes. Remove foil and bake 10 to 15 additional minutes, or until golden brown and heated through.

Thanks for the reply - here I was just thinking it was mashed potatoes with some cheese in the middle. I'll go crawl back into my igloo of ignorance.