Reader responses regarding "The Mormons" PBS series

I was disappointed with comments made about Elder Packer's BYU Devotional address in which he discussed the church's stand on gay & lesbian issues, as well as feminists and intellectualists. They said it was supposed to be a secret but somehow got out and into the media. Elder Packer was then interviewed, and about all he said was, "...I guess if it was in writing, I must have said it." He didn't go into much detail because church leaders are used to being misquoted. It isn't worth is for them to say much about it because people don't listen anyway.

And that reminds me about what they said about our temples. They are NOT secret, strange ceremonies, but what we do in the temple is very sacred to us. I don't like the way people make it sound ridiculous, because it is very sacred. When the Godmaker's movie was shown at other Christian churches, they made it look ridiculous; but the people who had been members and helped them produce the movie, later admitted they had lied. When people have a grudge, they often say things that aren't true.

The woman who talked about not being able to dress her sister for the funeral was not aware that a church member in good standing needs to be the one to dress men and women in their temple clothes for burial. She was upset about it, but should have realized temple clothes are also sacred to us, and should not be used by anyone not worthy of a temple recommend.

Why is it that people always want to hear the bad things they hear abut the church, but do not want to listen to our missionaries or read the Book of Mormon, which is, in fact, a second witness of Christ. They changed the logo of the church mainly because people thought we were not Christians. They want to make sure people know that we are, but they think we are not like other Christian religions. We teach of Christ, we follow his teachings, and we worship him according to the dictates of our own conscience; and we allow all men to do the same. You don't hear us saying bad things about other churches, because we believe we should all worship the Lord the way we understand we should. Not only that, the reformation set the stage for the Restoration.

Someone mentioned Joseph Smith's experience with plural marriage, and made it sound like he was only doing it for sexual reasons; whereas, very few people were asked to be involved in plural marriage. It was instated partly because more women than men joined the church, and the needed to give temporal support to women who had no husbands. It was never meant to be for any of the reasons they tried to say it was.

When they interview the woman who had been excommunicated, she said she had to go in with 15 men alone, that no one could go in with her; and I know for a fact that is NOT true. I attended a church court in support of a friend. She made them all look bad when these me all serve in the church without being paid; and they always pray about what to do in each individual case. I think she made it sound much worse than it was because she knew that is what some people want to hear.