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Mormon missionary calendar-maker facing discipline
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Oh, yes, this is Utah...that means that career, family, and general well-being are at the mercy of an unelected, uneducated, and generally uncaring Church hierarchy which discriminates against all who don't fall under their sway.
Good luck...
By the way, all church callings are presented to church membership for a vote, so calling them unelected is a little off, too. As for uncaring, I've not experienced that in church leaders. The rest of the rant in your second paragraph is just too ridiculous to address.
This is a very offensive item. However if Hardy has broken his temple covenants as he seems to have than he has other issues besides this publication. Also, the very act of having made this whole thing public will not help his case. He is definantly not showing an attidute of trying to advance Christian behavior or any amount of respect for the church and its authorities.
Well, there is a pollyanna approach & outlook on life behind the Zion curtain. How else do you explain Utah leading the nation in anti-depressant use if for no other reason than to keep up appearances.
As for L. Wasden's comment, "For Mr. Hardy to assume that Headquarters is massing an attack over such trivia is laughable."
I doubt HQ is behind this particular witch hunt. It seems that most crusades to save people from themselves are conducted at a grass roots level.
My guess is there is an uptight puritan of a neighbor who believes their Mr. Hardy is deviating to far from their ideal of what should be acceptable.
I have to agree with the 3:15 poster. When did Utah annex Las Vegas?
It does bother me, though, that we are reading about this in the news. I don't know who (I know it wasn't the church leaders.) contacted the media about it, but I'm disgusted that something that is between them, him, and the Lord, is being plastered on the news. It's not anyone elses business if he's been asked to meet to explain himself.
As for all those who say oh well, big deal--shame shame shame too.
Further, Las Vegas started as a colony of Church Members. Know your history folks. Get off the strip and you realize the percentage of mormon population is much larger than even that of many Utah towns.
Go Utah basher Go!
That seems to be bigger issue in my view than some guys without a shirt on. Big deal.
And I'm an active LDS member btw...
It's trivial situations like this that make the church look foolish. Isn't there an election they need to rig somewhere?
It's easy to see that he is basically making money by portraying the church in a way that the church might deem offensive. Kind of like people who write and sell anti-LDS books, except this guy falls into a grey area. The difference here is that those anti-LDS people are obviously trying to discredit the church. It isn't obvious whether this guy is intentionally participating in an activity that he knows could detract from the Church. Hence the disciplinary council, which could result in excommunication, disfellowship, or exhonoration.
I go along with the "Utah - basher"!
Right on, buddy!
Also this Hardy guy, is being disiplined through the proper channels, but I just want to know one thing...what about the RMs who posed for the calendar? Anything happening to them?
The church is a hospital for sinners not a museum for saints (pun intended?). Mr Hardy's ecclesiastical leaders should be ashamed for letting him slip through the cracks and then forgetting about him until now.
David the Ex-mo is spot on. It is suspicious For someone to be making this big of a stink about someone who has been inactive for 6 yrs.
For example, if someone is saying something offensive in my home I have the right to throw them out. I have not violated their free speech.
This guy, who in my view is disgustingly "shaking" up the Church, has not had one iota of his rights violated. If the Church has a problem with his actions - and honestly I'm surprised it's taken them this long to act - they are 100% within their rights to discipline or excommunicate him.
When belonging to a private organization you are bound to abide by their rules/beliefs. If you do not wish to you have the RIGHT to go elsewhere, but you do NOT have the right to force a private organization to be accepting of your actions.
The church leaders will determine what happens in this situation and I'll support whatever they decide.
If he wanted to make a calendar showing goodlooking men, I am ok with that; but he should have left missionaries out of it. He shows no class.
But the calendar crosses the line by BRINGING THE CHURCH INTO IT. These guys were former missionaries--official representatives of the church! That was the very basis of the calendar--its marketing and everything. The church understandably wants NO association with this calendar whatsoever. It's wholly contrary to its teachings about modesty and sexuality.
I'm a bit puzzled also how this calendar supposedly creates goodwill for the church. Actually, it does more harm than good. People who let the missionaries in based on the images in this calendar might well be interested in, um, let's say, other things than the Gospel. That creates a whole new set of challenges, false expectations and misunderstandings.
Whatever this calendar is and ever was, it's NO step forward.
Much as I'm sure the world would applaud the objectification of young Mormon women, at least in this way, this hypothetical calendar would NOT be true to what LDS people are or believe. It'd not only create a false image of who and what we really are, but it'd imply that we as a church approve of gateway imagery to soft porn--which puts people on a slippery slope to hard porn. This is not right by any standard of any known world religion.
Creating sex symbols of either men OR women for financial gain is inappropriate and wrong. It contributes to the "natural man's" focus on the body rather than the soul, the material rather than the spiritual, and the earthly rather than the eternal.
The prophets, scriptures, and Savior all teach that we--men AND women!--are more than just our bodies. We need not display our bodies to others for their attention or for the honors of the world.
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I don't see anybody infringing on his right to free speech - he can say and do whatever he wants, including publishing the calendar.
BUT.... he is not immune to consequences to his free speech.
That's a difference that many people are quick to forget.