Reader comments
Police take man to hospital following standoff outside LDS Temple in Provo

Poor fella.

I hope he goes to see a professional shrink- not his bishop.

This is yet another example of religion gone wrong.

I went to School in Provo for 2 years and those BYU student wards are a joke. Way to much stress on those kids.
They are just normal kids who are going to make mistakes, I hope that the church learns to help their members and not make them feel like they are outcast because they made a mistake.

Good luck to this guy, I hope that he can figure it out, we have all been there.

The poor guy has a good friend. I can't imagine it would be easy to stick around with someone in that condition who's got a gun, even if you were friends.

I sure hope he's ok.

A disciplinary council is not meant to be something that is "against" anyone unless they are unrepentant. And even then if action is taken "against" someone it's actually for the benefit of that person and for the Church as a whole and not something that should cause someone to take action against himself.

People won't understand these things. But from first hand knowledge I felt the exact opposite when action was taken "against" me, and was greatful for the love and support of so many that showed me the greatest love during my darkest hour.

I too hope he can get some professional help and feel better about things soon. It's crummy to feel such a way especially around Christmas.

"We have all been there"? I have never held a gun to my chest claiming I am going to take my own life because I've been disciplined by my church. Did you have a friend present when you held a gun to your chest? Did the police come? What were you disciplined for?

Love at it's best... Akind friend, a police action that acted admirably. and clerical leaders who have properly and with love....all came together to help.

God bless

It's not "religion gone wrong." It's people gone wrong. What ever happened to taking responsibility for your actions and repenting? It's no one's business what he'd been "disciplined" for. All that means is he was either disfellowshiped or excommunicated. It's not like they whipped him a hundred times and sent him on his way. He can totally work his way back if he so chooses. Or not. The choice is his. And it's called REPENTANCE, and it's a GOOD thing.

to the guy complaining about the empathetic responses here: I'm not sure what "church" you attend, but in Christian churches (like the LDS) the example and commandment is to show love and compassion . . . responses like yours are likely the precise kind of thing that pushed this poor soul too far . . . please, please think before you type something like that out.

This guy is nuts. I agree with some of the comments here--the BYU atmosphere gets a little out of control and people take things WAY too seriously. Religion is serious, but to want to kill yourself because of Church discipline? Yikes.

There needs to be more support from bishops and letting young people know that they will make mistakes but it's not the end of the world.

Have any of you ever heard the phrase "There, but for the grace of God, go I"? Many of you are acting like you are above this young man. I truly hope that none of you ever have difficulties come upon you. Not a single one of us knows what is going on in this young man's life, and yet some of you are passing some pretty harsh judgement on him. All I can say is that I hope he has some good people in his life who can help him through the difficulties he is facing. Don't bother replying if you are just going to accuse me of judging you - I already know that. It's just that I am trying to have compassion for a young man with some pretty serious issues.

It is amazing that there are not more incidents like this one when people are led to live a life too void of reality. Religion needs to be policed by an objective rule of law by state and federal authority.

I agree with you TexasUT. Its amazing how many people rely on the advice of an UNLICENSED Bishop. Personally I have heard of Bishops handling serious situations WRONG!!
I hope this guy goes and gets the REAL help he needs.

Gee, you make turning a new leaf sound so...."GOOD".

Too many of the young men in the church are treated too harshly. Action yes but harsh treatement is counter productive. Most will just drop away. Most courts are surprised the the young men never return and then the ward spends the rest of the man's life trying to bring him back. A more loving and patient approach in the beginning ends in a better result for all.

Yeah, that's all we need! Government bureaucrats policing what we believe. There's a great idea!

Do you think a platoon of bureaucrats would have done a better job of helping this poor mope than the commendable work his friend and the police did?

It never ceases to amaze me how diconnected from reality you liberals are.

Seems like some people have 'heard' many things about the Church....that's how misinformation gets spread. I pray for this young man and his family. I hope he can get the help he needs.

I had Church action taken against me when I got myself into some serious spiritual trouble. It was my mistake, not the Church's. These proceedings are intended to help people turn their life around and repent. That's what it did for me. This guy needs help and he's getting it.

This sort of thing can be really devastating as it was for me, but it was the thing that helped me turn my life around, get help and stop making self-destructive choices. I'm actually grateful it happened. Now I am a member in good standing with a current recommend.

The Church does these things with love and not hate or cruelty. I know this from personal experience. This young man will come to know this in time if he doesn't already. I just hope all you bloggers will realize it.

Take it from one who has personal experience with this. It will actually help this young man to turn his life around. The Church will reach out to him in love and do everything possible to help him recover and come back to full fellowship.

I don't think so. It is the standard church-based guilt trip taken to an extreme. From the outside looking in, it's easy to see how churches use guilt and fear to get their members to continue to contribute and follow all of the guidelines. Unfortunately, excess guilt can lead to mental health problems including depression and even suicide.

This is particularly true for the LDS church which has a high expectation of individual perfection and/or overcoming your own weaknesses and downplays the role of Christ and grace, combined with a lay leadership with no formal training in counseling.

Been there a couple of times, still love the bishops I had at the time. I never felt they were doing it out of jugemental anger or because they didn't care for me, they did, but maybe I just had two great bishops. I thank them here today. Good luck to the lad mentioned here!!!!