The Church knows EXACTLY what it's doing with the new policy

[_Gunnar]

I find it hard to believe that none of the FP/12 doubt the wisdom of this change in policy, at least privately. I would not be terribly surprised if it eventually results in even one or more from that elite group defecting over this.

But they first doubted their doubts.
This only got put in place once unanimous approval was received from the Q12 and FP.
They all voted it in.

Obviously so, but I still hold out hope that at least one of them has enough intelligence and sensitivity to eventually realize how hurtful, irrational and bigoted this policy really is.

[_I have a question]

Obviously so, but I still hold out hope that at least one of them has enough intelligence and sensitivity to eventually realize how hurtful, irrational and bigoted this policy really is.

Let's say you are correct and, assuming they all have basic reading and comprehension skills, they can at this point be in no doubt about how hurtful this policy is. I doubt they see it as irrational and bigoted though. They think this is what God wants. And if any of them were secretly harbouring that this isn't God's will, then that person lacks the moral fibre to publicly stand apart.

They are all in, they are all complicit.

[_Chap]

Obviously so, but I still hold out hope that at least one of them has enough intelligence and sensitivity to eventually realize how hurtful, irrational and bigoted this policy really is.

Let's say you are correct and, assuming they all have basic reading and comprehension skills, they can at this point be in no doubt about how hurtful this policy is. I doubt they see it as irrational and bigoted though. They think this is what God wants. And if any of them were secretly harbouring that this isn't God's will, then that person lacks the moral fibre to publicly stand apart.

They are all in, they are all complicit.

I am afraid it is not just the First Presidency and the Apostles who think that way. We have already seen two or three examples on this board of articulate TBMs who manage, somehow, to convince themselves that this policy is in some way an act of kindness to the children of same-sex Mormon couples who will be excluded from baptism, from (in the case of boys) ordination and service in the Aaronic priesthood, and who will once they reach the age of 18 still be excluded from baptism unless they leave home and denounce their parents as sinners.

Ultimately, their justification seems to come down to the ability to cling to the belief that the FP and the 12 must be doing this for a good reason - since 'either they are speaking for the Lord or they are not'. The decision that they must be 'speaking for the Lord' seems to be largely a matter of a faith decision: efforts to ascertain why the TBM in question thinks this must be the case largely draw a blank.

It's all a wonderful illustration of the fact that if you are brought up by your parents to regard the tenets of a given religion as normal, and your community largely affirms such beliefs, then, however bizarre those beliefs seem to those not so habituated, the individual in question can often manage to cling on to them despite very strong evidence to the contrary.

In such cases, I don't think that what people get out of religions is worth the sacrifice of rationality and openness to argument and evidence that seems to be involved.

[_manmormon]

Funny I had the same thought when I first heard the new policy, there doctor. Two reasons.
1. 2 Nephi 4:5
But behold, my sons and my daughters, I cannot go down to my grave save I should leave a blessing upon you; for behold, I know that if ye are brought up in the way ye should go ye will not depart from it.

Homosexual couples bring up kids to be friendly to same-sex marriages, and when they are old they will not depart from it. The church does not want more inner conflict.

2. I'll spare you the scripture quotes on this one. Moses and the children of Israel in the desert for forty years, letting all the old idol worshipers die, Noah and the flood, Lehi leaving Jerusalem, You have got to cull the heard. If you don't like that basis for the idea, how about Plato's Republic, don't start your "city" with anyone over the age of 10.
Why it won't work. It's not harsh enough. You would have to get rid of anyone who even remotely sympathizes with same-sex relationships. More like Noah and the flood. Even then it would not work for long. Same-gender relationships did not raise most of the people sympathetic to the policy now.
The hearts of men are easily corrupted. -Galadriel ;)

[_sock puppet]

Funny I had the same thought when I first heard the new policy, there doctor. Two reasons.
1. 2 Nephi 4:5
But behold, my sons and my daughters, I cannot go down to my grave save I should leave a blessing upon you; for behold, I know that if ye are brought up in the way ye should go ye will not depart from it.

Homosexual couples bring up kids to be friendly to same-sex marriages, and when they are old they will not depart from it. The church does not want more inner conflict.

Really? The church does not like anyone that disagrees with the FP/12, does it? Even when the FP/12 is dead wrong in perpetuating its discrimination and hatred.

2. I'll spare you the scripture quotes on this one. Moses and the children of Israel in the desert for forty years, letting all the old idol worshipers die, Noah and the flood, Lehi leaving Jerusalem, You have got to cull the heard. If you don't like that basis for the idea, how about Plato's Republic, don't start your "city" with anyone over the age of 10.
Why it won't work. It's not harsh enough. You would have to get rid of anyone who even remotely sympathizes with same-sex relationships. More like Noah and the flood. Even then it would not work for long. Same-gender relationships did not raise most of the people sympathetic to the policy now.
The hearts of men are easily corrupted. -Galadriel ;)

JSJr proved that with his cadre of wife swappers and swingers in Nauvoo, Brigham with his enrapture with power. Yes, the hearts of men are easily corrupted, even those in suits in the Church Administration Building in SLC. There are 15 so heart-corrupted men who preen themselves as "prophets, seers and revelators". More like liars, dupes and phonies.