Critics: What kind of change would you like to see?

[_Bond...James Bond]

Do you want the church to completely implode with all members leaving? Change a few doctrines? Jettison the Book of Mormon? What kind of change would you like to see in the church?
Personally:

I would like to see (for starters):

1) the church stop it's de facto mandatory tithing.
2) the church jettison the Book of Mormon, Book of Abraham as actual history (and move towards allegory...interpretation, parable...whatever you want to call it)
3) Open economic records

[_Jersey Girl]

Bond,

Great question. I want to take time to think about this more and reply tomorrow (?) but just off the top of my head:

1. Book of Abraham....toss it out of the canon.
2. Full financial disclosure to members on a monthly/annual basis so that they
can see where their tithing is going.
3. More honest disclosure of historical matter.

I know good and well that since I've never been LDS that people think I have no right to answer your questions, and I know that I will display strong bias when I do answer at length. Just saying that I know.

Jersey Girl

[_gramps]

I guess I have no desires or strong wish for anything about the church.

What I can say is that it wouldn't bother me at all if it imploded, though I suspect it would bother a lot of Mormons. It also wouldn't bother me if other churches imploded, as well.

Since I doubt that is going to happen, anything which would make the church more democratic, rather than theocratic, would be good. Theocracies scare me.

[_Seven]

I would like to see the bigotry end against critics, apostates, atheists, or any member struggling with church history or doctrine. There is nothing Christ like in the LDS teachings and behavior against these groups.

I would like the church to be honest with it's history and to stop the myths and white washing of anything related to polygamy.
The full teachings of the Prophets on the principle of plural marriage should be explained before any person enters the temple covenants.
All of the wives of each polygamist Prophet should be mentioned in church cirr., otherwise they shouldn't mention the first wife at all.

Remove the Book of Abraham.

Remove section 132 until they can figure out exactly when this revelation actually occured and why Joseph was having orgasms with Fanny Alger in the barn before he received the sealing keys.

Condemn the racist teachings of former Prophets against blacks, and admit it was a mistake of man to prohibit them from the priesthood.

Focus on the other more important aspects of the Word of Wisdom, like abstaining from eating meat except in times of famine. Many members don't even believe that's in the revelation.

Stop the idolizing of Joseph Smith. Members need a solid foundation in God, and Jesus Christ if the church can survive the overwhelming evidence of Joseph Smith's history of lies, deceipt, etc.. Joseph Smith is directly tied to most LDS testimonies of God and Jesus, and in my opinion is the main reason many members find their beliefs in Jesus and God fall apart when they find out his behavior was not the image they were given in church.

Define for the church when the Prophets did speak for God and when they didn't. Have this book signed by the First Presidency and have members vote so it can be canon. Also define which modern day talks in Conference today are just "opinion" so we don't have to wait until 100 years from now.

[_Sethbag]

The problem here is that if the Church is actually just man-made, not literally true, etc., then it should be acknowledged and taught as such. If, from the ruin that would follow, a fellowship of people can emerge who believe in helping each other, living good lives, etc., then so be it. But simply jettisoning the Book of Mormon, or Book of Abraham, or ending tithing, does nothing about the fact that people are growing up in this church believing, essentially, in fairy tales, and regarding it as God's one and only true church on earth, through which God speaks, via his appointed mouthpiece, The Prophet. Since this is simply outright false, nothing short of acknowledging that, and acknowledging the man-made nature of the whole enterprise, can ever be intellectually honest.

[_beastie]

I don't have emotional investment in seeing the LDS church change, but think the following simple changes could enhance the lives of its members:

First, and I list this first because it is so simple and wouldn't threaten its basic foundational claims, yet it would have tremendous impact on the lives of its members. Stop teaching that masturbation is a sin. in my opinion, this one simple teaching has great potential to damage a person's sexuality for life.

Second, stop teaching that homosexuality is a sin. This is another simple teaching that ruins lives.

Third, stop insisting on the literal historicity of their modern scriptures. To continue to insist upon this despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary results in fostering poor critical thinking skills in its members, which can damage other parts of their lives.

[_harmony]

1. Change the rules about who can witness a marriage in the temple.

2. Publish a meaningful and accurate annual report of financial activity.

3. Revise Sec 132 to eliminate all references to plural marriage. Admit plural marriage was a mistake.

4. Update the Word of Wisdom.

5. Open the priesthood to all worthy members.

6. Abandon claims of historicity for the Book of Mormon and the Book of Abraham.