DiscussMormonism.com

By "doctrine" I mean those things chapel TBMs think are doctrine, and maybe a better term would be "emphasized teachings." Here are a few that come to mind:

- Hinckley's tattoo and multiple earring ban. This one may already be "just opinion" as I notice many TBMs are getting tattoos without the dirty looks they used to get.

- Anti-gay. This one depends on where the gay issue ends up in the larger society. If Mormons end up in the minority on this issue, they will change and become more accepting to gays.

- Women and the priesthood. I think this is coming, but probably not for moe than 50 years. It might end up coming out of necessity than social pressure as more women remain active than men.

-Word of Wisdom. This will continue to be modified to keep up with the current science of nutrition. The church will eventually remove coffee and tea from the banned substance list, keep alcohol and tobacco on the banned list, and emphasize reducing meat and sugar consumption (something that is currently not enforced in WofW lessons) while increasing grains, veggies, and fruit.

SatanWasSetUp wrote:By "doctrine" I mean those things chapel TBMs think are doctrine, and maybe a better term would be "emphasized teachings." Here are a few that come to mind:

- Hinckley's tattoo and multiple earring ban. This one may already be "just opinion" as I notice many TBMs are getting tattoos without the dirty looks they used to get.

- Anti-gay. This one depends on where the gay issue ends up in the larger society. If Mormons end up in the minority on this issue, they will change and become more accepting to gays.

- Women and the priesthood. I think this is coming, but probably not for moe than 50 years. It might end up coming out of necessity than social pressure as more women remain active than men.

-Word of Wisdom. This will continue to be modified to keep up with the current science of nutrition. The church will eventually remove coffee and tea from the banned substance list, keep alcohol and tobacco on the banned list, and emphasize reducing meat and sugar consumption (something that is currently not enforced in WofW lessons) while increasing grains, veggies, and fruit.

Agree on the first 3, but I doubt the Word of Wisdom stuff will ever change. More than anything else, the WoW is a social marker indicating "faithfulness" and sets Mormons off as a "peculiar people." Lose the ban on coffee and tea, and you lose much of the "us vs. them" mentality that holds much of Mormonism together.

The hilarious thing about the ban on tea is that it's taken so seriously by TBMs, and yet so many TBMs get involved in these healthful herb schemes and whatnot, many of which include herbal teas. My wife and my in-laws are all into Sunrider, an herbal products company, and one of the products is a tea called Calli, which actually contains extracts from the actual tea leaf (same plant as black tea, green tea, white tea, etc.), as well as from other plants. My in-laws are mostly all TBMs, and yet they drink Calli and swear up and down that it's God's gift to the health. I've called them on this before, pointing out that it has real tea leaf in it, and they say hey, they know this is good for you, and they have a testimony of it.

At the same time, I recall a conversation with my father-in-law before he died, where we argued over whether it was OK for my good friend, who was serving over in Afghanistan, to have drunk a cup of tea. He was on a security detail that accompanied some officers that visited a village and were holding discussions with tribal or village elders. My friend, the TBM, was approached by some friendly villagers and given a cup of tea. Should he drink it, or should he refuse it on religious grounds? My friend chose to drink it, and my father-in-law thought he was dead wrong in having done so. And this same father-in-law thought that Calli was great stuff, despite its having some tea leaf in it.

On my mission we drank tons of herbal tea, which was popular over in Switzerland and Germany. It seems I got served a cup of herbal tea at at least 50% of the homes of anyone who let me in, or of any LDS member who had us over. The other 50% we got bottled Sprudelwasser, or bubbly carbonated water, which takes some getting used to. It's humorous to me that we figure we can drink a tea made with just about any leaf on the face of the planet, but if it's Camellia sinensis, or even a close relative, that's just plain evil. And for no other reason than some guy in Salt Lake said this is what God must have meant when he cautioned us against "hot drinks". So hot rose hip tea is fine, and hot chamomile tea is fine, but green tea (which Joseph Smith would never have heard of) is just plain old evil.

I've been drinking some English breakfast tea lately. I call it the "to Hell going tea" to my daughter, who won't drink it (neither will my wife), but thinks it's pretty funny. English breakfast tea is some good stuff, IMHO. I even go for the milk. :-)

The whole thing is up for grabs. It just depends on what society deems good and bad, and what changes will make the church more marketable.

Sethbag wrote:I've called them on this before, pointing out that it has real tea leaf in it, and they say hey, they know this is good for you, and they have a testimony of it. :-)

Damn, my same exact words about beer!

Some Schmo wrote:The whole thing is up for grabs. It just depends on what society deems good and bad, and what changes will make the church more marketable.

We're throwing out the 'no sex before marriage' thing?

The Nehor wrote:

Some Schmo wrote:The whole thing is up for grabs. It just depends on what society deems good and bad, and what changes will make the church more marketable.

We're throwing out the 'no sex before marriage' thing?

It worked for Joseph Smith, didn't it? ;-)

I bring forth prophecy that the church shall change these things of the rules upon the church:

• Caffeine shall be officially banned under the WoW, including chocolate.
• Polygamy shall be allowed again, after the US government allows many different types of marriages, including gay and homosexual.
• The Internet shall be deemed evil, and the church shall create their own internet, where family history can be researched, along with all things created by the LDS church is accessible. No games, porn, or news outside of the LDS faith shall be accessible.
• Women shall be given the priesthood, but only after the 4th female US president is elected, who is the first Mormon president.

More prophecy to come, including who will marry Britney Spears next and what will happen to Owen Wilson.

SWSU,
Are you asking which doctrines will be actively retracted by the brethren, or which ones will just kind of fall away into obscurity as something some old prophet said at some point?

I can see the earrings thing doing that. 2 or 3 generations from now, someone on a message board will have to dig up some old talk from the turn of the century to find it.

Some Shmo is right. You really have to know the twists and turns society will make as a whole, and then figure out the best target market while retaining current membership. Anything else is negotiable. As long as conservative christianity is anti-gay and aspires to "traditional family roles" then I don't see women getting the priesthood or anything like that.