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OBJECT LESSONS
Total Articles:
15
"Object Lessons" taught to Mormons, typically children. These are used to "scare" or otherwise psychologically condition the participants.
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Remember the parable of the licked cupcake? A youth leader would bring to church enough cupcakes so that everyone in class could have just one. Then, they would lick the frosting from one of the cupcakes, put it back on the tray and pass the cupcakes around so everybody could take one. Of course, the last person in class was stuck with the licked cupcake, and of course, they wouldn’t eat it.
The licked cupcakes in the chastity lesson always represented females. In Young Women's, the cupcakes represented us - we didn't want to be a licked cupcake. No one wants a cupcake licked by someone else.
In Young Men's, the cupcakes also represented girls. You boys were taught not to lick cupcakes that weren't yours. No one else wants a licked cupcake, and neither do you.
Never once was I told that boys could be licked cupcakes. Never. What boys did was, I guess, none of our business. All we girls knew was not to let boys lick our cupcakes, or no one would want us. The burden of chastity was ours to bear, and the prospects of forgiveness for failure were grim.
Some active, yet non-believing men say they don't defend sexism in the LDS church. But they don't need to defend it. They support it every week as they walk through the doors of that church bringing their wives and children with them. Your children will no doubt get the same tired cupcake lesson we all got as youth. And try as you might to counter the misogyny pounded into their little heads, the fact that you keep taking them back for more teaches them what your words never will.
Your boys will learn they're superior to women. One day, if they are faithful Mormons, they will go to the Celestial Kingdom, where they can, at their leisure, take on dozens and dozens of wives, whom they will maintain in a constant state of pregnancy, until they have enough spirit progeny to populate their own planetary domain! Is that not sexist? And the girls are taught the same bullshit! From my own experience, I can tell you they believe it, too.
I can't express how heavily that weighed on my heart as a Mormon. The thought of becoming one of possibly dozens of women sealed to my husband was sickening to me, and it was reality to me as well. I truly believed it. It seemed so wrong and unfair; more like punishment than reward. I mean, as a woman, I was to put my own needs and wants last throughout my entire life, and as a reward, I would share my husband with other women and have baby after baby for eternity? Not only did I dread "heaven", I felt guilty for not wanting it! When my heart was so heavy I couldn't take it anymore, I talked to my Bishop, who said I was prideful. A prideful, selfish woman who didn't want other women to reach the Celestial Kingdom.
Most wives probably feel the same way. I never told my husband how I felt; I didn't want him to know how selfish I was. Women are terrified of their husbands leaving the fold because they believe they can't get into heaven without them. They’re women, and not good enough on their own. Without husbands, they’ll end up assigned to other men and become the sister wives to women who despise them. The woman-hating Mormon religion has brainwashed wives to believe that. It will brainwash your daughters and sons to believe the same thing.
And as for the pompous pricks in Salt Lake City, "The Brethren", they don't respect women. They're misogynistic assholes. Men who respect women don't tell them how many earrings they can wear! They don't shame men for marrying women more educated than themselves. They don't seal themselves to other women after their long-suffering wives die, becoming eternal polygamists. They don't tell young girls, contrary to the best interest of their families, to have babies before they're finished with school. I can't stand those lying bastards! If I could, I'd fly to Salt Lake and kick Hinckley's wrinkly, incontinent ass!
There may be other areas of Mormonism where one can find middle ground. But there's no middle ground on the issue of sexism in Mormonism. Mormonism is doctrinally, historically, and presently sexist, and there's no getting around that fact and there's no changing it. All the disagreeing in Gospel Doctrine, liberal Sacrament meeting talks, Sunstone magazine articles or enlightened Family Home Evening lessons in the world aren’t going to change the fact that Mormon doctrine, at it unchangeable core, is misogynistic. Throw out all the other problems with Mormonism if you'd like, but this issue alone renders keeping your mouth shut, attending church, dragging your kids there, and holding callings while claiming to be a feminist an act of cowardice and hypocrisy.
Men, if you really won't defend sexism in the Mormon church, then stop condoning it with your attendance and membership. Most of you love your wives. You love them enough to let them write a check for ten percent of your income and give it to an organization that teaches them they’re worthless other than as breeders and cooks. Love them more by telling them that's bullshit. Tell them you love them too much to let them waste another minute in a cult that's abusing them. Love your boys enough to save them from becoming assholes like those mother-humpers running the church from downtown Salt Lake City. Love your daughters enough to free them from the patriarchal prison of the Mormon priesthood. Just do it.
I've heard from a few men on this board that it brings a man great satisfaction to be a hero. Be heroes by getting your wives and kids out of Mormonism. At least give it a valiant effort, guys. Maybe you'll go down in flames, I don't know. But I'd rather go down in flames after a long hard fight for what's good and right than sit by watching in complacency as Mormonism sucks the life and soul out of my loved ones.
Sorry to rant at you, but, as you can see, this is a huge issue to me, and I can empathize with your wives. I don't know them and I want them experience freedom. I know how much more you must want it for them, too.
| When I was about 14 or so, I went to a combined mutual night (all the teenaged boys and girls together).
We were all given make believe airline tickets and told we were all going on a flight to a fun and exciting tropical paradise. Some of the adult members were dressed as stewardesses, pilot etc. We all boarded this make believe plane (between the chapel and cultural hall where there is a 12 foot wide space between the big curtain dividers). They served us snacks and tried hard to make it seem real. Most of us were cutting up, not paying much attention because the whole thing was a little pre-adolescent.
Then it happened. the pilot comes on and says we have some sort of engine trouble, they blink the lights for about a minute while engine noises, wind and stuff are piped through the sound system then some sort of plane crash noise. Some of us boys are still carrying on hamming it up screaming like the girls etc. Then all goes quiet and everything goes dark.
One of the leaders then states, "You are all dead now" Things got pretty serious at this point. We all got sober. It wasn't funny anymore.
Then a few lights went on and an adult member came in dressed in white and started saying things like, "were you ready to die tonight?", "your time is up and it's too late to repent", "where will you go?", "will you be with your family forever or somewhere else?" etc.. Some of the girls started crying and everything really hit an all time low.
Because this was so long ago, what I remember next was an endowed married couple I respected entering together all dressed in their temple whites. I just remembered their smiles and holding each other's hands as the bishop explained that they were members of the celestial kingdom and they were happy because they kept the commandments... the whole thing was very disturbing and frightening.
It had the effect of frightening us into a willingness to fall in line with whatever they told us. The event has come to mind a couple times over the years, but for the most part, I have blocked it out.
This was about 1977. Anyone else witness this psycho drama as a teen?
If any adult attempted to do this to my kids I'd press charges and still end up spending a night in jail.
| had somthing done that still blows my mind. It was a stake fireside, I was about twenty, and this guyis giving a talk and he held up a plate and said that this plate came from nauvoo and had been in their family since that time and it was really special to the family and that he was going to pass it around. Well the first six pews in the center were filled and I was on the second row, when it got to the third row and suddenly right behind me you heard the plate break. Everyone was stunned and in silence - part of it was underneath me and I was throwing the parts back towards the guy being so shy and scared.
The guy who was giving the talk came down and took the plate and was almost in tears - finally when he came back up to the stand he smiled and said it was'nt true it was an old plate but was just a regular plate. People were saying like "what the hell". He asked how we felt when we heard the sound of the plate break and some answered that they felt really bad and then he said that we should feel this way towards non members we should feel sad and sorry for them. As I looked back - this guy and the guy behind me who was in on it, should have been flogged.
This is the way they keep people in line so just like the old story of taking the rope off the elephant and it won't wonder very far as it still thinks it's bound to the tree.
| I very distinctly remember an object lesson in Young Women's. A councilor in the bishopric came in and said he was going to give us a piece of peppermint candy. He opened it but "accidentally" dropped it, then stepped on it, and just got it gross and dirty. Then he picked it up and asked us if any of us wanted it. Of course none of us did. Then he compared it to sleeping around.
Then, I remember lesson where someone literally had a salad prepared and brought it to class (may have been a Saturday stake youth activity, not sure). They asked us if we liked salad, and someone or all of us may have eaten it. Then he dumped a small amount of dirt in the salad and stirred it. He asked if anyone would eat the salad now. Of course no one would. He said "but there is hardly any dirt in the salad, are you sure you don't want it?" No, we didn't want it. Eventually he made the point that even just a little sin can ruin things.
| Yesterday I went to sacrament meeting. It was F and T and most people went up and vowed to be more spiritual for the new year.
Then one woman gets up and opens the floodgates about a YW activity from the week before Christmas.
Apparently the YW and their leaders packed up cookies and went caroling to various ward members homes. The trick was the ward members had been contacted in advance and were supposed to refuse to listen to the YW's and to shut the door on them, turning them away.
This was done at about five or six homes. The YW were hurt and offended and apparently were saying mean things about the door shutters and some YW were in tears. There were two leaders with each tribe and only one knew this was a lesson, the other was just as hurt as the girls.
After enough of this shunning, the leader in the know explained to the girls that they were turned away so they would know how Joseph and Mary felt, being turned away over and over again on a cold night when they were trying to find shelter.
Then, as a finale, they went to a members farm and a married couple with a baby were dressed as Mary, Joseph and Jesus and the YW stood in the cold as the trio in the sheltered barn related the Christmas story to them, then they all ate the cookies that the door shutters refused.
Several of the door shutters and YW leaders went up and carried on about what a spiritual lesson this was, how hard it was to shut out these confused, hurt YW's and how we should all let the gospel in our lives instead of turning away Jesus/his representatives.
What a dirty trick! I think this one belongs with the licked cupcake/chewed gum stories.
| The Tip Of The Iceberg Of Asinine Mormon Analogies
Monday, May 11, 2009, at 07:44 AM
Original Author(s): Esias Eats A Bowl Of Cherries
Topic: OBJECT LESSONS -Link To MC Article- | ↑ | Never use extended metaphors except for recognisable poetic effect. Over-reliance on analogies is a sign of a weak writer. You remember the squishy-minded Mormon teacher who shows a picture of a foot or an arm or a neck with the question, What does this represent in the Church? You would be excused from replying, And here's a fist.
One aspect of Mormonism that made me barf is its love of the analogy. I remember my brother's wedding and a sinister sister from the stand comparing each aspect of marriage to a part of a ship. I wondered what the hold or dungeon represented, but she never mentioned this part. I think I kept my gaffaws to myself, and her talk enlivened an otherwise particularly tinsled, tacky affair.
Mormon analogies can be so thoughtless and harmful that the stories pass into urban myth. My gratitude for the following posts for spilling the beans on this insidious Mormon practice:
The licked cupcakes in the chastity lesson always represented females. In Young Women's, the cupcakes represented us - we didn't want to be a licked cupcake. No-one wants a cupcake licked by someone else.
In Young Men's, the cupcakes also represented girls. You boys were taught not to lick cupcakes that weren't yours. No-one else wants a licked cupcake, and neither do you.
Never once was I told that boys could be licked cupcakes. Never. What boys did was, I guess, none of our business. All we girls knew was not to let boys lick our cupcakes, or no one would want us. The burden of chastity was ours to bear, and the prospects of forgiveness for failure were grim ...
And as for the pompous pricks in Salt Lake City, 'The Brethren', they don't respect women. They're misogynistic assholes. Men who respect women don't tell them how many earrings they can wear! They don't shame men for marrying women more educated than themselves. They don't seal themselves to other women after their long-suffering wives die, becoming eternal polygamists. They don't tell young girls, contrary to the best interest of their families, to have babies before they're finished with school. I can't stand those lying bastards! If I could, I'd fly to Salt Lake and kick Hinckley's wrinkly, incontinent ass! KimberleyAnn, Board post 15th May 2007, The Licked Cupcakes.
Ladies, I love cupcakes.
I very distinctly remember an object lesson in Young Women's. A councilor in the bishopric came in and said he was going to give us a piece of peppermint candy. He opened it but 'accidentally' dropped it, then stepped on it, and just got it gross and dirty. Then he picked it up and asked us if any of us wanted it. Of course none of us did. Then he compared it to sleeping around.
Then, I remember lesson where someone literally had a salad prepared and brought it to class (may have been a Saturday stake youth activity, not sure). They asked us if we liked salad, and someone or all of us may have eaten it. Then he dumped a small amount of dirt in the salad and stirred it. He asked if anyone would eat the salad now. Of course no one would. He said 'but there is hardly any dirt in the salad, are you sure you don't want it?' No, we didn't want it. Eventually he made the point that even just a little sin can ruin things. Always Thinking, Board post 10th November 2007, Peppermint Candy.
Ah, those salad days when we used to befuddle the Mormon teacher with cherry tomatoes from Mormon history! My advice is to stuff the perpermint candy in the appropriate teacher's orifice of your choice.
When I was about 14 or so, I went to a combined mutual night (all the teenaged boys and girls together).
We were all given make believe airline tickets and told we were all going on a flight to a fun and exciting tropical paradise. Some of the adult members were dressed as stewardesses, pilot etc. We all boarded this make believe plane (between the chapel and cultural hall where there is a 12 foot wide space between the big curtain dividers). They served us snacks and tried hard to make it seem real. Most of us were cutting up, not paying much attention because the whole thing was a little pre-adolescent.
Then it happened. The pilot comes on and says we have some sort of engine trouble, they blink the lights for about a minute while engine noises, wind and stuff are piped through the sound system then some sort of plane crash noise. Some of us boys are still carrying on hamming it up screaming like the girls etc. Then all goes quiet and everything goes dark.
One of the leaders then states, 'You are all dead now.' Things got pretty serious at this point. We all got sober. It wasn't funny anymore.
Then a few lights went on and an adult member came in dressed in white and started saying things like, 'Were you ready to die tonight? Your time is up and it's too late to repent. Where will you go? Will you be with your family forever or somewhere else?' etc. Some of the girls started crying and everything really hit an all time low. Inconceivable, Board post 10th November 2007, The Plane Crash.
All aboard! All abord the Insanity Express! This is your captain speaking - the bar in the cockpit is now open.
It was a stake fireside, I was about twenty, and this guy is giving a talk and he held up a plate and said that this plate came from Nauvoo and had been in their family since that time and it was really special to the family and that he was going to pass it around. Well the first six pews in the center were filled and I was on the second row, when it got to the third row and suddenly right behind me you heard the plate break. Everyone was stunned and in silence - part of it was underneath me and I was throwing the parts back towards the guy being so shy and scared.
The guy who was giving the talk came down and took the plate and was almost in tears - finally when he came back up to the stand he smiled and said it was'nt true it was an old plate but was just a regular plate. People were saying like 'What the hell!' He asked how we felt when we heard the sound of the plate break and some answered that they felt really bad and then he said that we should feel this way towards non members we should feel sad and sorry for them. As I looked back - this guy and the guy behind me who was in on it, should have been flogged.
This is the way they keep people in line so just like the old story of taking the rope off the elephant and it won't wonder very far as it still thinks it's bound to the tree. thestyleguy, Board post 10th November 2007, The Broken Plate.
I don't think I ever smashed a plate over a Mormon teacher's head but its a cracking idea. Shame.
This was done at about five or six homes. The Young Women were hurt and offended and apparently were saying mean things about the door shutters and some Young Women were in tears. There were two leaders with each tribe and only one knew this was a lesson, the other was just as hurt as the girls.
After enough of this shunning, the leader in the know explained to the girls that they were turned away so they would know how Joseph and Mary felt, being turned away over and over again on a cold night when they were trying to find shelter.
Then, as a finale, they went to a members farm and a married couple with a baby were dressed as Mary, Joseph and Jesus and the Young Women stood in the cold as the trio in the sheltered barn related the Christmas story to them, then they all ate the cookies that the door shutters refused.
Several of the door shutters and Young Women leaders went up and carried on about what a spiritual lesson this was, how hard it was to shut out these confused, hurt Young Women's and how we should all let the gospel in our lives instead of turning away Jesus/his representatives.
What a dirty trick! I think this one belongs with the licked cupcake/chewed gum stories. Clever Pup, Board post 6th January 2009, Shocking Cruel Young Women's Lesson.
I would have taken my students down the pub to illustrate that warm fuzzy feeling you get from being accepted into a back-street-dive.
After dark, we were led to an area, and told to put on a blindfold. After a feeble argument, I complied.
Then my hand was placed on a round PVC pipe. I was told to not let go until I heard xxx's voice. As I was walking along the pipe, I heard voices telling me to let go, that all sorts of horrible things were going on around me, and that I had made it so I could let go.
Well, I made it to the end of the pipe trail because I remembered the instruction to not let go until I heard xxx's voice.
I took off the blindfold and there were several people wearing white robes all happy to tell me that I had made it. There was a big tree all decorated in white lights. Then I was to sit and wait until all the adult unit leaders and the girls had made it to the end.
While I was sitting there I was glad I had made it.
As time went on though, I started to feel as though I had been manipulated. There were girls sitting near me who had made it, but they were wondering what had happened to their friends who were with them.
One girl was sobbing because she couldn't find her sister.
Later on I found out that the girls who let go of the PVC pipe before the end were taken to an area and given a lecture about what Jesus had done for them. Then they got another turn to hold on and go to the end of the PVC pipe.
Some of the girls had been tricked by their older sisters or friends who were trying to get them to let go.
This went on for hours in the dark and cold. By the time the whole ordeal was over I just wanted to get back to camp and go to sleep. I was feeling very manipulated and used. ORFinn, Board post, Girls Camp, Faith Promoting Activity.
Holy salamader! Now the woods and forests are infected with Mormon spooks. Run! Even faster!
How like the mistletoe is immorality. The killer plant starts with a sticky sweet berry. Little indiscretions are the berries - indiscretions like sex thoughts sex discussions, passionate kissing, pornography. The leaves and little twigs are masturbation and necking and such, growing with every exercise. The full-grown plant is petting and sex looseness. It confounds, frustrates, and destroys like the parasite if it is not cut out and destroyed, for, in time it robs the tree, bleeds its life, and leaves it barren and dry; and, strangely enough, the parasite dies with its host. Spencer W Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness p155.
Spencer, how like my feelings of Mormon Deception is this sharp, pointy stick which I am about to insert in the orrifice you seem to be talking from.
Mormonism is like a mountain of muck and once you become immersed your mind is mashed to mushrooms.
Yum yum. These scrummy cherries are going down the hatch like pips of Mormon wisdom.
| Today is the 5th Sunday so the bishopric split up and each presented a 'speshul' lesson to the adults, youth, and kids. My 10 year old son told me that the counselor gave a presentation where he scooped out various flavors of ice cream and toppings into a bowl, creating a beautiful sundae. Of course he had their complete attention, with each hoping for a taste. He told the kids that they are like this bowl of ice cream. (???) Then he pulled out a bag of potting soil and proceeded to scoop the dirt on top of the sundae, telling them that this is what they are like when they do something bad. He asked if anyone still wanted to eat the sundae, with the object lesson apparently being that they are each just little piles of crap if they aren't perfect little morgbots. He finished with some confusing explanation of the bishop having a "magic vacuum" that can clean the dirt off again.
My son was animated telling me about all this since it was out of the ordinary and worth sharing, but I could tell it bothered him as well. I sat him down and told him that he will never, ever, ever, in my eyes, be like a bowl of ice cream covered with dirt. I told him that we're all different, we each follow different paths, we all make mistakes, and all we can do in life is try our best. He melted with relief at the reassurance from this expression of unconditional love.
I'm really feeling angry at this obvious child abuse. You're all asking why I let him attend, and it's because he also has a mother who is ultra-TBM. It's a tough situation. I feel like the best I can do is offer damage control each week.
| So I was reading this blog post the other day and it was bringing up memories of certain activities we did that were supposed to teach us a lesson. I vividly remember one where were all given something like 10 pennies when we arrived at the Wed night activity and then were let loose to do whatever we wanted with them. There were some activities like basket ball where we had to pay 3 pennies to shoot hoops and were given a certain number back for every shot we made. There were others where you paid pennies to play but didn't get anything back. And then you could go to a place where they taught you something (like a mini churchy lesson) where you didn't pay anything and you got like 8 pennies just for going. At then end you were sorted into Celestial, Terrestial, and Telestial (did I get those right?) kingdoms based on the number of pennies you had and were served snacks. Celestial had wedding cake and punch, Terrestial had cookies and milk, and Telestial had Saltines and water.
Yes. Seriously.
I'm pretty sure I ate Saltines that night.
What I remember most is how arrogant the people who had made the Celestial kingdom acted. Even thought it was a youth activity, it amazed me how they were so proud of themselves and would not dream of sharing the fancy cake with those who hadn't earned it.
Anyway.
Tonight dh is helping run another of these kinds of activities. They are going to blind fold the kids and make them do obstacle courses etc based solely on instructions. I know the ending all ready and it turns my stomach. Follow the prophet. Follow the commandments. Do what the church says. Or else. There is no other way. (Sounds like Satan in the temple, eh?)
| My last calling in church was in Young Women’s. There is no organization in the church, perhaps in the world, I believe, so fond of object lessons – most of them having to do with “virtue” or, more to the point, the loss thereof.
You know what I am talking about: The teacher gets up one Sunday with a bouquet of beautiful white roses. During her lesson she sends one of these flowers around the room with an invitation to all to take a minute and feel the rose, maybe take a petal, to enjoy it for a moment and pass it on. We all do this and by the end of class the rose is back in the teacher’s possession looking much worse for the wear. We are then invited to pick a flower to take home and no-one picks the one we passed around. No-one wants “damaged goods.” Or, in a similar lesson, the teacher offers us a choice of gum, the wad from her mouth or a fresh stick from the pack. A Young Men’s leader brings in a board into which he invites the young men to hammer a number of nails. During the lesson the young men are allowed to remove the nails from the board, but it is pointed out that the holes still remain.
I admit to a fondness for a good analogy or parable, but these stories about chewed bubblegum and nailed boards and wounded roses, meant to convince the young and innocent youth to protect themselves from the evils of the world, have long rubbed me the wrong way.
Chiefly, my discomfort with these stories comes from my understanding of Christianity. If there is an atonement (and I am a want-to-believe-er) the beauty and miracle of that event is that Christ’s death is meant to make the unclean, clean – the scarlet sins as white as snow. It troubles me that people who claim to believe in the atonement put so much emphasis on the permanent scars left by youthful sins.
The part of me that doesn’t believe in the atonement also questions the notion of sin. I think of my young daughter. The time will come when she will begin to explore her sexuality. I shutter to think that she may grow up to believe that the touch of love is denigrating, that, should she choose to be sexually active before marriage that this would turn her into something foul and undesirable. My son, too, will be faced with many choices in his life some of which will be wrong. But I would rather have him make mistakes than live a fearful life. While it is important that he understand consequences and the reality that life will leave him scarred, I don’t want him to think that every bad choice he makes will stay with him forever.
My son and my daughter will, of course, not hear these examples in common. My son is unlikely to ever be told that he is used chewing gum or a bruised rose. His sins, which may still leave spots in his life, are, apparently, not so damaging.
These object lessons make the right choice and the consequences of the wrong choices too narrow. I think of the analogy that President Hinkley used who telling the youth not to tattoo their bodies: We wouldn’t defile the temple with graffiti so how could we defile our bodies with body-art. But the temple is not unadorned. It is painted and swathed in fabric. What if our body art is an adornment – beautiful and thoughtful? What if my children have sexual encounters that are powerful and beautiful and that bring them and their partners joy and satisfaction? What if they make choices that are outside the expected?
| A Young Women's activity where we went to a "carnival". We could choose uplifting activities like listening to church music being played on the piano. You were given additional tickets. You could spend money on prizes. You lose tickets that way.
At the end of the carnival, two members in temple dress took you into a classroom. They checked your number of tickets. If you had enough you went to the highest degree of heaven and so on. Me, being the forgetful person left my tickets on top of the piano. I explained my mistake. Didn't matter. I was going to the telestial kingdom. A beehive, who did not understand what was going on, did not get the skis she really wanted. She kept going to the good activities to get more tickets to save up to "buy" the skis. In the end, she had zero tickets.
At the end, everyone was led into a room and we were divided by the kingdoms we were sent to. It was me and the beehive who was going to hell. I had the strong urge to leave after meeting with the temple dressed people and not go into the final room. I wanted to walk home and never set foot in an LDS building for the rest of my life. Alas, living in the moridor it's all I knew. There was something wrong with me. It was all my fault for not being diligent about keeping track of those tickets. I deserved to go to hell. Now, I welcome it.
| Subjecting Tired Emotional Young Women To A Purposefully Stressful Situation
Tuesday, Dec 18, 2012, at 09:37 AM
Original Author(s): Mishelley
Topic: OBJECT LESSONS -Link To MC Article- | ↑ | During the final years I was active I was in the YW presidency. In my time The YW women presidency was seen as one of those uber special callings. Everyone wanted it, it made you instatly popular and important. In reality it was where adult women got to regress to the age of 15 year olds and do tons of work.
I had to go to camp. Which in and of its self was not terrible. I was in charge of certification. I went heavy on the first aid stuff (a useful skill), the astronomy (space is cool), and the outdoor skills (again useful), I also threw in how to use basic tools (I love sneaking in tool use to girls). So it was fun, and I liked the girls, I got to bring my own daughter who got to have 14 bigger sisters.
And then Fast and Testimony mtg on the last night rolled around. God (I mean that in the most profane way possible). Someone had the bright idea that we should kick things off with a faith walk. A faith walk for those who do not know is basically a horrible masochist acting out of the iron rod story starring you! It combines every terrible aspect of mormon brainwashing in a fun outdoor setting, basically the whole package.
It consists of wrapping a couple hundred feet of flexible tubing around trees and sh*t. The girls are lined up, one at a time brought in front of the bishop (who is acting like god) he tells them to hold onto the rod no matter what, blindfolds them, puts their hand on the rod and sends them off.
My job was supposed to be an evil spirit trying to convince the girls to let go. I was supposed to whisper to them to let go and that I would help them. If they let go I was supposed to take them over to the campfire and tell them "well you let go, no eternal polygamy for you! Enjoy hell ya sinner!"
I did it once and the girl was terribly distraught, she cried and looked like I had strangled a basket of kittens. I felt like human diarrhea.
The girls were disoriented, tripping over rocks, most were crying.
It wasn't an exercise in faith building; it was an exercise in subjecting tired emotional young women to a purposefully stressful situation, then exposed them to a "comforting" situation (the testimony portion). It was straight out of the Charles Manson "How To Create a Family" playbook. Brainwashing.
| I grew up in a very small place. There were exactly 2 non mormon kids in town, both from the same family. We finally convinced the girl, who was my age, to come to Primary or Sunday School - I can't remember which. Anyway, object lesson was all prepared. A brightly colored beautifully wrapped gift and the teacher let the class choose who got the gift. Being good little mormons we gave the gift to the non-member visitor. She was ecstatic and quite joyful...until she opened it. It was full of smelly garbage.
So the lesson was about being careful about the outward appearance of things because you might never know what's on the inside. This little girl began to cry. She fully thought she was special and getting a gift. She didn't understand the stupidity of moron object lessons. Her heart was crushed.
Its 35 years later and I still hurt for her. It truly was a nightmare.
| I was 12 except it was a YM YW's combined activity and the iron rod was set up in the cultural hall. Also, instead of a testimony meeting people were separated into "kingdoms" based on how they did.
My mom was the YW's president at the time and she was the one who pretty much put the whole thing on. The "rod" was a rope that they covered with peanut butter on some parts and some other nasty things to get you to want to let go. My mom was one of the people who was trying to get me to let go. To get me to do it she broke character to tell me that something came up at home and we had to leave right away, of course I immediately let go and pulled my blindfold off only to be grabbed by an old dude and dragged off to the Telestial kingdom.
The room was small, the lights were turned off save a few candles that were lit and there was a dude standing. He told us the kind of people that belonged in the Telestial kingdom and that we need to repent if we don't want to end up there. I felt so terrible for failing to "hold to the rod" that I began to cry.
Seriously, as I think back on my experiences as a youth, LDS ecampment, EFY, Stake Dances, Youth Conference. I realize how much bullshit I was put through, how much shame and emotional manipulation was used to keep me on the "straight and narrow" and how the adults that I trusted were the ones to do it.
| My good friend met with her exmo UK girlfriend at the coffee shop today. This UK girlfriend has a 16 year old daughter. This is what happened in this daughter's YW class last week.
Each girl stood up and the leader found the girl with the shortest skirt/dress. This friend's daughter had the shortest skirt/dress and was given "The Modesty Blanket" to cover her exposed legs for the duration of the lesson. The blanket is apparently used each week to encourage some poor unsuspecting teenage girl into wearing a longer skirt/dress.
This sounds like a great way to help reactivate semi-active members, and to create a feeling of unity and camaraderie within the young women's organization. I have a feeling that that girl that had to wear the blanket probably really got a lot out of the lesson, and could feel the spirit and the love of God burning in her heart.
What an absolute load of steaming, stinking crap. Bullying is bad enough with girls attacking each other, but when a leader openly condones it by selecting an individual and encouraging the other girls to ridicule and single out a specific target.... it just makes my blood boil. This is simply organized bullying pure and simple. They (the leaders) might think that they are trying to help the girls by teaching an important value, but singling out a girl to cause her shame and humiliation in front of her peers is wrong and abusive.
| The church only provides lip service to the atonement of Jesus they so publicly tout.
Elizabeth Smart wrote:
"I thought, 'Oh, my gosh, I'm that chewed up piece of gum, nobody re-chews a piece of gum, you throw it away.' And that's how easy it is to feel like you know longer have worth, you know longer have value," Smart said. "Why would it even be worth screaming out? Why would it even make a difference if you are rescued? Your life still has no value."
http://www.religiondispatches.org/dis...
Examples. I'll dig out the quote, if someone asks, but SWK in the miracle of forgiveness says that rape victims need to repent. Repent of what?
When I was remarrying I had to fill out a paper asking me to delineate all of my past sins, even those resolved via priesthood authority. Jesus may remember your sins no more, but the church wants to know. They make a mockery of what they teach.
The most insidious and damaging of the virginity object lessons: the nail and the board. Because no matter what miracles Christ may perform in your life, once that hymen is torn there is no getting it back.
Forgiveness lds style? What a crock of crap.
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