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ROBERT D. HALES
Total Articles:
5
Robert D. Hales, Mormon Apostle.
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Robert D. Hale Continues To Preach Doctrine Of Exclusion, Marry Only A Mormon
Wednesday, Nov 16, 2005, at 07:14 AM
Original Author(s): Infymus
Topic: ROBERT D. HALES -Link To MC Article- | ↑ | In Bob Hales' latest message to the mindless cult drones at BYU he tells them that only those who make it to the temple, keep their secret names, passwords, handshakes and Joseph Smith underoos on are worthy as spouses.
"It is very important to know the heart and mind of your future eternal companion's desire to be worthy to go to the temple and always keep their temple covenants, enduring to the end"
Bob again reitterates that Jesus Christ is not the center of Mormonism, but wearing white clothes, green aprons, small bakers hats and these outrageous Joseph Jumpsuits is:
Of course everyone knows that the only way to be "Temple Worthy" as dictated by the Morg is to PAY. PAY PAY PAY PAY PAY. If you are not paying your 10% to the Morg, you are not temple worthy. If you are not temple worthy, you are not worthy to be married to a Mormon.
Gordon B. Hinkster, profit of the Cult of Mormonism once again states that BYU is not an institution of learning (just look at who teaches there, one Daniel C. Peterson) but it's a place where you go to get married. He states:
"BYU is still a place where church leaders want young LDS men and women to meet, date and marry."
So remember to pay, pray and obey and make sure you only marry a Mormon. The rest of the world is full of heathens and whoremongers. Beware! Satan is under every stepping stone! Oh and remember to pay, never forget to pay.
Pay Lay Ale.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249...
| Exactly 25 years ago, I completed a two-year mission for the LDS church. In the final hours of my mission, I had the first of two encounters with Robert D. Hales, of whom some of you might know.
First, some background. As an overachieving eldest child, I approached my mission with the same fervor as my other endeavors growing up. I gave everything. The Austria Vienna Mission is acknowledged as one of the most difficult in the world. Certainly it is one of the least “successful” based on conversion rates. But I pretended not to notice. I worked as hard as anyone, knocking on countless doors, staying out till my body ached. I often fell asleep, exhausted, during bedtime prayer. Like a maniac, I would study German during the 60 seconds or so between doors, using 3x5 index cards.
But with understanding of language, comes understanding of culture, and I came to realize that in Austria, what we were doing–approaching strangers on the threshold of their homes and asking to come inside to discuss religion–was not the way. But this is what our “inspired” mission president commanded us to do, and I reluctantly dedicated myself to it.
I was soon promoted to District Leader. Then the call came to serve as Mission Secretary. I worked alongside the Mission President in the mission home (and felt my confidence in his abilities ebbing away as I did). Maybe that’s why he later called me as Zone Leader. (kidding)
Being Zone Leader in Vienna was the Holy Grail for me. I had a year left at this point, and I planned to make the most of it. My strategy was to work-in new approaches to proselytizing alongside the dreaded tracting. I saw that the urban setting offered a rich palate of opportunities for reaching out to people. I got a city permit to set up an exhibit in the city’s main shopping area. I spent time in parks playing chess or other games to connect with people. Ate lunch in the university cafeteria. In other words, tried to be less of a weirdo.
I’ll never forget the day I experienced the mother of all breakthroughs. I was “splitting” with a newly arrived, astonishingly talented Elder with an amazing singing voice. (He was a music student and today is an accomplished opera singer with an impressive resume. I’m reluctantly withholding his name. He was the pivotal player in our subsequent success–but I’m getting ahead of myself.)
We were in the main pedestrian zone in the central city, the Fuessgaengerzone. It’s one of the truly awesome public places on the planet, with a backdrop of stunning architecture and commercial activity, where people from all over converge and celebrate. Street musicians are one of the many entertainments, and it occurred to me that there might be an opportunity for an aspiring opera singer in, well, the capital of opera. So I encouraged this Elder to place himself somewhere and start singing.
As he somewhat nervously began to sing, the sweet floating melody of “Ave Maria” stopped people in their tracks. We were stunned, and elated. After an enthusiastic applause some people hung around and talked with us. At that moment, I didn’t care if I didn’t knock on another door the rest of my mission. It was like we had cracked the lock on the famous Austrian reserve.
But it didn’t stop there. We soon realized that there was an abundance of talent in our zone, and we formed a singing group. We worked in a little dancing, and appropriated a guitar, and wrote a couple of skits. You get the picture. It was pretty innocuous: folk songs, a little opera, primary songs, Saturday’s Warrior stuff, infused with small doses of comedy. It was entertaining and we always attracted big crowds; sometimes a hundred people or more would gather. We even got a write-up in the paper. We’d meet a couple of times a week on the street and perform. Those missionaries that weren’t singing worked the crowd, handing out pamphlets and getting into conversations. We were giddy with the success–Austrians never, ever, let themselves be approached like that in other contexts.
This is the kind of heady thing that today would be championship material on “The Apprentice,” if not “American Idol.” :) But in the real world of mormon missionary-ing, I was hanging myself. Rumors began to spread about those disobedient Viennese elders who were having way too much fun and “breaking the rules.” After a few weeks the Mission President decided to shut us down. When I confronted him about it, he “busted” me as Zone Leader, and packed me off to the farthest village in the mission, deep in the Austrian alps, as junior companion. I had dared to have my own ideas, and I was going to pay.
Well, I didn’t knock on another door. Instead I spent the remaining 4 months mostly hanging out, struggling with difficult questions. For the first time in my life, I stopped to think. I was coming to understand that a person of my disposition might not have a place in the church. But more importantly, I was maturing in my beliefs. I was beginning to suspect that, if there was indeed a God, the Mormon God might not be it.
For example, what God would direct its servants to continue knocking on doors incessantly but unsuccessfully, yet expect a different result? Isn’t that just the definition of insanity? Of course the obvious alternate explanation is that it’s not about success, it’s about discipline and obedience. Well, maybe so, but I was getting the feeling that I had been duped. That wasn’t how it was explained to me before the mission. I was told that, when you obey the commandments, you get rewarded for your sacrifice. But I was afraid the only thing I was getting out of it was a huge future therapy bill as a result of two years of mental, and yes, physical abuse.
It didn’t help that during this time, I was invited by a member of a cult (Hare Krishna) to discuss religion. It was a weird conversation, and I remember thinking as I left how thankful I was not to be in a cult, and as I had these thankful thoughts I had this funny feeling.
Well, fast forward now to the last day of my mission. I’m sitting in an all-mission conference–every elder in the mission is there. And Elder Robert D. Hales, the European Administrator and General Authority, is presenting an inspired new program that is going to guarantee the longed-for and well-deserved increase in the baptismal rate. And it’s basically just a fancy new reporting system with more door-knocking involved. At some point, I ask if tracting might not be…well, you know the rest. It went down like a load of bricks. Two other senior elders publicly ridiculed me and basically called me lazy. Hales was giving me the eye the whole time.
Later, because I’m a groveling idiot, I approached Hales in the hallway and asked if he had a moment. He started to walk off, mumbling something about having somewhere to go and basically making clear that the last thing he was going to do was waste his time with someone like me. So I just started talking. I said calmly that I had been a dedicated missionary and that I didn’t understand how there could be such animosity toward me. His reply was that I needed to work harder at having the spirit.
The following week, I’m in Frankfurt, Germany with my mom, who grew up there. We’re visiting relatives on the way home from the mission. I once spent a summer here when I was 17, and ever since then I’ve thought it would be cool to find a job here and live for a while. Maybe even go to college here.
Well, as fate would have it, I hear though the grapevine about a possible job at the Church’s European Headquarters, which happens to be in Frankfurt. So I call, and the personnel director is interested. He interviews me and ends up offering me a job. So three weeks later, I’m back in Germany. Now remember, the big boss here is--you guessed it--Elder Hales. And he sees me in the hallway. He doesn’t greet me, but he goes to the personnel director and tells him that I will not be working there.
When I ask the personnel director to give me an explanation, he suggests that I talk to Elder Hales myself and sends me down the hall. The secretary lets me in, and Hales has me come into his office. I sit down.
His first question is: What are you doing here? So I explain that I have roots here. He is not impressed.
I end up getting a lecture that amounts to this: I have no business “returning to my mission field.” (I try to explain that Germany and Austria are actually two entirely different countries and not the same mission at all. This doesn’t work.) My place is in the States. I need to be married within a year.
He asks: “Do you realize that if you are here, and you get married like you’re supposed to, that you will likely end up marrying a German?”
At this point my heart is beating very fast. Not only does this guy seem to be suggesting that there is something wrong with Germans, but he is telling me where to live, when to get married, who to marry (or, not marry), and where I will work (or, not work). The whole thing smacks of totalitarianism. He thinks he can order me around like I was still a missionary, like he still owned me. My mouth is dry, and my thoughts are like a cassette tape getting pulled out and left on the floor in a tangled mess.
Then this realization rises from deep inside: some 40 years earlier, in a place very near here, my grandfather would have felt the same way, as the Fuhrer ordered him into the Reichsarmee to fight a perverse war for a criminal, totalitarian regime. His last words to his young family, when they told him to “come back soon,” were: “The good men don’t come back, only the bad.” I know he meant this as a joke, but at this moment, sitting in front of this man who claims to have total authority over me, it cuts me to the bone.
Postscript: I left the Mormon Cult not long after this incident. I stayed in Germany for another six years. They were some of the “best years of my life” and that is truly one of the best decisions I ever made. I eventually enrolled in the Polytechnic University in Frankfurt and received a degree in architecture. Today I have a thriving practice and I love my profession. And yes, I got married in Germany–but to a Dutch girl, so I guess that’s o.k. :)
Mr. Hales has gone on to become an Apostle and who knows–maybe he’ll be the “prophet” one day!
| This weekend, Hale's conference message was to pay your tithing - even if you don't have a job.
Hales was in charge of Western European missions in 1979 and 1980. He came to my mission (France Toulouse) and was brutal to the missionaries in a couple conferences. He told us we were the worst missionaries in the worst mission of the world because we had so few baptisms. His attacks went too far though. Even the most valiant, dutiful missionaries spoke harshly of him from then on because his attacks were so hateful and unfair.
I went to a missionary reunion in about 2001 where I spoke to a former co-missionary, who is still extremely TBM, and who was AP in the mission when asshole Hales came through our mission on his tirade. This TBM said that when Hales was called to be an apostle in 1994, he had a hard time sustaining the bastard in his heart.
Another TBM former co-missionary, who happened to be the AP companion of the other AP I just mentioned, contributed an experience recently on our mission's website that he met Hales when he presided at some conference in Northern California a few years back. He told Hales that he had been a missionary in the France Toulouse Mission back in 1979 when Hales came through the mission. Hales got a sheepish look on his face and acknowledged to him that he knew he had been "a bit" harsh, and wondered what the missionaries thought of him. I'm sure they laughed if off just as only a couple guys from "The Good 'Ol Boys' Club" can do, but Hales has to know deep down that he is a prick.
I know I will never think of him in any other way.
| Here is this gem:
"The foundation of provident living is the law of the tithe. The primary purpose of this law is to help us develop faith in our Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ. Tithing helps us overcome the desire for the things of this world and willingly make sacrifices for others. Tithing is the great equitable law, for no matter how rich or how poor we are, all of us pay the same one-tenth of our increase annually. And all of us receive blessings so great that there shall not be room enough to receive them. In addition our tithes should become an example with the payment of fast offerings. A fast offering is at least the cost of two consecutive meals for which we fast each month. By not eating these two meals, we draw close to the Lord in humility, and prayer, and participate in anonymous giving to bless our brothers and sisters all over the world."
Fear, uncertainty, and doubt ... oh my.
Duh, really? Good thing we have prophets to tell us that.
"Provident living" seems to be one of the new LDS buzzwords. I lost count of how many times he used some variation of it. My favorites were "provident providers" and "providently provide."
Tithing. Yup, times are harder than ever. Most important first message out of the gate is ... pay the church more! (50 points for those playing Prophecy Bingo, the home game.)
For most of my life I've thought we should be taxed "fairly" like tithing. Everyone pay, you know, the same percentage. Seems fair. But there's another way to look at it that helps me understand "progressive" taxation and likewise why tithing is not fair: for the person making 'poverty wage,' donating 10% means cutting into the budget for food, shelter, education. For the uber-wealthy, donating 10% means having one less vacation mansion. A flat percentage does not have an equitable effect on the people.
| Quotes from GC Sat PM session, Robert D Hales (hells bells Bobby)
..."Atheism is spreading fast." Hip hip hooray!
..."Without God there'd be no immortality or eternal life." And without unicorns, there'd be no magic rides or psychedelic rainbows. :(
..."God and Jesus have bodies, with parts like ours." Does that include *every* part and member? Now why would God need an anus--does he create waste (besides TSCC)?
..."As the 11th article of faith states...let them worship how, what and where they may." But he decries atheism and is upset that they deny god.
..."Korihor was not content merely to reject god and go his own way, he mocked the believers." Kinda like Hales is mocking the unbelievers in the same breath.
..."Most of us won't see god as the profits have." Right, because we're all so equal and god is no respecter of persons. But the profits are more than equal and more than respected.
I think the concept of Korihor is interesting. Joe smith starts out the story with Alma working for his own living, not living off of the people--what a wonderfully selfless prophet and leader--and a discussion of how the people have freedom because they are equal and can believe as they want.
Korihor denies the traditions and beliefs and challenges Alma to show a sign. Alma responds with the usual "Faith first" diatribe and that Korihor has signs enough because he has the prophets and their testimony. And that he is an evil person for not trusting these "signs".
In other words, the people are not equal, nor do they really have signs. They just have to trust Alma. Alma has the signs, so quit challenging!
And slick joe smith uses a straw man--Korihor alleges that Alma is just gluttoning himself off of the labor of the people, when the reader already knows Alma is perfect--now they distrust Korihor. When he's struck dumb and confesses being led by satan, the reader is led to believe that questioning is only subterfuge by those in satan's control, and ultimately ends badly for the devil's henchmen. It's better to trust the profit, as they have the power.
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