Pompous, Petty and Infantile

First Pres

Dear Stake President,

I hope this missive finds you well as our beautiful spring weather is about to fade into summer’s heat.

Over the past few years, I have sent you several letters that I hoped would be passed up the chain of priesthood authority.  So far, I have not heard any word in response.  I’d like to know to whom you forwarded my communications.

Below you will find a new letter that I’ve written to the apostles.

This is actually my 4th letter to them.  The first one was entrusted to your care several months ago.  The next 2 were printed as full page spreads in the Salt Lake Tribune and the Ogden Standard Examiner.  The ads in the paper cost me a total of $25,000.  Hopefully, this one will only cost me time.  Please forward it to them.

BTW, I’d love to sit down with you and reopen discussions on changes we should make in our stake.

All my best,

Sam

Dear Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,

Although, I don’t believe that you are pompous, petty and infantile, it appears that some highly respected members do.  At least, that’s the way I interpret what they are saying. 

Listen to this quote from a prominent and renowned member:

“If you want to change the church, it’s possible to do that at the grass roots level.   That’s what I call trickle up revelation.  It’s an important force, maybe one of the most important forces in the church.  The one thing that you can absolutely guarantee is that a frontal assault on the brethren or even the perception of that will cause them to dig in.  You have to be politically savvy.”

No matter how something is brought to a person’s attention, if it’s the right thing to do, we do it.  To dig in and stall if the other party is not “politically savvy” reflects a pompous, petty and infantile attitude. 

I believe that you have the opposite approach, the one described by Elder David A. Bednar in the recent General Conference.

He instructed us in the Christ-like quality of meekness.

“A distinguishing characteristic of meekness is a particular spiritual receptivity to learning both from the Holy Ghost and from people who may seem less capable, experienced, or educated, who may not hold important positions.

Meekness is the principal protection from the prideful blindness that often arises from prominence, position, power, wealth, and adulation.”

What a great quote.  Of all people, certainly the apostles must have the quality of meekness in spades. 

Elder Bednar described me perfectly:  less experienced and holds no important position.  And he goes on to say that the meek have the spiritual receptivity to learn from politically inept people like me.

And who needs the personal protection that comes from possessing meekness?  Those of prominence, position, wealth and adulation.  That fits you, my friends, to a tee.  According to this potent conference talk, you are susceptible to the blindness that often arises from prominence, position, wealth and adulation.

I am cheered by the insightful teachings of Elder Bednar.  It’s encouraging that you are meek and willing to listen and do what’s right no matter how severe my ineptness is.  The meek learn from the incompetent and do what’s right because it’s the right thing to do.

The pompous, petty and infantile dig in to protect their prominence, position and adulation.  Fortunately, that can’t possibly describe you.

By now, you should know that I represent the 56,000 people who signed the petition that was delivered to you on March 30th.  I, along with 1,000 other members and former members, also presented a book for each and every one of you.  Irene Caso accepted them on your behalf.  The books contain “Sacred Stories of Sacred Children.”  They detail the egregious damage that our current interview policies are causing. 

I trust that you have read many of the stories and are horrified at what we are doing to our kids.  Let’s make the changes now before any more children are hurt. 

This is an urgent matter.  Every week more and more of our children are harmed.

It’s high time that we put into place state-of-the-art protections.  Every other church and youth serving organization already has. 

It’s high time that we protect our bishops.  Our policy puts them in the cross hairs of temptation and false accusations.  Their liability grows everyday.

It’s also high time that we protect the good name of the church.  Certainly, you must know that everybody outside of the church views our practice with disgust.  Our growth in the U.S. has slowed to a crawl.  Continuing our outdated protocol will drag it down even further.  And what about the Church’s liability?  In today’s environment, you have to realize how vulnerable our church has become.

Here are the 2 changes that tens of thousands of us support you in making.

1)  Eliminate one-on-one interviews.
2) Forbid sexually explicit questions from being asked of our children.

These simple changes will protect our children, protect our leaders and protect the good name of our church.

Love and best wishes,

Sam Young and 56,475 concerned friends of our children

What Can You Do Now?

Help bolster our army of thundering lions.  Our petition currently has 20,161 signatures.   Our next goal is 30,000.  Care2 also has a petition that has garnered over 36,000 signatories.  Between them both our total is over 56,000 strong.

If you haven’t already, Sign the Petition.

If you can, Share the Petition….again.

Every week that goes by, children continue to be egregiously harmed behind bishop’s closed doors in Mormon churches all around the world.

IT’S.TIME.TO.PULVERIZE.THIS.POLICY.

Links

Sign the Petition

 

 

7 thoughts on “Pompous, Petty and Infantile

  1. Thanks for all you are doing, Sam! I agree 100%. Penni

    On Thu, Apr 12, 2018 at 9:35 AM, Tocubit Is Invisible’s Cubit wrote:

    > Sam Young posted: ” Dear Stake President, I hope this missive finds you > well as our beautiful spring weather is about to fade into summer’s heat. > Over the past few years, I have sent you several letters that I hoped would > be passed up the chain of priesthood authority. ” >

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Absolutely spot on. My husband (a never Morman) are both police officers. He has been listening to your morman stories interviews he is appalled by the things the children have been asked. I was ask about masterbation when I was 12. He told me if any bishop asked any of his children those questions he would have had a 1on 1 with the bishop that the bishop would never forget.
    What makes me mad is if a woman was a single parent and talked to the bishop I don’t feel a woman would carry any weight with the bishop to stop the questioning because of the leaderships attitude about women.
    Thanks for everything Sam.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Do church leaders use pretexts or legal remedies to hide bad behavior in order to maintain their claim that a church has a good name? Why do leaders insist they need to protect the “good name” of something when it’s an automatic consequence of health and integrity? Perhaps the good name of something is not in its label, yet in the actions of its members and leadership. In my view, the good name of a church is simply the result of noble deeds that are evident, and comes out of a value system that promotes human flourishing and well being. This includes honesty, taking adequate corrective actions, responsibility, and acknowledging when leaders make mistakes or commit gross immoralities. It seems some leaders use indifference, lies of omission, obfuscation, gaslighting, spin, and smear tactics in order to hide its bad fruits under the façade of “the good name of the church.”

    Liked by 3 people

  4. Powerful letter, Sam!

    A compelling follow-up to the March, and a strong signal that you are not going away anytime soon.

    Gotta ask you if this sentence was a typo, or intentionally clever:

    “Fortunately, that can’t possibly describe not you.”

    The double negative = “Fortunately, that possibly describes you.”

    Was that a Freudian slip … where you accidentally spoke the truth?

    Many of your readers, including yours truly, do not share (or believe) your obsequiously generous characterization of the core values of The Brethren.

    No offense to pigs, but anyone can put some lipstick on a pig, and then tell her how beautiful she is.

    (Really … my apologies to all pigs. Your mothers all love you and think you are both cute and smart … with or without the lipstick.)

    The Brethren continue to paint themselves in their True Colors. In their case, Silence is a Color.

    I am SO PROUD of you, Sam! The reality that I even crossed your path, let alone became your friend, literally humbles me to tears.

    You inspire me to become the very best version of myself, as you have done with yourself, right before our very eyes.

    Liked by 1 person

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