Mormon Fighting to End Youth Interviews Ousted from Faith
Published September 16
Sam Young reacts after reading a letter detailing his excommunication proceedings from the Mormon Church during a news conference Sunday, Sept. 16, 2018, near Temple Square, in Salt Lake City. Young, a Mormon man who led a campaign criticizing the church’s practice of allowing closed-door, one-on-one interviews of youth by lay leaders has been kicked out of the faith. Young, a 65-year-old lifelong Mormon, becomes the third high-profile member of the faith who led protests about church policy to be excommunicated in recent years. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
A little history lesson here: if you get ex-communicated from the Mormon church…. oh man you’re in trouble. (my facetious voice here)
The LDS church has a few levels of life after death:
- The Celestial Kingdom (3rd Heaven) – those who have been righteous, accepted the teachings and made and lived up to all of the required ordinances and covenants. We’re talking holy underwear and secret handshakes all the way.
- The Terrestrial Kingdom (2nd Heaven) – those who lived respectably but “were blinded by the craftiness of men”. Living respectably undoubtedly means attending the temple, paying your compulsory tithe and not questioning authority.
- The Telestial Kingdom (1st Heaven) – the rest of us who haven’t received the ordinances and covenants. It will also include “liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers, and whore-mongers, and whosoever loves and makes a lie”. Just a little FYI on this one, in Mormon theology being resident in the telestial kingdom is not an unpleasant experience: “the glory of the telestial … surpasses all understanding”. That means it’s inhabitants include: Hitler, Stalin, Ann Frank, the millions killed in concentration camps in WW2, You, Me, and the Baptists.
- Outer Darkness (Hell) – Reserved for Satan, his minions, and those excommunicated from the church.
So what were reading in this article is that the leaders of the Mormon (LDS) Church have declared that Sam is going to Hell. Because without a “Temple Recommend” from your bishop and stake president, you’re pretty much done for.
I thought God was all knowing and Omnipresent. What on earth does he need a “recommendation” for?
Does this sound logical at all?
