A queer anarchist Mormon from Southern Finland. Late 30s, convert, returned missionary, married and sealed in the temple, less active but haven't lost faith.
So there is this early Christian text called Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity. Vibia Perpetua was a well educated noblewoman and Felicity was a slave woman. They were both converts to Christianity and for that they were executed in Carthage in military games, along with a few others, in the year 203. The text is generally considered by researchers to be historical, as in, Vibia Perpetua actually wrote it herself.
Perpetua was a visionary, and when she prayed she received visions. And one time in prison she prayed for her brother Dinocrates, who had died of cancer when he was seven. She then saw a vision of him and she was really distressed. Then she kept praying over the course of several days, and eventually received a new vision.
In the first vision Dinocrates is in a gloomy place, his face is all messed up from the cancer like it was when he died, his clothes are all raggedy, etc, and there is a pool of water with a high wall around that he can't reach to drink from.
In the second vision the place is no longer gloomy, his face has a healed scar where the wound was, his clothes are clean and good, etc. And the wall around the pool is now lower and there is a goblet he can use to drink. And he drinks and drinks and the goblet doesn't fail, and when he has had his fill, he goes to play joyously.
Catholics throughout history have had a hard time with this, because it seems like Perpetua was able to pray so hard that an unbaptised child was able to go to Heaven. A monk calles Renatus thought that maybe it means that unbaptised children do get to go to Paradise if not Heaven; Augustus was all like nah, Dinocrates must have been baptised as a child but then estranged from Christ due to his pagan father.
But in light of Mormon doctrine it is really beautiful. Perpetua was shown what the situation is like without the sacrifice of Christ (no access to the living waters, eternal suffering for innocent children) and then what it is with the sacrifice of Christ (innocent children under the age of accountability have access to the living water and shall not suffer). The vision was given her to comfort her in her worry over her unbaptised kid brother.
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You can read the entire text over at Wikisource. The text isn't fully written by Perpetua, there is an editor at the beginning and the end, and one of the male martyrs has one "chapter" (although there is some disagreement whether he actually wrote it or did the editor change one of Perpetua's visions to be given to a man for patriarchy reasons, lest it is only the woman who is visionary). The part about Dinocrates is in Argument II, but the whole text is really interesting and not very long. I think it could be extra interesting for many straight Mormon women, because Felicity is pregnant and Perpetua has a young child she is breastfeeding, so there are all sorts of very physical motherhood-related things in the story.
(Sorry about the mobile links, hope they convert to desktop links if needed.)
If you ever get the chance, I really recommend buying one of those editions that mimic the layout of the first printings of the BOM, where it wasn't divided into verses to mimic the layout of the Bible. Like its just a book, just like the way the early saints read it:
Penguin classics has a paperback version. It's just, a really different experience, 10/10 would recommend.
Do conservative Mormons really not know that the rest of the religious right doesn’t consider them Christians? Dude the Pat Robertson crowd didn’t even accept Catholics until like the 1980-1990s, and they still don’t like them that much. You might as well be a Jain as far as they’re concerned
Hi! So I was kind of wondering on if you or anyone in tumblr stake had advice on what to do if garments feel overstimulating? Is there a specific type/fabric that helps with that???
From the standard fabric options, I understand the most recommended fabrics are Stretch Cotton or Cotton-Poly because they offer breathability and minimize synthetic irritation.
One option that may work for you is to buy looser garments and wear something else under them. Garments do not have to touch your skin. Many members have been told by others that this is not allowed so I'm including screen shots from the Handbook
Another thing most members don't know is that if standard options cause severe irritation, the Church provides special-order garments tailored for medical or sensory needs.
Distribution Global Services: 1-800-537-5971
They’ll verify that you’ve been endowed first, but then they’ll walk you through all of the options available. I've heard they are very helpful. For example, I've heard of them having the seams sewn so they are on the outside not inside.
You are supposed to feel comfortable in your garments, so don’t be afraid to do what it takes to get there.
As of this writing there are women in the LDS church who hold the priesthood.
Women who received the priesthood when they converted and joined the church.
Women who received the priesthood during their time in the young men's program.
If God had had a problem with those women receiving the priesthood, He would have given revelation about it to the relevant leaders in the church organisation. But He didn't. Because He doesn't.
Trans women are women, and transitioning does not invalidate your priesthood.
Young Women age groups are getting new names to reflect divine identity, spiritual dignity and progression, the First Presidency announced.
Gang, how are we feeling about the new YW names? (for those who don't want to click on the link, the new names are Builders of Faith, Messengers of Hope, Gatherers of Light. similar first letters to the old three-name system)
See, I think we need class names. This past week my ward had a fundraiser and I kept yelling out "DEACONS" when I needed them to do something for me but meanwhile I had to call each beehive by name when I had something for them to do. It woulda been way easier to just call them beehives.
HOWEVER
The new names are too long, too generic, and just don’t roll off the tongue. I am not a fan at all
There is this great Christian Anarchist book called "If Not Empire, What?" that looks at the relationship of different Biblical figures to the empires that ruled them at the time. It's really varied, of course, since it's thousands of years of history, so some prophets are politically aligned with the empire of their time, some are misaligned, and some are straight up against the empire.
But I love the observation that Jesus Christ was put to death by the empire -- which is the worst thing that the empire can do to us -- and God brought him back to life.
Checkmate, empire.
And it applies to us too.
The empire tells us: if you don't obey me, I will kill you.
God tells us: if they kill you, I will bring you back to life eternal.
Growing up in an evangelical Christian home, my family was invested in...
"Jesus, like myself and many other trans people, knew who he was from the start. I like to think of Easter as a time for Jesus to celebrate others coming into that knowledge as well."
"I have also come to view Easter as a time to celebrate my struggle to accept and resurrect my own trans life, year after year, letting go of the old and welcoming the truth."
I left the church but a lot of queer active mormons in my experience use an internal justification of participation in the church under the theological justification that the personal revelation that they have received (that being queer is ok)
I don't want to deny peoples lived experiences especially people who still have a relationship with any kind of higher power (something I have long since lost the ability to believe in) but isn't it a major article of faith among mormons (in the colloquial sense rather than the Articles of Faith) that the prophet's connection with deity is "higher" than that of the average person and that therefore the prophets statements (that being queer is not ok) carry a stronger validity than an individual persons statements? If the prophets were wrong then that would imply that at some point from Joseph Smith to today the priesthood chain was broken and the current prophets arent valid? (espousing some kind of mormon sedevacantism (which I could probably get being tbh))
Thank you for your time.
The LDS church officially teaches that the leader of the church isn’t infallible, but also teaches that the prophet will never lead the church astray. Those two ideas are in conflict with each other.
I think a lot of Mormons resolve this by thinking of the president of the church as being a person who may make mistakes in his personal life, but also as having a direct line to god so therefore everything he pronounces about church teachings, policies, and governance perfectly reflects the mind and will of god.
Queer people in this church are thrust into a faith crisis because they find what’s been taught about queer folks doesn’t match their own lived experience. They didn’t choose to be queer, no matter their best efforts they were unable to pray away their queerness, and they don’t believe they are an abomination or enemy to god simply for existing. And they may even have their own answer to prayer that god loves them as they are.
The overwhelming majority of gay and trans people leave this church. Of those who stay, some continue to hold to the belief that although they couldn’t change their sexual orientation or gender identity, they still must conform to the church’s teachings on how to live, including marriage and children. And then for the rest of us, we accept that the prophets have been wrong about queer people. It also opens us to being willing to acknowledge they’ve also been wrong about many things, such as the restrictions of the priesthood & temple to black people until 1978 or the limitations on women’s leadership.
If queer people can see the prophet as imperfect and that there’s a history of getting things wrong, why would they stay?
If someone wants to have a belief in god and experience the community of church with other believers, they have to accept there’s no perfect church or institution. Most have a history that’s racist, anti-queer, and severely restrictive of women. Just like the world around them, progress has to be made towards equality with some are further along than others.
Thanks to this ask, I learned a new word, sedevacantism, which is a Catholic movement that believes since the 1958 death of Pius XII the occupiers of the Holy See are not valid popes due to their espousal of one or more heresies and that, for lack of a valid pope, the See of Rome is vacant. I don’t know that queer Mormons completely dismiss the president of the church in that same way, but we are much more willing to question what he preaches and accept sometimes he gets it wrong. We can see past progress and hope future progress will occur. Meanwhile the LDS church also teaches personal revelation and so we can remain in church while also having personal answers for ourselves.
I know that comes across as being a cafeteria Mormon, choosing those things we want and not the things we don’t, but whether they admit it or not I think most believers have that sort of attitude to some extent, otherwise churches would never change and progress.
For me personally, I think the higher Christian teachings are beautiful that we are to love and take care of each other, that god views us all as equal with none better than others, and we have an obligation to assist those who are marginalized and vulnerable such as the poor, the widows and orphans, foreigners and refugees, people with physical and mental disabilities, the aged, the sick, and so on, including those oppressed by society. I can find value in these efforts to do good while also acknowledging there are problems. I choose to work for those things while being inside this church.
The LDS belief in ongoing revelation gives it an important tool to progress and get better, the things which are right with this church have the ability to fix the things which are wrong with it. Queer folks who remain force church members to see the dissonance in church teachings and restrictions on us even though Christ said we are to love and none of us are better than others. People love their queer children and friends. How can a fair and just god want lesser things for queer people? How can god make queer people and then not account for them in God’s plan? This is what leads to change
I've always heard the term "buffet mormon" (instead of cafeteria), and I honestly think everyone is actually a buffet/cafeteria mormon. Everyone explains things away for themselves. Like, most mormons eat meat despite the word of wisdom being actually pretty clear that you shouldn't - it's just one that is explained away so commonly that people don't even realise they are being cafeteria about it.
I prefer the term buffet for the reason that the word itself recognises the fact that everyone is a buffet mormon, and there isn't really any other way to be. After all a buffet is all you can eat, not you can eat all.
Someone in your online writing group says he's working on a story with a Mormon character. You say that you're a Mormon, and happily answer his questions about different points of doctrine and policy and history. Partway through what you thought had been a positive, productive Q&A, someone else interrupts to tell you that you're upsetting the first person. You stop, of course. And you never bring it up again.
Someone crashes his truck into a meetinghouse full of your coreligionists, unleashes his automatic rifles, and burns the building to the ground. You are home, distant from the horror—but not too distant; a sibling's coworker's family might have been there. The TV continues in the background; further press conferences keep getting announced with further incremental updates. The harrowing stories trickle in. You flip over to social media on your phone. A post is circulating with some hefty traction: a reminder to everyone watching the news unfold that the leaders of the church recently filed a brief in opposition to transgender rights (a move you vehemently disagree with); don't feel too bad for them. The one who reposted it onto your timeline is an artist you admire. Your sibling's coworker can't get in contact with her parents.
It's a normal, ordinary day. A good one, even, regardless of the fact that you're at work. You have a spare moment, and pop open a fandom group chat. Someone is joking around about prudish fandom cop behavior. Your thumb hovers over the appropriate concurrent emoji reaction until you hit the end of the comment: "Go back to your Mormon farmhouse, lmao." You already know how this will play out if you say anything about it. You'll be a buzzkill, it was only a joke, what, are you one of them? why? don't you know what they believe about this and that and this? why do you support that? Never mind that you have been working for most of your life trying to improve your corner of the faith in the ways you can, because you know it's flawed, you know it does things that are wrong, and you want it to live up to its promises. Never mind that you and them have largely the same progressive political views; as soon as they know, none of whatever else you've said or done will matter. You close the chat.
You know full well that your faith, as a Christian sect, enjoys all of the many privileges of being part of the largest religion in the world. You face none of the often violent oppression that non-Christian faiths do. What room do you have to complain?
You also know that there has never been a moment in the past two hundred years your faith has been around that it's not been an acceptable target of mockery, or politics, or violence, or fear, or suspicion.
You type out the Tumblr post. You close your eyes, already knowing you'll get the exact same reactions you've just illustrated. You're so tired.
There are just some mormon phrases that are too useful that people not hip with the lingo just don't get.
Like, "Hey boss, I haven't finished this report because I was hit with a stupor of thought," is way different then "Hey boss, I didn't finish this report because I just couldn't write it."
The first implies that you fought with it (and were attacked by dark forces intent on your destruction) and the second is the work equivalent of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .
Not sure if this is more of a Finnish people don't know it than non-Mormons don't know it, but "being off program" (OP in my mission slang) is a good and useful word, and I don't even know what all else you could say, other than "shouldn't do that" (which sounds judgy).
Got a lot on my mind right now, but I wanna talk a little bit about Helmuth Hübener.
Helmuth Hübener - Wikipedia
Helmuth is best known to history as the youngest member of the German antifascist resistance to be executed by the Nazi regime — after a coworker ratted him out for composing and distributing anti-Nazi leaflets, Helmuth was convicted of high treason, stripped of his civil rights, tortured in prison, and finally beheaded at the age of seventeen. Nowadays, Helmuth is remembered as a hero for not just resisting the Nazis, but for purposely drawing their ire during his trial in a successful effort to spare his two best friends from being executed alongside him.
One important thing to know about Helmuth was his religious denomination: in addition to being a literal Boy Scout, Helmuth was a devout Mormon, and a lot of his radicalization against the Nazis can be directly attributed to his faith. While Helmuth was required by law to join the Hitler Youth, he quit the organization entirely after the events of Kristallnacht in 1938; when his local church banned Jews from attending, Helmuth and his friends radicalized even further in support of their Jewish neighbors. By caring for those around him, and showing a firm dedication to the truth, Helmuth showed himself to be a truly good person.
But was he a good Mormon? Well, that’s complicated.
Mormonism is a sect of Christianity that teaches not just religious tolerance as a core value, but that God’s greatest gift to humanity was the power of personal agency, and the capacity to discern between right and wrong. Upon applying those principles to the world around him, Helmuth realized that the truth behind antisemitism was to render the German people “spineless puppets” that would do the bidding of those in power. Even those that remained merely neutral to the Nazi regime were tools for the elites to utilize — though Helmuth estimated that just seven of the region’s two thousand Mormons were outright supportive of the Nazi party, those seven Mormon Nazis were able to do a lot of harm because not enough people bothered to push back against them.
Indeed, the local Mormon population had been advised to do quite the opposite: when LDS prophet Heber J Grant visited Germany in 1937, he advised the local Mormons to “obey the law of the land”, out of fear that they may draw Hitler’s ire if they rocked the boat too much. As such, Hübener and his friends were perceived as dangerous rabble-rousers for speaking out against the Nazis, even if much of the local Mormon population may have privately disagreed with the Third Reich. After Helmuth’s arrest, Mormon branch president Arthur Zander (a proud Nazi supporter who had banned Jews from entering LDS meetinghouses) bragged about excommunicating Helmuth from the church for his crimes; while Helmuth’s membership was retroactively and posthumously reinstated after the fall of the Nazi Regime, it is worth noting that the decision was not only highly unorthodox for the time, but also went publicly unchallenged by much of the local church leadership until after they believed they could oppose the Nazis without consequence.
As someone who was raised Mormon, I remember Helmuth Hübener being held up as a symbol of what a good Mormon was: someone who was brave, kind-hearted, and willing to stand against evil even when he would be left standing alone. But as I got older and read about the circumstances behind his case, I had a chilling realization: Helmuth was only a good Mormon in hindsight. Helmuth refused to respect authority, insisted on rocking the boat, and was ultimately executed for refusing to back down from his beliefs. By the standards of his day, Helmuth was a very bad Mormon, one bad enough to be excommunicated from his religion; in comparison, Arthur Zander the Nazi was a good Mormon, one who respected the law of the land, and who was willing to defend his faith from dangerous upstarts like Helmuth that threatened its sanctity.
Of course, this isn’t exactly the only time this has happened in humanity’s history: very few heroes are recognized as such in their own time. After all, Jesus himself was executed on grounds of terrorism, thanks in no small part to his destruction of a sacred temple’s marketplace.
I’m gonna take a slight segue for a bit, but I promise this is relevant. In the Book of Mormon, the prophet Lehi recounts to his family a vision of the Tree of Life, a spiritual construct that grants perfect knowledge to any that consume its fruit. In the vision, the path to the Tree is treacherous, and the only surefire way to reach it is by holding fast to a great iron handrail. During their travels, those that seek the Tree of Life are mocked by the inhabitants of what Lehi describes as “a great and spacious building”; said inhabitants revel in self-righteous luxury, and taunt the journeyers in an effort to entice them to enter the building.
Growing up Mormon in the state of Idaho, I remember often being taught that the great and spacious building represented the temptations of the World, and that we must learn to reject its clarion call to focus solely on that iron rod. But as I got older, I started to notice that most of the mockery and taunting I heard about my beliefs came from other Mormons — not all of the other Mormons, mind you, but enough of them. There was a culture of self-reliance there that had slowly shifted into self-assuredness, with folks so confident in their own faith that they knew to deflect any thoughts that may shake what they believed to be true. They were good Mormons, and good Mormons don’t rock their own boats. After all those years of fearing those in the great and spacious building, very few of us had considered the possibility that we were already comfortably living inside of it.
So do I think Helmut Hübener was a bad Mormon? No, I don’t. But I also don’t think he was a good Mormon, either. I think he was a good person that happened to be a Mormon, and that Arthur Zander was a bad person who happened to be a Mormon. That’s not to say that their religion didn’t matter, though — rather, I believe that the lesson here is that religious affiliation by itself is a neutral trait. Organized religion is a vessel for faith, but we are the ones who choose how it shapes us.
There is not a single religion on this Earth that will make you a good person just by belonging to it, or one that can justify and absolve every action you commit in its name — if your religion says that is the case, then I’d highly recommend looking at it with a more critical eye. There are very good people in this world who are Christian, and there are very bad people who are Christian as well. The same is true for Muslims, Jews, Hindis, Buddhists, atheists, Sikhs, Scientologists, Wiccans, Pastafarians, and even Mormons, not to mention every other religion and non-religion I didn’t rattle off there. And on a much more serious note, believe me when I say that there will never be a religion so good and true, nor a people’s suffering so great, that a genocide can be justified. I was raised Mormon, and I know our history: the early Mormons were driven into the American West via an extermination order placed against them by the US government, only for a wicked man to exploit their fears and convince them to exterminate and enslave others in turn. Believing that your situation is unique is a surefire way to ensure that you make the exact same mistakes that echo throughout human history.
If I learned anything from Helmuth Hübener, it’s that it is not enough to merely politely disagree with evil when it’s safe to do so — evil must be fought actively, and openly recognized for the danger that it is. To misquote Edmund Burke, “the only thing needed for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Helmut may have died, but he died fighting to do something good. So what about us? Have we done any good in the world today? Because if not… let’s get on that, and damn the consequences of rocking the boat. I’d rather die as a good person like Helmuth, than live as a good puppet like Zander. Wouldn’t you?
