Thanks for letting me share.

“it’s Hollywood”

Please tell me this is a joke. Just Hollywood? Ok, maybe people of the church can make an educated distinction (spelling?) between real practice and false. The thing is, those who don’t know alot about it… don’t know what to believe, what is real, what is “hollywood”. Watch a movie on any other religion. And sit and decide what’s real, what’s “hollywood”. Then talk to someone of that faith. Even if you get ONE thing wrong it changes the whole view of the religion.

Satan never just flat out tells people false doctrine. He mixes it with the truth. If I tell you, Christ never lived, you won’t believe me. There is way to much documintation (spelling?) to prove you other wise. but if I tell you, Christ wasn’t the son of God, you’re more likely to believe it, i’m not saying he didn’t live, i’m telling you something slightly off. Satan works the same way. So does hollywood. It’s for your “enjoyment”.

“The world is already laughing at us”
…. So? what’s wrong with that? People laughed at Enstien. People laughed at Joseph Smith. People laughed at Christ. Isn’t it an honor to be in the same category?(spelling?)

Hopefully HBO & Tom Hanks can initiate their viewing audience into Mormon covenants by airing the initiatory washings and anointings… The ultimate in proxy ritual!

Why?

If no one there had a mormon backgroud, the show would make even less sense!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dustin_Lance_Black

The mistakes were few, one the worker used the mallet the wrong way up and it was clear that Barb didn’t have a recommend but got to borrow one from either her sister or mother, but then all three women were there in the celestial room together! Plus it is abundantly clear to all who see this episode that Barb and the polygamists are hiding from the church and when discovered they will face excommunication. Even that part is done respectfully, clearly showing that they ask politely and only after she confirms it do they move to hold a disciplinary council (albeit incorrectly stated that its the stake when for a women its done at the bishopric level)

If anyone was poorly portrayed it that crazy sister of Barb who told the Bishop. She’s about as good a relative as the unabomber’s brother!

And so, we are once again a peculiar people. Is that such a bad thing?

Do we know who this consultant is? Is he getting his information from the Tannerites or Deckerites?

I have a bad feeling about this- I think it may be the worst public relations disaster for the Church since the old days of Mormon villains in dimeback novels during the late 19th Century.

“Certainly Church members are offended when their most sacred practices are misrepresented or presented without context or understanding…..”

Perhaps we (including leaders of the church) should re-read Elder Bednar’s October 2006 Conference Talk, “And Nothing Shall Offend Them.” Said he:

“When we believe or say we have been offended, we usually mean we feel insulted, mistreated, snubbed, or disrespected. And certainly clumsy, embarrassing, unprincipled, and mean-spirited things do occur in our interactions with other people that would allow us to take offense. However, it ultimately is impossible for another person to offend you or to offend me. Indeed, believing that another person offended us is fundamentally false. To be offended is a choice we make; it is not a condition inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something else.”

Remember the role he played in Philadelphia

Philadelphia (1993) Tom Hanks stars as

Andrew Beckett, a gay lawyer infected with AIDS, is fired from his conservative law firm in fear that they might contract AIDS from him. After Andrew is fired, in a last attempt for peace, he sues his former law firm with the help of a homophobic lawyer, Joe Miller. During the court battle, Miller sees that Beckett is no different than anyone else on the gritty streets of the city of brotherly love, sheds his homophobia and helps Beckett with his case before AIDS overcomes him.

As for using a show to grind a personal axe, that sort of thinking might seem realistic on a Mormon blog but it does not address the reality of how shows work or are made. A high level EP of a show makes a decision to trust the writers and the EPs who run the show, the scripts are written and approved by the network in advance and the ship sails from there. The job of coming up with scripts and story lines falls to specific individuals within the creative team, it would seriously compromise their integrity, their creative efforts and the integrity of the show to use the show as a tool for one individual’s peeve. This sort of thing matters a great deal to HBO as a network, and to the people who work on their shows. I know this from first hand experience.

Finally it really is the ultimate in “its all about us” thinking to believe that Hanks even knows enough about Mormons that he would understand how to offend us by using the temple in an episode of the show. They guy works in Hollywood, he is way too busy to spend his time researching how to offend Mormons!

Jeff – I have to disagree – at least from my anecdotal evidence. Any idea how many of my midwestern, average, thirty/forty-something coworkers have commented to me about episodes of Big Love? Interestingly, and perhaps thankfully, at least three of them have volunteered their general understanding that Big Love isn’t necessarily representative of the mainstream LDS church, to which they know I belong. I rarely watch TV and haven’t seen Big Love, but my friends have me intrigued.

LOL. And requests to join Facebook groups. I can’t wait for Sunday–not because I have HBO and plan on watching (I don’t), but because only then will I stop getting email and Facebook spam from family and friends.

This ought to be the concern of members, not whether they show it or not. Let Tom Hanks know that Mormons don’t like him anymore. That information and pictures about the TEeple are readily available on the Internet to anyone to see. You can always get a copy of the Godmakers.

I suspect the majority of folks who even watch the show are members, who would understand what is going on. the best course is to ignore, ignore, ignore.

BTW, has everyone been deluged by the emails yet?