Have you heard of the Mormons Exposed Return Missionary calender? Yes, No? Well, try not to believe everything you read on the internet. The unbiased story is that this guy got together a group of return missionaries and made a "hunk" calender with some of them topless or dressed in missionary garb(the first calendar featuring only men). He sold over 10,000 copies and is planning on doing more, even one including "hot Mormon mommies".The creator of the calender was ex-communicated from the church after his refusal to stop selling the item. The churches reasoning was that it was degrading the image of the church and the sacred calling of missionaries. Personally I think there is the additional and underlying problem that if this became a "thing" outside of the church, and Missionaries become something of a desirable sex symbol, then LDS missionaries would get a great deal more temptation from the opposite sex. Kind of our own Catholic School girl thing. And lets face it, missionaries are under enough "pressure" as it is. No need to add to it.
The rebuttal to, and argument as to why this guy didn't want to stop is that he felt like he was doing something good to enhance the image of the church and he didn't see anything wrong with it. In his comments he also stated the "real" truth to the excommunication: He has been distancing himself from the church for years and he simply considers this a divorce from the church, or a relationship "that didn't work out".
Watch this video and tell me if you think he is kind of gay and that is the real reason.
I know one of the guys that posed for this calendar. He and I grew up in the same ward. The kid was a tool then and even a bigger tool now. The creator of this rag is a homo and the RMs that posed for it are all tools that think they are doing good too. Lame excuse for trying to get back at all those people that called you anerd in school and all the girls that wouldn't give you the time of day. Grow a pair, value what you should have learned on your mission, and get your head back in the game.
ReplyDeleteWhen this story first broke, I had to raise an eyebrow. "The Church excommunicating over a calendar?!?" At that point, I kinda felt sorry for this guy.
ReplyDeleteBut then, as the details continued to emerge (he hadn't been active in the Church for years, wasn't observing his covenants, etc.), and the statements of the local Church that led you to believe that there was something much MUCH stranger in the wings. Comments that the whole calendar was a side issue that was mentioned in passing. (It was at this point that the ridiculous firestorm over Church-led censorship erupted.) I still felt a little bad about this guy being excommunicated.
Now? This guy's little more than a publicity-seeking turd. Wait, not even a full-blown turd; just a little turdling. I could not even watch the video all the way through.
Realize that HE is the only one that can say anything about what went on in the Church disciplinary meeting. He is the only one that HAS said anything. The Church authorities cannot and WILL not breathe a word of the reasoning behind the discipline.
I won't go so far as the above poster and label him a "homo" but I will admit most of my acquaintances questioned his orientation when the first calendar was released. (I mean, c'mon. A red-blooded American male thinks, "I'm going to produce a calendar. A beef-cake, man-meat calendar. Yeah...THAT'LL be a moneymaker!" and you expect me to believe that his eye isn't wandering over the other team?
Ahem.
At this point, any shred of sympathy I had for this guy is gone. He has a beef against the Church now. A vendetta. He's going to milk this now for all the money and free calendar-shilling publicity he can get.
Ugh. The phrase "Mormon missionary man-meat" just went through my head.
ReplyDeleteI think I threw up in my mouth just a little.
[koff] [koff]
I like you Iguana Montana. Good head on your shoulders. Sorry for the throw up in your mouth.
ReplyDeleteI just wonder how many of these calenders are up on the walls of the BYU sorority houses and if that would be a violation of the BYU honor code.
There is certainly no shortage of idots in the world!
ReplyDeleteThanks, James....
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point: How many are hanging in Heritage Halls?
And how many rationalize it: "It's OK. He's LDS!"
I think Hot Mormon Mommies might have played a significant part in the reason he was X'd. If I were on that counsel, where he was heading with his next products would probably be more concerning than where he'd been. What sanctities he would be treading on with his Hot Mormon Mommies calendar (or Hot Mormon Young Women, then what Priests, etc).
ReplyDeleteIf he went on with his business un-X'd, it would give an impression of church tolerance of his actions, of his products, and provide a rationale (albeit faulty) that his products are harmless.
This in turn would propel the further degradation of the spirit and heritage of this people (I don't mean 'popular mormon culture'), it would demean our women (and yes, we do have many beauties!) and objectify them and contribute to yet another of many channels by which our men and young could (as well as some of our women and young women) be subjected to unproductive thoughts and attitudes that are simply antithetical to righteousness and the way of the Gospel in regards to our people and our behaviors.