September 6, 2023: Inequality and the collapse of civilization, Mormon's coopting the cross, Should Trump stand trial, New Covid shutdowns, What happened to the Republican Party?

Real Mormonism

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Two interesting thoughts from the mailbag.

One listener writes, “In response to the #exmormon topic… personally if find exmo’s some of the most annoying people to listen to and I’m sorry if that sounds harsh but that’s because ultimately i don’t believe their intentions are genuine. I believe those people are more interested in convincing themselves that the choice they made to leave the church, for whatever reason, was the right one. I feel like it’s almost comical that no one talks about the church more than someone who identifies themselves online as an Ex-Mormon does and that even includes members themselves. My typical reply to anyone trying to convince me that I should leave the church is echoes in similarity to Jeffrey R. Holland’s talk in general conference “Safety for the Soul”. I am the only active member of my family in the church (the rest are either inactive or left the church). I have never been able to convince anyone that my beliefs are correct. And I’ve never tried to. I’ve simply asked them that they respect my decision to stay in the church the same way I respect their decision to leave it. And I leave it at that.” I think that is often the best approach. What do you two think?

Another listener would like us to think about Peter Turchin’s argument that as empires grow, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. When this happens, conflict replaces cooperation and it leads to the downfall of civilization. He also points out an argument that Clayton Christensen made in a 2012 Deseret News article that “The New Church of Finance” is leading corporations to abandon empowering innovations focus on sustaining innovations and efficiency innovations. This is bad because sustaining and efficiency innovations do not help workers. Taken together, this suggests that not all innovation or wealth accumulation is good for society. Do we have a moral obligation to oppose innovation that is not good for everyone in society?

The Thought Provoker

First up, Shawn: Something super sneaky happened this week…the Church changed their icon on google maps from Moroni to a cross. Perhaps the idea behind changing the icon from Moroni to a cross is to more clearly communicate that the church is part of the Christian family. “ https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cwk41DnpRyd/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== The other suggested reason for the change is to “guide people to locate an LDS church on google maps when searching for a “Christian” church.” ( a pragmatic missionary move) Regarding the first reason given by the source; Matt has stated in the past that he has found that traditional, orthodox christianity (Evangelicalism) is further from true Christianity than many non-christian religions. Sam has suggested that we should engage with those not of our faith with the purpose of embracing and celebrating our differences. So far, my evangelical friends are saying this is appropriation in order for us to look more mainstream. Does the Lord want us to be part of the modern Orthodox Christian identity and “blend in” or is this an attempt to take back the true meaning of Christianity by appropriating a conventional symbol?

Next up, Matt: Members of the Oath Keepers and the