Carol Lynn Pearson’s way to stay

Yes, Ray, I think so. Of course for those of us where the change is more sudden and recent, there is more going on. I may lack capital and skill and confidence. But the principle and the ideal still hold true.

Thanks Tom for sharing. I found a tremendous amount of wisdom and comfort in listening to this.

CLP (58:19): “So somebody who wants to stay in the church I feel could be more comfortable trying to be open about some of these things rather than sitting there and stewing and causing contention, or just taking everything in and letting it fester. I would not be able to do that.”

John: “But it’s so disruptive.”

CLP says “just sitting there stewing” (as opposed to saying something) is “causing contention”. Interesting. John didn’t quite catch the paradox, nor did I at first.

Hmmmm?

Yeah. I think it puts you (me) in a bad way (spirit) that winds up “causing contention” some place/time in my life (at home, at work, at the store). Having out with it in the right way may not do that, and may influence the culture positively.

I mentioned Carol Lynn Pearson to my TBM ex (I had just watched the five amazing interviews). She immediately dismissed Ms. Pearson, as “a crazy lady.” I wondered if her attitude reflected what RS leadership might be offering up? I see Carol Lynn as a revered high priestess in the church. If a thousand women/mothers would join her quest to save lives, real change might come from SLC. She absolutely hit it squarely on the nail, “open the closets.” They needed to be aired out a long time ago…

Just a personal request: Can we not use “court of love” here? Used by some, it’s sappy; used by others, it’s mocking. There is no good usage for the term, so let’s just call it a disciplinary court, ok?

I think when she said sitting there is stewing causes contention, she meant internal contention. Our goal should be peace with our religion, and I suppose in her case, verbalizing her issues brings a measure of peace due to the resulting authenticity, the fact that others might agree, etcetera.

I had some other impressions of this video though — the biggest one was when I asked myself “What will it take for the Church to revise its views on women?” (not that this is a big issue with me — I have enough on my plate for the time being). My thought — probably severe declines in membership over this issue, or even decliines in temple recommend-holding which also hurts tithing. History has shown that big doctrinal changes tend to happen when the organization as a whole is threatened (confiscation of assets due to plural marriage) or going to receive some benefit as a result of the change (blacks and the priesthood).

John asked her one question I thought was interesting — what should we do about this? CLP couldn’t say much — you can’t tell everyone to speak out and revolt, or you’ll get disciplined. She just said she does her own little thing — she couldn’t present herself as an activitist within the Church.

Also, there was some definite marketing going on there with her books.

Overall, I felt she was walking a tightrope and at times, made comments that I think would disturb the brethren deeply.