Disobedience caused cancer

[Meilingkie]

Some time ago I heard that my former Sp’s wife has metastatized breastcancer. She’s 43 and has 7 young kids. One of them is good friends with my DS.

They decided not to attend the nee assigned Ward after the shake-up and closing of various Dutch wards. Theirs was closed and they decided to attend thr Church closest to home, and not one 4x as far away as assigned.

2 months later she was diagnosed with cancer.

So yesterday, someone pipped up in SS and stated flatly.

Disobedience brings bad things, like cancer, looo at sr. J. She was disobedient and see what happened to her....

I am so glad I quit the Church. Now the rest of my family.... the social mormons.

[alas]

This attitude of blame the victim is real common among Mormons. My brother was head injured in a hunting accident. But it wasn't that a gun fired with the safety on, no, God caused it because they were hunting on the Sabbath. I have a friend who as a young child had both his parents killed in a motor cycle accident. Left six orphans. But it was not a tradgedy, nope, they were riding a motor cycle on the sabbath. My uncle died of lung cancer, and never smoked. But people assumed he must have because some of his brothers did and friends did, so he had to be lying about not smoking because God would not let a nonsmoker get lung cancer. My grandmother wrote in a letter to be put in a time capsule, that one of her son's would die in WWII because he married a nonmember, and she would end up raising his children. The son survived, but had a terrible relationship with my nasty grandmother. I could give about six hundred other stories. Real common to invent a reason to blame the victim. Mormons just cannot accept that bad things really do happen to good people.

[Thoughtful]

This attitude of blame the victim is real common among Mormons. My brother was head injured in a hunting accident. But it wasn't that a gun fired with the safety on, no, God caused it because they were hunting on the Sabbath. I have a friend who as a young child had both his parents killed in a motor cycle accident. Left six orphans. But it was not a tradgedy, nope, they were riding a motor cycle on the sabbath. My uncle died of lung cancer, and never smoked. But people assumed he must have because some of his brothers did and friends did, so he had to be lying about not smoking because God would not let a nonsmoker get lung cancer. My grandmother wrote in a letter to be put in a time capsule, that one of her son's would die in WWII because he married a nonmember, and she would end up raising his children. The son survived, but had a terrible relationship with my nasty grandmother. I could give about six hundred other stories. Real common to invent a reason to blame the victim. Mormons just cannot accept that bad things really do happen to good people.

My mother and aunt posted a blamey judgey article on FB this morning with lots of GA quotes to support it. All about how reduced church attendance as a way to stay engaged with God on a reduced schedule is being subject to Satan's lies. Could it be people are trying to lower their stress and preserve their physical or mental health? Absolutely not. They were either offended or falling for Satan's lies.

Funny though because my mother has a broken foot and hasn't been to church in a month. She's falling for the devil's trap!

[nibbler]

People desperately want to believe in the prosperity gospel because they're afraid to admit to themselves that we live in a universe where random bad things can happen. They want to convince themselves that if they're good they can somehow escape the random bad.

[Corsair]

This is a really poignant in my ward. In the past decade we had three faithful ward members die of cancer. One was a guy in his 60s who had just retired and he and his wife were planning to leave soon on a mission with their still good health. He left behind a bunch of young, married children. He was a carpenter who actually helped build the ward building where we attend.

The other two were teenagers who contracted childhood leukemia. One young man was barely able to attend prom just before he slipped into a coma and died a few weeks later. The photo of him at the funeral showed the prom pictures with him in a top hat because treatment cost his hair. He had a brother on a mission who was "allowed" to Skype into the funeral. These were good families who were still doing everything they could in the gospel.

All three of these people received numerous priesthood blessings combined with fasting, temple attendance, and prayer. They all took advantage of modern medicine, but cancer is unrelenting and unforgiving. I'm not trying to say that God isn't real. But the Mormon version of God is makes little material difference. I have not heard anyone use the foolish equation "righteousness = temporal blessings" and I think there is a pall over this congregation knowing that it's a poor bit of rhetoric.

The horribly ironic cherry on top of this "Problem of Evil" cake is me. I'm comfortable, healthy, and well paid despite violating nearly every question in the temple rec interview.

[Ghost]

I suppose that one of the appealing things about many religious traditions is that they allow people to think that there is some ultimate justice and fairness in the universe. Events must be interpreted to fit this narrative, to be sure that it remains true (though it's also possible to escape into "mysterious ways" as a last resort).

Another example might be when someone tries to say something comforting after a death about the tragedy being part of God's plan and somehow ultimately a positive thing.

But the "gotcha" attitude described above fits well with the belief that God is going to exact an infinite punishment for finite acts in mortality, even if Mormonism is relatively benign in this area compared to other Christian groups that go for the traditional Hell.

[Wonderment]

As a child, my parents used to tell me that disobedience to God causes physical illness. Even if it was just wanting to watch a different tv show than what they were watching, it would cause me physical illness. If I did not want to go to church, then that would cause physical illness, because I was looking away from God. It is so difficult to drop this belief cycle that God will exact revenge for the very smallest things. - Wndr.

[Not Buying It]

People desperately want to believe in the prosperity gospel because they're afraid to admit to themselves that we live in a universe where random bad things can happen. They want to convince themselves that if they're good they can somehow escape the random bad.

Yep. It's scary to think "that could have been me". If they instead think "that happened because they were disobedient. I won't be disobedient, so it won't happen to me", they get to feel better and less afraid. It's a messed up coping mechanism.

[moksha]

It would be nice if religious people always had charitable thoughts, but perhaps that doesn't work out due to either getting up on the wrong side of the bed or believing in a punishing God. You will always have your grumpy days, but you can choose to believe in a loving God.