I, Sam Young, have been excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Following is the official notification.
HOUSTON TEXAS SOUTH STAKE
September 12, 2018
Brother Young,
This letter is to inform you of the decision of the disciplinary council that was held in your behalf on 09 September 2018 at the Houston Texas South Stake Center.
We have carefully and prayerfully reviewed this matter in order to reach a decision on what action to take. It is the decision of the council that you be excommunicated for conduct contrary to the laws and order of the Church. This means that you are no longer a member of the Church and do not enjoy any privileges of Church membership. You may not hold a temple recommend, wear temple garments, pay tithes and offerings, or exercise the priesthood in any way. We welcome you to attend public Church meetings, if your conduct is orderly, but you may not serve in a Church position, speak or offer a public prayer in Church meetings, partake of the sacrament or participate in the sustaining of Church officers.
This action was not taken because of your opinion or position on protecting children. The Church has a strong desire to protect children and, as you know, issued updated guidelines for interviewing youth earlier this year. Teaching standards of morality to youth and helping them follow those standards–including in interviews with priesthood leaders–is an important responsibility of parents and of the Church. The issue is not that you have concerns–or even that you disagree with the Church’s guidelines, rather it is your persistent, aggressive effort to persuade others to your point of view by repeatedly and deliberately attacking and publicly opposing the Church and its leaders. You are entitled to your opinion or position, but you cannot remain a member in good standing while attacking the Church and its leaders and trying to get others to follow you.
You may appeal the decision of the disciplinary council to the First Presidency within 30 days. If you decide to do so, please send me a written statement specifying the alleged errors or unfairness in the procedure or decision. I will then forward your statement to the First Presidency.
Excommunication almost always lasts at least one year. In order to be readmitted to membership in the Church, you will need to demonstrate that you have stopped actions that undermine the Church and its leaders.
Please understand that this decision is an invitation for you to repent and return. The Savior loves you. We love you and your family. We invite you to return to God’s covenant path and enjoy the fullness of the blessings he has in store for you and your family. With your consent, your Bishop and Stake President will continue to assist you in that process.
With Love,
xxxxx x. xxxxxx
Stake President, Houston Texas South Stake
Tocubit Is Invisible's Cubit 
Gary, we are all sinners. It’s about making progress. Any wise bishop (which I would think is an overwhelming majority) is going to know that the youth they interview are falling into immoral sins. Through the mercy of Christ and Heavenly Father they allow our imperfections in some degree so that perhaps our taste of righteousness will perhaps lead us into righteousness. We all make mistakes and sin on a continual basis. It’s why we can repent and partake of the sacrament every week.
Bishops who question youth are not shaming them. A person shames themselves through their own decisions and actions.
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Hi, Robert,
Thank you once again for sharing your perspective on human behavior. Yours is an important point of reference because it is shared by millions … if not a billion or more humans on Planet Earth.
Here is a Natural Law that most Christians simply do not understand … because they were taught to believe something different.
Just as the Laws of Physics describe the unavoidable results and consequences of cause and effect of physical phenomena of Nature in all of its forms and expressions, likewise are there similar Natural Laws that govern the cause and effect of free will choices and behaviors of human beings. In other words, human behavior choices and decisions to do X instead of Y will naturally result in consequences as we and others are affected in myriad ways by our choices. The consequences of our behaviors happen all by themselves without anyone up in the sky passing judgment on whether the result is end up happy or sad … good or bad.
When an apple stem spontaneously breaks loose from the apple tree branch, Jesus does not decide whether the apple will fall to the ground or take off into orbit. Natural Law makes the decision automatically with no Judge in Israel fussing about which trajectory that loose apple will take.
“As you sow, so shall you reap” is a good restatement. It’s not just a good idea … it’s the law.
Most children are raised to believe in Santa Claus and his naughty or nice judgment that results in happy toys or a sad lump of coal. Eventually, that bubble gets burst when the kid discovers that Santa is an entertaining myth for children. Unfortunately, that myth teaches kids that rewards or punishments for naughty or nice behavior choices are meted out by an external judge of their behavior. The key word here is JUDGE.
A smart kid will ask … upon realizing that Santa Claus was an intentional deception … well, then … what about Jesus?
Oh, no … No. No. No. Jesus is real. No. No. No. …. er … Santa Claus was made up, but we assure you that Jesus is really for real. Really. Santa Clause not real. Jesus real. Got it? You believe me, don’t you?
Smart kid: How in the hell am I supposed to know when you are lying to me? I heard that past performance is the best predictor of future behavior. How do I know if you are lying to yourself?
Christians know it’s childish to believe in Santa Claus, but then turn around with a straight face and insist on believing in a Santa Claus in the sky who judges their behavior choices and then dishes out rewards or punishments based on alignment or not with teachings of the church. But it’s way worse than Santa Claus. When a Christian chooses a shitty behavior that hurts others or is self-destructive, the church teaches them that they have just gone into sin-debt with Jesus, and the only way to get out of sin-debt is to repent, make amends, do better, ask forgiveness and hope that Jesus will grace you with salvation … pay the price of your sin-debt because Jesus is the only dude perfect enough to make it happen … and because of Him suffering and dying to pay the price of your sinning and debauchery.
The whole concept of sins and sinning and salvation and redemption through the church and Jesus was invented by really clever masters of deception long ago for the purpose of enslaving and controlling hundreds of millions of people through guilt, shame, fear, deception, fear of damnation and burning in hell … and did I mention fear?
Trouble is … the deception WORKED … and it WORKED REALLY WELL and CONTINUES TO WORK REALLY WELL. It is working on you, Robert, right now … as we speak.
It used to WORK ON ME as well … for the first 30 years of my life. Then something happened and I woke up from my stupor of thought and spiritual prison … that I had no clue about. I was b.i.c. … so it was not really my fault that I fell for the sins of my fathers. Their sin was to believe that humans are born defective and will go to hell if they do not hook up with a church selling Savior services in exchange for a modest contribution.
Christians and Mormons believe that their moral compass is not in their personal possession .. and is held by the church leaders and by Jesus … of course … who speaks through whom? … er … well … through the church leaders. Ask them. They will tell you they speak for Jesus. Did they tell you that, Robert? Did you believe them?
In case you might wonder, Robert, I am not an atheist. I do believe that an INDESCRIBABLY TALENTED, CREATIVE PRESENCE POWERED BY INFINITE, UNCONDITIONAL LOVE created our Universe, created you and me, and then turned us loose on Planet Earth for a wild ride of endless experiences and teaching/learning moments.
Making suboptimal behavior choices is no more unacceptable to the CREATOR than it is for a toddler to fall down while learning to walk. THIS IS HOW LIFE WORKS AND WHAT LIFE IS FOR AND WHY WE ARE EVEN HERE.
Robert, I invite you to wake up and consider the possibility that you were not born defective and do not need to be saved … from punishment for the crime of having been born a human being on Planet Earth.
Do your best to learn from your life … successes and failures … happy and sad … good and bad. When you die, your spirit soul will return to a beautiful place where you will meet up with your Soul Family and compare notes on the wild ride you just completed. You will appear before a Council of Wise Souls who will help you evaluate yourself and learn as much as you can from what happened on the Planet. Then eventually … you will probably decide to buy another ticket and choose a different playbook for your next incarnation, and probably cross paths on the planet with some of your long-time Soul Family friends .. maybe in a different role of parent, child, brother, sister, friend, lover, business partner, enemy or whatever. Your playbook will be just right for what you need to work on next to make more progress in the growth and maturation of your eternal soul.
Robert, there really is a Plan of Eternal Progression. The real one is WAY BETTER than the dumbed down version created for Christianity where you only get ONE CHANCE to figure it out … then get sent to Heaven or Hell or somewhere in between. You’ve been cheated, Robert. Life is WAY BETTER than what you’ve been sold.
All of this amazing information is out there within easy reach, Robert. All you’ve gotta do is STOP READING CHURCH BOOKS and start reading some spiritual literature not designed to CONTROL YOUR LIFE AND TAKE YOUR MONEY.
Oh … and do I believe Jesus existed? Yes, I do. Unfortunately, his high consciousness, enlightened teachings were ingeniously transmogrified by Masters of Deception and Mind Control to serve THEIR AGENDA AT YOUR EXPENSE, Robert. Way too many plain and precious truths were cut out by the editors because the plain and precious truths EMPOWER PEOPLE which is the diametric opposite of the church agenda to instead ENSLAVE PEOPLE in the imaginary prison you can only escape by obeying church leaders.
There is SO MUCH awaiting your discovery, Robert, that you will not find between the covers of CHURCH BOOKS. There are lots of worthwhile teachings in the scriptures … to be sure. There are also lots of teachings that create a Spiritual Prison for those who believe they have no other options.
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Gary,
I had my own awakening years ago. It led me back into the fold, back into the church. I used to hate the church. I thought the leaders we’re self righteous hypocrits. Then I had a turn off events that helped me see the real truth. The church is the means whereby, through proper authority, we can make and keep binding covenant’s that ensure our freedom from the slavery of the world. Finding true peace only comes through entering in and keeping the holy covenant’s of God’s laws. Our church has that authority through the priesthood of God to officiate those ordinances and make them binding in both mortality and the next life.
You may wrongly believe I am enslaved when in actuality I am now free. I once was a great sinner chained down in spiritual chains. But now those bands have been loosened and am set free. You won’t believe me in this though. When I sleep at night, I do so in great peace.
BTW, my church don’t take my money, I freely donate to build up God’s kingdom of peace- the same peace that set me free. It’s not a pay for membership club nor is is it a club ran by slavemasters. Not sure exactly where you get this idea but pretty sure it’s a lie and we both know who the father of all lies is- Satan.
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