One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

Yes. There is the layer that he now has a complicated relationship with the church, what was once a treasure now seems like garbage. There is also the obvious implication that he who is a treasure to God (who LDS Theology says is an exalted man) is now trash in the eyes of the men of the church.

As an alt-mo let me add that another precarious relationship that former mormons have to navigate is with ‘the world.’ When you leave, n
on-mormons tend to be even more intolerant than TBMs to alt-mos maintaining any kind of positive relationship with our Mormon heritage and upbringings. They want a complete divorce which is of course not realistic. In this scenario, our familial and cultural ties to Mormonism are trash to the outside world and still to a certain degree a treasure to us. Very few people are bitter enough to see the whole experience as a loss. Part of the healing process is recognizing what you like and love about your Mormon upbringing. For instance, I struggle with the idea that the BoM is literal history, but I still find its moral messages of kindness, service, community, charity, love, and communitarianism to be guiding lights in my life. I still read it and love it. Some people who don’t understand that would see it as trash, even though its still a treasure to me.

I think the Rolling Stone article missed that nuance which can be summed up by the lyrics ‘We got history’ and ‘I think of you whenever I see fire in the sky.’ He still cares deeply about this organization and the people behind it. ‘Water never turns to wine, i’ve been drinking overtime’ and ‘Your friends think I’m a freak’ demonstrate that he is mourning some serious rejection and loss.

‘If you wanted me to stay, I’d repent my days away.’

This song is ultimately about an abusive relationship with an organization and people he still loves very much. I don’t think people on either side of the isle should see this song as an attack on the church. He just expressed a period of grief and anger that all of us experience during a faith crisis no matter how large or small, and the pulls and tugs that we all experience within the church and from the outside world.

From what I know of Tyler Glenn, which admittedly is not a lot, I think you’re right that the line ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure’ is intended to work both ways. He’s certainly not shying away from his own thoughts about the church, but he seems to be willing to accept that the church is meaningful for a lot of people…just not for him. Though he feels the church has thrown him away like trash and he feels that the church is trash, he also knows that both LGBT people and Mormonism are treasured in other circles.

Great blog, though I have a question. You say that you hope that a doctrine or policy could change so that LGBT could feel more accommodated. What would that change look like? I used to think there was a way forward for the church to resolve the LGBT problem due to the paucity of revelation regarding the creation of spirit children by exalted parents. The church had never, to my knowledge, made a definitive statement that this reproduction was sexual in nature. If anything, two beings with perfect physical bodies creating spirit children sexually didn’t make a lot of sense to me, so having it be done some other way would both seem more realistic and allow for the possibility of gays being sealed to each other in the temple someday.

Then the church released its essay on Heavenly Mother where they declared pretty definitively that this procreative act is sexual in nature. That coupled with the claim from Russell M. Nelson that the November policy was in fact a revelation to President Monson makes it seem like the die is cast and the church will have difficulty walking it all back later, especially in this day and age where stuff on the Internet will last forever.

A brilliant video that masterfully captures the pain, despair, betrayal and rage one feels when discovering their spiritual home since birth is nothing more than a house of lies! Thankfully the Mormon Church’s trash is now our treasure.

‘Progressing? From what you’ve told me, it doesn’t sound like anyone up there is progressing. They’re milling. God’s apparently stuck in his own prison of conformity along with countless multitudes of fellow inmates.’ I recoiled at his blasphemy. Cadeau responded by tapping me on the forehead w/ his middle finger. ‘Open your mind, young one. Open this eye. Put yourself into your own picture. Take a good look. When you picture your own life, your wants and wishes – your personality, desires and individual perspective – & lay it over the afterlife offered you by the enthroned God you’ve been taught to love and fear, is it an afterlife worth living for anyone involved? Does that work for you? To me it sounds like an equally endless hell for Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Mother Mary and Man – a fixed infinity of resolved riddles & answered questions. A cage for hamsters. We spent less than five minutes locked in your eternity & I already feel claustrophobic.’ – 

‘But we are rewarded for our obedience, Cadeau. Obedience is the highest law of Heaven.’ – ‘No,’ Cadeau countered sharply. ‘It is not. Obedience is the lowest form of manipulation, enslavement & social control ever devised. Obedience is the avowed enemy of man’s spiritual nature.’ – Something big snapped. I lashed out, roaring like a blinded bull. ‘Without obedience, we’re just pagans & savages, Cadeau. Certainly even you have to admit the natural man is an enemy to God. Without God in the mix it’s just non-stop sex & violence & lies & cheating & stealing. Anarchy. It’s attitudes like yours that are the enemy to God!’ I stared at him angrily, gulping air in spasms as I heaved. He puffed his cigar in silence as I gradually composed myself. If I could have gotten Proctor upright, this would have been the point of our departure. When Cadeau did speak, his words carried no memory of confrontation. ‘The natural Man has never been an enemy to GOD, Elder Ladd. The natural Man is eternally beautiful and infinitely worthy. He is pure and innocent. You’ll find no greater depth of compassion in the universe than exists within Mankind’s true nature. If the natural Man is an enemy to anyone, then He is enemy only to the organized systems of thought and behavior designed long ago to punish and distract His imagination – allowing the seeds of His slavery to be sewn & harvested.’ – ‘How is obeying the laws of God a form of slavery?’ I shouted. ‘Sin is what enslaves people, not obedience to the commandments that keep us safe from it.’ – ‘Yes. And who decides what is & isn’t sin? Who issues the commandments & edicts? The ingenious doctrines of Original Sin & Divine displeasure have delayed Mankind’s progress for unnecessary millennia on this world. The planets current masters learned from their father’s, father’s, fathers that to lay exclusive claim to God, is to achieve the highest ground there is on earth & in Heaven.

Fear of God, love of God, duty to God, will of God, divine right – take your pick. God trumps love family, friends, sex, money, ideas, ideals, identity, politics, patriotism, even self-interest. That’s why the makers of religion have enforced their faith over the centuries at the edge of an axe. God is a marvelously efficient tool in the hands of the cynic because the cynic realizes that otherwise decent & peaceful people will enthusiastically commit unspeakable horrors for their God that no other inducement or force in the universe could possibly compel them to do. Is there a single, thoughtful reason you can provide why individuals w/ uncharitable intent wouldn’t be naturally attracted to such a bounty? Is there some moral or practical impediment to prevent the criminal mind from seizing & exploiting the lucrative, all-powerful & reliable business of faith? Has not the totality of religious history been written in blood, opportunism, & the suffering of innocent people?’ – ‘By their fruits,’ I protested, ‘Look at all the good churches do. I’ve spent my entire life w/ people who strive for higher ideals. Not out of a fear of God, but out of a deep & sincere love of Him.’ I sensed Cadeau might have several ways to rebut my point. But rather than bring up the Inquisition or indulgences, or the suppression & torture of heliocentrists like Galileo, Bruno & Copernicus, the man simply nodded. – ‘People are decent & good,’ he agreed, with a subtle turn at his lip. Then his expression tightened. ‘And very trusting. Tell a man he is born in sin, & that man will exhaust himself-body, mind, spirit & purse-in a desperate bid to repay the divine debt before the sands of his mortality run out.

The makers of religion have done altruistic things for Mankind, but that hasn’t prevented the church from becoming the most efficient & lucrative protection racket on the planet.’ – ‘Protection racket?’ I screamed. ‘That’s organized crime like the mafia.’ – ‘Indeed. Pay or burn. Pray or burn. Submit or burn. Suppress or burn. Believe or burn. Bestow or burn. And the ranks of the God-fearing clog the bleachers for a glimpse at the death of the infidel. They jeer the scapegoat; the offering for their sins providing them a moment’s respite from their own self-condemnation . No, my friend. Fear, threat and violence could no more be the fruits of a loving, benevolent creator than olives could be the fruits of a fig tree. Fear is the tactic of the fearful. Corruption is the fruit of the corrupt. What could incorruptible GOD, the source of all creation & seed of universal power, possibly have to fear, lose or gain from any act or omission of mortal man on Planet Earth? It is men who fear men, Elder Ladd. The most fearful man in the kingdom is not the starving peasant or the prisoner scheduled for death at dawn’s first light. It’s the king. Tiny, weak, fearful men in power have used the greatest lie ever told to bring the family of Man under their yoke – & in the process have brought their own civilization to a very real prospect of collapse. This has not been done out of love. Men in power act out of a reckless, misguided & unnecessary fear for their own survival. The natural Man is not an enemy to GOD, Elder Ladd. The natural Man is only an enemy to the institutions profiting most from His blind, unexamined obedience. In this, both GOD & the natural Man share a common enemy in the pulpit, which preaches the doctrine of separateness from the divine & keeps Man ever distant from the simple realization of who & what He truly is.’ – ‘And who is that?’ I snapped. ‘Who & what am I, Cadeau? Truly?’ – He held my gaze as his expression warmed. ‘Thou art GOD, Elder Ladd.’