Mormon Beefcake

You Mormons are a little ridiculous. A member can make a calendar with shirtless men and get excommunicated, but Bill Marriott can peddle hard-core porn in his hotel rooms without getting excommunicated. That makes a lot of sense. By the way, there is nothing wrong with the human body and sex. It is natural and beautiful.

Second, the reason the calendar is offensive to many in the LDS community has nothing to do about seeing men with their shirts off. The offensive part is that Hardy is willing to use the missionary theme to sell the calendars. Mormon missionaries are called to dedicate two years of their lives to serve the Lord. They are to do the Lord???s work and not their own. They receive no pay for this work. In fact, they, their families, and their local congregations financially support them on their missions. Missionary work is about service to God, not about self-aggrandizement. It is all about God. It is not about any individual missionary. Indeed, missionaries must forget themselves in the service of God if they are to be effective at all. Thus, when some former missionaries get out their old missionary name tags and put on their white shirts and ties in order to make a fast buck, we feel that they are trivializing the sacred calling they once held. I suspect that profiteering off of God, is offensive to more than just those of us in the LDS community.
Finally, many of the postings to this article debate whether or not the LDS church is true. Although you can definitely put me in the believers column, the debate here really does not hinge on whether the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. It is really about whether or not an association, whether it be a religious, fraternal, or professional organization, has the ability to remove from their rosters those who will not abide the groups???s principles.
I hope that Mr. Hardy is able to reconcile his differences with the LDS church and return to full fellowship in the church, but that is his choice and he is free to do as he pleases. He may decide to change his life to come back to the church, but it would be unreasonable for him to expect the church to change just to accommodate him.

First of all as a note to the editor; There is absolutely no "required" underwear for members of the Mormon faith. Second the guy was excommunicated because he deliberately went against his church leaders counsels. If he doesn't want to believe his church leaders then it would be a bit hard to believe in the church itself. And on top of that, it just makes a bad image of the church. If you believe in God, (I personally do) I really doubt that He would have approved a calendar depicting Jesus Christ and the Twelve Apostles taking off the old robes to show off their sexy abs.

What's the big deal? This Chad person is trying to make a buck. Good for him. But it is BAD of him to try to do so by exploiting the naive, and then claiming the Church wronged HIM. His excommunication was most likely just, and more than likely had less to do with his publishing of his calendar than with his own behavior as regards his Church membership. If he admittedly left the Church of his own accord 6 years ago, then why the big deal over formal excommunication? The answer,sour grapes. AND the opportunity to make a good deal more money. That is certainly his right...nothing wrong with making money in our capitalistic society. Why blame Chad for the naivite and/or greediness of the boys who posed? Yes they should have and most probably DID know better. Still, Chad, a sophisticated businessman, living in unarguably one of the most sin filled cities took advantage of them. There are and will always be in this world, those who can spot the weaknesses of others and will "move in for the kill". The issue is not that the young men in question posed sans shirts, it is that they were represented in a manner that is at odds with the way they are expected to live their lives and in which they have taught others. If they truly understood this at the time they posed for the photos, shame on them., If not, MORE shame on Chad for taking advantage of them

I think the pictures are not right even through it may be of a Morman man or not look at the eye's of them they are very enticing to try to get a women to think impure thought's of having sex with them. God say's that we are to keep pourselves pure till marriage.So wake up people and see what the calendar is really saying.
posted by jjsand

The discussion I have found through this article has been a reflection of what I have seen in the world to date. Both sides have debased themselves with name calling and judgements, to which end it would seem that both sides are as guilty and imperfect as those whom which they judge. The bigger issue here is the lack of education that our country and world suffers with. Not only the education of the religious views of others, but also simple grammatical english. I am an atheist but believe in living a just and virtuous life. That does not mean that I am not tolerant of those who are religious even if they are not tolerant of me. Tolerance does not have to mean acceptance, it can be as simple as a mindset of respecting one anothers opinions and discussing those opinions without name calling and judgement. Although the calendar is not seen to most of the world as anything close to pornographic, the question is why are the pictures of the men without their shirts on even in the calendar? Why cant the calendar only contain their missionary dress? Because the calendar wouldn't sell. So although I am a very open and tolerant person, I do believe that this calendar crosses the line to what is appropriate for religious association. We have all seen people without their shirts on, but would that be appropriate for a lawyer in court? Or a policmen who is arresting you? It isn't even appropriate to enter a restaurant at the beach. The calendar is fine in inherently but to use the religious affiliation seems to be inappropriate. Some choose to be held to a higher standard, such as the members of LDS, and this choice is an individual one. To ask to be held to this decision is only a question of following your beliefs and decision.

I think Chad Hardy is using the mormon church to make money!!! lots of it!!! who is he trying to kid?... the article says a small!! percentage of profits goes to a charity of the duped returned missionaries choice...I want to know...exactly how small a percentage??? while we are asking this question...maybe we should remember that the mormon church has a big charitable relief program!...who did the other churches and
organizations turn to during times of crisis...eg KATRINA?? the mormon church opened thier storehouses and emptied them to help those that needed it! thier welfare relief isnt restricted to the USA, they have a global relief program.....so to say that Chad and his group were doing some of this for charity??? give me a
break. Another thing, Chad says, he is trying to help the churches image? The Mormons need help with thier image? and to help them by putting them in a light that is contrary to thier teaching? by someone who has not attended church and has basically turned his back on his religion, despite being a 6th generation mormon?.....yeah riggggghhhht!.....How fortunate that news of his excommunication has made its way into the media...just in time for the next installment of messed up returned missionaries doing something that is the total oppsite of what they have been teaching for 2 years calendar to come out! Stop lying to yourself and the public Chad, shame on you and your simpe minded cohorts who are posing in your calendars.

SNORT SNORT! You religious fanatics are hysterical. We are ALL sexual beings and there is nothing obscene, or vulgar about the human body. This gentlemen happens to be a bit more attractive that most and GOOD FOR HIM! It is HIS body and he has the right to do what ever he wants with it.

It appears (and this really is nothing new to those paying attention) that many individuals that call themselves "Christians" today have somehow become convinced that Jesus Christ set no standard, and that whatever a person does is really of no consequence because the Lord loves and forgives all men and women. If that were the truth, why did the Lord ever bother giving any commandments to His followers? Many people today are uttering the age old phrase "Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die." The world does not know the true and living God. It constantly (as shown in many of these posts) rejects anything that sets a standard; it rejects any commandment that is contrary to a person's so-called freedom of expression. Be weary therefore when some demand public tolerance for whatever their private indulgences are.

it's a fact that this calendar uses stimulating images that will produce sexual lust. Even if you are gay or woman. This young models were perverted on their principles by a person who take advantage of their circumstances and their lack of vision. I don't really think that this kids understand how many money were going to generate and not seeing a cent. (i mean, something that were representative acording to the incomes) This ex-missionaries got off the road since they are unexperienced and were manipulated.

This is another example of what 3 Nephi 14:15 says: " Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep???s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. " What this person ofered them was acceptance, popularity, more women trying to destroy their precious souls and more exposition to lost their dignity. They accepted for nothing.

If you participated in this kind of proyects... you are stupid, and must repent.

Enrique Laguna C.
ex-missionary Mexico City West Mission.

I am not knocking mormonism but I bet if it were "women on a mission"-Girls in bikinis, it wouldn't be such a big deal. After all, weren't some Mormons polygamists at some point?