Sorry I'm so behind! I've been really busy at work and we've all been glued to the screen watching all the local news proceedings about the case. I'm trying to catch up to questions asked in the last thread.
@Sticksandspades You asked:
"What part of any doctrine could they possibly twist to justify hiding these kids for so long or worse prematurely ending their life on earth?
Surely, any vision/whisper/voice that broke a generally accepted commandment would be questioned?"
The extreme LDS preppers who are focused on the end of days are very suspicious of government conspiracies. I watched someone very close to me in this community go through a three year period where they were convinced they were being followed and watched by the FBI. Why? Because this person was "speaking truth" about the latter day prophecies and the government wanted to silence them. I even had a bizarre meeting with this person out in a 40 acre field. We couldn't bring phones and had to be checked for wires before this person would tell me how their family was doing. They spoke in whispers the entire time. Maybe important to note: This person was a prominent member of a regular LDS and functioning in a high/upper calling. They are still a respected member and no one would suspect their paranoia and end-of-days obsession if they didn't know.
That's an extreme example, but it's one of the first things I thought of when I first heard the breaking news about Lori and Chad. This was confirmed as I visited various groups/forums I'm still a member of and saw people standing up for these people and excusing their behavior as a way to "protect the kids" against modern "Gadianton Robbers" (see Book of Mormon teachings, Gadianton Robbers are secret oath groups.) I'm really cautious about outing myself as I am afraid of a lot of these people. But their supporters seem to mostly believe that the kids are safe and are being hidden to protect them from a larger conspiracy. Either government-based or custody-case based (as Chris Parrett announced in his leaked 'vindicated' post.) We've discussed how ridiculous the custody case thing is, but these people believe anything is possible and greatly fear that they themselves might be next in a huge, orchestrated smear campaign in order to silence them.
I don't have any direct ideas about why someone like this might actually take a life. There are examples in scripture of god directing the sacrifice of a life --Nephi / Laban in the BOM, Abraham and Isaac in the Bible (though that was stopped), and many cities being destroyed by the command of god without any mention to the innocent children that would die in such an event. LDS strongly believe in life after death, so I could see in some extreme cases that being twisted to mean murder would equal protection. The fear surrounding end-of-days can be really, really high with these people, and the prophecies we have can be terrifying. In an extreme case I could see a mother feeling like it was an act of love to send her children on to the next life, though no normal member of the LDS church would condone ANY of these behaviors. But I could see an extremist going so far down a particular path that they seek to justify actions using these kinds of stories and beliefs. When Nephi kills Laban in the Book of Mormon, we're told in scripture that it's better for one man to die than for an entire nation to dwindle in unbelief. See how that could mean god endorses murder in special circumstances?
It's pure conjecture. It does seem to fit somewhat, with what has been leaked about Lori's beliefs re: bad spirits taking over a person and that person needing to be taken out by any means necessary. I also think that perhaps some undiagnosed mental illness comes into play here. I hesitate to suggest this as I struggle with depression and anxiety and don't appreciate every terrible criminal being chalked up to 'being mentally ill.' But I've seen personal friends/family get so extreme in their LDS beliefs that I begin to wonder if there aren't some serious things developing that go undiagnosed and unmedicated. Brian David Mitchell who kidnapped and raped Elizabeth Smart certainly fits under this umbrella of extremism. He was LDS, had serious mental illnesses, prophesied, wrote his own book of scripture, and justified his actions with religious precedent.
