Mormon Calendar

"Shirtless Mormons calendar gets man in trouble" (Full Story)

A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by the name of Chad Hardy, decided he would "stir things up" a bit and make a calendar of shirtless return missionaries.

Hardy said, "I wondered what would happen if we took that perfect Disneyland image that the church spends millions of dollars cultivating each year and shook it up a little bit."

That "perfect Disneyland image..."? =/

That image is of missionaries representing the Lord Jesus Christ. That image is to reflect Jesus Christ and the Church. Brother Hardy has taken it upon himself to pervert that, and try to turn it into some kind of sex symbol. He fell away from the church in 2002, and admitted that no one try to contact him to "bring [him] back into the fold". So as a cry for help, he decides to pervert the ways and look of LDS Missionaries. When this story first came out many months ago, I was deeply disappointed. I am a return missionary, and find it very disrespectful of Brother Hardy to produce material like this. Now if he would have had shirtless men (maybe even return missionaries) posing as other occupations, or settings, he might not have caused the problems he did. But the fact that he has used the image of the LDS Church, he should have know it would have caused disciplinary action.

I am also saddened and disappointed in the return missionaries, who agreed to disrespect the image of a missionary. Did they not find it to be a humbing experience to carry their name badge with Christ's name on it for 2 years of their life? Did they not find some kind of sacredness in that? I have been home from my mission for almost 10 years now, and I still treat my name badges with respect because of whose name is on them.

I will pray for Brother Hardy and these 12 "models"/return missionaries, who perhaps might not have know better. I hope Brother Hardy's disciplinary counsel will be productive and he will understand the views of the Church on this matter, and work to correct it and be an active member again.