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By my estimation the recent faith transition explosion has covered the past 10 years. As I follow online I get the sense that the boundaries are pretty much set for people. Glancing at our own brief bio’s it appears that as a religion we have divisions that can’t be remedied. Yes we can practice tolerance and efforts toward a modicum of charity, but I think the battle was so brutal, that we each just a rest. I ache for our religion. I ache for our individual families, our wards, our friends. I wish none of this had ever happened.
Do you think the boundaries are set? Are we just existing in echo chambers?
I’m generally not an optimist, Mom, but I’m not sure the borders are drawn in permanent ink. I like to think Uchtdorf’s “big tent” ideology does ring true for many on both sides. Some of it is getting water to the ends of the row – on both sides. I guess I’ve had a couple of weeks where my personal optimism is dry. The sadder part is, it doesn’t ever take long for it to get dry. I guess that’s why this section is called support. 
I have been thinking about this a bit lately. When I had my faith crisis I felt like the whole church was going to quickly go through it soon. I realize now that it isn’t going to happen. Even if more people leave, those that stay will just retrench even more staunchly. I have also not had much “buffer” lately also. I feel my wife is providing me and testing my beliefs. I do appreciate this site. It helps.
I think people will just continue to silently be pushed out or leave on their own by small steps. I think the church itself will not notice as others have said, those that are left will either be retrenched entirely or to scared to ever speak up. Not trying to be a downer but when there become sooooo many outward “markers” of righteousness and who is “in” the tribe, people who don’t fit or won’t conform become very easy to spot and remove in some way. I think it’s just human nature. I should clarify that I think the push to conform to the groups “expectations” can be seen on both sides of any issue. As you said an “echo chamber”. That’s why it is rare to find people that can be at peace in the middle. For now, they are set. If you say in your Ward, what you say here, there will be limits on service, people who will think you are apostate, people “reproving betimes with sharpness” (and perhaps forgetting to show an increase in love afterwards). However, longer term, I think you will see more tolerance. But there will always be boundaries, and I don’t think I will be able to say what I think in Sacrament meeting (ever) and still be accepted.
Now, there are a lot unorthodox people out there, many of whom will love and accept people like us, and that is what we need to focus on.
Absolutely not. I have seen shifting on a steady basis for the last 10-15 years, and, frankly, the pace is quickening. There still are plenty of hardline messages and areas of retrenchment, but the pace of change is faster than at any point in my life.
Agreed. Things are changing now more than ever. As moderate young adults like myself stay in, we’ll spread our ideas more and things will continue to change. My generation will be the drivers of that. metalrain wrote – Quote:As moderate young adults like myself stay in, we’ll spread our ideas more and things will continue to change. My generation will be the drivers of that.
You just made my heart sing.
The church exists to help people. It shifts and changes to meet new needs. Not as fast as we want it to or how we want it to, but new cultural issues leave people with a need for hope and faith, and so the church can be d and twist allegories in the scriptures to try ro enlighten us and lift us. As long as it keeps providing a benefit for people, it will keep moving forward and the boundaries will move with it. Our ward has a small attendance. Converts are few. These last few weeks, we traveled. We saw even smaller attendance in other wards. It didn’t seem odd to me until I drove pass the local Methodist church that has to hire security officers to help direct traffic on Sunday mornings. Then I talked to a friend at work who stated that they had 74 new people commit to baptism in their “small” congregation last week.
The LDS church is struggling. No one is talking about it, but the wards are getting smaller, they are not splitting like they used to. The areas I see that do get new wards are new housing developments of young families moving in. That represents a shift in population more than a growth in population.
Either the church will make some HUGE changes within the next 20 years, or continue to lose membership. I am curious to see which way this goes.
Just for full accuracy, the LDS Church still is one of the fastest growing Christian religions in the world AND in the United States – even though growth in the US is very small from a percentage standpoint. Most denominations, including the Methodist Church, are losing membership – and many of their membership counting and reporting practices are more lenient than that used by the LDS Church. Some denominations truly are hemorraging; the LDS Church is not. When many people leave now, it is more recognizable, but the overall activity rate is higher now than at any point in our history. It doesn’t feel that way for many, I know, but, overall, that is the case. Absolutely, all is not well in Zion, and there are multiple, serious things that I believe need to be addressed, but we are doing better overall in membership growth than almost everyone else out there. Spiritualism is steady or even growing in the United States, according to all surveys I have seen, but classic denomination affiliation is plunging. It resembles in some ways the description in Alma of the rising generation not accepting the religion of their parents.
Quote:Just for full accuracy, the LDS Church still is one of the fastest growing Christian religions in the world AND in the United States – even though growth in the US is very small from a percentage standpoint.
Ray:
Do you think the church is still growing quickly? I am having doubts about that. I talk to missionaries and so few have many baptisms. If there are 50,000 missionaries out, and each PAIR baptizes 5 people while on their mission, that is 25,000 * 5. 125,000 a year. Over half of those won’t be active a year later.
Twenty years ago, I think the church was growing really fast. I’m not so sure about now. We had a family of 4 baptized 2 years ago in our ward. Went through the temple a year later. Recently became “do not contact”. They are still a family of record .. But are essentially out. I’m seeing a lot more of that.
Quickly and overall numbers are different issues. In comparison to the past, no; in comparison to other Christian denominations, more than nearly all of them – in both total conversion numbers and activity rate. The studies I have read are fascinating.
Remember, the issue wasn’t worded as quickly; it was worded simply numerically.
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