Can you define "box checking"?

A “sustaining vote”.

Box checking is when you try to reduce righteousness to a checklist of things that, if you do them consistently, you will be saved. Thing is, doing so will often distract you from doing good in the world around you. Box checking is something that Jesus is critical of in the Sermon on the Mount and many other occasions. I can think of one specific story where he’s talking about who is getting into heaven and a Pharisee comes in and lists off all the “righteous” things he did in his life and God essentially says “Go away. I never knew you.” It’s a sharp reminder that checklists do not have the power to save us.

Last Sunday, the temple president spoke in my ward. He talked about a list of 9 things that you need to do to “be safe” and resist temptation. It was stuff like read the BoM, go to church, pay your tithing, avoid pornography, got to the temple monthly, etc… I thought of a friend of mine who does all of those things (including working in the temple), sometimes to the extreme, yet he occasionally “succumbs” to the temptation of pornography (and that’s about it as far as his major sins go). By this “9 things” logic, the reason this friend can’t resist pornography is because he sometimes fails to avoid it. :eh: If your god is so petty that he will only protect you from sin if you check a bunch of boxes, you need a new god.

I think dande’s list is fantastic. I’d like to add to it.

– The full tithe payer who walks by the homeless in his town without a thought of helping them because he believes his tithing is going toward helping them. (It isn’t)

– The retired couple who spends most of their time in the temple instead of connecting with their children and grandchildren.

PEDIT: I agree with DarkJedi

I just took on a quasi leadership position where I’m responsible for seeing that about 40 faculty are complying with online teaching standards.

I feel that I’m a “check box enforcer” right now. Whether those things facutyare supposed to do actually increases student learning outcomes has never been tested. Some are common sense, but others, such has having a weekly announcement when you meet with the class once a week face to face, has me wondering if it’s simply announcing for the sake of announcing.

I like Roy’s example above — it’s doing something that looks like you’ve been effective, when your heart is more for the brownie points of appearing to comply than to actually achieve the final result.

Measuring process and activity, rather than outcomes, is an example of box checking in my view. And sometimes outcomes can be achieved and measured, but people choose to measure the supposed means of achieving those outcomes, whether those outcomes are achieved are not.

So, yes, at the end of the month someone comes to the door, disappointed you actually were home, and declines an invite in, and wants to simply report they did it — that would be box checking.

The person who realizes that in spite of the gold standard of a visit to the home, a home teaching family is better served by a quick catch up at church in a room on a break (because they re busy, and receiving a HT is a burden for the family) is actually doing the better job.

Checkboxes can interefere with outcomes. It’s the outcomes that matter….but people confuse going through the motions without getting the results we are seeking.

For a lot of people, box checking is an important way to maintain a feeling of control and sanity.

As in most things (spiritual and temporal), moderation is the key. Neither extreme (always OR never) is healthy.

For me, I’d define “check boxing” as a focus on the ends, rather than the means. You do what you do in order to receive a certain reward, rather than doing what’s right for its own sake. A focus on the destination, rather than the journey.

It’s the philanthropist who spends his life abusing his employees for personal gain, only to turn around and spend it on “the arts” or humanitarian work.

Could this be condensed into just saying, “hypocrisy”?

For me, I’d define “check boxing” as a focus on the ends, rather than the means. You do what you do in order to receive a certain reward, rather than doing what’s right for its own sake. A focus on the destination, rather than the journey.

It’s the philanthropist who spends his life abusing his employees for personal gain, only to turn around and spend it on “the arts” or humanitarian work.

Could this be condensed into just saying, “hypocrisy”?

Well yes, but it’s box-checking that might lead a person into this kind of hypocrisy. Box checking morality is a breeding ground for hypocrisy. Case in point: the Pharisees.