Hello

Friedrich, welcome to our group. It is always refreshing to have new members join us & give their introductions.

Even though we are a lot alike on some issues, we are not all the same. (Does that make sense?)

You have a very interesting introduction, life & experiences both within the church & outside as well.

You said:

My “issue” has always been not feeling comfortable in church. I am not a vile sinner, but I never feel comfortable in meetings, the temple, etc. I finally told my wife a year or two back, she said the same thing.

I hope you feel comfortable here.

You also said:

A social worker, who was one of our stake high council, walked in and “caught” me (reading the BOM). He first stated I should not read that in school. I thought that was a bit asinine. Then, remember he is on the high council, he asked me if I believed the Book of Mormon. I told him yes, I find it fascinating. He told me, literally, I was stupid and suffered from cognitive dissonance. Yes, a stake high council member told me that. I moved on. He has not been the first “good” member to tell me that, or something similar.

For me this would be a BIG issue.

I’m sure many of us have had similar experiences. I don’t understand why some members think that they say anything & seem to justify their

actions because they are in position of leadership. I guess at my age, I would probably fire back with a smart remark. Or, next time, let them catch you

reading a “porn” magazine instead of the BOM. (How do you like that for a smart remark? Being rude is inexcusable (IMO).

Welcome to the forum. I hope you feel more comfortable here than at church, we try hard to make people feel welcome.

We certainly all have different issues, perspectives, and experiences and yours are a bit unique, which is a good thing. Different points of view are what make this place work.

My “issue” has always been not feeling comfortable in church. I am not a vile sinner, but I never feel comfortable in meetings, the temple, etc. I finally told my wife a year or two back, she said the same thing.

I guess I’m not really sure what you mean by this. Do you feel you don’t “fit in” or is it something else?

When COVID hit and everything shut down I did not return when the ward building reopened. I am happy. The unwanted visits have stopped, as well as random knocks from the missionaries. Though I have been treated very poorly at times by priesthood leaders, I do not blame those incidents. They were what they were.

I’m more or less in this spot too. I did briefly go back post COVID but I was not comfortable with the way things were being done then (a time when people should have still been wearing masks but weren’t, etc.) and stopped going because my restrictions at work were much more stringent and I felt those were justified. And I didn’t want to get sick. I mostly did well at protecting myself and didn’t get COVID until late in the game, May 2022, and while I was down and out a couple days I generally fared well. Anyway, we do get the occasional missionary visit, and my “ministering brother” calls from time to time but his calls are not of the “we miss you” variety, he does just chat. I am also happy and don’t really miss going. I have also been treated poorly sometimes in the past, and I have also at times been treated well. I agree with your perspective, they were what they were and I can let bygones be bygones.

But, I find the Book of Mormon fascinating. One day at work I was reading The Book of Mormon during lunch. A social worker, who was one of our stake high council, walked in and “caught” me. He first stated I should not read that in school. I thought that was a bit asinine. Then, remember he is on the high council, he asked me if I believed the Book of Mormon. I told him yes, I find it fascinating. He told me, literally, I was stupid and suffered from cognitive dissonance. Yes, a stake high council member told me that. I moved on. He has not been the first “good” member to tell me that, or something similar.

This is an interesting experience, and I sense there is more to the story. I agree with the first part, it is asinine to tell somebody they can’t read religious material or books at school. That’s an all-too-common misconception about separation of church and state. While I don’t necessarily share your fascination with the BoM (I don’t hate it, but I’d rather read the Bible) where did he come up with the cognitive dissonance stuff? Was that because he thinks you’re inactive or apostate? Is there some history with the two of you? I do recognize how judgmental some people can be with those not attending, but it seems like he’d have been thrilled that you were reading the BoM and may have taken it as a sign that not all is lost.

I have researched Catholicism, watch catechism on YouTube, I have a high interest in Catholicism, but I just cannot pull the trigger to go farther.

I was raised nominally Catholic, but did regularly attend for a bit before joining the church. I find Catholicism fascinating. I do get the sense that the high leadership of the church has softened it stance and backed off some on what the so called “great apostacy” was, and I’m not sure that is getting anywhere close to the ends of the rows yet. But there is no doubt in my mind that the gospel was always on the earth and that Catholicism is what kept it here for centuries. Catholics are Christian and all the main tenets/components of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are there in Catholicism. There was never a time after Christ where there were not believers who were trying to live the gospel. There’s lots of other stuff, but way more than is probably appropriate here. Suffice it to say Catholicism is not that far off and probably no farther than we are (and for the same reasons). I’d encourage you to go to live mass (they’re not much different than the TV versions) and feel it for yourself. When it comes to the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, I think they do a way better job of connecting it to what it really is than we do. (The caveat here is that both churches have some weird stuff that I don’t agree with, transubstantiation being one of them.)

Again, welcome. Please don’t be a stranger, I’d love to hear what you have to share with us.

That was a long intro. I should probably apologize.

No worries there. You should see some of my posts… or the first few paragraphs of one before you decide to skip on to the next post.