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For me personally the LDS church is feeling less and less like “my church.” I do not hold any animosity in part because I have had mostly positive or neutral experiences with the church. The press release about the BSA decision was a big one for me and left me wondering if this really is the right place for me. Adding women to these committees is great… but it doesn’t really move the needle for me. Sometimes it feels like 2 steps forward one step back. I know that we are making progress but to cheer on every positive step and sorrow for every retrenchment is just exhausting.
(This has very little to do with the actual step the church is taking and everything to do with where I am right now – but it is my honest feeling.)
Joni wrote:DarkJedi wrote:Complaining about it here will not affect their decisions.
Hey, I’ve gotta complain SOMEwhere, don’t I?
Complaining is fine, and we all need to vent sometimes. Beating a dead horse gets old. (Spoken as a member, not as a moderator.)
I don’t think it’s generally helpful to seek out the cloud in every sliver lining. Admittedly, I’m an optimist; something I owe in a large part to my being raised in the Church. A few weeks ago, the Arizona Cardinals announced that they would have one woman on the coaching staff. She will be an assistant linebackers coach, and I think the position may not even be a paid one (not obvious). It’s a very minor position, but an interesting and welcome step forward. She will be the only female coach in the NFL. It was major news in the football world (and the story made cameo appearances on national news feeds). I didn’t see a single article complaining; only lauding the step. I guarantee you that women are significantly less represented among NFL coaches than they are among the LDS leadership councils and committees.
I don’t think it’s productive to complain about this kind of thing. The Church has taken a step in the right direction. It’s a step that HAD to be taken before any more steps can be taken. The Church did the right thing and it sets up the Church to do more of the right thing, which is still needed. It doesn’t whitewash the Church’s past. But if we are going to be stuck on where the Church has been, how can we ask the Church to move forward? We have to be able to advocate for change and then celebrate that change… lather, rinse, repeat. If all we do is complain, why would the Church care what we think or what we have to say?
mom3 wrote:Shawn wrote:This was announced on Facebook. Weird. That seems to lessen the significance of it.
But remember Shawn the PR department did reference the women on a committee last week at Fair. We should have understood that as the announcement.
I have been thinking it would have been nice if had been announced in a more official way, but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe more small steps like this will be taken if they are announced quietly.I just gotta say, the thing about small steps seems wrong to me in a church supposedly led by God himself. He can do whatever he wants, and could (and has according to scriptures) make an enormous change all at once and bring new enlightenment to the church. I know some might say that the members aren’t ready for it so he holds back, but were the members ready for polygamy or moving across the country to escape mobs? I guess we’ve gotten too soft. Journey girl wrote Quote:I just gotta say, the thing about small steps seems wrong to me in a church supposedly led by God himself. He can do whatever he wants, and could (and has according to scriptures) make an enormous change all at once and bring new enlightenment to the church. I know some might say that the members aren’t ready for it so he holds back, but were the members ready for polygamy or moving across the country to escape mobs? I guess we’ve gotten too soft.
I would add the block meeting program was a simple one fell swoop thing, we just had to suck up and get on with things.
I am ready for some dust to fly myself. Problem is it always blows the wrong way.
Joni wrote:And I think it’s interesting. This, and other small changes like letting women pray in General Conference, are CLEARLY being made in response to social pressure. Yet the Church leadership is able to maintain a straight face while insisting that the Church doesn’t respond to social pressure.
nibbler wrote:If that’s the case… at least we appear to be responding to social pressure in a more timely fashion than we did in the past. No more: Social Pressure? Oh yeah? Well we’re going to sit on it for a few decades before we make a change just to show that it wasn’t social pressure, so there!
:angel: Let’s hope they’re on a roll. The pent up desire among LDS women to be included, considered and respected on the big institutional and doctrinal level is huge. I take my husband as typical.
Good manwho just hasn’t walked a mile in my church shoes. Ann wrote:I take my husband as typical.
Good manwho just hasn’t walked a mile in my church shoes. I honestly don’t know how you ladies wear those things. (Pun and double entendre intended)
Quote:The pent up desire among LDS women to be included, considered and respected on the big institutional and doctrinal level is huge. I take my husband as typical. Good man who just hasn’t walked a mile in my church shoes.
Hear, hear. And I’m getting old enough that I’ve quit wearing heels over 2 inches. Suddenly I don’t care. That’s not church related, just age related. My daughter is happy to inherit my higher heels.
I love Jacob 5, and it applies directly to this sort of discussion. I am from farm and orchard country. Radical pruning kills as often as it heals, and it almost always leaves serious scars and limitations. Measured, intentional, careful pruning is critical – if you care about what happens to each plant or tree or individual piece of fruit.
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