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I think my ward is retrenching and it is painful. Today was a nightmare – Being Offended was the bulk of Sacrament Meeting. Thomas Marsh. Most often why people leave is because they are offended. It has been awhile since I had to leave after the first hour. I love a Savior, a God, Christian principles.
Super Sad Day.
Sorry, Mom. I had a day like that recently myself, followed the next week by one which was not much better. We all have our Fridays, but Sunday will come. Hang in there, Sister. You know the truth that offense is not why most people leave – cleave unto the truth! Give yourself a big hug. I woukd, but being that I am a big gorilla I might hurt you 
I’m so sorry to hear that. As cwald likes to say, Quote:“If only members would listen to their own prophets (in this case, Pres. Uchtdorf).”
I understand how you feel. Maybe an alternate way of looking at it: I’m partially offended by the church whitewashing so many details and not giving it to me straight. Not the traditional way the offended statements are made, but that’s my take on it. More simplistic thinking — that if you’re offended, you’re in the dog house. No mercy, no empathy, no compassion. It’s all on the member. One reason I’m not as heavily involved anymore at a service level. Church service is not the only game in town! mom3 wrote:I think my ward is retrenching and it is painful. Today was a nightmare – Being Offended was the bulk of Sacrament Meeting. Thomas Marsh. Most often why people leave is because they are offended. It has been awhile since I had to leave after the first hour.
I love a Savior, a God, Christian principles.
Super Sad Day.
mom3 – You must be psychic! It is a rough day. I think my
churchis retrenching. A guy who wrote a very (I thought) reasonable post about Section 132 being “of man” has to take it down immediately or be excommunicated. According to his wife’s Facebook post, this is coming directly from the 70 involved. So the usual advice to appeal to the stake president, and then to the area authority is not helpful here. I won’t link to it because I’m not sure of our rules. mom3 wrote:I think my ward is retrenching and it is painful. Today was a nightmare – Being Offended was the bulk of Sacrament Meeting. Thomas Marsh. Most often why people leave is because they are offended. It has been awhile since I had to leave after the first hour.
I sort of look at this kind of stuff as children in the playground making fun and name calling of people and things that are different.
It also helps for me to try to remember that I do childish stuff too. It is just easier for me to identify the childish behavior of everybody else!
That’s sad to hear. I chalk it up to people doing their best to make sense out of why someone would leave. Their perspective may be limited to the reasons why
theywould leave and they end up projecting their reasons onto others. It’s also sad that people can say some truly offensive things only to turn around and find fault in people for taking offense.
:crazy: A liberal interpretation of the word “offense” but:
Quote:But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Sometimes we tend to rewrite the verse to find greater fault in the little ones that were offended.
Mom3, sorry it was such a tough day. We had ward conference. It was fine, I have stopped listening too closely, although our bishop spoke on the idea of being able to change and be better. That we can all become more converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. He quoted the Mosiah idea of no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually. I have always loved that passage, and sometimes that is my guiding principle. But everything else was pretty much the same old same old. And of course we got to hear the newly returned sister missionary tell us to doubt our doubts before we doubt our faith. That almost makes me want to gag now. I know many hear recommend that we pull out the ipad or smart phone and amuse ourselves with a distraction when things get difficult in our meetings, but honestly I don’t want everybody looking at my tech tools and noticing I am surfing on FB. I would like to be a little more subtle than that. But the idea to flee the building was probably a good one–you can go home and retrench. Ann, I think something is going on when the attitude is to excommunicate someone for a blog post. It’s as though leadership is scared, and that scares me. I prefer this forum, where we can talk amongst ourselves with more anonymity. FB is much too public. Sadly, we must hide our true feelings to protect ourselves. That alone is frightening.
It really is a shame that people’s experiences in the Church vary so much. We had fast and testimony meeting today and our bishop stood up to bear his testimony first and in that testimony discussed how he appreciate those members who had helped a ward member move and then discussed the care and concern expressed for another ward member who had just a received a cancer diagnosis. It was a heartfelt testimony. Our bishop is certainly traditional and often bears his testimony regarding the truthfulness of ALL things but it comes from his concern for others…not fear. His time as bishop is coming to an end and I hope whoever takes his place can continue his tradition of compassion and love. I hope things get better for you, Mom3! Know that it’s not necessarily the same all over.
Just to put this out there, I am quite sure there is more behind the story than one blog post getting someone threatened with disciplinary action. There might not be, since it might be a really hard line Bishop or Stake President, but my gut tells me it is FAR more than that – especially since he immediately shared the post with all of his online friends (including John Dehlin) and asked them to repost it as broadly as possible. I hope the Church at all levels can become more accepting of people who see things in different ways, and I really dislike the idea of blog posts being a factor – but if this post is the last straw in a series of confrontational actions . . . I just see that last scenario as FAR more likely than this being a one-off post.
I’m sorry it was so rough! This has been something I think about constantly, because my family is always trying to give labels to other family members as to why they have left. I feel like a broken record, “its just tough stuff, no other reason necessary”! I am actually teaching this in seminary tomorrow, Thomas Marsh. UGH!!! I have been trying to figure out how to make the lesson meaningful for the kids, but also not victim blaming. The quote at the end of the lesson made me cringe!! “After being baptized and living in utah–He was a poor, shattered, broken down old man. He would say–If any of you want to see the effects of apostasy, look upon me.” I thought, what the heck?! One, did the atonement and baptism help him feel happy again? Or are they trying to tell the kids that if they ever leave the church, and actually come back, you will still be a miserable old coot. I was so unsure what they were trying to say here. How do you teach this to a kid who has family members that are inactive? There is no hope guys, even if they come back. Yikes. Anyway, today was tough for you, but I really liked what Metalrain said about finding an alternative way of looking at it. Just for your peace of mind. Have a better week! Sorry mom3. Hang in there. Church was pretty decent until HPG. We discussed repentance and basically I walked out thinking no one understands the Atonement at all but they all act like they do ( I don’t claim to understand it either and am actually very confused by it). I quit paying attention about half way through.
Hope today is better!
Old-Timer wrote:Just to put this out there, I am quite sure there is more behind the story than one blog post getting someone threatened with disciplinary action. There might not be, since it might be a really hard line Bishop or Stake President, but my gut tells me it is FAR more than that – especially since he immediately shared the post with all of his online friends (including John Dehlin) and asked them to repost it as broadly as possible. I hope the Church at all levels can become more accepting of people who see things in different ways, and I really dislike the idea of blog posts being a factor – but if this post is the last straw in a series of confrontational actions . . .
I just see that last scenario as FAR more likely than this being a one-off post.
Ray, I don’t know the full story, however a lot of the conversation about this was going on yesterday in a FB group which includes the writer of the blog entry. The person who wrote the post didn’t initiate it getting shared by everyone, everyone kept asking him if they could share it and talk about the situation. The feeling I got was that there was basically no quarter given from the SP and area authority. I don’t know what I would do in that situation, but I feel I need to defend the author a bit here. Perhaps there is more to it, I don’t know, but honestly I don’t really care. Threatening someone with excommunication over that blog post is ridiculous, IMHO.
-SBRed
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