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Had another State 5 experience the other day. I was at a hotel and saw a TV show about life in prison. I saw profiiles and the terrible behavior and just bad character of some of the the inmates there — how some of the repentant inmates expressed fear of their lives, as well as the random acts of violence that happen. Then I reflected on my experience the night before as I was part of a Ward social planning and execution. Nobody swore, everybody got along. There were a couple points of disagreement on things that were a bit uncomfortable, but then there was a quick apology and everyone got along again as if nothing had happened.
You know, true or not, you get to rub shoulders with a lot of good people in the Church. And that rubbing shoulders was just all about working together for a worthy end — in this case, allowing members to get together and socialize and feel a sense of belonging. There wasn’t any overt doctrine or anything objectionable — just solid relationships and people of character working together.
I see this as yet another reason to stay involved and contributing — the good interactions you can have with people at Church. I think there are a lot of ways to work alongside people without necessarily having to espouse doctrines you might find cumbersome or hard to believe. Being on Ward Social Activity committees is one way, service projects, chaperoning dances, attending socials, campouts, and social events is one way to be involved yet not confronting your own doctrinal issues. And you get to rub shoulders with a lot of good people that way.
True or not, Mormonism does tend to point people toward good living and a desire to have good relationships, and the Church is a good place to work alongside people with good character and a concern for relationships.
SilentDawning wrote:True or not, Mormonism does tend to point people toward good living and a desire to have good relationships, and the Church is a good place to work alongside people with good character and a concern for relationships.
Yes, I’ve got to know a recovering heroin addict here, and the church seems to have done him a lot of good. He’s a decent person, but comes from “the wrong side of the tracks” – you’ve heard the story before. But it is good for him, and I hope he never slips back into his own ways. If the church can do that with people of his background, that is a great thing for both the people themselves, and society at large.
I can think of several people off the top of my head, including myself, who really benefit from the overall environment. I’ve had similar thoughts as you, SD, when participating in activities. Even though I may have diverged in my views over time, especially in middle age, I had a positive experience growing up in the church. I can’t claim to be from some horrible environment as a child, but I definitely had tendencies towards risky behavior as a teenager. I drank and did drugs as a teen, and my father even had to pick me up from a DC police station in the middle of the night once (as a few examples). Some of my friends had a much rougher ride into adulthood, and I can’t help but see some connection to them having no ties to a cultural group that espoused “clean living.”
The LDS Church definitely provides a convenient social network, complete with tons of activities, where civilized and decent behavior is the “norm.” It is also an environment where someone is not really going to have social pressures to drink or do drugs as part of regular activities. That can be very important for people with addictions or addictive tendencies. They don’t even have to worry about declining the invitations or hospitality really.
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