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DevilsAdvocate wrote:
Even if many individual members are content to overlook and not worry too much about these issues that just leaves them sitting there for others to have to deal with eventually down the road anyway (Luke 8:16-17, John 8:32). Maybe it is fairly common for Church members to be able to put a few issues on the shelf and try to put a positive spin on it or say that it doesn’t really matter but there’s always a chance that they will keep running into more problems until the shelf collapses completely.
Dude, I have actually done this several times. I shelved items but they would fall on my head. I decided to get everything out on the table and deal with them. It’s not a fun process. I’ll be done here after I reiterate this: It hasn’t helped me to read and listen to “exit stories” or hear people discuss their issues over and over again without seeking a resolution.Shawn wrote:…I am not saying that issues should be ignored or minimized. Visiting
sites and listening to podcasts where the issues are rehashed over and over again in a negative way is quite different from discussing the issues and seeking a resolution.For example, listening to and reading “exit stories” has not helped me. The last podcast I listened to got me seriously depressed. I think studying polygamy and anachronisms ceases to be useful at some point. I have found there is no resolution to some issues so I am seeking peace until more answers are available. Shawn wrote:Dude, I have actually done this several times. I shelved items but they would fall on my head. I decided to get everything out on the table and deal with them. It’s not a fun process. I’ll be done here after I reiterate this:
It hasn’t helped me to read and listen to “exit stories” or hear people discuss their issues over and over again without seeking a resolution.Most of the typical issues people strugge with stopped bothering me as much after I accepted the idea that the Church can be wrong sometimes and it’s alright to believe some of this doesn’t need to be the way they say. Church leaders are only human. The men that wrote the Bible, BoM, etc. were only human regardless of any inspiration or revelations they possibly had. The same issues are re-hashed repeatedly because others are likely to run into the same basic problems and it probably sounds negative to some mostly because sometimes hearing about these issues isn’t very faith-promoting as far as supporting the traditional LDS doctrines. Some people find it very helpful to see they weren’t the only ones to ever worry about or disagree with some of this. If you think you have a good way to resolve or deal with specific issues then you can share your suggestions and maybe it will help others get through it as painlessly as possible. I agree that listening to some of the exit stories and problems we can’t really solve can be depressing and that’s one reason I don’t spend nearly as much time paying attention to things like that as I used to.
That’s a healthy attitude DA. Not all haters are equal. There are people who are in Stage 4 and who never get out of it. They define themselves in opposition to the things they hate. There are people who are critical but seek progress. They aren’t haters, IMO, but they may be insider critics. If you don’t see anything we can do better in the church you’re not looking! And there are people who are anti-TBMs. They are as self-righteous and convinced the church isn’t true as are the TBMs who irk them. They are also seeking to win (un) converts to their belief system. Dogmatic beliefs are not healthy either in or out, either for or against, IMO. hawkgrrrl wrote:And there are people who are anti-TBMs. They are as self-righteous and convinced the church isn’t true as are the TBMs who irk them. They are also seeking to win (un) converts to their belief system. Dogmatic beliefs are not healthy either in or out, either for or against, IMO.
Yes, exactly!Makes me think of a favorite passage from Romans (NRSV)
Quote:Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall…
Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. If your brother or sister is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love… Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding… The faith that you have, have as your own conviction before God. — Paul to the Romans, chapter 14, NRSV
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