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The way we communicate is interesting to me. There are different ways & situations we communicate. This includes:
With our spouse.
With our employer.
With our children.
With the Church..
With close personal friends.
With God / Jesus (assuming we pray)
There are just a couple of these examples that I want to address.
The first is with the Church. I was reviewing the temple recommend questions the other day & it
struck me that all the questions are yes or no answers. There is little or no room for explaining, adding our own thoughts, feelings or ideas. Callings are usually given with the expected response being “yes”.
Church lessons are usually presented with “canned” or “expected” answers to questions.
There are few opportunities to openly discuss issues, questions or problems without offending
someone or risk being labeled a “rebel” within the church.
The second is what do you expect on the day of judgement when you are called to account for your life on earth.
My assumption is that we will stand before Jesus Christ. What will He expect our responses will be?
My guess is: it will be similar to a conversation with an old friend.
There are few opportunities for open conversations at church. I find myself biting my tongue a lot or getting up for a break in the hall or bathroom. I have developed friendships at church where I can talk openly with them.
None are in current leadership positions. It makes going to church difficult sometimes. It will have to do for now.
Most of my closest friendships are with people outside of the church. They have a wide variety of experiences, backgrounds & religions (or no religious faith).
I’m curious how others on the forum deal with the situations I’ve described with church?
Well, so far I haven’t been going to church yet, so figuring much of this out is something I’m still working out. A part of me wishes I was a member of the Community of Christ. I’ve been attending their online Sunday services, and they are fantastic. When I was going to church before the COVID hit, I just kept it inside. That gets so hard to do, though, after a while. When I went to college, one of the things I really enjoyed was to have open discussions. Some discussions would border on argument. In the process, you would develop an opinion & learned to
defend yourself. You respectfully considered others people’s opinions in the process. We would
modify our opinions, strengthen what we believed or attempt to persuade others to our point of view.
You never take the views of others personally.I’m beginning to understand, the church doesn’t work that way. Attached is an article by the church.
The emphasis is on Christlike communication. Very interesting. I can see where I’m going to be
spending more time in the hall or on bathroom breaks.
https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/communication?lang=eng I read the article on Christlike communication. I really have no issue with it other than it seemed to mostly be made up of platitudes. Therefore, other than an invitation to be more loving towards others, it did not seem to be very helpful for those that might seek to improve communication. Minyan Man wrote:
The second is what do you expect on the day of judgement when you are called to account for your life on earth.My assumption is that we will stand before Jesus Christ. What will He expect our responses will be?
My guess is: it will be similar to a conversation with an old friend.
I like to think that there will be hugging and weeping. I imagine the weeping to be both a representation of the great joy we would have at seeing each other again and also an acknowledgement of the pain that we have endured in our journeys since we were last together. I am influenced by the Givens’ book “The God Who Weeps” and also YouTube military reunion videos in this imagining.
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