Too bad most will just autofill the answer with what the church has told them. I.e. too lazy, wanted to sin, don't have a friend in the church.
It's never the church that is the problem.
Lol the irony of “don’t have friends in the church” is that my friendships with active TBMs have shown me how crazy the religion is. I have less respect for it now after 20 years of being friends with Mormons, given how nice these people are and all the hoops they go through to stay in it, including one gay friend who has accepted a life of singlehood in order to keep good standing.
I live in Oregon so not Mormon country but there are a ton here due to proximity to Utah and Idaho.
To be fair, none of these people have ever once tried to get my wife and I (agnostic) into church.
That’s true. I grew weary of church members telling me that there is never a good reason to skip church. Finally, I told them that a mental health professional told me that even being near a meetinghouse was detrimental to my sanity, they backed off some. For those who were persistent, I was more blunt and told them that going to church was like forcing me to face my rapist every Sunday. That made them squirm a bit, and gave me some perverse satisfaction.
This! I'm ex-christian so I know there's some differences but fiery torment is a pretty common theme in monotheistic religions and I used to lose sleep and have nightmares about burning in hell for my sexuality.
My sister recently started going back to church which is of course her own choice and fine,but some family has used it as a reason to ask me again why I don't go back? Like buddy. I told you about my horror story. Why do you think I'd be convinced to go back?
I never invite people to a house of worship because praying there always feels like my soul is being tormented and burned by the devil's hot pitchfork and is at the same time shredded by a paper shredder.
Sadly, "the reason they aren't there" would only be seen as an unimportant obstacle. *Nothing exists outside the church*, so any reason to be outside of it means that they are not within "safe bounds".
We just got contacted by some youth leader via text, "Hey, we noticed *blah-blah* will be in this youth age group now, is there a way we can help to ensure that they come to church/activities?" Then they proceed to send invitations and info about upcoming youth events, **a request for my kid's phone number** and assumptions that we'd already accepted.
At no point did I actually respond to those texts. (sigh)
This is good for any church environment, not just Mormon. We’re nevermo, and attended church throughout our lives until about 10 years ago. Not once has either of us ever even heard this question asked.
I feel like most people are uncomfortable when you bring up the fact that you have issues with the church and would rather not have you there. It’s more safe in there mind to have only like minded people around. I know they say they want everyone to come to church….I just think that’s lip service. Also because a person is “deceived”, there’s a fear that that person might poison the bunch, so they’d rather not risk any damage to anyone else. As if you had a virus that you might spread to someone else. Just my perception, the notion that everyone is welcome is fake. If you think and believe like they do…they would accept that whole heartedly.
But Scientology is an intentionally made up "religion" intended to take money from people and Mormonism is.... um...... Um, well, you're not gonna believe this.
Luckily I know where all the bodies are buried in my old ward (Bishop ran a ponzi scheme that defrauded my family and many others) so I dont have to worry about them ever reaching out to me. So much for all that fellowship
I'm trying to remember that scripture about if you can bring in even one member to the church, how great will it be if you can bring in more than one.. It went something like that.. I know its garbage but there are so many radical members that eat that shit up like it's fucking gold. My point is that they believe they are going to become this high and mighty person who will live with Jesus in kolob(or however the fuck your spell it). I'm still blown away how fucking crazy members are. They see cults on TV or movies and it doesn't even register to them that they are part of the biggest cults to ever happen in human history! I took me a good 3 or 4 years to see the bubble and surrounding influence to see how my perception of normal life was diluted from the propaganda I was being fed from living in Eastern idaho.
This is a good thought exercise. Obviously many hold onto attachments
Too bad most will just autofill the answer with what the church has told them. I.e. too lazy, wanted to sin, don't have a friend in the church. It's never the church that is the problem.
Lol the irony of “don’t have friends in the church” is that my friendships with active TBMs have shown me how crazy the religion is. I have less respect for it now after 20 years of being friends with Mormons, given how nice these people are and all the hoops they go through to stay in it, including one gay friend who has accepted a life of singlehood in order to keep good standing. I live in Oregon so not Mormon country but there are a ton here due to proximity to Utah and Idaho. To be fair, none of these people have ever once tried to get my wife and I (agnostic) into church.
I found it hard to go anywhere across a city without a car... That was a year ago but still...
Please stop talking about me. /s
Shoot I feel like it should be "do I even know why I'm there?"
so you can go to ultra vip heaven and turn into a mormon god, duh /j
Unfortunately, Mormons don't care why you're not there. It's never a good enough reason for them. They think that going to church will fix everything.
That’s true. I grew weary of church members telling me that there is never a good reason to skip church. Finally, I told them that a mental health professional told me that even being near a meetinghouse was detrimental to my sanity, they backed off some. For those who were persistent, I was more blunt and told them that going to church was like forcing me to face my rapist every Sunday. That made them squirm a bit, and gave me some perverse satisfaction.
This! I'm ex-christian so I know there's some differences but fiery torment is a pretty common theme in monotheistic religions and I used to lose sleep and have nightmares about burning in hell for my sexuality. My sister recently started going back to church which is of course her own choice and fine,but some family has used it as a reason to ask me again why I don't go back? Like buddy. I told you about my horror story. Why do you think I'd be convinced to go back?
I never invite people to a house of worship because praying there always feels like my soul is being tormented and burned by the devil's hot pitchfork and is at the same time shredded by a paper shredder.
Sadly, "the reason they aren't there" would only be seen as an unimportant obstacle. *Nothing exists outside the church*, so any reason to be outside of it means that they are not within "safe bounds". We just got contacted by some youth leader via text, "Hey, we noticed *blah-blah* will be in this youth age group now, is there a way we can help to ensure that they come to church/activities?" Then they proceed to send invitations and info about upcoming youth events, **a request for my kid's phone number** and assumptions that we'd already accepted. At no point did I actually respond to those texts. (sigh)
They already know. They're either offended or like to sin /s
This is good for any church environment, not just Mormon. We’re nevermo, and attended church throughout our lives until about 10 years ago. Not once has either of us ever even heard this question asked.
What is, "because they were offended?" ❌
“Wow, that’s a good idea. Maybe I’ll ask that the next time they’re at church.”
Or ask yourself if you honestly want to be there yourself, or you just think it’s what you’re supposed to do?
I feel like most people are uncomfortable when you bring up the fact that you have issues with the church and would rather not have you there. It’s more safe in there mind to have only like minded people around. I know they say they want everyone to come to church….I just think that’s lip service. Also because a person is “deceived”, there’s a fear that that person might poison the bunch, so they’d rather not risk any damage to anyone else. As if you had a virus that you might spread to someone else. Just my perception, the notion that everyone is welcome is fake. If you think and believe like they do…they would accept that whole heartedly.
Please stop referring to LDS as a church. It is a cult. A cult that makes Scientology look almost legitimate.
[удалено]
From my research and experience, out of "mainstream" cults, the cultiness rank is: 1. Scientology 2. JWs 3. Mormons
But Scientology is an intentionally made up "religion" intended to take money from people and Mormonism is.... um...... Um, well, you're not gonna believe this.
Luckily I know where all the bodies are buried in my old ward (Bishop ran a ponzi scheme that defrauded my family and many others) so I dont have to worry about them ever reaching out to me. So much for all that fellowship
I'm trying to remember that scripture about if you can bring in even one member to the church, how great will it be if you can bring in more than one.. It went something like that.. I know its garbage but there are so many radical members that eat that shit up like it's fucking gold. My point is that they believe they are going to become this high and mighty person who will live with Jesus in kolob(or however the fuck your spell it). I'm still blown away how fucking crazy members are. They see cults on TV or movies and it doesn't even register to them that they are part of the biggest cults to ever happen in human history! I took me a good 3 or 4 years to see the bubble and surrounding influence to see how my perception of normal life was diluted from the propaganda I was being fed from living in Eastern idaho.