May
25
2011
Poor Wayfaring Man
In the previous post, I focused on the fact that 12 year-old young women in the Church are taught, in YW Lesson Manual 1, Lesson 5, to find joy in their mysterious “divine potential”. It is mysterious because Lesson 5, despite using the term repeatedly, never reveals exactly what that “divine potential” is. The mystery is rendered non-mysterious and solved, however, by reading through the group of lessons in the manual that follow Lesson 5. Lessons 6 – 8 seem to flesh out the concept that Lesson 5 merely hints about. Here is the whole group of lessons, in summary form: Continue reading
4 comments | tags: Conformity, General Conference, LDS Church Sunday curriculum, LDS morals and ethics, LDS Social Circles, LDS social pressure, obedience, orthodoxy enforcement, Quentin L. Cook, sexism, Young Women organization, youth in the Church | posted in List Item 03, List Item 04, List Item 10, List Item 12, List Item 13, List Item 16, List Item 22, List Item 24, Mormon Culture, Mormon Stories
May
23
2011
Poor Wayfaring Man
In the previous post, I asserted that young women in the LDS Church receive messages that essentially accord them second-class status to young men. It is clear, based on the words of Church leaders and the contents of the YW and YM curriculum, that the Church understands that these messages are there, and that they are psychologically harmful to girls. Instead of repudiating and changing these messages, however, the Church reaffirms them as divine truth.
As an example of this, I will use Lesson No. 5 in the current YW Lesson Manual 1, titled “Finding Joy in our Divine Potential“. Here is the stated objective of Lesson 5:
OBJECTIVE: Each young woman will understand her divine potential and learn how to find joy in it. (emphasis added)
Clearly, a young woman’s “divine potential” (whatever that happens to be) is not something she would be happy with naturally. The Church recognizes that she needs to be persuaded and taught, from a young age, how she can adjust her thinking to eventually feel okay about it. Continue reading
no comments | tags: Conformity, gender, general authorities, LDS Church Sunday curriculum, LDS gender roles, LDS morals and ethics, LDS social pressure, LDS spirituality, obedience, orthodoxy enforcement, priesthood authority, sexism | posted in List Item 03, List Item 04, List Item 10, List Item 12, List Item 13, List Item 22, List Item 23, List Item 24, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine
Mar
10
2010
Poor Wayfaring Man
As noted in a previous post, Church leaders often struggle to control how the lifeblood of the Church (i.e., personal reassurance that one is on the path to salvation in the Celestial Kingdom–a concept I’ve termed “Hope”) is distributed to, and apportioned among, the members of the Church. Below are two examples of such battles.
Example 1: Elder Poelman’s View of Divine Love:
About a month after McConkie’s speech excoriating George Pace for promoting the concept of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, Elder Ronald E. Poelman, a fairly new member of the First Quorum of the Seventy (one level below the apostles in the Church hierarchy) gave an address in General Conference which appears to have been carefully worded to imply the existence of a personal relationship with the Lord, without crossing any of the lines that McConkie had drawn. Elder Poelman’s talk included the following statement: Continue reading
no comments | tags: Apostasy, Bruce R. McConkie, BYU, censorship, Conformity, criticism, divine love, Ensign Magazine, general authorities, General Conference, George Orwell, George Pace, heresy, LDS legalism, LDS spirituality, lifeblood, Living Systems, Mormon History, Nineteen Eighty-Four, obedience, orthodoxy enforcement, priesthood authority, Ronald E. Poelman, Russell M. Nelson, Sunstone Magazine | posted in List Item 02, List Item 03, List Item 04, List Item 08, List Item 09, List Item 21, List Item 22, List Item 23, List Item 24, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine, Mormon Stories
Mar
9
2010
Poor Wayfaring Man
As noted in a previous post, Church leaders often struggle to control how the lifeblood of the Church (i.e., personal reassurance that one is on the path to salvation in the Celestial Kingdom–a concept I’ve termed “Hope”) is distributed to, and apportioned among, the members of the Church. Below is an example of one such battle.
In the early 1980’s, a BYU professor named George Pace had previously given speeches and written a book promoting the idea that people should “center their lives on Christ and…develop their own personal relationship with Him.” Even though Pace was simply echoing ideas recently taught in General Conference by then-apostle (and future First Presidency Counselor) James E. Faust, his “taking out the middle man” approach to interacting with the Savior prompted a humiliating public rebuke from Apostle Bruce R. McConkie, which included the following counsel: Continue reading
3 comments | tags: Apostasy, Bruce R. McConkie, BYU, Conformity, general authorities, General Conference, George Pace, heresy, hope for salvation, James E. Faust, LDS morals and ethics, LDS social pressure, LDS spirituality, lifeblood, Living Systems, obedience, orthodoxy enforcement, populism, priesthood authority, prophets | posted in List Item 03, List Item 04, List Item 08, List Item 09, List Item 22, List Item 24, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine, Mormon Stories
Mar
8
2010
Poor Wayfaring Man
In a previous post, I outlined the concept of the LDS Church as a living system. I’ve been thinking recently about what keeps a living system like the Church together. I think the general answer has something to do with the system as a whole being able to obtain and create things that the system components need (or want), but are unable to get independently. Continue reading
no comments | tags: Conformity, LDS morals and ethics, LDS social pressure, lifeblood, Living Systems, obedience, orthodoxy enforcement, priesthood authority | posted in List Item 03, List Item 04, List Item 08, List Item 09, List Item 22, List Item 24, Mormon Culture
Feb
13
2010
Poor Wayfaring Man
A reader posted a comment recently, asking two questions. Good ones. I answered the first one in my previous post, and the second one here.
Mormon Woman Wondering asked:
Please help me understand how you…speak with your children, with integrity to your beliefs and with sensitivity to their need for something to hold onto in this world.
This is a tough question, particularly for somebody like me, with a spouse who is active in the Church, and who wants our kids to be active too. Obviously, my solution is a compromise, and could possibly have been different if she felt differently. But I think this solution does take into account the potential need for kids to have something to hold onto as they develop their own worldview. Continue reading
4 comments | tags: inactivity, LDS Church Sunday curriculum, LDS morals and ethics, LDS social pressure, Leaving the Church, mixed-faith marriage, orthodoxy enforcement, raising kids | posted in List Item 05, List Item 08, List Item 22, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine, Mormon Stories
Nov
27
2009
Poor Wayfaring Man
There are a lot of Mormons and former Mormons who are annoyed and upset by the way the leaders of the LDS Church treat Church members, and the way Church members treat each other. It’s easy to see a leader disrespecting, belittling, or otherwise bullying somebody (or a group of people) and condemn him as an evil, arrogant, selfish bastard. Likewise, it’s easy to see a member snubbing, gossiping, or imposing social burdens on somebody and judge him or her to be self-centered, unscrupulous, or stupid. I know I’ve done that.
I have been wondering recently, however, if jumping to that conclusion about people in the Church is really warranted. Could I be exhibiting an error in judgment? Some bias buried in my all-too-human psyche? I think it’s possible.
Okay, probable.
Continue reading
2 comments | tags: Apostasy, criticism, fundamental attribution error, Holy Ghost, jack mormons, LDS morals and ethics, obedience, orthodoxy enforcement, spiritual discernment | posted in List Item 03, Mormon Culture
Nov
15
2009
Poor Wayfaring Man
My previous two posts (Confession and Polygyny?) deal with topics that are quite different on the surface, but share certain underlying concepts, namely
- there are circumstances in which it is necessary for an LDS Church member to approach his or her local Church leader, seeking something that only the leader can provide; and
- the Church rules governing such circumstances are usually unclear or unknown to the Church member.
Situations like this are the norm in the LDS Church. Continue reading
no comments | tags: Church Handbook of Instructions, control, criticism, Dallin H. Oaks, ecclesiastical abuse, LDS Church discipline, LDS Church Policy, LDS morals and ethics, LDS Social Circles, LDS spirituality, Mormon Doctrine, Mormon Hierarchy, obedience, orthodoxy enforcement, pornography, priesthood authority, sexuality, sin | posted in List Item 03, List Item 17, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine
Nov
11
2009
Poor Wayfaring Man
Like every other Mormon missionary, my mission started with a stay in the Missionary Training Center (the “MTC”). I will probably have more to say about this topic in the future, but for my purposes today, I will just say that the MTC fills the same role as boot camp does for the military–it is meant to break down the new recruits and re-mold them into homogeneous parts of a mighty army. In the MTC, part of that process involves convincing the new recruits that they are sinners, and in need of repentance and reconciliation with God in order to avoid being a complete failures as missionaries.
As a new missionary, I was in the (common?) position of having never really leveled with my local bishop back home about grave sins like masturbation and/or looking at pornography. Continue reading
no comments | tags: Authority, confession, Conformity, Covenants, Holy Ghost, LDS missionary work, LDS morals and ethics, LDS spirituality, MTC, orthodoxy enforcement, pornography, repentance, sexuality, sin, worthiness | posted in List Item 06, List Item 17, Mormon Culture, Mormon Stories
Oct
22
2009
Poor Wayfaring Man
Every member of the LDS Church knows the importance of developing a strong personal or “spiritual” conviction (a “testimony”) regarding certain facts surrounding the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A testimony is considered a gift from God, delivered to a person by the Holy Ghost, a spirit-messenger of God, who communicates through a spiritual power that manifests itself in different ways to different people, typically as difficult-to-define sensations and thoughts. Every member is expected to have a testimony of at least the following key facts:
Continue reading
no comments | tags: Apostasy, Bible historicity, birth control, Book of Mormon historicity, caffeine, early Christiantiy, evolution, gay marriage, Heavenly Father, Holy Ghost, Jesus Christ, LDS spirituality, Mormon Doctrine, orthodoxy enforcement, polygamy, pornography, pri, Priesthood, priesthood healings, prophets, spiritual discernment, testimony, The True Church | posted in List Item 01, List Item 10, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine