If you weren't a Mormon what would you be?

_marg · Post by **_marg** » Thu May 10, 2007 12:33 am

moksha wrote:They had ceased attending any Church.

Thanks for the non answer, I won't ask again.

Post by **_moksha** » Thu May 10, 2007 12:38 am

marg wrote:Thanks for the non answer, I won't ask again.

They were non-denominational quasi-believers in a theistic kind of way some of the time but we never discussed it much, if that helps. My Dad approached the Mormon faith perhaps like Runtu does, except less politely.

_marg · Post by **_marg** » Thu May 10, 2007 12:46 am

moksha wrote:
They were non-denominational quasi-believers in a theistic kind of way some of the time but we never discussed it much, if that helps. My Dad approached the Mormon faith perhaps like Runtu does, except less politely.

I think I would have preferred your parent's version. Anyhow I'll drop it, I'm no longer interested.

Post by **_Blixa** » Thu May 10, 2007 1:37 am

Moksha:

Blixa, did you find that your attendance in the LDS Church helped your relationships with your peers? Most of my friends ended up being non-LDS anyway because I smelled of smoke from my parent's cigarettes.

Yes, I think had I not attended I wouldn't have had friends in elementary school, jr. high, and even high school. I pretty much quit around 16 (half year of high school seminary before I was kicked out) and after High School it was a whole 'nother ball game.

Was it "good thing" all in all? Hard to say. In many ways, no. In other ways---well I doubt I would have been as early a feminist, and anti-racist without "the church" as an example to reject...

I don't know if you are from Utah/SLC or not, but I found that because there was such a dominant "enemy" the subcultural overlap was rich and complex: girls, gays, latinos, blacks and punks were forged into a counter hegemonic culture that was a defining part of my life and identity.

---------

My parents smoked as young people, but by the 70's had given it up in the face of the mid-60's cultural onslaught against it. I dearly remember bringing my dad his Camels when I was 6, though!

I've never taken it up as a habit, either, although I actually like smoking---I just never did it enough to be hooked (or is it metabolic? I've never had any addictions despite courting a few). It's funny what a cultural marker it is, though, even among only semi-mormons. I think my Dad snuck the stray cig now and then--and even a cigar or two---but to this day its probably the one thing he'd never come clean to me about!

Post by **_Mercury** » Thu May 10, 2007 2:46 pm

The Nehor wrote:What other option is there?

A faithless society

The Nehor wrote:The same holds true with ethical systems.

No, ethics and morality are not one in the same.

Post by **_Mercury** » Thu May 10, 2007 2:52 pm

The Nehor wrote:An 8 year old can decide if they want to get baptized and get the (vital) Gift of the Holy Ghost. Baptism is fairly easy to recant when you become older if you choose to.

An 8 year old has no power over decision making. It is at 23-25 that proper abilities exist to discern between an illogical conclusion and an logical conclusion.

Saying that an 8 year old can make proper life decisions is like saying my 22 month old can decide whether or not to take a dump in her pants. that's why we have diapers and that's why Mormons do an injustice to kids.

Baptism is indoctrination.

_Yoda · Post by **_Yoda** » Thu May 10, 2007 3:05 pm

Mercury wrote:Baptism is indoctrination.

Do you think that LDS baptism is any more harmful than say, a Catholic or Presbyterian baptism which is done when the child is a baby?

Post by **_Gazelam** » Thu May 10, 2007 11:15 pm

vegas,
An 8 year old knows the difference between right and wrong, that's all that's asked of them.

Post by **_wenglund** » Thu May 10, 2007 11:40 pm

Mercury wrote:
The Nehor wrote:An 8 year old can decide if they want to get baptized and get the (vital) Gift of the Holy Ghost. Baptism is fairly easy to recant when you become older if you choose to.

An 8 year old has no power over decision making. It is at 23-25 that proper abilities exist to discern between an illogical conclusion and an logical conclusion.

Saying that an 8 year old can make proper life decisions is like saying my 22 month old can decide whether or not to take a dump in her pants.

I think you just made a persuasive case for indoctrination. Clearly, you as a loving parent see value in indoctrinating your child about appropriate places to take a "dump". Hopefully, your child will take that indoctrination to heart early on, and won't wait until s/he is 23-25 years old to come to a logical conclusion. ;-)

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

Post by **_Mercury** » Thu May 10, 2007 11:54 pm

Gazelam wrote:vegas,
An 8 year old knows the difference between right and wrong, that's all that's asked of them.

They do? I'd like to see an eight year old get the same questions on ethics a 19 year old goes over in a undergrad Philosophy class.

Sing along with me...
"One of these things is not like the other...One of these things does not belong"