DiscussMormonism.com

I went to a daddy-daughter camp over the weekend at the local evangelical-run campground where my daughter has gone to camp for a number of years, and about which I have posted before.

The pastor is a very nice man, and he gave an informal sermon at a campfire Saturday night. Toward the beginning of his comments, he said something so unusual, and so out of character with the rest of his sermon, that it has stuck with me since.

He said that, whenever he sees a person wearing a cross around their neck, he wonders how well they know Jesus.

I was chagrined by how judgmental this sounded. And it had nothing to do with anything else he was talking about. He just kind of threw it in there.

I later wondered if it had anything to do with me sitting on the front bench right in front of him and wearing a cross around my neck I had bought at the camp store earlier that day.

I think it is an open secret at the camp that my daughter is Mormon and so am I.

I honestly don't know what to make of this, because although I resist the idea of personalizing his comment, I am having trouble making sense of it.

Thoughts?

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

Maybe he was thinking of Bill Hicks.

"A lot of Christians wear crosses around their necks. You think when Jesus comes back he ever wants to see a <bleep>ing cross? It's like going up to Jackie Onassis wearing a rifle pendant.”

Maybe, like me, he is puzzled why you would wear a cross. He is probably aware that Mormons do not display them.

How well does he know you? If he does not know how well versed you are in religion he might be wondering if you understand its significance.

He may just have the habit of asking himself that question about anyone he sees wearing a cross.

Fence Sitter wrote:Maybe, like me, he is puzzled why you would wear a cross. He is probably aware that Mormons do not display them.

How well does he know you? If he does not know how well versed you are in religion he might be wondering if you understand its significance.

He may just have the habit of asking himself that question about anyone he sees wearing a cross.

He doesn't know me from Adam. And I don't know if he just does have the habit of asking himself that question whenever he sees a person wearing a cross.

But that just seems so judgmental. It would be like me saying that every time I see a garment line on somebody, I wonder how true to they are to their temple covenants.

I think one of the reasons I am troubled by this comment is I am not sure which is worse--whether he was indirectly asking me the question, or whether he just asks it randomly of every cross-wearer he runs across.

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

P.S. I still have the cross on. It is kind of '70's looking, and sort of groovy. Like a religious David Cassidy.

The Dude wrote:Maybe he was thinking of Bill Hicks.

"A lot of Christians wear crosses around their necks. You think when Jesus comes back he ever wants to see a <bleep>ing cross? It's like going up to Jackie Onassis wearing a rifle pendant.”

I am not familiar with Bill Hicks, but that is a great line.

Maybe I can use it the next time I am talking about why Mormons don't wear crosses.

Except for the fact that this one is . . .

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

Before I forget, something else the pastor said that caught my attention involved his saying how long he had lived in the community; that he had met his wife here, and that their first child was born here; that the child was still born, and "went immediately to heaven to be with Jesus."

That sounded awful Mormon to me.

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

Consig, if I were you, I wouldn't sweat it. He knows that you are LDS, but he knows next to nothing else about you. He doesn't know that you are waging a futile war to change Mormonism from within. If he knew that, he would have been much less confused.

MCB wrote:Consig, if I were you, I wouldn't sweat it. He knows that you are LDS, but he knows next to nothing else about you. He doesn't know that you are waging a futile war to change Mormonism from within. If he knew that, he would have been much less confused.

Yes. I am currently sitting it out in the penalty box.

But maybe he saw me as somehow mocking his faith by wearing a cross.

I hope not, but it is certainly within the realm of possibility.

I hate it when, in the middle of thinking bad things about somebody else, I suddenly start thinking bad things about myself.

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

There is no such thing a worthiness test for wearing a cross. That's just silliness. My very agnostic, atheistic leaning daughter, wears at times a rosary I made, which has a *shock* crucifix. What it means to her, or doesn't, is none of my business. It isn't this pastor's business about you either.

Was your cross made by Jacob the Jeweler? Maybe it just didn't have enough bling. That's important nowdays you know.