Anonymous wrote:I don't drink alcohol, smoke, or do drugs. I drink decaf coffee. I put my family first. I don't need religion to guide my values but I do appreciate the fact that Mormons don't drink. The world would be better without alcohol. I also think that all religions devide people though.

Ever heard of Jack Mormons?
Mormons who drink

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think being as Mormon is logistically difficult, especially in a large city. You are supposed to marry young and have lots of kids, but if you have lots of kids, you need a good income, so you need college and grad school, but it's hard to do that if you marry young and have lots of kids. If you are a woman, you are supposed to get a college degree that you never use, as you can't work with eight kids. In addition to all of these work and family responsibilities, you are supposed to go to church, be a home teacher, lead a scout troop, and take a turn leading your church. You do all of this while tithing and saving for your sons' missions (at 20 k apiece), in addition to saving for college and retirement.

They set standards that few can meet.

How do they do all these things, esp the stuff in the bold? It seems that Mormon parents and the older generation helps out the younger generation financially, but I can't imagine that all of them have enough family wealth to make this happen.

It's an impossible standard to uphold and it killed a female relative of mine. She was a convert. She already had a MBA from Stanford and married in to a Mormon side of my family. We became close. She had converted because of a difficult childhood, but the LDS church didn't turn out to be the safe haven she wanted. Everything about the LDS church posted in this column is true. She was held to impossible standards and I witnessed what it did to her for 15 years and how it ground her down. She had four children in short order and if a fifth came along, she had no say over the matter. She tilled the backyard and grew vegetables and canned in the fall. She had the year's requirement of food in storage and was rotating the dry goods. She was "called" to be the boy scout leader for her ward. She was "called" to teach Sunday school. She was called to run "Pioneer Day". She and her husband regularly tithed as is required (you meet quarterly with the Ward Bishop and he knows exactly what you make - you turn over 10% of gross). She was saving for the missions for her three boys - HER obligation upon birth of the son. And they bought a house. DH lost his job in the recession so had to take a job with a 2 hour commute at lesser pay. My cousin had no choice but to find work on top of everything else she was doing (and she had two SN kids). Her MBA from Stanford wasn't recognized for teaching in state schools so she was teaching full time while also going to school at night to get her teaching certificate. And DH expected to also put a meal on the table for the five of them before heading out to class. We talked extensively the week before she died about the stress she was under, the anger she held because she couldn't "do it all", and asked for prayers. While setting up her classroom for the fall she suffered sudden cardiac arrest and was probably dead before she hit the floor. The hospital kept her "alive" for a week, but it was hopeless. She was 43.

I don't drink alcohol, smoke, or do drugs. I drink decaf coffee. I put my family first. I don't need religion to guide my values but I do appreciate the fact that Mormons don't drink. The world would be better without alcohol. I also think that all religions devide people though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think being as Mormon is logistically difficult, especially in a large city. You are supposed to marry young and have lots of kids, but if you have lots of kids, you need a good income, so you need college and grad school, but it's hard to do that if you marry young and have lots of kids. If you are a woman, you are supposed to get a college degree that you never use, as you can't work with eight kids. In addition to all of these work and family responsibilities, you are supposed to go to church, be a home teacher, lead a scout troop, and take a turn leading your church. You do all of this while tithing and saving for your sons' missions (at 20 k apiece), in addition to saving for college and retirement.

They set standards that few can meet.

How do they do all these things, esp the stuff in the bold? It seems that Mormon parents and the older generation helps out the younger generation financially, but I can't imagine that all of them have enough family wealth to make this happen.

Evidently they have no bad habits. So that saves plenty of time and money. Mormons don't drink, don't smoke, and don't spend countless unproductive hours on the internet.

Anonymous wrote:FYI, I have a very close family and we have a great, helpful community. My boyfriend and I are atheists. You don't need to be Mormon in order to have those things.

Frankly Mormons and Atheists have very similar psychological profiles.

Seriously? No coffee??? OMFG.

They are interested in family and community, but only in their own family and in the Mormon community. Everyone outside that bubble does not exist. If you are a politically-minded person, especially one with liberal values, you might find that hard to adapt to.

I'd look elsewhere to find my people.

Anonymous wrote:I think being as Mormon is logistically difficult, especially in a large city. You are supposed to marry young and have lots of kids, but if you have lots of kids, you need a good income, so you need college and grad school, but it's hard to do that if you marry young and have lots of kids. If you are a woman, you are supposed to get a college degree that you never use, as you can't work with eight kids. In addition to all of these work and family responsibilities, you are supposed to go to church, be a home teacher, lead a scout troop, and take a turn leading your church. You do all of this while tithing and saving for your sons' missions (at 20 k apiece), in addition to saving for college and retirement.

They set standards that few can meet.

How do they do all these things, esp the stuff in the bold? It seems that Mormon parents and the older generation helps out the younger generation financially, but I can't imagine that all of them have enough family wealth to make this happen.

Anonymous wrote:There's an excellent article in today's New York Times on the changing role of women in the Mormon Church.

Saw that, but the women missionaries are still second class citizens. They are not allowed to hold the Melchezidek priesthood, as the 18 year old men can. They are not "Elders" but "sisters". In other words, they are not priests, whereas the 18 year old boys are. I wish the article had focused more on that.

If you want your acceptance into heaven to be conditional on your husband's approval, go for it!

Watch the PBS series on it. I don't know how anyone could believe in any of their doctrine.

There's an excellent article in today's New York Times on the changing role of women in the Mormon Church.

You are required to tithe. They really do keep track.

You are required to keep a store of food in your home.

Services on Sunday are easily 3+ hours.

I agree they do have a nice focus on family and family activities but it gets drowned out for me with all the other nonsense.

My uncle converted years ago. He is very happy with the church and his choice and fully embraced all their teachings.

I admire Mitt Romney and love the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (which Reagan called "America's Choir).

in mormonism, you're supposed to actually believe that stuff.

It's a relatively new religion, remember, and it's still in the fundamentalist stage.

Mormons don't even use the term "believe"- they say that they"know" certain things are true.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would especially like the experience of converts. For some time, I have admired the values of the LDS church, particularly the importance of family and community, and have been drawn to the church. However, my politics are not conservative. (That, and I do enjoy a good cup of dark roast coffee.) Is there room for political and other diversity in the church? If you left another religion, what attracted you to become a Mormon? What has been most fulfilling? What has been the biggest challenge?

do you believe in those gold tablets under the ground nobody can dig up that some american wrote in aramaic and that the disciples/apostles traveled to america (in jesus' time)? Do you believe that a man needs to bring you to your own planet in heaven? these are big leaps of faith. if my paraphrase is wrong, I'm open to being kindly corrected by anyone LDS on here.

dont get me wrong - i really admire LDS values. but I just cannot believe in the book of mormon and the tablets etc.

Do you believe all of the myths -- excuse me, truths -- in the Torah? Or the Gospels, if you're Chistian? Every religion has its beliefs that require a certain suspension of disbelief.