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azguy wrote:
I love this part of the church. I have an instant social connection with everyone. I can talk and make friends very quickly. I just have a super hard time with the hard core TBM black and white belief. Sunday School was absolutely atrocious. The gospel doctrine teacher was asking nothing by leading questions that strongly insinuated he was looking for a certain answer, and I didn’t really agree with most of what he was saying. EQ was half way decent. It started off pretty bad, but it got better.Since my return to activity, I’ve tried to live the principle: keep what you can use & leave the rest.
I don’t get a lot out of SS either. In defense of the teacher, this has to be one of the toughest jobs in the ward.
nibbler wrote:It sounds like a positive move.
azguy wrote:Sunday School was absolutely atrocious. The gospel doctrine teacher was asking nothing by leading questions that strongly insinuated he was looking for a certain answer, and I didn’t really agree with most of what he was saying.
I’ve had many teachers like that. I may or may not have taught a lesson like that myself.
:shifty: Ya, I shouldn’t be too hard on him. I’ve done that too, and I’m sure I’ll do it again.
Quote:I may or may not have taught a lesson like that myself.
:shifty: NIbbler quit braggin’.
SS is a hard one. We have a fantastic teacher. She is a great public speaker, very scripturally sound, she doesn’t get thrown by anything. The only book in her hand is the scriptures. She has a note card to connect stuff, but lots of discussion etc. My challenge is BoM. I am weary of it. Whether real or created I feel like we have mined it for the same material too long. Bible needs to have a class of its own and take 2 years for each the OT and NT.
Back to the OP – Thanks for the update AZGuy. May things keep going in a good direction for you and your family.
Quote:The gospel doctrine teacher was asking nothing by leading questions that strongly insinuated he was looking for a certain answer, and I didn’t really agree with most of what he was saying.
Gee, THAT sounds familiar. Personally, I think the problem is correlation. They correlate the manual, and next they want to correlate our thoughts. Nuts to that. I was listening to an excellent podcast about people who’ve left religion behind (the Nones) and one thing a former Catholic said was that prayer was the only thing the church couldn’t get its hands on. Wow, could I relate to that sentiment!
Our first day at church was June 5th. My daughter’s birthday was two days later (she turned 13). The beehives showed up to ‘heart attack’ our front door. This ward appears to be very ‘on top’ of things. My daughters really love church, so this is probably a good thing. I looked up our ward in the lds map tool. 33% of the houses in the ward boundaries are member households. The ward is only 1/4 mile square (1/2 mile x 1/2 mile).
And I got a call from the primary president today. She probably would have called my wife, but she took all of her contact information off LDS tools.
I have a new update! So it turns out the Primary President came by my house to see my wife today. She had tried to call before she came by, but my wife took her number off LDS tools, so she called me instead. I didn’t answer since I was at work. When they showed up, my wife was wearing a tank top, and her cross necklace. She also has three piercings in one ear and two in the other. The primary president was there to introduce herself and her counselor and let my wife know about various upcoming activities. My wife has held numerous primary callings and been a member her whole life, but the PP and her counselor seemed confuses because of my wife’s apparent non-mormon dress and attire. She said they kept explaining what a primary spotlight was and how cub scouts worked.
My wife and I are mostly chuckling about this together. I kind of feel bad for the PP and her counselor. I wish it was OK for someone in my wife’s position to just tell them, “Oh, I’m just a semi-active non-believing cultural mormon, don’t mind the tank top and piercings. I still want my kids to come and participate and am fully aware of how everything works!” and say all of that with a big smile on her face. Instead we have this passive aggressive dance that everyone participates in.
In a way, it’s good. She was “authentic” by accident. They won’t be calling on her like a fully believing Mormon to do things, likely. The churchmembers are very good at treating people who appear inactive, as if they are inactive! I know that from first hand experience! hawkgrrrl wrote:I envy your wife. Are you still in AZ? It’s insanely hot right now.
Yes, we moved all the way from Gilbert to Queen Creek.Meanwhile, I sit in an air conditioned office at work where I have to wear a winter coat because the AC is blasting all the time.
#firstworldproblems
Hot? It barely hit 103 today. It’s cooled down almost 15 degrees in a week! Not sure what the problem is. 😆 I can’t handle air conditioning. I am also chilling in a sweater in my office, occasionally walking outdoors just to warm back up. It was just as bad in Singapore, too. It is okay for people like your wife to say what you would like to have said. The smile and warm voice are the key. Seriously, most members I know would rather interact with a nice less-/inactive member than a fully active, self-righteous prick – even if they won’t admit it in church.
Old Timer wrote:
Seriously, most members I know would rather interact with a nice less-/inactive member than a fully active, self-righteous prick – even if they won’t admit it in church.I think this belongs in the Book of Proverbs (no sarcasm meant).
Old Timer wrote:Seriously, most members I know would rather interact with a nice less-/inactive member than a fully active, self-righteous prick – even if they won’t admit it in church.
I’ll admit that I am biased, but I do think my wife is a pretty awesome person to be around.
Next update – My wife came to church on Father’s day with me. This was our second time attending the new ward. For those who don’t know, I am the more ‘believing’ spouse in our marriage. Sacrament meeting was OK. We had some pretty good talks about how men can, and need, to be roll models for children. A sister that is part of a blended family spoke about how her husband really bonded with her sons after they were married. Then we went to SS. It was atrocious. In the two weeks we have been there, we have heard two of the three gospel doctrine teachers. Both of them have basically given hell-fire and damnation sermons. I am not sure if it’s them, or if it’s the material. We’ve covered the first ~10 chapters of Alma. I’m pretty sure I’m never going to get my wife to come to SS with me again as long as this lady is teaching. The bishop cam in about halfway through the lesson. He attempted to temper the hardcore lesson a little, but the SS teacher didn’t miss a beat, thanked him for his comment, then jumped right back into her theme of, “It’s the Mormons vs. the whole world, and they’re all going to hell-in-a-hand-basket.”
The silver lining here is that it was a really great Father’s day. We spent a lot of time with family, I ate WAY too much food, and I got two quality naps in.
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