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We should all do something like wear pink socks one Sunday.

This could seriously backfire when we approach someone who has the right socks on by co-incidence and start asking about when their faith crisis started.

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So, apparently a member of the SP will be making an appointment to see me about this blog piece…. could be interesting.

I firmly stand by what I said, but it looks like others have expressed horror (to leaders and not to me!)

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Glad to hear that you’re feeling more positive.

Sunday School teacher…. could be a dream calling, could be a nightmare. Pray hard to find the middle ground.

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Old-Timer wrote:

Yes, but sometimes delivery is 90% of the message we send.

It’s better to think through how to express a disagreement, even if it means addressing it outside the initial moment sometimes than to react immediately and emotionally and risk sending the wrong message.

This is definitely true.

I’ve been quite vocal with my support of same sex marriage on FB, and there have been some frank exchanges of views. Sometimes I’ve felt very reactionary, especially when family members have goaded me with falsehoods such as “just because people CHOOSE to be gay”…. I’ve had to step away from the keyboard and spend an hour fathoming a measured response. It sounds corny, but ‘what would Jesus do?’

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Roy wrote:

From reading your blog – I personally would estimate that you are somewhere between #1 and #2.

Sounds about right to me!

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The real indicator of growth and activity in the church is stakes/congregations rather than membership numbers. Congregational growth last year was 0.9%. Dividing total membership by number of congregations gives you about 500 members per congregation, so activity in the church as a whole is well under 50%.

Activity rates in the UK are around 30%. One of the wards in Scotland where i served had an average sacrament meeting attendance that was 9% of the number on roll. That wasn’t uncommon in Scotland either, and that doesn’t take in to account all those who have no known address.

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[kristmace]

SamBee wrote:

And we can now sterilize the entire surface of the earth in a matter of hours. That is not an improvement on fifty or a hundred years ago.

That’s clearly in the 1%

Thanks for that link Shaun. Very interesting. I was fascinated to read that 40% of first pregnancies in the UK at the start of the Victorian era (c.1830) were to unwed mothers. That is almost exactly the same rate as today.

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Thats a fair point. Maybe we’ve farmed our problems off to other countries as cheap travel has become more widespread. Prostitiution within the UK is definitely less problematic than it was 100 years ago, but maybe useage of it has changed to more ‘legitimate’ escort services and international sex tourism. I would be interested to see some data on useage of these services, but as you said, I bet it would be wildly inaccurate.

In general though, the view that the world was a rosy place in the past certainly doesn’t hold. The world changed rapidly in the 20th century and 99% of that change was in the right direction, and to suggest otherwise is a bit misleading.

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All these points he made were in comparison to 50 or 100 years ago, so I think they’re all the case in most western countries (although certainly not everywhere).

As far as welfare is concerned, there are reforms going on in the UK, and some on the left would charactarise this as dismantling, but this rhetoric in my opinion as the reforms will maintain a universal welfare system to assist all.

As for Prostitution, he quoted a study he read (he’s a politics graduate) that showed that loss of virginity to a prostitute has dropped in the UK from 20% at the start of the 20th Century to under 5% 100 years later.

I wonder how many members see the progressive reforms of the current US government and equate this with ‘the world declining at an alarming rate?’ I think there are an alarming number of member stockpiling weapons and supplies ready for the collapse of the government on the advice of Glenn Beck.

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After conference by TBM brother sent me an email list he put together of 10 ways in which the world is significantly better than than it was 50 or 100 years ago. I completely agreed with him. Obviously these apply to the vast majority of countries in the world (especially in the West, but there are exceptions in some 3rd world countries). Here’s the list:

1) Political stability and lower threat of war

2) Welfare programs and lower poverty

3) Immunisation and eradication of some serious diseases

4) Civil Rights improvements have brought emancipation for minorities

5) Rights of Women have improved immeasurably: suffrage, education, birth control, working rights

6) Prostitution is no longer as rife in many western countries

7) Homosexuality has been decriminalised

Compulsory, free education has increased social mobility

9) Unionised workforces have pressured employers and government to introduce a minimum wage, safer working environments, paid holiday and maternity leave (although not universally in the US)

10) Almost all countries (US excepted) provide universal access to healthcare. Life expectancy has increased by around 30 years

My brother also made the point that from his research he believes that sex outside marriage is no more common now than it has been in the past, but that the social stigma attached to it has diminished.

This got me thinking that the only way it can be construed that the world is in rapid decline is in the area of morals, sex and families. This isn’t a clear picture either. From my own research into the figures (In the UK):

1) Marriage rates have barely changed in the last 10 years (although slightly down)

2) Divorce rates have fallen in 9 out of the last 10 years in the UK

3) Percentage of children born to unmarried parents has leveled off over the last 5-10 years, and data suggests this is due to sable middle class couples in their late 20s deciding to start a family rather than have an expensive wedding, delaying marriage until their mid 30s.

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Really interesting, and i completely agree mackay. I think the only new things that will emerge will be self inflicted by the church (such as Prop8.)

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It’ll be interesting to see how this is implemented and how it works in practice. No doubt there will be big variations by mission. Good idea though.

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[kristmace]

Thanks for the summary, I had to work so this is really useful!

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[kristmace]

We had a 5th Sunday lesson about 2 years ago from a member of the SP. It was all on personal grooming and he said that all the men should be clean shaven on a Sunday and used BYU fireside quotes to substantiate it. It was grim. If i thought then as i do now I’d have piped up.

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[kristmace]

SamBee wrote:

I don’t agree with everything he said, but he never said anything I consider to be outrageous. (One or two of the current GAs have in the past though!)

I’d say more than one or two!! 😆 😯 :crazy:

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