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It’s something to do with how everyone reads the sacrament prayer the same way. It’s how the last guy did it. Tradition runs strong. Aren’t traditions of the fathers something that was not approved of I thought? 
Broad strokes to be sure. I happily wore a blue shirt to the temple two weeks ago. Combat trousers too, but they were dark enough I don’t think anyone noticed. Oh and a beard, and leather jacket. If I wore my Sunday clothes any longer than I already do, they would rot.
Interesting point however, why are men encouraged to all look identical? Dark suit, white shirt, clean cut is the uniform of a faithful member. Any deviation is indicative of a lack of obedience. It reminds me of the star bellies from Dr Seuss. No individual worth based on merit, but conformity.
An example would be an elderly lady in our ward a few years back who went on a humanitarian mission to Bangladesh for another organization. When she came back and talked about it, all she got was knowing smiles and condescending nods, because after all, it wasn’t a real mission with a real purpose.
Apparently, Feeding and clothing starving children is much less meritorious than singing and dancing in Nauvoo or working at a church ranch, and certainly not what normal members do.
GBSmith wrote:It’s my understanding that it takes 1-2 years to become a Jehovah’s Witness. The period of instruction for Catholicism is about a year. What I wonder when I see people baptised and then never show up or at best show up 1-2 times in church, is what’s the hurry.
you are right.
D&C 20:37 states all the things a potential member should be manifesting before being baptized.
And again, by way of commandment to the church concerning the manner of baptism—All those who(1)humble themselves before God, (2)and desire to be baptized, (3)and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, (4)and witness before the church that they have truly repented of all their sins, (5)and are willing to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, (6)having a determination to serve him to the end, (7)and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, (
shall be received by baptism into his church. D&C 20:68 states all the things that should happen before someone is even confirmed.
The duty of the members after they are received by baptism.—The elders or priests are to have a sufficient time to expound all things concerning the church of Christ to their understanding,previous to their partaking of the sacrament and being confirmed by the laying on of the hands of the elders, so that all things may be done in order. Apparently that means, pass the baptism interview and show up on Sunday to be confirmed.
But it shouldn’t mean that. It’s pretty clear that it is intended to be a process, not an event. People should be baptized because they want to be, not because we want them to be. I think it has been lost in translation somewhere, where 2 weeks at church plus a baptism commitment = winning in ward council meeting.
If someone works at it willingly for a few months at least, keeps coming back, doesn’t need to be dragged out to church every Sunday, they are probably committed. Active investigators lead to retention.
The first time I was called to be a Ward Mission Leader was in the YSA ward many moons ago. I was told after being set apart that I was to make arrangements for the baptism of a young Filipino woman that the Missionaries had committed. So, a few days later we picked her up at her house, she clearly had no idea what was going on, but she had passed the interview, thought the Elders were hot, and wore her best miniskirt and heels. She never turned up at Church, wouldn’t return any calls or invites, didn’t accept offers to drive her to church, and a year later when the RS finally was able to get in the house, she had a raging case of pregnancy, was unwed, and happily oblivious to the shock the RS sisters were experiencing.
She had no clue what she was doing, but there was a notch in the belt of another convert baptism. I still feel bad about it because I knew full well she wasn’t ready and had no clue, and that was very apparent to me, meeting her for the first time in the 10 minutes it took to drive from her house to the Stake Center.
The concluding speaker of the other ward in the building finished his testimony with the following statement: I know Joseph Smith died for us, and he is a true prophet.
Gave me pause.
Theories and models are readily adapted and changed when research or discovery shows they are incorrect. Science knows the information is not complete. Religious claims however, do not enjoy the same benefit. While perhaps some steadfast Vikings still think a giant wolf is eating the sun whenever there is a solar eclipse, and are certain the scientists are just telling them lies, the truth is religious claims are made on imperfect information, with little to no chance of being updated when new information becomes available. While we do now mostly accept that the earth is a sphere, it came at a high price. Think how long it took Christianity to consider that the Earth was not the center of the universe. We might laugh and say, well yes but they were just ignorant and stiff necked, but we are much more enlightened now.
But it doesn’t seem to be the case. We accept science to be correct when it is used to put braces on our daughter’s teeth or to make food taste better, cure disease or make a safer car, but somehow reject anything that challenges a religious claim. We are hypocrites.
Well I don’t expect 200k people to show up to protest institutional toilet paper, it’s hypothetical, kind of like asking the priesthood to show up to help sister inactive to move. If people want changes, they need to be unified and do something about it. Everything else is mostly hot air and bickering over diverse issues.
Do you think it is possible for church membership to lobby for change successfully? If the COB received a million letters from the membership in regards to one issue, would it be enough to enact change? If 200,000 marched on Temple Square, would it be enough? Well, being as there is a lot of milling about between the three blocks, they could streamline things a lot. I don’t need to hear 15 minutes of announcements in Sacrament, and then hear them repeated again in priesthood opening exercises. The online ward and stake calendar and email alerts and ward bulletin should take care of that. Cut out all the wasted time and they could easily have a 50 minute sacrament worship service and 30 minutes each for the next two blocks. Hmm this seems a bit like daylight saving time to me. Cut an hour off one end of the day, stick it in the other end, and think you are somehow getting more. In a year or so the extra number of missionaries who flooded the market due to the age reduction will level out to the similar numbers it was with 19 year olds. It isn’t like there are twice as many 18 year olds or something. Personally I’d like to see opportunity for service missions, building wells, schools, and hospitals. Not every prospective missionary wants to knock on doors.
I wonder how many of the 100k visitors were repeats. They didn’t mention a special fast to complete the finish work to us, but there is a lot left to do. Fundraising for Scouts should be for a specific purpose that will be spent that year, and not for just padding the account. Then obviously the ward shouldn’t use that fund for footing the Christmas party bill.
Well, to be fair, the Church doesn’t publish things in a ‘fair’ manner either. One sided all the way, so it’s a moot point.
The open house is ambitious. I’m not sure how it works in other cities, but having the need for several hundred people to be serving every day from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm boggles my mind. I mean, how many people do they expect to be rolling through at 8:00 in the morning? I think 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm would have been sufficient. At any rate, in our ward/stake, first they asked for volunteers that would be assigned according to the open house guidelines. Then, because naturally they were short volunteers who can just give up days in the middle of the week, they asked for the already assigned volunteers to work extra shifts. That came with the suggestion of maybe don’t work at the temple from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm, you might get tired, so maybe work at your job all day, and then go work the temple all night. I failed to see the difference. At any rate, I now am having a 16 hour shift of custodial work. FIne, I can handle that.
Then out of the blue a HC phones me up the other night and asks me to do security for VIP day. So, now we are up to 3 shifts from the original one. I volunteered for, thinking of my family, kids, and keeping the peace.
I’m not planning on attending the dedication either.
