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Guys, I need a break from the church. How do I tell the bish counselor I need to take some time off from my calling? And the EQP/HT companion that I’m not doing HT for a while?
Hi seeker, Welcome to the forum! You’ve touched on some very sensitive issues that many people here have issues with, myself included. I think it’s good that you are able to see the problems with these issues. I know for many years I didn’t have a problem with any of the issues you listed simply because everything I heard at church and at home suggested that these were not problems at all, but simply “the truth” or “God’s plan”.
I also think it’s good that you can also see many good things in the church. So I think you’re in a good place, and I look forward to your comments.
Hey Cautemoc, Welcome to the forum! Everyone has already said this about meeting with the bish and I agree: Don’t do it dude!
Cuautemoc wrote:* Here is my temple recommend…don’t think I’ll be needing this anytime soon;
I would echo cwald’s and Cadence’s sentiments and don’t hand it over so easily. But I’ll take it one step further and say don’t give it to them at all, even if they demand it. Make them de-activate it. I say that because if my bish demanded it back because he deems me unworthy, I’d laugh at him because I feel very worthy to enter the temple. But I’m stubborn with this kind of thing. A big part of my faith struggle has been that I just don’t want people telling me what to do anymore.
Cuautemoc wrote:I feel that I need to express to that I am going through this “faith transition”. Not really sure that is really the way I should or want to describe what I am going through.
I hear ya there! I say ‘faith struggle’. ‘Faith crisis’ works for a lot of people too. ‘Transition’ makes me uncomfortable because I’m uncomfortable thinking about whatever I’m transitioning TO. At this point, no landing point seems like a good fit for me. But that’s the way these things go.
Cuautemoc wrote:* I am taking a sabbatical from all things Church “assigned”, so you might want to re-assign my HT families so someone visits them;
If you don’t want to do HT at all, that’s cool, but I would suggest maybe just checking up on your families next month. By late July, you may feel differently. You may be surprised how much difference a month or two of soul-searching makes. On the subject of HT, I’ve found that I’m waaay more willing to do it if it is on the family’s terms. I refuse to have two prayers and the FP message unless that’s what they really want. I don’t want my HT to do that. Honestly, it makes me a little uncomfortable – IN MY OWN HOME! So my HT come, we chat it up for a few minutes and then they leave, and it’s great, we’ve actually become friends, which I feel like is the whole point of the program.
But you can’t really take a sabbatical and still do HT, so follow your heart. It’s the biggest muscle you have
😆 Kumahito wrote:This is one I’ve wrestled with. D&C 89 proscribes wine and “strong drinks” but allows that mild barley drinks are good for man. How, then, did beer get banned along with wine and distilled spirits?
Welcome Kumahito. Strong drinks – i don’t know, probably liquor, right? I know “hot drinks” all of a sudden came to mean coffee and tea when Brother Brigham said people shouldn’t be importing them to keep Mormon moneys in the Mormon economy. That was hugely important to the early church in Utah.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t beer just get thrown in when Heber J. Grant made the WoW a commandment during prohibition?
hawkgrrrl wrote:http://mormonmatters.org/2009/03/31/predicting-the-next-apostle/ My husband (writing under the name Carter Hall) created a statistical analysis to determine the next apostle when Neil Anderson was called. He nailed it! (well, one of his top tier choices anyway) Click the link to see the factors that make it more likely someone will be chosen (and less likely in some cases).
That’s really cool. I could see a pattern in the ages of new apostles called, but that post was spot on! I think if BKP had been president, then Claudio R. M. Costa would have been the pick. Just wild speculation on my part.
Are any of the other members anywhere close to the ends of the spectrum as BKP or Uchtdorf? Or are they all somewhere in between?
Rumpole wrote:I think that I’m an observant, religious, but non-spiritual person. I think that we as a people regard that as a failing. It might be the failing that is causing me to doubt.
I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t one reason that caused me to start down this road myself. I often referred to myself as ‘spiritually-challenged’. I do agree with Ray in that collectively, we do see that as a failing, and I think that’s really dumb. It seems in our church that there is a mould that the collective thinks everyone should fit into, and I definitely don’t. This was a mighty struggle for me on my mission.
Anyway, I’m relatively new here myself, and I’m still working through things, so I don’t have a whole lot of answers, but what Brian, Ray and SD said are good. I strongly agree with the following:
SilentDawning wrote:4. There are may personal matters that no one else in the Church sees. Take full liberties with them without violating your conscience.
Welcome to the forum! Looking forward to future conversations!
Welcome, yankeedownunder! Sounds like we have a lot in common. Looking forward to your intro post and talking with you on the forum! afterall wrote:What is this about Christofferson’s recent correction? I must have missed something.
Orson wrote:My main complaint with FAIR is what too often (even if it is not constant) comes across as a condescending attitude toward those who ask hard questions. I remember in the state of crisis thinking FAIR sounded like an angry (at times possibly rabid) little animal that shows through its reactions that it basically knows it is in a hopeless fight. A defensive and offended position displays an appearance of weakness. When I hear emotional counter attacks against the critics I lose a little faith in the voice that is speaking. A position of calm, loving assurance is a position of strength.
This.
I do not even go to FAIR because the first 5 or 6 articles I read had this angry, ultra-defensive tone, and because of that I have written off FAIR as complete garbage. It seems from the posts in this thread my write-off might be unwarranted, but even so, I’m in no hurry to go back there with my questions.
I should clarify: The alcohol, tobacco and drugs parts make perfect sense to me. Alcohol because my father is a serious alcoholic and tobacco and drugs, well, there is plenty of evidence/reasons to abstain from those, IMO. wayfarer wrote:caffeine comes in tablet form: far less expensive, and none of the bad side-effects of diet drinks or processed sugars.
That’s the alternative my wife and I are moving to. Still not in the spirit of the WoW, though. I’ve found myself re-evaluating the whole thing because it doesn’t make too much sense to me anymore.
Thanks for that, BLC. The concept of being the best “me” that I can be is really exciting for me. In a lot of ways, since the beginning of my mission, I’ve felt that there is a mold that the church wants me to fit into, and I’ve never felt like I can truly be myself. I just don’t understand myself in that mold and how I could provide anything of value to, well, anyone. I live in a very “eccentric” city and even in our ward there are a few “eccentric” people, which I think is good for me and my situation. Building social/spiritual credit like it says in the “How to Stay” essay is more doable now. And I’ve always wanted to serve and be the type of person that is valuable in the ward, and I feel more equipped to do that now.
Brown wrote:Completely! I am in this boat. Sadly I must drink about 2 liters of Dt. Dew a day. I am not proud of it, but when I don’t I am not fun to be around and I can’t concentrate at work. But the bishop just chuckled when I mentioned it during the temple interview.
I’m right there with you, Brown. My vice is Mountain Dew Code Red. I’m usually working on projects until late and my 9 mo. old gets up too early. Today I was up with her at 5:15 am. That’s almost as bad as early morning seminary! Being up with her is a lot more enjoyable than seminary was, though.
But I’m in the camp that thinks diet sodas are worse for me than regular sodas, and because of the massive amounts of sugar in those, I think those are worse than coffee. You think your bishop would chuckle about that?
😆
