In a post a few weeks back, I and others mentioned hearing the powers that be in the church say, "The church is not a social club." After that, activities really seem to go downhill. Some churches even have time after services where people can socialize over coffee and cookies. What a concept.

But when the church says it's not a social club, isn't this really the old Bait and Switch? As any convert or inactive member knows, the church will gladly present itself as a social club to get people baptized or members back to church. Isn't that the main reason members will put on their fake smiles and bring you a plate of cookies? Or call you to say we missed you at church (nowhere else, just at church)? Isn't that why it's milk before meat and lying for the lord? The church wants people to think it's a social club first before they learn it's an indoctrination camp?

When members go after your children, don't they make it sound like it's so they can be with their friends and not we need to start the brainwashing young? As someone said, ask mormons if you can take their kids to your church and their fake niceness suddenly evaporates.

Of course, resign or start questioning church doctrine and you'll find out which mormons are truly your friends.

I well remember in Europe in the 60's 70's and 80's -all the youth conventions,leadership courses, Roadshows, Athletics , Soccer,Basketball, Volleyball Competitions. It was from these events that the first contact and selection of TBM mates was initiated .

If you never knew a great looking girl existed from another region how would you ever get to know her without these intermingling events.

WAKE UP CLUELESS TBM LEADERS --PROVIDE A SOCIAL EVENTS CLUB LIKE ATMOSPHERE -- KIDS WILL STAY MEET EACH OTHER, GET MARRIED AND PROVIDE CHILDREN TO KEEP YOUR RELIGION GOING !!!!!

OTHERWISE YOU ARE DEAD IN THE WATER ...

JB

We want ChurchCo to be less appealing, not more. Keep running the church into the ground. Keep sucking the life out of it.

100% true. I remember when they started saying that. It was a quick trip to boring.

It's a pity, because now that I'm out, the social aspects are all the fond memories I have left. Just Browsing is correct: More social functions just might stem the flow of exiting members. Implode away, you useless organization.

It used to be a church with a strong social experience.

I remember Sundays with friends listening to music in between church meetings. Those were some of the best times of my youth. Sundays. Yes, Sundays.

The athletic programs years ago brought in many young converts. In my little town growing up I found that playing on the church basketball or softball team brought just as much satisfaction as playing high school sports.

Likewise, church dances were much more fun than school dances.

Now there are no church athletic programs and the dances are a joke.

What happened?

DT

Good question. What happened? People weren't taking the church's teachings seriously? Activities were too expensive like janitors? Penny wise and pound foolish?

Other churches may have activities for singles but they don't segregate singles from other members or kick them out of the group when they hit 30. Someone said there are now worthiness interviews for dances. Talk about over controlling.

dk Wrote:
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> What happened?

I think it has something to do with the current crop of GAs being socially stunted and misanthropic. I think they're that way due to generations of the GA selection process -- sort of like breeding purebred dogs. People with personality defects pick other people with personality defects -- defects, like lack of empathy, that are often considered positive attributes for the job. If a GA doesn't like being at social gatherings himself, then it's very easy for him to vote to gut social gatherings.

This. Stray Mutt hit the nail on the head. The church has changed it's focus from being there for the members to the members being slaves/less than human components to the whims and desires of those at the top of the pyramid. Because it's no doubt nowadays that the members exist to service the church and not the other way around. They honestly believe that members should just shut up and take whatever the leadership dishes out, instead of making church a rewarding place for members to be. I too grew up in an era of roadshows, sports teams, dance festivals and ward barbeques. Being Mormon used to be fun and they were proud of their weird beliefs. Being a youth in the church is always more fun than being a grown-up but I grew up during the years the church was sucking the fun out of being a member so it was a double blow. Most of the arrogant talking heads in the Big 15 don't care at all about the members and if a member dared to anything other than bend over and take it, there would be hell to pay.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/2013 10:48AM by CA girl.

No, it's a social disease. :o)

Every week should have a top quote. This should be this week's top!

I remember playing basketball as a new convert back in the late 70s/early 80s and as a single it was a way to meet others in the ward. I played softball in the church league in Denver in the late 80s (including one memorable Saturday game getting ejected for charging the ump). Actually, much of those activities were winding down then, come to think of it. Denver was also where I got my only calling (Boy Scouts) and was released for making the guys *gasp* get outside the stake center and actually DO things! That was the beginning of the end for me, so I guess I should be thankful...

If it wasn't a great social club when I joined as a teenager, I never would have joined in the first place. I was bullied in school and these were great kids, who included me and didn't bully me. I know that's what drew me in.

Why do any of those social and sports things, when an "edifying" satellite broadcast will do?

When I joined the cult in the 70's, it most certainly WAS a social club, with many fun activities they don't have anymore.It seems they have squeezed out all the fun and turned it into just a money grubbing cult. Pay pray and obey!!

Yeah. My wife (the Mia Maid teacher), after coming home from the YW leadership mtg where they discussed Girl's Camp and Trek, was all excited because they're gonna make camp a lot of fun this year and they're still gonna have... a gospel purpose (more indctrination and brainwashing)! It'll have a Dr. Suess theme.

For the love of god. Here we go again... one step forward, two steps back.

How about just having some fun? Just for once without all of the mind bending bullsh*t.

They could have taken this fraudulent religion and created an awesome social club and service organization out of it, with the moral philosophy of Christ served on the side.

But no . . . they made it irrelevant by keeping it true to its original purpose, the adoration of cult leader JSJ.

But lack of inspiration will reduce it to less than a million weirdos who will only control two congressional seats and can't get their candidate elected to any statewide offices. (That is my prayer, Amen.)

Our YM/YW always put on a Halloween party for the primary and neighbor kids. Everyone came out and loved it. Then some commandment came down from above that there had to be a gospel purpose for every activity and Bishop Jackwagon changed it from a Halloween party to a Fall Festival. He eliminated the haunted house and banned costumes. The games were all things like Book of Mormon bingo and Fishing for Scriptures. It was a giant flop and no one ever wanted to do it again. So this great missionary opportunity and great chance to make fun church memories, became a church-chore that no one wanted and no one thought was fun. Girls Camp is the same way. In our stake, they only have stake camp and real camp activities every other year. On the off years, (i.e. this summer) they just take the girls in our ward to a local camp ground for two nights to talk religion and early marriage. Even BJ's family and another hugely TBM family in our ward thought so little of this "opportunity" that they scheduled their family vacations the same week as so-called Girls Camp. So none of their daughters will be there. And this camp has been scheduled since last fall so both families knew when Girls Camp was, they just didn't think it was important enough to reschedule their vacations for. When even the stalwarts think you are boring and not worth attending, your church is as good as dead.

shhhhhhhhhhhh

don't tell them.

Social clubs are pleasurable, and Mormons are at war with pleasure.

that pretty much sums it up!

I remember my parents doing a ton of church social things when I was little. They would have pot lucks and movie nights. Us kids did fun stuff too, but that was back in the 1970's

The main thing I remember about TSCC YW activities was sitting in a cultural hall being forced to quilt, as we could only do free activities -- money must be saved for the YM's activities -- that were deemed appropriate for girls who were getting married in the 19th century.

I went to one YW camp (free camping location, stayed in tents -- gotta save money for the YM's travels) and it was a big ol' fake cry-fest around the fire. Everyone seemed bored, and the only craft activity was a bowl full of plastic strands for making boondoggle key chains.

our ward had one of the worst YW "camps" It was basically on a church-owned cow pasture with a fake lake full of disgusting cow pie water and muck.

I wouldn't be surprised!

I distinctly remember movie nights at the "cultural hall." They showed Pollyanna, and Follow Me Boys, and maybe even The Love Bug. Basically Disney movies, but they were fun. This would have been at the height of the baby boom. Maybe 1969 or 1970? Do they do anything like that now?

And of course I remember bazaars, and pot lucks, and Camp Nauvoo campouts, and roadshows, and dance festivals, and baseball games, etc.

I gotta admit, I think I left at the right time. I have really fond memories of my youth in Southern California in the late 70's and 80's. Roadshows, Ward and Stake talent Shows, Pot Lucks, Ward Campouts were so awesome up in Big bear and YW camp was always something I looked forward to. We had real cabins and everything. Halloween, Christmas, Pioneer Day... I remember dressing up in neon pink tights and trash bags we decorated and a bunch of us YW dancing and singing to Aretha Franklin's "Respect" for the ward talent show. My love of music, performance and singing thrived within the church culture. We had huge musical presentations we put together as a stake. I sang "Sunrise Sunset" all by my lonesome on stage and we had "Annie get your Gun" musical night as a Ward where I learned to sing "Anything you can do I can do better" and I laughed when it got to the liquor part. (We left that bit out). We had ward dance classes where I learned to swing dance with my Dad. The Daddy Daughter dances and date nights (I never found that weird), the great friendships I had. We'd even travel to events that my extended families wards were having because they were so much fun. I had great debates about doctrine IN class with the member of the Bishopric and never was called up for it. I had my problems but there was so much fun to be had I didn't notice the culty aspects until much later.

The very last time I set foot in a church was 2009 and my kids were in Primary and were being taught to sing some little song including the lines "men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression." I walked by after checking on them and heard this going on. I walked into the primary room and removed my kids. We went home and that was that. I had only taken them a few times after being inactive for years and it seemed so soulless and boring. It was awful.



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/2013 02:00PM by Rosyjenn.

Rosy Jenn, your kids were being taught the songs of The Articles of Faith. Rather boring and not very musical either. Bet your kids were glad to be removed!

I remember the 70's when we were kids and then youth in the church. There were roadshows, labour-day picnics, primary picnics, bazaars, gift-wrapping at the mall at Christmas time.

What I didn't miss was doing catalogues, selling junk door-to-door to raise money for buildings.

Girls camp was actually about camp skills, camp skits, learning how to cook on a camp stove/ in the fire etc. When I went as an adult one year to supervise, I realized how much had changed when they spent a lot of time doing spiritually themed activities. I hear it's even more spiritual now. Altho there are canoeing activities at the Thomas Monson Camp in Ontario. Where all wards have to pay for the upkeep of the camp except those smart wards up north who said we have cheap public campgrounds. We don't need to go to an expensive church camp.

Not even the regular weekday activities are well-planned. We'd get phone calls the evening of and be told it was cancelled. Got so bad that ds didn't bother trying to get his work schedule changed so he could attend!

It all reminds me of the definition of Puritanism- the nagging worry that someone, somewhere is actually enjoying themselves.