I needed to go to Church today and touch base with a number of people. My wife is having some major medical issues and she needs the help of some Relief Society Sisters.

I watch members in SM and it was lifeless. I went to SS class and the lesson was lifeless. The same old people giving the same old answers. I went to Priesthood and the opening part just seemed like a group going through the motions. No real purpose.

No one seemed happy. No one seemed inspired. Everyone seemed predictable. Not me. Purple shirt. Sleeves rolled up. Nice thin tie and black pants. I looked good and felt good.

"Everyone loved conference last week." They said that it was uplifting and the brethren did not put anyone down. Really!! My brother is gay and I felt they took a swipe at my family. Marriage in Canada is acceptable. It's no big deal.

Back to my observations. Walking through the halls the other ward was getting out. It was like walking in a big city avoiding eye contact. The attendance in our ward is getting less each time I attend. And we have 4 sister missionaries.

It's like the dance of the Hallow People.

When I was a kid everyone was excited after General Conference, for weeks. Nothing today except the comments it was a great conference made with no passion.

Just an observation after an absence from Church for many weeks.

Sorry your wife is having a rough time... Does she still believe?

Many Mormons are zombified and they have no idea how lifeless they are. It's like Watching robots give the same talks, same lessons... creepy.

Best wishes with the health issues.

Yes she is a TBM. We do not discuss Church because she is afraid. I go because of family issues. My own two adult kids have dropped out of church years ago.

Thanks for your support.

This is exactly how I saw things and felt at church my last year there. I was the one with serious medical issues. I became almost invisible. It was one more stress I didn't need on top of what I was already dealing with.

It was like a huge light was beaming down and showing me what being mormon was REALLY all about. Ironically, it was the loneliest year of my life. My nevermo neighbors of 3 years came through and did so much for me. It showed me how people in the real world are vs. the mormons i'd known for 10 years.

I observed similar behavior at church a few months ago when attending with my TBM wife during the Sunday before Christmas.

I hadnt been to church in over a year or two and it seemed to me that attendance was down and it was as if things were moving in slow motion at times.
The hymn "Joy to the World" was sung as if it was a funeral dirge.
No joyous or inspiring Christmas message, just the same old talks on old testament studies and interpretations with the usual Nazi TBM members spewing on ways they have put into place improvements on the gospel in their lives and how you should do the same.

A complete waste of 3 hours of my day off.

"The hymn "Joy to the World" was sung as if it was a funeral dirge."

Maybe they should have sung the Three Dog Night version. That's a little more peppy. :-)

Joseph Smith was a bulldog...

"Joseph Smith was a bulldog..."

Horndog.

If he is a horndog then where is his posterity?
All his children came from Emma and Emma alone.

Eliza Snow lost her baby when Emma pushed her down a flight of stairs. Fanny Alger was thrown out of the Smith house in the middle of the night when she began to show evidence of being pregnant. Sylvia Sessions told her daughter, Josephine, that she was the Joe Smith was her father.

I hate seeing my family and friends like this; it really does hurt me. The most painful scripture/saying that they have taken to heart is "endure to the end". They know the "truths" or realize that empty words, platitudes aren't really helping. They know the history and structure of the church is wrong; yet they just can't give it up. They've spent too much time, money and efforts on the corporation to let it go.

I think and believe that the Millennials are seeing it too. They're just walking away once they can be independent. There's no "Voila, I found the church has lied or the history of what was told to them was incorrect, omitted or hidden". They're seeing how ineffective the corporation and its teachings are harmful to themselves and their families. They recognize that hollow words and vain traditions and empty rites are not helping society.

The difference between my generation (I'm 51) is that we lost certain things in our community; like stages in cultural halls are there for a reason. Doctrine and rites were fascinating and discussed openly. My generation has/had to deal with things being ripped out of our mindset, beliefs, actions. We found what was hidden. Yet this new generation has never had that, all they've had are PR movies like meet the Mormons or saccharine filled commercials explaining "Aren't we great! We're Mormons".

I'm thinking of my old friends who went to BYU, worked for CES all their lives, went on senior mission and they're only about 12 years older than me; but I can see they're tired, empty, lost, like they've lost something special but can't remember what it was or worse, are told not to discuss such things. They really have had their testimonies battered, ripped apart; but they can't up because they've gone this far and being Mormon is who and what they have lived for.

Zombiefied is an excellent description. Correlation, lack of leadership, lack of Prophecy all these things have made them so. It's like the anyopposed people said; they had tried talking to their bishops and stake presidents about their faith crisis and the essays only to find out that the SPs and Bishops weren't even aware of them (or were going through their own crisis and wouldn't answer). Yet what do the GAs tell the people who opposed in Conference, "Go to your Stake Presidents and Bishops with your concerns". No one has any guidance, inspiration or leadership anymore.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/2015 12:57AM by dydimus.

It must suck to be a tbm now. What do they have to look forward too? The ward budgets have been slashed to the bear minimum and cut another 40%. Put a couple of balloons in the basketball hoops in the "Cultural Hall" and have a dance with some kid's boombox playing the pop hits. Great fun there.

The church needs to give back to the membership or they will loose even more. THe talks about enduring to the end will no longer cut it. THe members want a life that was promised to them.

Nonsense....
Speak for yourself.

"Purple shirt. Sleeves rolled up. Nice thin tie and black pants"...

Uh... the 1980's called...

Sorry, man but you're wrong. It may be retro fashion...but it's here again.
http://www.honeybuy.com/image/Dark_Purple_Wholesale_Wool_Mens_Shirt_1799679354979528_690X500.jpg

This is how I dressed in the 1980's... Still in fashion today!

http://sheamagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/TOM+CRUISE+TOP+GUN+1980S.jpg

When you're your own person, whatever you're wearing is fashionable.

Of course there are times you have to meet criteria, such as on a golf course, where collared shirts are required. And I suppose that when you're looking for a mating partner and you have a 'goal' in mind, you have to dress to attract that goal.

I'm also in my early 50s and I concur with what dydimus says. The stages are quiet and the lessons are boring...lifeless. TBMs don't want to discuss anything about the church that might actually be important ... at church or on FB.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/2015 04:19AM by porterrockwell.

It sounds similar to warning signs of a business about to declare bankruptcy.

I was in my 20s when I left and I thought church was insanely boring. We had no activities hardly at all and those we did have had to be very cheap cause there was no budget. I remember growing up in the 80s & 90s with the road shows and sports tournaments and camping trips for the youth, we had a blast.


nothing like that anymore.

The last time I attended a Sacrament meeting I can only describe the feeling as one of "emptiness". From the songs to the talks to the person presiding, it was one vast emptiness. It was as if everyone had been drugged into some sort of reverance induced coma. I couldn't wait to get out of there.

I thought that my old ward was the only ward like this. They were like hollow zombies 25 years ago, too. If you smile at church, Mormons think you are weird. I worked a few hours a week in an all Mormon office, during the months I was recovering from a bad illness, and that was the protocol: Do not make eye contact in the hallways, and never smile or speak.

It isn't "reverence"; it's unhappiness.

This thread is eye-opening. I thought maybe most of the people in the ward were getting old, and couldn't remember who to shun--so they just shunned everybody.

The more the church takes away from its members, the more I think that tithing is not really a major source of income for the Mormon cult, anymore. They just need bodies to maintain their buildings and work on their business investments. TSCC invents fake missions for free labor. The cult desperately needs to keep going, in order to keep its tax-exempt status and to launder money. We all know that inspiring members and keeping members happy, charity work, and building family and community togetherness--these are NOT among the goals of Mormonism!

"Inventing fake missions for free labor"... isn't that the truth!!
When I was fairly active in the church, I knew of sveral people in our ward that had lost their jobs due to the church "fazing out" the paid employee position and turning it into a missionary position.
One devout TBM man, who had worked for LDS Inc. for over 30 years was getting the axe and was facing losing his retirement.

So much in being fair and honest in all your dealings with your fellow man. Way to go!!!!

It bothers me that the church uses volunteers for its investment properties and for-profit businesses. It strikes me that this should be illegal.

Breeze Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you smile at church, Mormons think you
> are weird.

Man, I really noticed this when I moved back to SLC in the mid-90s. I was in a singles ward and you could pick out the women in RS who were "alive." There were like 3 of them. One became my friend and I ended up marrying her brother but I picked her as a friend - not because she had a cute brother but because she was one of the few with any visible personality. I got so tired of being treated like a weirdo - like there was something wrong with me because I'd smile and be friendly and had some energy to me. And very tired of guys thinking I was hitting on them because I wasn't as numbed out as most of the single women in that ward.

I agree with the non-personality take on most people at church. I think that some of that may be due to mistaking reverence at church with being stoic and conservative. You know the whole "No loud laughter" thing is taken quite literally.
I knew several people from church that when you get them out of the ward house they came alive, and were completely differnt people.

But then you have the phony smilers at church too. That plaster on the whole, "My family is litving the gospel, and we're all so happy" face.
I remember several families that put on that "show" and I thought at the time, Wow! What great families.
It wasnt until years later that I bumped into the mom of one of these happy families who told me that during that time period, her husband, who was in the bishopric, was actually living at his mother's house 50 miles away.
He would pick up their family for ,church then drop them off after and go back to his mom's. All the while putting on a facade that everything was just fine.
When I expressed my shock to this fine lady, she also divulged that the other counseler in the bishopric was having an affair at the time with one of the single moms in the ward.
He and his wife had since divorced.

It all just proved to me that those "happy families" you see at church aren"t necessarily that happy or even close to what they profess to be.

You don't just see the spirit sucked out in the LDS Wards, no no no! It's prevalent wherever Mormons live. The drugs are working to numb everyone down and the feeling and attitudes of emptiness have taken over. But, it's acceptable to behave this way and Mormons realize it just doesn't matter anymore. Social graces are not important and were never taught and if you're an outsider you're probably NO GOOD. (it's part of the culture)

It's not just at church, it's on every street, outdoor setting, parks, recreation facilities, shopping malls, or setting where people gather. Sad, melancholy faces, hopelessness and darkness.

Try to smile to a Utah Mormon and they immediately think: Stranger danger.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/2015 11:26AM by frackenmess.