So they CALL it service but is TSCC really giving the members service opportunities? Here in NZ they were "building a church camp" for youth camps/weddings/overflow temple accommodation. The members put in hours of "service" in the gardens, building etc. Surely service is never self serving, service is doing something for somebody else without the expectation of reward. Do any of you have examples of pseudo-service to share?

No, but it did feel like forced volunteerism the times we were "called to serve."

But the times I did service back when it was really good deeds. And there's nothing wrong with that. To be a good deed doer.

:)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2017 12:00AM by Amyjo.

AKA busy work. A favorite cult tactic.

Every Spring there would be a "service" day to go clean up the church campground. It was on a river that flooded almost every winter, so it was a mess.

Some people would bring in heavy equipment they owned, others brought in chainsaws, shovels, etc. They worked extremely hard, and even brought their own lunch and water.

The mormon church gets thousands of dollars of free labor and use of equipment every year from this stake. The only time I was ever allowed to be there was on clean up day. They didn't allow anyone to use it except under very controlled permission.

It always cracks me up when people talk about genealogy, baptisms for the dead, and endowments for the dead as service work.

The afterlife is imaginary. There is no evidence that genealogy and temple work improve the happiness and well-being of dead people.

I might as well come up with some really lame explanation of why playing video games helps someone out. I am not wasting time playing video games! I am doing valuable service work!

How about all those 18-19 year boys and girls going out into the mission field for 18-24 months or people scrubbing toilets every Saturday. Surely that would be considered some type of a service.

I usually chuckle when I see Mormons and service mentioned in the same sentence, newspaper headline, hear them talk about it, etc.

My daughter attended Catholic high school and "service hours" were a requirement at each grade level, the required number increasing with each grade. For her senior year, 100 hours were required for graduation, IIRC. When she spoke about this to friends from her previous, public shool , most of whom were Mormon, they were astounded and quite derisive of this requirement. These hours could be fulfilled only within strict parameters as to where they were performed and what was done as service.

Funny the Mormons were astounded. They themselves do thousands of hours of 'service' for their church (which does little, if any, for them in return) during their lifetimes! Dummies

"Service", in LDSpeak, is really just a 'vice' 'sir', both for the (pocketbooks and egos of the) LDScorp and the (heads of the) members.

Then, there's the so called Welfare church farms.

My father ran for 20 years. He had hand full of people that were hired help. About 5.

The rest of the labor was free and came from the Stake. Thousands of hours of free farm labor. The neighboring farmers couldn't compete. You wonder why that would be an issue if the farm was for church welfare, right?

Well, the real deal is that all of that free labor was going toward a crop that was being sold to a huge nationwide food company. Not one ounce of that food went to church welfare. The closest they came to that was when I was allowed to have a LB. of produce at no charge. The only reason I got that was because my father was in charge. Nobody else got that except for maybe my siblings if they wanted it.

And my all time favorite....

When they compare serving a mission to serving in military service.

I remember a church camp in California which the members had purchased years before as a service to the youth and the church.

Guess what, the morg turned around and sold it eventually.
Who was there to complain to?

"Where did you SERVE on your mission?"

"We'd like you to SERVE as Ward Centerpiece Coordinator."

"Serve" is code for "Do what we tell you to do, and you're not
getting paid."

I once read an article where someone described church Service as 99% "incestuous", which is pretty accurate. I've been grateful at times to receive service from ward members, but it is very inwardly focused and not much for the community in general.

My kids have various service-hours requirements for school and scouts. I'm purposely looking at community organizations for them to help out.

I call it swervice.

It's a combination of free labor and busy work that benefits the LDS corporation. Not quite service to one's fellow humans, in my opinion.

In our neighborhood,the relief society sends weekly email updates to every "sister" in the ward,regardless if your active in church or not. This week, the email was titled: "Hastening the Work 2017". It describes how there's a great need for senior couples and single sisters for missionary work. It lists all the different places in the valley of morridor here that need volunteers. At the end of the email, it says: "Quick Facts": Seniors can serve anywhere from 6-23 months, depending on the assignment. Cost to Serve ranges from about $1500-$4500/month depending on location. Wow!! What a deal! You get to serve AND pay too! It also said medical insurance is available at a low cost but that is additional cost to the monthly fees. Not for naught is Utah referred to as the scam capitol of the world.

In my experience in the church "service" was always something that had to be done, not what you wanted to do.

To me, that isn't service at all.

About a year ago, I started taking the opportunity to poke some jabs at my TBM wife's home teachers when they came over. At one point I made the comment that "I'm not sitting in your living room and teaching your wife and kids things that you find objectionable". To which one of them responded, "this is a *service* that we provide to your family. Are you saying you'd rather not have your family receive the benefit of this *service* ?"

I damn near fell out my chair... I can't believe that he said it with a straight face. Honestly, back when you were carrying TSCC's water, did anyone ever feel like that in doing HT'ing you were actually performing "service" for someone?

Oh, and btw... Those home teacher's asked to be reassigned and her new one's have only bee here once six months ago. :)

And don't get me started about the lame Mormon Eagle Scout "service projects"

At out last church, a Methodist one in the Northeast, the local Mormons "helped" a Mormon Scout "earn" his Eagle at age 14 by ......... Drum roll ...... Building a small storage shed behind the church building to store Scout camping crap in.

I kid you not. And the "fundraising" consisted of them putting up a booth in the fellowship hall our that church and collecting money during coffee hour. Of course not collecting from their own ward, where the scouts came from.

Their so-called "service" is circular and incestuous.