Since it seems that having lots of children is one of the only things keeping TSCC "growing" having fewer children likely will cause shrinking of membership!

http://www.sltrib.com/religion/global/2017/09/07/commentary-the-church-faces-a-problem-cheap-sex-is-secularizing-americans/

The term "cheap sex" seems so 1980s. Or even 70s. The author of the commentary teaches at Texas, which should be a fairly liberal environment, but comes off as a religious conservative.

Yes, sex is more widely available to single people. It has been for a number of decades now. Along with that, another factor is that women have also been developing careers and no longer need to marry. I, myself am a case in point of that. And we all know how the Mormon church feels about the persistently single.

Quite interesting. Ten years ago I would have said that you can't lump Mormon young adults and their attitudes/beliefs in with the feelings of Christian young adults. But more and more it seems like the same trends are happening in both circles.

Back in the day, marrying in your early 20s and planning to have around 5 or more kids was the norm for Mormon youth. I was certainly in the minority only having 3 kids, on purpose. But it seems now that even in mormon circles, 5 kids seems like a huge family, and the ones who have more than that are getting more and more antiquated.

TSCC is very slow in admitting that most kids can't just get married while they're in school and start popping out kids as their parents did. And even with true-believers, they're starting to sort out what is church doctrine and what is just cultural norms that don't matter in their salvation.

My neighbors on one side just had their 5th, oldest is 17, and te ones on the other side have 6, oldest 13. Most in this ward have at least 4.

but if I remember right you live in Utah County. Stupid runs bone deep in Utah County.

You couldn't pay me enough to live in Utah County. I "lived" there for 1 week 40 years ago. That was more than enough.

Monson, Holland, Bednar and Cook have 3 children each. Hales and Uchtdorf have just 2.

The average of the Q15 is 4.3 children each.

anon for this Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Monson, Holland, Bednar and Cook have 3 children
> each. Hales and Uchtdorf have just 2.
>
> The average of the Q15 is 4.3 children each.

I have no idea why Dieter and Harriet have only two. Germans don't often produce litters, though.

Hales I REALLY have no idea about, though I suspect fertility issues or issues with his wife's health.

With Monson, Holland, Bednar, and Cook, if Vegas took bets on the issue, I would be in line with my money to bet that the wives all had Caesarean deliveries. Most women who had c-sections back in the day had vertical incisions, and doctors almost always wanted mothers to stop having babies after the third such pregnancy. A few women went on to exceed their doctors' recommendations, but many did quit after the third surgical delivery. We're not likely ever to know the answer to this, but when a GA has three children, it's often an indication that the offspring were delivered abdominally.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/2017 11:20PM by scmd.

All that may be true, but irrespective of the reason, none of the low-output GAs have any business hectoring others about quantity of spawn.

"and doctors almost always wanted mothers to stop having babies after the third such pregnancy"

Wait, what about the faith they're always prattling about? Could it be that Bednar et al placed more trust in their doctors than in The Lord™? What happened to "it will all work out"?

anon for this Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Wait, what about the faith they're always
> prattling about? Could it be that Bednar et al
> placed more trust in their doctors than in The
> Lord™? What happened to "it will all work out"?

Trusting in the Lord is primarily for the little people.

In the states, it would seem that more than two kids and you'll need a better job and higher income.

Mortgage / Rental payments continue to increase in various areas so more of your paycheck goes towards having a roof over your head.

The $50K salary for a man and the wife working making $28K for her part time work or full time job, paying or daycare and the expenses in life just isn't as doable as 20 years ago.

I've always said the payroll systems for current employment environment is behind 20 years and accounts very little to affects of inflation.

You may receive a raise every year at 3%. But if your house rate goes up 20% on the next lease (if renting) then you lost disposable income.

College tuition goes up rapidly too.

Basically, self employed business booming Mormons could do it.
Medical profession Doctors
Dentists or high dollar health care related fields.
Any other high dollar job in executive management or sales.

If you are making $75k total and have 4 kids or more. You are fucked in the long run because you won't have ability to put away a lot of money away for future retirement.

My convert DD and her TBM husband have three and might have one more. They are my only grandchildren. His mother has 55 grandchildren. At least in that TBM family the trend continues.

My brothers and sisters had six kids each except for the sister who had eight. (I had just two, and my family is complete.) My siblings are in their thirties and early forties.

My siblings's choices seem not to be the norm. Looking at the LDS families around here, four children seems to be a big family these days. Thank goodness for sanity prevailing.

This made my head spin, because at the time, I had borne ONE child, survived an ugly divorce, and had had my tubes tied.

Within a couple of years, I had remarried and gained a family of step-kids to raise, so for a while, I was dazzled at the Patriarch's insight.

After learning that blessings were pretty much a cookie-cutter affair, I became un-dazzled.

or five or more kids inside, the first thought that comes to mind is "Mormon..."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/08/2017 07:24AM by anybody.