Does anyone in the mormon church preach the gospel? I thought they just stood up in front of the church and gave their testimony about how they believe the church is true. No reasons or scripture just that they believe.

I'm a nevermo so maybe I'm way off.

They preach A gospel. Dunno about THE gospel. ;-)

But yeah, they have sunday school where each age group goes into their own rooms for about an hour each Sunday and they do teach from the Book of Mormon, and the Bible.

Members of the ward are assigned to speak at sacrament meeting. I think they are assigned topics now, but when I was attending they often rambled on about their vacations, grand kids etc and found some way to make a tenuous connection to the gospel. Subjects like following the prophet, tithing, going to the temple, Joseph Smith, obedience are more likely to be discussed than Jesus. This is true of both scarament meeting and Sunday School. BTW, there are no services on Christmas unless it falls on Sunday and Easter isn't a big deal. Most Mormons know very little about Lent, Advent, Palm Sunday or Good Friday because they are not acknowledged or celebrated. Mormons only bear their testimonies on Fast Sunday which is once a month although ending a talk with a short testimony is common.

Here's the deal on a regular Sunday:

Everyone gathers in the chapel for Sacrament Meeting. Remember, now, nobody's paid to do anything. The Bishop and his two counselors sit on the rostrum behind the podium. Each Sunday, two or three folks are assigned a topic to "preach" about from the podium. Often, there might be a speaker from the higher-ups in the local area (leaders). Anyway, they try to be funny and then inspiring (in that order) and the talks are generally religion based. Not a whole lot of calling to repentence (not in the regular sense), hopping up and down, berating the devil.... etc.... Just a nice talk on an inspiring theme. Sacrament gets passed, then everyone breaks up into different groups for Sunday School. That's the first hour.

Sunday School classrooms are all throughout the building. Adults over here, teens over there, pre-teens in here, babies over there.. and so forth. Generally, the lessons taught here are based upon the scriptures. One year it may be the Book of Mormon, next year the Old Testament, next year the New Testament... That's the second hour.

After Sunday School, classes are held by gender. Women go to Relief Society, young women go Young Womens, men to priesthood classes (High Priests, Elders separately), young men gather together with their age groups Priests, Teachers and Deacons. Little tykes go to Primary....Lasts another hour, then off you go to home.

That's how it works.

Ron

The thing about Easter not being a big deal was one of the red flags that eventually led me out. Even though it wasn't the same day as conference, it was barely mentioned at all. Most Mormons, especially the ones who came from pioneer ancestors and who have never really left the Morridor, don't really know or acknowledge the days that Christian churches do such as Palm Sunday, Good Friday, or even Advent or Lent.

And they call themselves Christian. Easter is the highest of all holy days for Christians, and they bearly observe it.

kristine Wrote:
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> And they call themselves Christian. Easter is the
> highest of all holy days for Christians, and they
> bearly observe it.
That was one of my issues even as a kid. It seemed like we always got stake conference and other than singing an Easter hymn and having Easter lilies on the podium, the holy day was barely mentioned other than in passing. I always wanted it to be a big deal like it was in other churches. Same for Christmas. Years ago, I taught a religions class as part of world studies. I encouraged , not demanded, that kids go to services of other faiths.One Catholic student told me that the reason the Catholic church had to give out tickets for Midnight Mass was because of the number of Mormons wo showed up because their church didn't have any services.They had to give out tickets so active Catholics could get a seat. I know there are also a lot of inactive Catholics who contribute to the problem but she did have a point. Lots of Mormons do attend other churches on Christmas and Easter because the Morg ignore those days. I have known a lot more Mormons who complained about it. You would thing the leaders would get a clue and let Jesus have two days a year devoted exclusively to him, but they just don't seem to get it.

I wonder if this "easter" thing is ward by ward... because the ward I belonged to for 20 years always did it up big at Easter. We always had a special service and some years even did a Cantata. Easter was very important and always recognized in my old ward.

pickmepickme Wrote:
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> I wonder if this "easter" thing is ward by ward...
> because the ward I belonged to for 20 years always
> did it up big at Easter. We always had a special
> service and some years even did a Cantata. Easter
> was very important and always recognized in my old
> ward.

I think it depends on the bishop. When we didn 't have conference, the ward I attended did something, but it was pretty lame compared to the other churches I have attended on Easter.

I was raised in the church and never heard of advent until this board... I had to go read a wikipedia about it.

Yeah, my 31 year old Mormon nephew had never heard of Lent. Lots of people who go to Ash Wednesday services are forced to explain that there is a reason they have a smudge oon their foreheads.My Mormon neighbor onces asked someone and then acted as if the ritual was bizarre.

They usually happen on the first Sunday of the month, called fast Sunday. That's because everyone is expected to fast for at least two meals and give the money for uneaten food to the church as an offering to poor mormons.

Except for that one hour meeting, the rest of the three hours a week church time is devoted to lay sermons, singing, praying, and Sunday School classes.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/2011 09:16PM by Cheryl.

I'm seeing RS as gossip fest while crafts are made out of flannel or possibly crocheted.

What do they talk about in Priesthood? Is it just a bunch of head shaking about the jack Mormons not in attendance and making plans for the next family that needs to be moved?

Or do either of these groups do any kind of religious instruction? If so, what are some commonly taught topics.

Thanks.

A Nevermo.

http://lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/31.13-18,21-23?lang=eng#12

Alma 31: 13-18, and 21-23

Rameumptom

Relief Society and Priesthood work out of the same manuel. For the last few years it's been teachings from modern prophets while this last year it's been Gospel principles. So we have a lesson on a gospel principle such as charity, atonement, church organization, etc. that lasts about 20-30 minutes. The teacher has to struggle to get participation as most men are half asleep during the class.

For Priesthood structure is typically as follows
Welcome
Hymn
Prayer
Visitors introduced
Announcements and assignments
Dismiss to quorums
Lesson
Closing prayer

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A TBM friend recently complained of the uprising that happened during her RS class a few weeks ago when they studied one of Elder Packer's talks and some of the sisters objected to his stand on homosexuality and the resulting debate even had some sisters leave the room. Of course my friend is TBM to the core and was aghast at the scandal that people wouldn't support the church even if they have friends/family who are gay. Doctrine is doctrine.

She lamented that in her husbands EQ with the same lesson they just nodded and went along with it.