So, yesterday I went to sacrament meeting for the 3rd time in about a month because my TBM wife was feeling she needed to express her Mormon-ness more and wanted support from her husband. I had not been in about 2 years. Of course, the bishop sees me and obviously starts thinking I have come back to the cult. I leave immediately after sacrament meeting ends and drive home. I guess the bishop rushed out to the parking lot to try to talk to me the 1st week, then the 2nd week he made sure to rush me and shake my hand.

Well, this weekend I guess he was feeling pretty confident, being that I have been there 3x, and wanted to talk to me for about 5 minutes, after rushing after me of course. I said sure, this should be entertaining. He actually asked me if I would be a Cub Scout assistant/leader. I no longer have kids in Cub Scouts. This was hilarious! Of course, I just said no and left.

This ward doesn't have any parents to step up for their little cub scouts, WTF! They must be really desperate for cub scout help.

I am thinking about makin this a game every Sunday now, making ackward walking routes after the meeting lets out, maybe between pews, chairs, hallways, parking lot, etc.

Why? He's desperate for help and you've already turned him

down so he won't be asking you again. To make a game out of it

is mean and makes you look immature.

Playing chicken with the Mormons isn't a good idea.

This must be incredibly annoying. Yet at the same time it’s funny, and you have to laugh to cope with it. I dealt with the same stuff as I became less active. The RS president started running after me whenever I appeared or disappeared from the chapel. It would have been worse if they’d known I had already decided to resign, but I never warned anyone thankfully. It would also have been worse if I hadn’t just learned to drive, I used to just drive off and oh the freedom of not being harassed because I had to wait for a lift. I could have worshipped that old car.
If you have to go, I would do anything that makes you feel better about it. They kept trying to give me stuff to do from the time I started to become less active until the day I resigned. Saying no didn’t deter them either which says a lot. I found it amusing in the end. It was either that or be angry.

Wait, what? I thought cub scouts was going away.

gemini Wrote:
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> Wait, what? I thought cub scouts was going away.

I was thinking the same thing. Isn't scrub scrouts part of Boy Scouts which is now Scouting?

Play games with him. Enjoy.

Cheryl Wrote:
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> Play games with him. Enjoy.

Yes, this.

So agree. I think it's only fair to give them a taste of what they give others. Be relentless with a smile on your face right back in their face. I'm sure the bishop is beside himself with the prospect of someone like you...a real live person who does not have the usual characteristics of a needy-down-on-their-luck potential member.

There is his wife to consider...

It seems to me that all theological organizations are having big time hurt. Them various memberships are tired of being lied to.
I see fear and uncertainty im the eyes of the various leaders. Until someone discovers a new method and approach religious organizations are going to continue on a downward slope.
They are all running scared!!!

The mega-church televangelists seem to be doing OK...

I was wondering why he thought a non-believer would be interested in helping cub scouts when I have no kids in cub scouts. These kids have parents, where are they?

I served as a cub scout assistant years ago and hated it. The Mormon kids were disrespectful, didn't listen or pay attention, and would rather be running around hitting each other. Very frustrating because a few kids were actually interested and behaved.

The bishop asked me to help in cub scouts and I accepted (that seems to be the calling they give to people that don't have testimonies).

It has been great. Our cubscout pack has about 25 kids in it and only about 5 are Mormon. Only 4 out of 9 leaders are Mormon. We have one boy that has two moms and both moms are on the pack committee. We have a fund raiser every year (pancake breakfast on the morning of a big city parade) that they have been doing for over 30 years that raises about $3,000 for the pack. We live in a relatively small town and it's the only cub scout pack so we are really the city's cubscout pack sponsored by the Mormon church. Consider helping the cubscouts, you might enjoy it and the kids will appreciate it.

The Mormon church has told us that after January 1, 2020 that we can't even meet in the church building even though we have another community organization that is going to sponsor the pack. I've told the bishop not to consider giving me any other callings because I intend to continue with Cubscouts as are 2 of the other Mormon leaders.

On the other hand, I was previously in cub scouts in another ward and we had 4 cubscouts. The bishop wouldn't consider letting us combine with another cubscout pack in the area. I quit that calling telling the bishop I wouldn't be there anymore after he wouldn't release me.

If you will enjoy making a game of it, then sure. If not, just tell the bishop that you will not be accepting *any* callings.

It is mind boggling that members think they can woo members to return over pseudo-warmth and praise. What are the gimmicks?

-a plate of cookies/sweets left on the doormat
-the notion that a smile and a firm handshake will win people over (this was heavily taught/reaffirmed in endless missionary practice)
-the offer to do some half-ass yard work (Trust me I was there as a youth and we often did more harm than good; mowing flower beds, pulling ivy off of walls, pruning the crap out of healthy trees~ think of the poor x-mas tree from Charlie Brown).
-painting a house (the youth in my ward started a project and got too busy with scouting to finish it. Guess who fielded the angry calls every Sunday? Me, the ward clerk who was oblivious to their failed commitments)
-the offer to be your friend when in reality members are too busy to spend time with their own children and spouse
-let's do lunch (rarely meant, just an empty gesture to suggest fake friendship)

My point is that these don't work to get people to return. Even if it was a simple case that a person felt offended by other members, they are still ineffective. And we know that people leave due to the truth about the blatant lies that the church covers up.

Added: I forgot to mention that the bishop created busy work for me and another clerk. He had us running all over to the church trying to find out how long members had served in their current calling (this was before the church had a tracking system built into the membership information system database). So the two of us spent a month gathering all this data, then we typed a gazillion "appreciation of your service" certificates. We passed them out and out of 40-50, about 5-6 people said "thank you." After church (and tithing accounting) I noticed a plethora of trash that lined the church driveway. I picked up about 20 of them (there were some that had blown into the trees that I couldn't recover). I never told the bishop that people just didn't care about church recognition.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2019 08:06PM by messygoop.

Interesting how they hand out callings, seeing as it isn’t through divine revelation. I hadn’t thought about that before. I was always in primary. Organising lessons was so time consuming it took up most of Saturday. I still literally have nightmares about arriving at church without a lesson prepared; it’s been over 11 years since I did that. And people without testimonies do Cub Scout stuff...it’s weird he’s asking you when this is about to be abolished by the church, he sounds desperate. You could always answer with questions “I thought the church was stepping away from scouts? why is that?” If I’d stayed, everything everyone said to me would have been replied with a question. I would have been a nightmare for them. So if it were me, and I had to attend church, this is what I’d do. “Why does Heavenly Father want me to help in cub scouts?...I thought God didn’t approve of that anymore because the scouts support gays?” etc, etc.
Of course you could say nothing and just say ‘no’. But if you DO end up getting harassed anyway that’s what I would do.

He's just thinking, "Quick! Give him a job to do and then he can't leave again."

Come on y'all. The poor guy is just trying to do his "calling" in the face of great adversity.

He's probably thinking a calling will help keep you active.

Unfortunately, he probably can't grasp that people have fundamental philosophical differences that prevent their participation in the LDS Church.

snowball Wrote:
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> Unfortunately, he probably can't grasp that people
> have fundamental philosophical differences that
> prevent their participation in the LDS Church.

For most Mormons I know, showing up for anything is an invitation to participation. And we should know this those of us who were missionaries.