The Church Will do anything to retain youth.
Attended Sacrament meeting yesterday with a friend in a city in Texas. The two boys blessing the Sacrament were dressed in black sweaters with hoodies. The deacons where dressed in white shorts and ties. Okay no problem with that. It was during the passing of the Sacrament this occurred. Both boys (brothers as I found out after Church) were nowhere to be seen. They both ducked very low below eyesight level of the table. I concluded they were looking at their cell phones. Really weird. Every once in a while one would pop head up. I noticed Bishopric did not monitor what was going on.
Then when they returned to their seats down goes their heads as they look at their phones. They had cell phones in hands when they returned to seats.
So the question was why was this happening. These boys were not white. Watching the Bishop I came to the conclusion that he did not was to be labeled a racist. My wife introduced me to their mum after Church. One of the boys came over and had an attitude problem. Seems their dad has been in nursing home for months and months. They can't see him as too far to drive so mum said.
Here is how affected me. I was always taught that the Sacrament table was very holy. Blessing the sacrament was to be treated with respect and reverence. I felt what I saw yesterday violated all of that and I felt I did not want to participate in partaking of the sacrament. I told my friend I am not going back to that ward. This was not a one time event so I found out.
The Church is changing so rapidly I do not recognize it. I know I should show love, etc. but this violated my sense of sacredness and reverence. The boys should be completely engaged duing tha blessing of the sacrament.

I do know that many high school teachers across the U.S. are complaining mightily about their students being constantly on cell phones, especially during instructional time. Many school districts do not have strong enough cell phone policies, or are unwilling to battle parents over the issue (parents surprisingly enough are no more willing to detach their children from cell phones than the children are willing to turn them off or give them up.) This has become a huge issue in American education. Some teachers say it is akin to an addiction, that the teens seem lost if they do not have constant access to their phones.

So, it would appear that the ward's bishop also appears unwilling to fight that issue.

A cell phone scrambler would fix the problem.

It's been discussed. I think the legality of it is in question. Good thought, though.

I've seen news articles where students attacked their teachers when they tried to take their cell phones away from them.

I think that in my area they have a place to leave their phones when they come into the classroom.

Yes, I've heard stories of that as well. I used to take cell phones, but teachers generally don't do that anymore due to liability issues. A cell phone policy (such as depositing it in a given place when you enter a classroom,) is only as good as a school's willingness to enforce it, and many schools come up short in that regard.

Your story reminds me of what happened when we went to get my nephew baptized in the local Roman Catholic church back in the early 2000s. The event occurred in the afternoon around 1:00pm, and several families were in attendance to get their kids baptized.

We didn't do this, but some of the other families brought McDonald's lunches in to the church and were eating as they sat in the pews waiting their turns for their kids to be baptized. As with your case with the cell phones, to me this was a violation of etiquette. I had been taught that the Catholic churches and chapels were holy places and that you were not supposed to eat or drink anything in there, excepting the Eucharist. The presiding priest didn't seem to mind so I wondered if the RC had changed policy on this.

When I grow up, I want to a cell tower, cuz then everyone will like being around me!

My ward should have had around 15 boys between the ages of 16-19. Instead my ward ended up between 4-5 priest age young men.

Why?

My stake president at the beginning of 1984 (great year, right?) decided that any hair touching a shirt collar was too long. So the church decided that 3-4 young men were too wicked to administer the sacrament over well groomed "mullets". Those told their family that they were not welcomed so they stopped attending. Another 4-5 were told that dark cotton dockers trousers were not slacks, plus they were told to wear full suits and those young men stopped attending. The next casualties were over "skinny width ties".

What happened was the stake presidency ran off a bunch of kids over petty stuff. Now I'm not saying kids shouldn't be on their phones during the blessing of bread and water. Unfortunately, the world is very different than maybe what you want.

I'm guessing the reason that the bishop is leaving the priests alone because there's no one other priest age youth to do it. In my mom's ward from 2019, they borrowed 2 high priests because there is no youth to choose from.

For the op, you probably would have kicked my ass because I was a mischievous teen. I was a priest for 3 years and easily said the prayer over 150 times. The leaders didn't like how I and my partner enunciated the prayers. We were detained after church practicing how to say it.

I asked them- Can't we use a taping of a person speaking clearly saying the sacrament prayer? No, that's not allowed. One of the priests had a learning disability which caused him to stutter. I had orthodontic braces causing a lisp. The prayers were far from perfect. The church had another 10 young men who could have been available but they ran them off and I was bottom of the barrel.

Our son didn't like wearing his white shirt with the sleeves all the way to his wrists, so he rolled them up just past his elbows.

The YM's leader told him to roll his sleeves back down or he would not be permitted to bless the sacrament. He left them up and remained seated at his place, but didn't bless anything.

He stopped going to church soon afterwards; so did we.

"It's a far, far better thing that people be offended by nit-picky, untrained, unpaid, stuff-shirted, egotistical, egomaniacal*, misogynistic, stiff-necked, pompous, arrogant, prissy church leaders than a child of ghawd gets away with being different, or doing something differently."
        --Holy McGhost, sitting morosely in the sand,
              at the edge of the surf while on holiday
              in the Azores, bitterly contemplating how
              his job differed from what he'd thought it
              would be when he first read the want ad.





*The difference between egotistical and egomaniacal is that egoists lack amiability and always put themselves "first," while egomaniacs cannot see things as they are, do not understand the world, and refuse to appreciate the societal majority attitude regarding it.  You shouldn't marry a person of either persuasion.

I would suggest not getting married at all, the cell phone has pretty well wiped away civil behavior and independent thought. I see it all, the behavior, the drifting on the highway, the various shades of hair color to prove your declaration of war on the establishment, and the various crude words that flow out of the mouth. I just ignore it, say nothing, have no opinion and watch the show.

Yesterday I was at the local amusement park, watched the early summer crowd wearing very little with no sunscreen on. By end of day I saw them again throughout the park, still wandering about as if drunk staring at the phone, oblivious that their skin was now a nice shade of red.

I really do not expect much anymore when I am out and about, regardless of where I am at. All things eventually catch up, no matter how woke you are or how cool your phone.

The old saying---When in Rome, do as the Romans do". Not just sage but such a high class thing to do. This is grace.

The "ME Generation" is going strong. The "My way or highway" generation is taking no prisoners. "I'll do what I want and you will accept it, or else" as they steam through.

Cell phones are designed to be addictive. Considering whether they are or not is a waste of time. Like all addictive substances many people are immune. But for a very large percentage the phone is ALL THINGS THAT MATTER and their right to use it is more sacred than anything. And even the appearance of offending me will result in severe consequences.

This is life in 2023 and it will remain so because the consequences of attempting to teach class is only a way to bring wrath on yourself. And even be sued or lose your job and be unable to get another one.

You want to know who rules you look at who you dare not criticize. They are easy to spot as their phones keep their faces aglow.

Church leaders are terrible negotiators. "If you don't follow my orders to do something you don't want to do, then I won't permit you to do something else you don't want to do!"

Kids: "Cool! Thanks, bye!"

Church leaders: "Why is our youth participation so low?"

"You can't bless the sacrament" isn't the power move the church thinks it is.

----

To the OP: Sorry, but the sacrament is a farce. It's supposed to reinforce the so-called "covenants" we were pressured or forced into making at 8 years old, long before we could give informed consent. The sacrament table is as holy and sacred as a table at Denny's.

>>To the OP: Sorry, but the sacrament is a farce. It's supposed to reinforce the so-called "covenants" we were pressured or forced into making at 8 years old, long before we could give informed consent. The sacrament table is as holy and sacred as a table at Denny's.

This is what I thought too. It's the most repetitive and mind numbing crap and the specifics of the spell ritual are only there to exert mental control over the membership. The lukewarm, boring songs, then the long quiet during the passing; it's called "priming" and a lot of churches do it to force the circumstances for "spiritual" experiences. Aka, you're more likely to interpret any emotional feelings or surge of emotions as something supernatural if you've been properly emotionally primed beforehand.

Like, the boys are wearing hoodie shirts and looking at phones during the passing? Bro knows what's up. As soon as they don't have to anymore, those boys won't be there.

The mobile phone is the beginning of the merging of the biological and the hardware.

here at this forum, we see a projection of the other people's personality, knowledge and reputation. It's a hardware supported kind of community.

My phone is my access to a good chunk of myself. It manages my schedule and keeps me on task for various commitments.

It accesses my photos of friends, family, events and places. I have my home improvement plans, materials and contacts there. Evernote keeps my cooking, my notes on faith and science, travel plans and documents.

My knowledge and even parts of my identity are smeared across the device, the internet and myself.

I'm surprised at the appeals to how it was and (outdated) social norms of decades ago. It all seems so very mormon.

Change is only going to accelerate.

From my perspective, the sacrament is a farce, the priesthood is a farce, and there is nothing sacred about sacrament meeting, but if you do consider it sacred, you’re cheating yourself by engaging in behavior that is completely distracting.

I assume the young men on their phones would have rather have been somewhere else doing something else, but if they truly believe, they’re really missing out. Nobody ever had a spiritual, meaningful, or enlightening experience while staring at a phone.

As I do a lot of my reading on a phone, I have had meaningful and enlightening experiences while staring at a phone.

By way of contrast, I have been out of town for more than a week visiting friends in Oklahoma and fishing on the one true trout stream in Arkansas (the White River). Yesterday I went with my friends to their Baptist church. The pastor has been doing a sermon series on the gospel according to the Beatles. Yesterday it was Let it Be. The sermon began with a very good singer doing with a rendition of the song that got feet tapping. The sermon evolved into not getting stressed about things you can't control. I thought it a pretty good device to generate interest in the message. I suspect that pastor has a good rapport with the young people.

That sounds like a useful message that promotes peace in both yourself and others -- just what a church should be up to. Smart pastor!

One of the few things Nelson has right is that cell phone addiction is a problem.

I started using backpacker hostels again a few years ago in some kind of attempt to relive my youth. Before cell phones,you had to put up with the usual talking and snoring etc, but people normally fell asleep. Now younger people use their phones all night. Some of them can't go more than two or three hours without looking at them even in bed!!! That can't be good for them.

Mormonism is sacrilegious

Has anyone seen a BP prick member using cell during SM?

or a member of the stk presidency during stk conference?

GNPE Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Has anyone seen a BP prick member using cell
> during SM?
>
> or a member of the stk presidency during stk
> conference?


My visit to my former homeward (2019) found 2 members of the bishopric looking at a tablet/planner/legal pad during SM (not sacrament). I was sitting with my Mom in folding chairs in the overflow section. If I was closer then maybe I could confirm that it was a phone. I actually made it a point to stay off my phone during my visit so I could hone my keen sense of observation.

My point is/was is that members have been doing ANYTHING else than paying attention during SM for YEARS!

Whether it be sleeping, staring at the floor, writing notes in a Franklin Planner, doing homework, reading a book, listening to a walkman- sports/music.

When I was a newlywed, I would draw funny cartoons of myself and my wife and make a story by passing it back and forth with her. Then I would blow into her ears and she would giggle. We were anything but your typical member. One day a member of the bishopric cornered us in the hallway. I thought we were going to be reprimanded for acting to lovey-dovey in the chapel. Nope- he said that it was a joy to see two people so strongly in love with each other.

BYU professor/artist James Christensen would doodle/draw in a sketchbook through church. He got called to be in a bishopric.

He had his wife go sit in a number of places in the empty chapel to see if she could tell what he would be doing while on the stand as he wasn't going to stop drawing. He says she couldn't tell from how he structured his seating position.

So it goes back to before cell phones.

I used to use a book case--like a scripture case but for regular books--and read fiction through church. My daughter didn't even try to be discreet about, she just read her novel openly.

At least they aren't allowing cross dressing, yet!

Dressing up the cross.
Undressing the cross.
Addressing the cross.

Put a dress on that CROSS!

Is that Chris in the Cross?
Don't criss cross the kid!

He's a cross dresser :)