The official church has changed more in the last ten years that ever before in its history. Gone are the individual planets, gone are the Lamanites, gone is the Seed of Cain/fence sitter thing, and gone are the orders to publicly humiliate any young person who has hormones before their missions. And on and on. But I guarantee (as many here have found out the hard way) that any member who says these things in Sunday School will be hauled before the bishop before you can say Mahonri Moriancumer. And yes, I know that the top dogs are counting on all this stuff to go away as the older members die off. But the older members are still teaching it to their children, so I don't see any changes any time soon. Is there any way to get through to these people? Thank you.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/31/2023 09:29PM by slskipper.
The question is, as the older members (the Baby Boomers) die off, are there enough younger members to replace them? Many families have had at least some Millennial generation and younger leave the church. It's not unusual to leave anymore. And the church is a tough sell anywhere in the Western world, these days. It's not like the missionaries are going to be bringing in lots of new converts, at least converts who will stick.
I am the only black sheep of my generation of the family (Boomer). The next generation, none of my nieces or nephews are active, though all born and raised by TBM parents in Utah County.
I think Utah people don't see the full impact of a declining active church population since the social and family pressure there is great. I think the church has fixated on being a global force. In the Tuscaloosa third ward if the baby boomers died you might have 15 or 20 people left. I'm sure that's the case elsewhere besides Ural and the developing world.
I find the idea of "Marriage for time and eternity" a very weird concept. If nothing else, TBMs passionately adhere to this Mormon principle but never talk about it outside of their like minded circle. IMHO, by adding more temples, I think the Mormon church is doubling down on eternal marriage as it seems to be the biggest hook into keeping everybody in the fold.
It took me a long time, even as an exmo to realize that only 50% of members truly love their chosen spouse. The other 50% tolerate and some probably loathe their eternal partner and can't wait for him/her to pass on even if it's a temporary separation.
What I see in my family is they 100% bought into it long ago and haven't given it another thought since. That is what a real testimony is---thoughtless, integrity-less allegiance. There is something lazy and cowardly about it that has nothing to do with intelligence.
Messy goop's comment about people sticking with spouses they don't love reminded me of people living in houses that are falling apart or have other negative issues and that old phrase that something is "not bad enough to leave but not good enough to stay" factors in and no action is taken or they are "throwing good money after bad." Does not speak well of Mormon humans.
As a church member I was constantly pressured to endure that which I should not have. I finally just didn't. It was definitely bad enough to leave whether it was true or not.
It was largely Boomer college students who made it acceptable for a couple to live together without benefit of marriage (as the expression goes). Prior to the 1960s, living together was a pretty major scandal.
Funny thing has happened, though. It is the college educated (at least in the US) that are most likely to marry these days, and most likely to stay married. College educated couples tend not to divorce. And their kids have two well-educated parents with good incomes, so the kids tend to follow in their footsteps.
Meanwhile, the non-college educated tend not to marry at all, and of those that do, the divorce rate is pretty high.
The sort of people the Mormons would love to get to join their church are the intact, well-educated families with two parents and young kids. Those people might also be interested in the concept of eternal marriage, since their earthly marriage is at least OK, and maybe very good. Unfortunately, those are not the people flocking to Mormonism.
OK, nobody in the US is flocking to Mormonism. However, Mormonism might have more appeal to blue-collar people, at least on a political basis. But the whole Marriage for Time and All Eternity™ thing is not going to have much appeal. They aren't even getting married for 'time'. How ya gonna sell them on eternity??
I really don't see how temples are going to draw many people to Mormonism. The educated are not likely to take the bait, and the uneducated simply don't care about the bait.
Temples may help keep in those that are already in, but new members? Fuggetaboutit.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/2023 11:33AM by Brother Of Jerry.
There are 6 kids in my family. I was the 4th to leave, but that was a big deal and didn't sit well with my parents and everyone else didn't think I'd leave. My parents argued for a while about whose fault it was I left, but my parents weren't typical mormons. I was the devout family member. My youngest brother, who I'm like a second mom to, still will ask me questions about don't you believe in this or this, yet he left as a teenager. My cousins are all quite shocked.
I have one brother who is still in the church. He had a stroke when born and had other bad accidents as a kid. He is mentally and physically disabled and he likes going. They treat him good. They watch out for him. My older sister finally left for good last summer I believe. She was already almost out and then she read Educated and she saw some stuff she said they did to me. I guess I need to read it. She is SO DONE. Her kids left in their teens, all three of them. My daughter is the only grandchild who is a mormon. I have to repeat that as it is so shocking to me. She spends most of her time in Alaska as she doesn't like living in Utah because of mormons. I wonder how long she'd stay in if she was here 12 months a year.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/2023 11:55AM by cl2.