I'm curious if any of you can answer a question I was wondering about.

Can anyone report any experiences talking to TBMs who (for whatever reason) visited other churches? What kinds of impressions did they report?

Yes, they expect others to visit their Mormon church, but they make all kinds of excuses why they can not visit other churches.

Here's a sample of reasons they can not attend other denominations.

1. I have a calling. Church will grind to a halt if I am not there.
2. There's a special speaker or church leader coming to visit and I can't miss this Sunday. And this excuse will be used to forestall attending a different church...forever.
3. Person comes clean. Leaders strongly discourage members from attending different churches. I would have to seek the bishop's permission (which is true to some extent) to attend.
4. I can attend, but I am very happy in my faith. It would be a waste of time when you are part of the true church.

Fear, fear of being tainted, converted.

I've heard that from some extended family members.

Remember older folks were taught that the Catholic Church was the whore of all the earth.

I attended other services while I was active LDS.

To me they were just different than I was used to, and of course the difference in doctrine in some cases was obvious. But overall I just thought to myself, "each to their own".

Otherwise I found myself not being critical, I just noticed the differences. I was focused on being respectful to the people who had invited me to their church.

That is probably a contributing factor to my having left organized religion overall. I found other denominations had their own set of rules, and overall no matter what I was just not going to fit into any of them due to my strong independance.

As others have stated, it's pretty rare for TBMs to attend services of other churches. Mormons often consider themselves to be experts in other religions without ever visiting them. I had the opportunity to attend other churches fairly often as a child simply because my parents are both converts and all of my extended family are members of other religions.

I doubt my TBM husband, who has a long line of Mormon ancestry, has ever attended any other church service. When I was active in the LDS church, the only time I heard of a Mormon visiting another church was during testimony meetings. A church member would generally say something about how they went to another church service with a family member or friend and knew that it wasn't the "correct" church because they didn't feel the spirt there.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2024 04:02PM by want2bx.

-and knew that it wasn't the "correct" church because they didn't feel the spirt there.

This is what I used to hear during a "trip report" testimony. People weren't supposed to talk about vacation trips on fast and testimony Sunday, but members who went to Europe were usually big tithe payers~ leaders were smart to leave them alone and let them babble about their vacation brag.

So I hear this sister talking about the Sistine Chapel- While it is indeed pretty, it pales into comparison of our temple. We simply didn't feel the spirit in Rome.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2024 04:24PM by messygoop.

messygoop Wrote:
-------------------------------

>
> So I hear this sister talking
> about the Sistine> Chapel-
> While it is indeed pretty, it
> pales in comparison with our
> temple.  We simply didn't feel
> the spirit in Rome.


She never looked up!

I attended a different church several times to hear my friend perform solos in their worship service. When told of this, a few of my ward member "friends" said that I wouldn't feel the spirit outside of our LDS sacrament meetings. Actually, I felt the spirit more in other churches. My family and I are glad we left the LDS church. Happily attending a different denomination now.

Music lover, sadly in many churches the music has undergone a massive shift away from traditional music and classic hymns to what I think of as shallow and repetitious choruses accompanied by drums and guitars, such that worship music has turned into a performance. It is a real issue for me at this time. There is a beautiful series on YT in which a very young man (twenty something is very young to me) visits very old village churches in England to give a little of their history and to play the wonderful old organs in them. His playing and enthusiasm creates both homesickness and a longing for the traditional. Ben Maton The Salisbury Organist. I have no musical background and would welcome opinions on his playing.

You are in tune with the zeitgeist. Just yesterday I saw an article about the rise and fall of Contemporary Christian Music - think Amy Grant. Or Kiss. The drum and guitar shtick is fading.

https://religionnews.com/2024/03/25/in-god-gave-rock-and-roll-to-you-leah-payne-details-the-rise-and-fall-of-ccm/

I was thinking is she blind. Historic cathedrals in Europe are magnificent regardless of religious views. Paintings and stained glass windows take my breath away.

elderolddog Wrote:
------------------------------

> She never looked up!

Absolutely.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2024 11:38PM by Nightingale.

a few times. They went to fast and testimony with me. That was pretty "interesting." One guy was sobbling and snorted really loud and we couldn't stop laughing, had to get up and leave.

I hadn't noticed before then how the mormons talk about who they are fellowshipping, trying to convert in their testimonies. That was embarrassing.

I had enough religion. You couldn't drag me back to any religion anymore.