As Elders' Quorum President I noticed that, of the 45% active members, about 10% pay tithing, do hometeaching, go to the temple and volunteer for occasional service projects. Some do 1 or 2 of the above faithfully, but very few were 100%ers. That opened my eyes to the fact that most active members really don't believe. They spoke a good testimony, but they never lived it.

Your thoughts??

Did you call it or what gaylayale? You certainly did smell a Mormon in here. Your mormdar must be working pretty well. :)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/2011 11:42PM by experienceheals.

Was that comment directed at me? If so, you couldn't be more wrong.

It was the same for me. I was a 100%-er until shortly before I fully broke off all participation in the church. I later realized that a lot of my friends and other people I assumed were TBM were loose with the rules, and regretted that I had wasted so much time being "good" when I could have been screwing around and having fun like them!

I made up for it later, though ;-)

I think some of it depends on where you live, and what part the whole generational culture plays in your life.

For many, I don't think they think about it. They just assume it's all factually true as it's been drummed into their head for years and years, especially if they are BIC.

Inactive members might comprise a good % of those officially resigning. In the past, they just remained inactive and ignored the LDS Church.

Active, temple attending, tithe paying members,fulfilling callings are in the minority from what I can tell -- maybe 10 to 20% of a ward.
We used to say that 20% of the members did 100% of the work.

That's your way of trying to figure out how many ex members did the same. Therefore you're assuming by their answers being the same result as you've seen, then they must not have tried hard enough to live the Mormon standards in order to feel accepted and appreciated. Its like a hampster wheel continuously running and they can't stop ever until they've pleased the leadership of the church. People leave because they got tired of serving lying deceitfull manipulative men. They left because they knew they were hostage to a corrupt cause that took advantage of people in many ways. They chose to finally live a life of free agency. Something the Mormon church does not offer.

Actually that is my way of asking what you think the %'s are. I really think many people don't even bother going through the motions. They just say they believe and think that will be enough.

I am 47. I have been out of the church for 3 years. I always did what I was "supposed" to do, because that is how I am. I am so glad I no longer feel obligated to bare my testimony after a talk or lesson, expecially when the topic was Joseph Smith or the temple. Both topics still kinda freak me out.

I'll bet the leaders have done enough surveys to know the answer, but they aren't talking.

It is impossible for us to know. TSCC, being obsessed about accurate statistics, will doubtlessly calculate it on a mission, stake, and ward basis using the aforementioned parameters (tithes, chores, callings, etc) but we on this forum are never going to find out. And like others said, it also depends on where you live and how long your family has been mo. BIC mormons will score higher than converts who make it beyond the milk-based propaganda, and just as there are more active members in UT (up to 40% in some wards I've been told) than in Europe (single digits anywhere), those bulwarks may also have more people who actually believe the crap than other countries, where TSCC is little more than a social network used by immigrants. "There's an activity in the church at 8 pm. Let's go there by 10 pm for a chat over their cake, cookies and popcorn. We might meet a hot lass to drag along when we go out afterwards!"

I know of jackmormons, inactive for decades, who are true believers. And there are full tithe-paying attending mormons who believe none of it and are just playing along.

...where I took a photo from the Ensign of an Aaronic priesthood kid standing, speaking to the rest of the quorum. He said, "... And that's why I don't believe any of it."

Thought balloons from all the others said, "Wow, I thought I was the only one."

That's one of the tricks of Mormonism. There's no acceptance of varying degrees of belief. You're supposed to believe it 100%. Anything less is a sign of wickedness. You don't believe something? You must be sinning. So everyone keeps their disbelief to themselves. When you think you're the only doubter, you question yourself, not the beliefs.