Buddha Belly after she ate breakfast.I was spending some time on PostMormon.org when someone made a topic that was near and dear to my heart. How does the Mormon Church claim to be so "pro-family" when they do so much to keep the family apart? I will explain.
Firstly, faithful Mormons receive callings in the church... these are jobs given to them from the bishop or his counselors. Supposedly, the people picked for the jobs were chosen by God, and they should never, ever turn down a calling. These jobs could be anything from cleaning the ward building once per week (or more) to being a chorus leader, teaching Sunday School, to being a bishop or Stake President. These callings take up a lot of time.
Lets not forget how much time the church asks of you even without a calling. There are the Sunday meetings (3 hours or longer per week), Priesthood or Relief Society meetings after the Sunday meetings, Monday nights are usually reserved for family home evening where you have a lesson about the church with your family followed by prayer and scripture reading... Wednesday nights can be anything from Boy Scout meetings, to Young Women's/Young Men's meetings... those take hours as well. If you are a parent, you are driving your kids to and from these activities. Add to this the time for your Mormon calling. If you are called to be a Sunday School teacher, you have to plan one lesson per week on top of everything else in your already busy week. Many adult Mormons are Home Teachers or Visiting teachers on top of their calling. They travel to someone else's house (active and non-active) and give them a lesson about the church which again, you prepare. It really adds up, and fast. How can there be much focus on your family if you are too busy doing everything the church is asking of you? If you have a calling as a bishop, for example, you are away from your family most nights out of the week.
Another way the church takes away from having family togetherness is how they focus so much attention on ceremonies in the temple. If you don't have a temple recommend, you will not be allowed in the temple building. Take for example the time that my uncle was married in the temple and his mother, my grandmother, had to wait outside because the church didn't claim her worthy enough to attend. Why does a wedding have to exclude people you love? How does that promote the family unit being together? Another example was the time my Dad's temple work was done. The people who knew him the best, who took care of him when he was dying, were kept out of the temple because we were not considered worthy enough to be there.
When people leave the church they are considered apostates. The church teaches that apostates cannot be trusted, and therefore you should steer clear of these people because they might *gasp* try to talk to you about the issues that made them resign. Many mothers, fathers, and friends completely cut apostates out of their life because they decided to believe something different. Wow... kicking someone completely out of your family even though they think differently than you isn't exactly family values.. is it?
It's such a contradiction... their actions don't speak with their words.
Firstly, faithful Mormons receive callings in the church... these are jobs given to them from the bishop or his counselors. Supposedly, the people picked for the jobs were chosen by God, and they should never, ever turn down a calling. These jobs could be anything from cleaning the ward building once per week (or more) to being a chorus leader, teaching Sunday School, to being a bishop or Stake President. These callings take up a lot of time.
Lets not forget how much time the church asks of you even without a calling. There are the Sunday meetings (3 hours or longer per week), Priesthood or Relief Society meetings after the Sunday meetings, Monday nights are usually reserved for family home evening where you have a lesson about the church with your family followed by prayer and scripture reading... Wednesday nights can be anything from Boy Scout meetings, to Young Women's/Young Men's meetings... those take hours as well. If you are a parent, you are driving your kids to and from these activities. Add to this the time for your Mormon calling. If you are called to be a Sunday School teacher, you have to plan one lesson per week on top of everything else in your already busy week. Many adult Mormons are Home Teachers or Visiting teachers on top of their calling. They travel to someone else's house (active and non-active) and give them a lesson about the church which again, you prepare. It really adds up, and fast. How can there be much focus on your family if you are too busy doing everything the church is asking of you? If you have a calling as a bishop, for example, you are away from your family most nights out of the week.
Another way the church takes away from having family togetherness is how they focus so much attention on ceremonies in the temple. If you don't have a temple recommend, you will not be allowed in the temple building. Take for example the time that my uncle was married in the temple and his mother, my grandmother, had to wait outside because the church didn't claim her worthy enough to attend. Why does a wedding have to exclude people you love? How does that promote the family unit being together? Another example was the time my Dad's temple work was done. The people who knew him the best, who took care of him when he was dying, were kept out of the temple because we were not considered worthy enough to be there.
When people leave the church they are considered apostates. The church teaches that apostates cannot be trusted, and therefore you should steer clear of these people because they might *gasp* try to talk to you about the issues that made them resign. Many mothers, fathers, and friends completely cut apostates out of their life because they decided to believe something different. Wow... kicking someone completely out of your family even though they think differently than you isn't exactly family values.. is it?
It's such a contradiction... their actions don't speak with their words.