I suppose there is a bit of a ‘look’ for the Utah Mormons who are descended from the original emigrants, who were largely English and Scandinavian, and who had large families that intermarried quite a bit. But they are now a minority even in the US, and American Mormons are a (slight) minority within the LDS Church now. Over half of any given congregation outside Utah/Arizona/Idaho is going to be people who converted in adulthood, and of any appearance.
It’s normally up to you to seek out your bishop and confess. In some situations (e.g. a girl confesses to him that she had extramarital sex with you), he might seek you out. It’s very rare for it to be apporached like a criminal proceeding, with the alleged sinner denying it and the bishop seeking witnesses against him. The vast majority of the time, it’s a cooperative effort aimed at getting the repenter right with God.
From age six through age nineteen, when I went on my mission, I was extremely active. I went to church every Sunday, I served in many service and leadership roles, and attended some sort of church activity at least one weeknight a week. I attended early morning seminary while I was in high school - that’s an hour of religious instruction before school.
When someone appears to be dropping out of the religion, he or she rarely falls though the cracks unchallenged. There’s a pretty tight-knit safety net of people who want to make sure you’re happy, living right and feeling fellowship with the rest of the church members.
There are different layers of “full membership” in the Church, but you’re eligible for baptism, which makes you an official member, at age eight.
Am I hot? There’s a link to my MySpace page in my profile; feel free to judge for yourself. In addition to my obvious killer looks, I also play wicked guitar and give outstanding back rubs.
There are no particular modesty rules pertaining to the same sex. In fact, the Mission Training Center, generally the be-all end-all of superstrict Mormon living, had locker room-style showers when I was there.
Birth control is not expressly prohibited, but as mentioned upthread, Mormon couples are encouraged to have as many kids as they can provide for financially and emotionally.
I’d give you an eight on a scale of 1-10. Why are mormon boys hotter than average.
Have you witnessed any divorces besides your own involving Mormon couples with children?
I don’t want to highjack your thread but I did want to make a few coments about my own experiance with the Mormon church.
I was raised mormom along with 4 siblings. By the time my youngest sister was old enough to be self aware my father had moved to refusing to have any relationship with the church so she was never indocrinated into the church as the rest of us were. Only my mother remains an active member. My father and mother divorsed officialy when my youngest sister was 16 or so.
I find at least in my mothers circle of freinds the wives left their husbands because they were to controling for them. At the same time they are unwilling to take steps to establish themselfs as self suffient and pursue other men that are capable of supporting them.
I was attended church regularly until I was 15. I continued with the Mormon Boy Scouts till I was 18. My leaving the church was gradual. While visting teachers still came to my house I simply avoided being there when they showed up.
Growing up gay in the LDS was not as hard for me as it had been for others I’ve dealt with. My youger brother is also gay.
When dealing with active LDS members who know I’m gay I’ve never had them say a bad thing to me. It is regular a constant iritation to me that my relationships are never recogized as what they are. They always refer to my partner as a freind never anything more. This includes my mother.
Meh. I don’t believe in a personal afterlife and I still find the practice offensive. (I’m not a fan of similar beliefs in other religions either.)
Anyway, my question is this: how is the afterlife depicted in the LDS? A friend of mine once said “Mormons think they’ll get their own planet in Heaven.” Her father was a fairly prominent church member, as I understand it, and while she wasn’t a believer I don’t think she was completely kidding.
I’ve been given that same line and I’m a Catholic. I don’t have a problem with people not sharing my beliefs: I have a notion that religion is actually an individual thing and that the labels are just for ease of communication (I definitely don’t have the same notion of God that Dad did, nor the same one as Mom, yet we’re all Catholic). But heck, if you ask me what do* I* believe, is it so hard to take my word for what my ideas are? Reeeeeelly!
Mormons believe that there are a finite number of spirits waiting to be born into this mortal life. Since this life is the time humans have to be tested and prove themselves worthy, having as many children as reasonably possible is helping God’s plan along.
Mormon boys (and girls) are hotter than average because:
Many of them come from Scandinavian stock, which carries traits (tall, blonde, strong jaw, blue eyes) that are widely considered attractive.
Devout Mormons abstain from alcohol and tobacco. Healthy is hot.
Sure, lots of them. Everything from the relatively amicable (e.g. my own), to the stereotypical pots-and-pans throwing divorce, to Jerry Springer-style meltdowns, complete with restraining orders and black eyes.
I commented upthread that I’m glad I’m not gay, just because I know how fucking hard it would have been to have church people, however well-meaning, trying to “fix” or “cure” me, or helping me to “repent.” My hat is off to you, sir. The rest of my clothes remain firmly in place.
As far as the Mormons refusing to recognize your relationships, it may be true bigotry or it may simply be that those Mormons, not being very sophisticated in such matters, don’t know what polite term to use and are afraid of seeming like bigots. It sounds backwards, but I’ve run into Mormons like that before, especially ones over 40.
OK (deep breath)…Mormons believe that the truly righteous will attain a state known as “exaltation.” Exaltation is an existence like God has: the ability to create new spirit children and populate your own planet with them, much like our God has with this planet. In short, your friend was pretty much right. The title of the book and movie *The God Makers * refers to this Mormon belief.
I’m actually going to call both of you out onto the mat on this one. Not necessarily personally (I don’t know how much you two know about your respective religions), but in general. Many Mormons and many Catholics that I’ve known (I’ll stop just short of saying most) are surprisingly unfamiliar with their own religious doctrines. And even more than the doctrines, many Mormons and Catholics I’ve known are unfamiliar with the* history* of their religion, and those aspects of that history that may put a big :dubious: on what the church currently does and believes.
That may be true, OCS, (though I would certainly claim that I am not ignorant about my own religion), but as you probably realize, Nava and I are both referring to a claim (usually made by the more ardent Fundamentalists), that Mormons and Catholics don’t realize that they are in fact devil-worshippers or something similar. Apparently we have both had the experience of someone telling us that “You believe XXX!” When we reply, “No, we don’t, that’s a distortion, it’s actually like this,” we are simply told that we don’t know what we actually believe, because some people would rather believe Jack Chick than an actual member of the religion. I’m not surprised that we have this in common, since both religions are routinely accused of not being Christian by the same people. (I’m not quite sure how Catholics can be accused of that, but whatever.)
The phenomenon you describe here is probably due to groups like the Scientologists and Masons, where new initiates really don’t know some of the stuff that higher-ups do. And I’m more than passing familiar with it myself, having served a mission and all.
However, it’s entirely possible for someone to convert and be baptized into the LDS church without knowing that the ultimate goal of his existence is to become a god on his own planet. After all, the missionary lessons only make general references to “the Celestial Kingdom” and “returning to our Heavenly Father,” and more detail isn’t volunteered unless it’s specifically requested. And thus, many people join the Mormon church without knowing something that is (a) central to the Plan of Salvation as Mormons understand it, (b) utterly blasphemous to 99% of Christians. Just sayin’.
