Okay, I just made a long comment on another thread, which, in order to demonstrate to a wider readership just how my rambling my hipshot prose can be, I copy here . . . ________________________ A few quick thoughts from a 1973 convert who has worked for the Church for twenty-nine years now: - Trends wax and wane, sometimes within a decade; theres no overall trend in the Church I see that doesnt parallel American culture in both conservatism and institutional disintegration--in the strictest sense of the word--via technological changes. - Converts, despite all efforts by lifers to control them, will keep altering the Church in unforeseeable ways; the more converts we make, the more they change us. (I often say, If the Church ever gets into China in a big way, China will change the Church far more than we will China.) - All politics is local, even in Church politics. I know students who have been overtly hated in one ward and beloved in another. Ive also had good bishops and bad ones. (Who hasnt?) One learns to navigate. Or to hunker down and wait it out. But after sitting through 350+ sessions of General Conference--and reading transcripts from hundreds more--I have come to know that one shouldnt read much into any one of them, so far as long-range effects on an individual member are concerned. - The Church is skewing in two distinct directions: one toward more openness, compassion, and aesthetic quality, the other, the reverse. Everyone with eyes, ears, and a heart can see that. But the former direction has been winning for the long haul. From good changes in the handbooks (e.g., re: birth control), the temple (too much to even begin to mention in that regard since 1990), the historical department (utterly different from when I ventured into it in 1985), the acceptance of gay members (unbelievably altered in the past ten years), even womens participation--dont stone me, but the role of and respect for women in the Church has been expanding for years, and while short-term battles may be lost, the larger cultural positioning is being won. (I myself wish for the day when priesthood is optional for all, boys and girls--and Scouting is thrown in the dustbin.) I see the elevation of Christs actual teachings--the religion of Jesus, instead of the religion about Jesus, as I like to say--all over the place in the Church. I miss the headiness of the Church I joined in 1973, the one where Dallin Oaks was known as the lawyer on the Board of Dialogue, who became president of BYU, for example. But more Jesus stuff works, too. I can go with that. - Finally (sorry Ive gone on so long), converts and lifelong members see the Church completely differently: to the former, the essence of growth is change, moving forward (even away); to the latter, the essence is staying true to the past, never leaving. That tension, that double vision, will always be with the Church as a whole. And neither type of member will ever be able to see or hear or feel as the other type does.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Apr 2014 18:25:54 +0000
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