Comments on: Things I wish people wouldn’t say in church, part 319

By: Stevem

Stevem — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 01:00:48 +0000

I believe that the Savior said in best in the following:
Matt. 6: 1-2, 4-6, 16, 18
1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
• • •
4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
5 ¶ And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
• • •
16 ¶ Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
• • •
18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

By: rd

rd — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 11:17:56 +0000

Mollyn good scripture. We all need to just chill and find the good in others. What a miserable place church must be if we find offense in others’ joy. Or fail to fell others’ pain. Our testimony meetings run the gamut. Bottom line? Everyone is getting up because of some measure of commitment to the gospel and to God. Good for them. Chances are I can learn from them.

By: Julie M. Smith

Julie M. Smith — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 04:49:17 +0000

“speshulmonies”

love that

By: Seth R.

Seth R. — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 02:31:30 +0000

Just responding to Norbert’s original post.

You seem to be really pulling for a Church “where everyone is special – so no one will be.”

By: Juliann

Juliann — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 01:31:34 +0000

I’ve been around long enough to see babies grow up become young adults in our ward so I’m gratified to hear of successes. After all, I probably taught them at some point. I don’t cotton to “the Lord saved my life when I was prompted to not make that right turn” type speshulmonies. I wonder what they thought the Lord did to everyone else who just plain died. We lost a 16 yr old member in a car crash so those make me wince. Next on my list is “the Lord is my radar and helps me find lost objects” testimonies. But…what would life be without some weirdness on F&T day.

By: sam

sam — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:36:47 +0000

Simply expressing thanks for a wonderful family would do just fine without stressing on why they are so wonderful.

Generally this gets to the point which is consistently hammered in over and over again. You are not to preach from the pulpit when you give your testimony. And if you are assigned a talk, you should talk on what you were assigned, not proclaim your pride in your family.

But the thing is… it’s easier to talk about these things for many of us than it is to simply talk about Jesus, the atonement, the plan of salvation, etc. So people just resort to quick and easy platitudes about family and “Feel good” analogy stories that make your skin tingle when you hear about little johnny almost falling into a river and then being rescued by a barking dog at the last minute.

Ok maybe that last part was a bit too harsh…

By: Mark Brown

Mark Brown — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:39:40 +0000

Even more than raising good children, I want to become a humble person someday. When I speak in church, I’ll introduce myself by pointing to all the evidence of my humility. Surely everyone else also aspires to be humble too, so they should be grateful to get the free benefit of my experience. If anybody objects, I’ll just hand him a copy of Elder Bednar’s talk and tell him to suck it up and grow up.

By: Nora

Nora — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:18:09 +0000

I don’t like it when people come right out and tell us that we should do something. We have one person in our Branch who thinks testimony meeting is a chance to give us a sermon. Makes me want to do the opposite just for spite.

By: Heidi Bialik

Heidi Bialik — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 07:15:39 +0000

It’s never occurred to me to be offended when people talk about how well their children have done. I would hope that they were mentioning it because it had something to do with their testimony or the gospel.

It doesn’t bother me when people say they “know” things, although I often times wonder if they actually know or if they just think they know.

It doesn’t bother me when people say that they feel it’s imporant for them to do XYZ because maybe it is. I receive personal revelation that I should do things all the time. If I tell someone about it, it’s not because I think they should do the same, it’s probably because I’m just sharing a personal, spiritual experience.

The things that bother me in people’s testimonies usually have to do with them not actually bearing their testimonies, but rather going on about how great their family picnic was or how good they are at doing geneology. Not that it bothers me a huge amount, but people seem to miss the meaning of the word “testimony”.

By: Rebecca J

Rebecca J — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 05:13:56 +0000

Usually I don’t mind when people talk about their mission-going, temple-marrying kids. I figure they are just pleased with how their kids have turned out. What I don’t like is when people say, “They’re a great family, (x) number of kids, all served missions, all married in the temple,” because to me what makes a family great is not whether or not the kids serve missions or get married in the temple. When I say a family’s great, what I mean is, “They’re good people. I like them.” Usually it’s just the couple I’m talking about. Their kids may or may not be suckheads. Well, most of the families I know intimately don’t have adult children, so I should say the kids may or may not grow up to be suckheads. Anyway, I esteem people according to what they do, not what their kids do.

As it happens, last Christmas (as in 2007, not the very last Christmas) I had a big row with my older two children and left in a huff for the big RS dinner that evening, thinking that my kids had to be the biggest suckheads in the world and what that must say about my parenting, and needless to say, that was one big depressing RS Christmas dinner/program. One of the women there–she is older and her children are mostly grown–noticed that I was looking down and I told her that I’d fought with my kids, and she said, “I just love your kids. I had the best time that night I came over to babysit them. I couldn’t believe how well they went to bed. You must be doing something right.” And you know, that made me feel about a hundred times better–not about myself, but about my kids. I realized that they must not be complete suckheads, and I should cut them a little more slack. And I remembered that while no parent does everything right, no parent does everything wrong, either. That’s a helpful little aphorism, I’ve found.

Very little to do with the OP, but it’s off my chest now. I feel good.