fellowshipping
- Acceptance, Anger, Danna Hartline's articles, Empathy, fellowshipping, Healing, lds culture, Love, Mormon Culture, welcoming
Mormons (and Post-Mormons) Have a Bullying Problem
Hold tight. This is raw and this is real. I am going to call it like I see it: Mormons have a bullying problem. Maybe it is just a war among us and not outside of us but having been on both sides of Mormonism, I am appalled and deeply saddened by what I see. Here’s how it goes: If you are a member, you are bullied by other members if you don’t fit the mold. If you don’t act right, dress right, believe right, look right, think right, worship right, talk right, parent right, gender right, associate right, say the name of the Church right, smell right, marry right,…
- Acceptance, Empathy, Fellowship, fellowshipping, Gerry Baird articles, lds culture, Love, Mormon Culture, welcoming
Saints in Training
Throughout history there have been countless ideas postulated. Most never took off, but some grew into cultures, traditions, legends and religions. Some of these ideas have yielded good fruit, like the invention of the light bulb and toilet paper. Other ideas have been tragically destructive, costing the lives of millions. Sometimes seemingly good ideas can go terribly wrong and vice versa. Suffice it to say, everything we experience in our lives depends on ideas. The chair you are sitting on began as an idea in someone’s head. The car you drive began as an idea, as did the clothes you are wearing. Ideas shape the world. Religious ideas are especially…
- Acceptance, Empathy, Examples of Courage, Fellowship, fellowshipping, Gerry Baird articles, lds culture, Lost Sheep, Love, Mormon Culture, welcoming
The Struggle to be Seen
Hi. I’m your neighbor. Your friend. Your grandma, your uncle. I’m everyone you’ve ever known who has found it difficult to attend church, to believe, to measure up. I’m the one who doesn’t fit in, who feels different and alone. I’m the one who left, the empty chair, the apostate who wishes that label didn’t exist. Because in truth, I am always me. I laugh. I cry. I have adventures. I don’t believe exactly how or what you believe, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have value and values. It doesn’t mean I don’t want love. I’m the one who had an impossible choice to make between a lifetime without…
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Casting Stones
All growing up, I dreamed of serving an LDS mission. I don’t know why I wanted it so much. Perhaps because it was expected of me. Maybe it was the idea of going on an adventure in a foreign country, learning a foreign language or getting away from Mom and Dad for a couple years that was most appealing. I had a testimony and wanted to share it, but when the time came there was a tough choice to make between a prophet’s commandment and a pretty girl. I chose the girl. This choice branded me in LDS culture. I was different. Being asked privately where I served a mission…
