I’m BIC (born into the covenant). I’ve pretty much followed the ingrained program, gospel plan, or covenant path. I was baptized at 8, graduated from seminary with honors (ie: I had good attendance and memorized the scripture mastery verses), served a mission, and went to BYU. I met my wife at BYU just after my mission and got married at 22. We started having children right away.
You’re probably thinking, “I bet he went to law school or dental school too.” Yep, I went to law school, also at BYU.
And guess what? I actually still go to church every week–even on vacation.
But I also have issues. One of the main reasons I’m choosing to write about my thoughts on church stuff is because I think it helps me sort out my own thoughts.
I also don’t know who to talk to about some of these things so I’m blasting them out into the cosmos. I know I’m not the only one with issues who would like to talk about it.
This particular post, however, is not about my issues, this is about…
10 Things I Like About Being M**mon.
(in no particular order)
1. It stretches you to be a better person.
When I was going into high school, I hadn’t decided what type of person I wanted to be. I was very conflicted. All the “cool kids” in junior high didn’t seem very concerned about morals and they seemingly had lots of friends. I didn’t have many friends. I had some friends, but it was just an odd time in life and I didn’t feel very connected.
I was fortunate that I ran into a guy I used to know from primary in band. He brought me under his wing and introduced me to an awesome group of what was mostly other LDS kids. They became some of my most favorite friends in high school.
They taught me, by example, that the “cool kids” were kind and selfless. They enjoyed fun, but not at the expense of others. They wanted to do their best and excel. This was the kind of person I wanted to be.
If you think you can get that in any other church, maybe you are right. But I found it in the LDS church. I actually still see it in members of the church today. There are so many people that want to make the world a better place and are doing their part. I feel like sometimes those efforts get lost because of bad publicity at the macro level.
2. It provides life structure.
As I mentioned in the introduction, I followed the life plan that you are supposed to follow as an LDS person. I think it has worked out pretty okay for me. I obviously can’t compare it to any other path because I can only follow one path at a time. But when I try to look at my situation objectively, I have a lot to be happy about.
I’m not the most successful person in the world and I’ve probably made a lot of financial blunders. But if I try not to live in a world of comparison, I feel good about where I am now. Plus, the farther you go up one ladder, the more you can see that there is always going to be someone else at the top of some other ladder that will make you think you should have been on a different one. There’s no end to the ability to compare once you start doing it.
3. It teaches a good basic set of morals.
We cover all the basics like the 10 commandments. It’s pretty good advice. In addition, I love many of the principles learned from the scriptures. One of the scriptures I try to apply as a husband and father is D&C 121:34-36, which is a warning against unrighteous dominion.
4. No smoking or drinking.
This is one that I’m happy about. I know some people who leave the church get all into smoking and drinking. You can do what you want. For me, I like being able to check the boxes at the doctor that I don’t smoke or drink.
Even if you decide the word is wisdom is not a commandment, avoiding smoking and drinking is still a good thing to do in a practical sense.
I’m happy I’ve lived my life without those things.
5. The built-in social structure.
My family and I have now moved to four different states. Each time we have moved to a new area, the people in the ward have been so supportive and quick to befriend us. It’s nice.
Plus, the LDS world is so small. It’s a fun community to be involved in. Sure, there may be politics or weird things that happen, but show me a community where that doesn’t happen. That’s unavoidable.
6. Lots of interesting people.
This kind of goes along with #5, but there are so many people that have interesting lives or are doing interesting things. When the scriptures talk about a people being the “salt of the earth,” there are so many people who fit that description. They are literally doing things in the community that make it more interesting and better. And that makes the world a better place one community at a time.
And if you like doing fun things with interesting people, there’s no boardgame I recommend more than Secret Hitler (<– affliate link, click it now!). Secret Hitler is set in Germany in the 1930s. Your group is randomly divided into two camps: fascists or liberal. The fascists are attempting to anoint Hitler as chancellor while the liberals are trying to stop him. The challenge is that you don’t really know who is in which camp! It’s a game of mystery, intrigue, and lots of laughs. So if you are looking for that new game to try, you can’t go wrong with Secret Hitler (<– affliate link, click it now!).
Now where was I…oh yes, I think the people are great. There are some generational differences, and maybe I’m thinking mostly of my peers in the millennial generation, but there are a lot of really good people.
7. The messages can buoy you up.
I’ve only been in a state of long-term depression twice (each time related to law). Going to church pulled me out of it. I attended church on as normal on just a regular Sunday. The speakers just said things that helped me get a better perspective and snap out of my funk.
I can definitely testify that participating in church has helped me and continues to do so.
8. The teachings of and about Jesus.
I like the teachings of Jesus and the atonement. That’s all I’m going to say about that for now.
If you’re thinking this should be higher on my list, please remember that this list is unordered.
9. Good youth programs.
For the most part, I enjoyed the youth programs growing up. We did a lot of fun things. I even enjoyed doing trek. That’s right. Trek. I thought it was fun.
I grew up with a lot of good people. I don’t care what you were doing, if you were with the group I was in, you were going to have fun.
As a parent, I am a little concerned about the state of the programs now because there is no real structure. We’re fortunate that people in the youth program in our area really try hard to keep things interesting. However, I mostly think the program is aimless.
The youth are supposed to be deciding what they want to do. I know when I was a youth, I wouldn’t have suggested trek. I would have said trek sounds weird and lame. It turns out that while I was correct about it being weird, it wasn’t all that lame. In fact it was pretty fun. My point is that if I were in charge, we probably would have just played basketball and missed out on a unique experience.
10. Lots of very interesting and fascinating issues.
I could spend all day everyday trying to sort out all different kinds of issues related to the church. There are historical questions, current events, policy and doctrinal concerns, and mental health issues too. It’s all so fascinating. I sometimes wish that I had no skin in the game and could just watch, observe, and report on what’s happening in an unbaised way.
Unfortunately (or fortunately?), that’s not my situation. I have to try to process all of this stuff while also trying to understand my own emotions. It’s very challenging. It’s also frustrating and fascinating at the same time.
As I sit here today, I don’t have a lot of answers to these questions. I used to think I did. Well…that’s not true. I actually still think I have answers, but just in a different way than I used to.
I didn’t change. I adjusted.
What things do you like about being M*rmon?
You have my list, now I’m interested in yours. What do you like about being Mo-mo?
It doesn’t have to be 10 things. Maybe it’s more or maybe its less.
Or maybe its nothing. If that’s the case, you may be more interested in my next post, which is going to be on a few things I don’t love about being M*rmon.
