Uptight and Judgmental

This is a revision of the post earlier, I am in NO WAY BACKING DOWN from my original thoughts, but I felt I needed to be a little bit more clear in some aspects. Yet I know it will still spark controversy and hate, enjoy:

To say that I am back enjoying casseroles and substituting hell with “heck” and damn with “dang” is just not plausible. You see, I am a different kind of Mormon. Call me Jack Mormon, call me a hypocrite, call me what you want. But I do not fit in to your usual Sunday morning zoobie with parted hair and a cheesy smile. I am far from perfect and sometimes I still wonder why I am part of a Church where I am looked as rebellious when anywhere else in the world I am a very good person. You see, that is my problem with some of its members. Unfortunately some of its members ruin what is a beautiful religious institution, and the worst part is that its not just a few who ruin it for the rest of us, it is many people.

Take for example Prop 8 in California and 102 in Arizona (which I lived there during the campaign). The issue sparked a great deal of controversy and in some cases, some very hateful comments were made in Facebook groups and during rallies by very prominent LDS members. I have gay and lesbian friends, big shocker! A Mormon with gay friends? Yes! It is perfectly fine. I love them very much. They are very good people and are fun to be around. They respect my beliefs and I respect theirs. I admit I have fallen in that Mormon trap of thinking that it was wrong and a sin, I have learned my lesson and know now that it was not Christ-like of me to think that way. Did Christ not teach tolerance? Did he not say to love one another? I am not saying that we should accept everything that everyone does, if someone is an alcoholic I don’t have to accept that drinking is ok, but I can learn to love that person. But sometimes we confuse acceptance with tolerance. You see, my gay friends, to me are just friends. They aren’t a label. I don’t think, hey it’s Joe my gay friend, no. It’s just simply Joe. If Joe lives a certain lifestyle that I don’t, it doesn’t mean anything but that we are different.

One time someone came up to me and asked if I was a Mormon. The way that they asked made me wonder if I had done something wrong that may have given them the idea that I wasn’t. I replied that I was and wondered why they asked. She said: “Really? You just aren’t uptight and judgmental like the others…” Unfortunately I knew exactly what she was talking about, so I took it as a compliment. Sadly, a lot of Latter Day Saints, especially in Utah, grow up extremely judgmental and uptight. I know of a few Facebook friends who deleted me because they saw something controversial in my profile. During the time I was being rebellious and wasn’t living the Doctrine of the LDS Church, lots of people stopped talking to me and scorned me for my choices. Come on people, that is not right, that is NOT what Christ taught. Hate the sin but don’t hate the sinner. But unfortunately lots of Mormons don’t see it that way, and I only say that because I have seen it firsthand.

What is the lesson here? A true Christian learns to love all people, no matter what race, color, background, culture, sexual preference, you get the point. How can members of a church claim to be the “one true church” when they judge and point fingers, when they scorn individuals for the lifestyle they live. I am sure this is NOT what Christ meant for His church. Have the Brethren not spoken to us about these things? I could get into racism but that would be a completely different post. We need to change the way we are viewed by the rest of society, we need to be better examples of what a true member of the LDS Church is supposed to act. People used to hear the word “Mormon” and they would associate it with kind and charitable people, now days the term “Mormon” is so negative and is usually followed by the words, “judgmental” and “uptight”. I know I have A LOT of things I need to change in order to portray a better example, I am not innocent in this matter.