posted
Steve: which part about the splitting into age groups was interesting, exactly?
quote:Originally posted by rivka:
quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: No extra/premarital sex.
So just exactly the right amount of premarital sex?
Funny.
How about, "No sexual relations except with your husband or wife."
As for movies, I don't watch R-rated movies and I usually avoid PG-13, too, because they've become more disgusting than some of the R ones. However I do allow myself to make decisions based on the movie: some R movies might be good for me to see and learn from (haven't chosen one yet), and some PG-13 are rated that way because children wouldn't understand the content but they are worth viewing, so I'll go (that translates into "I won't watch PG-13 unless I really want to"). Like LOTR.
Sex between married people is private and none of my business, so I don't need to see it on-screen. And any other sex in movies generally glorifies the whole idea of extramarital sex, painting it as something great that you're regretfully supposed to deny yourself, instead of something destructive to be avoided because it tears families apart. So the point in this counsel is to help us remain the kind of person that is repulsed by sin, instead of being enticed and excited by it.
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posted
OSC actually has an article up on nauvoo.com discussing and asking about the supposed 'R-Rated Movie Commandment'. Here's a link to the article.
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quote: Generally, do you just have discussions about the church during the separate meetings? Like how to apply that day's sermon to your life or what?
This is how my church day went when I was a member. There are three one hour classes/meetings. The first meeting was sacrament. It opened with a prayer and a song. It was followed by church announcements--generally local stuff like weddings, funerals, church callings. Sometimes they read official church announcements. They would sing a more reverent song and then bless and pass the sacrament.
Generally the young men (13-18?) who had a priesthood calling called the Aaronic Priesthood would pass it. After the sacrament there was usually an adult speaker followed by a musical number from an individual or a song by the congregation. There would then be 1-2 adult speakers and 1 youth speaker. It would close with a hymn and prayer.
The second meeting is called Sunday School. Every year they alternate between studying the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Old Testament, and New Testament. So every 4 years you would study the New Testament for a year. Ever four years you study the Book of Mormon—etc.
Some Sunday school classes are targeted to new members, some are more focused on marriage, and some are broken down according to age for youth. There are lots of different classes and each teacher is called by the bishop. When I went to Sunday School, my wife and I would alternate between a class with older more serious people and the young married class.
I do live in Utah and so our church (ward) was very large. I am sure smaller wards outside of Utah or the country may not have as many Sunday School options--tho the youth do have their own class.
The last hour is divided by gender. Males go to their priesthood class--there are different priesthood classes depending on how far you have progressed in the priesthood. I was and Elder and went to a different class then the Bishop who was a High Elder. The woman went to Relief Society--a class whose goals and objectives I obviously don't understand as well as a "Sister."
Sacrament is moderated by the Bishop and the announcements are official, but the member talks are usually by ordinary members with their different take on the gospel. It is usually inspirational, not too deep doctrinally, and uplifting (thanks to the reverence around the sacrament and the hymns--in my opinion).
Sunday school tackles more serious topics and more easily gets off track into speculation. As a result, you often hear stories of incorrect doctrine or facts.
Overall Sunday School does a good job of teaching the stories in the scriptures and familiarizing the faithful with the scriptures.
Priesthood had more announcements about service projects, more "guy joking," and brief generic lessons on staying out of debt, honoring your wife, fulfilling your priesthood calling, faith or et cetera. The lesson usually revolved around a story about a modern day "prophet."
The manual you study is about a life of a prophet--each year you study a different prophet. Usually the lessons just use their life examples to teach a basic lesson.
Some details have been left out out of laziness, but this was my experience of a typical 3-hour block at the LDS church.
Two things should be noted: Once a month the sacrament is called “Fast and Testimony Meeting.” Everything is the same except that after the sacrament is passed, the congregation is invited to come up to the stand and bare their testimony.
Testimonies range from the spiritual to accounts of daily life. Some are grateful, some are emotional, some are powerful, and some are laughable.
The second thing is that the church has come down on trying to get rid of the false doctrine being taught. Now there is a manual that tells the teachers what to teach and what scriptures to use. There use to be more individual leeway. There also used to be much more false doctrine being taught.
When I was growing up I was cautioned to be good because there were corvettes in the celestial kingdom (heaven), and you could only have sex in the celestial kingdom. I kid you not. I doubt that happens as much these days.
I hope this helps with your question. Out of curiosity, why the interest in the particulars of the LDS faith?
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