a reply to:
Flyingclaydisk
As you say many do not act like Mormons, just like many if not most Christians do not outside of church.
I won't go into the things I learned about the leadership and the rather extreme differences in congregations from one part of the country to the
next. Let's just leave it at the problems with the leadership are centered in the old demon money.
The church gives a great deal in return for that money however. The family centered church provides a solid environment for raising children, not to
mention they really push education and self sufficiency. The church is also very moderate in it's views. It's very easy and comfortable to be a
Mormon.
It used to be the large corporations actually sought out Mormons simply because of their honesty and reliability. You need someone you can trust not
to steal or keep to and NDA, they are the best of choices. Those educated at BYU, who stay with the church that far, are not the Jack Mormons of which
you speak.
I quit not because they are bad, but because of the duplicity of the leadership the average members are oblivious too.
As an example, the small town I spent much of my childhood in, founded by an ancestor of my mothers', who was a close associate of Young, had its
first ever murder when I was 12 or 13 I think it was. There were about 7,000 people in the small town and surrounding rural area and it was virtually
crime free.
When we would take a vacation or leave for a couple of days to visit family, we left our doors unlocked so people could get in if they wanted to. The
neighbors did the same and we would do things like feed animals, tend to irrigating and other things for each other almost without the need to ask.
It's just how it was, nobody stole anything and we took care of each other.
When we suddenly moved to California, due to my fathers death just before my Senior year in high school, it was a culture shock to say the least. All
the crime, the drugs and level of illiteracy were a bit of a shock to me. Utah's schools were so superior, I was still using textbooks I'd already had
into my second year in college. I literally was so far ahead of them, I had technically graduated already and only took a couple of required half year
courses to graduate. I could have just gone to school for one and half hours a day for two 45 minute classes and graduated at the top of my class.
The two requirements were idiotic courses. One of them the teacher openly dealt drugs to students in the class while we watched video's. Like I said
culture shock. Only two people, one girl and myself tested above a 7th grade reading level in the Senior class. We both tested at 2nd year college
level, with all the others testing at 7th grade or below. Most who graduated could not read. Brand new school with very young teachers who spent half
the day outside in their smoking area and there were gang fights right on campus. A "D" student in Utah could have easily been on the honor role in
Southern California.
Mormons are different, so people who don't even know them, hate them for no reason. I'm sure you saw that yourself.
Don't know why I'm rambling here. To avoid work I suppose.