Comments on: My friend sees the bad examples of church members http://ldswhy.com/qa/my-friend-sees-the-bad-examples-of-church-members/ Questions and Answers Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:43:25 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Ben http://ldswhy.com/qa/my-friend-sees-the-bad-examples-of-church-members/comment-page-1/#comment-1409 Ben Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:35:45 +0000 http://ldswhy.com/qa/?p=892#comment-1409 Several years back when I was in school I was being teased and bullied excessively but it was also the members of the church who participated in this and the problem was there when I came to church on sunday so as a result I became inactive in the church. A couple of years ago I was driving down the same stretch of road I travelled down every day when outside of a church(not sure who's) I saw a sign that said something along the lines of 'don't let people put you off knowing jesus.' I then found out that 90% of the members who participated in bullying me had made wrong decisions in their life, and weren't active when I became active in the church again. This is just to show that we need to be mindful of our actions all the time and not just in the world. Several years back when I was in school I was being teased and bullied excessively but it was also the members of the church who participated in this and the problem was there when I came to church on sunday so as a result I became inactive in the church.

A couple of years ago I was driving down the same stretch of road I travelled down every day when outside of a church(not sure who’s) I saw a sign that said something along the lines of ‘don’t let people put you off knowing jesus.’

I then found out that 90% of the members who participated in bullying me had made wrong decisions in their life, and weren’t active when I became active in the church again.

This is just to show that we need to be mindful of our actions all the time and not just in the world.

]]> By: Jason http://ldswhy.com/qa/my-friend-sees-the-bad-examples-of-church-members/comment-page-1/#comment-1408 Jason Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:29:46 +0000 http://ldswhy.com/qa/?p=892#comment-1408 A few years ago we had a young man join the church. He said that when he was in high school he had been impressed by the Mormons that he knew and how they lived their lives. I wonder what his reaction would have been had the young men and young women he came in contact with acted poorly. A couple years ago one of our suppliers and I were talking and I told him about all the farms the church has including the welfare farms. He was from the UK and was surprised that the Mormon church had large farms considering they only rode horses and buggies!!!! Somewhere along the line he got the impression that Mormons were Amish. I had the opportunity to correct the misconception but he still seemed dubious until I pointed out that my brother and I and a couple other guys we worked with that he knew were all Mormons. I asked him why he hadn't noticed the BYU diploma on my brother's office wall or all the other "Mormon" stuff like temple pictures in my office. He just never made the connection. But I believe he has a good opinion of our faith now and a more accurate picture of the people based on how we live our lives. It definitely is something to keep in mind in our daily lives. Could what we do today cause someone to have a poor opinion of the church and not join? We can't control what others do and other than try to pursuade them to act better and remind them that others see their behavior and judge the church based on it there is little we can do. But we can each choose for ourselves to do good and hope that the Spirit touches them. A few years ago we had a young man join the church. He said that when he was in high school he had been impressed by the Mormons that he knew and how they lived their lives. I wonder what his reaction would have been had the young men and young women he came in contact with acted poorly.

A couple years ago one of our suppliers and I were talking and I told him about all the farms the church has including the welfare farms. He was from the UK and was surprised that the Mormon church had large farms considering they only rode horses and buggies!!!! Somewhere along the line he got the impression that Mormons were Amish. I had the opportunity to correct the misconception but he still seemed dubious until I pointed out that my brother and I and a couple other guys we worked with that he knew were all Mormons. I asked him why he hadn’t noticed the BYU diploma on my brother’s office wall or all the other “Mormon” stuff like temple pictures in my office. He just never made the connection. But I believe he has a good opinion of our faith now and a more accurate picture of the people based on how we live our lives.

It definitely is something to keep in mind in our daily lives. Could what we do today cause someone to have a poor opinion of the church and not join? We can’t control what others do and other than try to pursuade them to act better and remind them that others see their behavior and judge the church based on it there is little we can do. But we can each choose for ourselves to do good and hope that the Spirit touches them.

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