tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post114227487676121684..comments2023-09-11T08:58:24.710-06:00Comments on Reach Upward: Religion and Social StatusScott Hinrichshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11831447472339880148noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post-1143833096311816482006-03-31T12:24:00.000-07:002006-03-31T12:24:00.000-07:00"Everybody should have enough guts to make their o..."Everybody should have enough guts to make their own calls."<BR/><BR/>Frankly, the Church should have more people who DO have the courage and energy to stand up and really act like Christians WITHIN the Church community, but alas, I was not that person. My personal well-being was more important to me, and still is. No regrets.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post-1143832483567703982006-03-31T12:14:00.000-07:002006-03-31T12:14:00.000-07:00I left the Church 5 years ago because of this very...I left the Church 5 years ago because of this very real bigotry that goes on all the time. I am a fifth generation Mormon. I have relatives whose names appear on the granite monument at Immigration canyon park, or whatever it's called for this decade. Who cares. I felt like such a hypocrite, I couldn't stand it. I hated what I was, that I was actually involved with people who sit so high on their own personal mountains. Rather than try to use my energy to continuously fight this battle at church every week, I simply left, deciding to be the best Christian person I could be, without the weekly/daily baggage that comes with the Church's corporate/social structure. I am a peaceful, content person, and I am a better Christian person now than I have ever been in my life. Oddly, without the need to "make the numbers" and get out there to do the hometeaching, etc., I now simply and genuinely care for my neighbors and friends, and check in with them all often, to just find out how they are doing. <BR/><BR/>Because I am not "in the club", I am shut out of most the goings-on, because, as you note, people don't go even one foot outside their own comfort zone, and if I had the guts to actually leave (I was the first counselor in the bishopric at the time I bolted - I spent several years in that position, with three different bishops, and more years as a high-councilor as well...), well, I must be BAD, and therefore not in need of anyone's input into my life, certainly not worthy of any regard whatsoever. Incidentally, there were several others who came to me after the fact and told me they wished they had the guts I showed in standing up for my own welfare and taking matters of my life into my own hands. "More of us should care engouh to be able to do that". I heard that from the most unlikely people - people I thought were the typically mindless drones the church is so good at pumping out (see the State Legislature for all the examples of that you need.)Everybody should have enough guts to make their own calls.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com