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Original poster

Talk to me about Mormons?

29 replies

PrammyMammy · 16/02/2010 19:32

I don't know anything about the religion, but two friendly young men came to my door today, we chatted for a while, then they asked me for my old sofa. It has been in the garden 2 weeks waiting for an uplift. They told me that they had been living in a flat that has not been touched since the 60's. They have no furniture or TV as they don't buy anything.
The sofa has been outside for a fortnight, in Scotland. It has been rained and snowed on, but they happily put it in their car.
Both the men were very smartly dressed, with appropriate ID. They had a new looking big car. So why can't they buy furniture?

OP posts:
pinkmagic1 · 16/02/2010 19:34

I don't know, but to the best of my knowledge TV is forbidden so why they wanted one is anyones guess.

zapostrophe · 16/02/2010 19:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Original poster
PrammyMammy · 16/02/2010 19:38

Yes i think they were American, they said 'apartment' when talking about their home.

OP posts:
mathanxiety · 16/02/2010 19:46

They are required to go and do missionary activity. Here's an idea of what their lives are like while putting in their two years. Check out the elbow rule....

Original poster
PrammyMammy · 16/02/2010 19:51

What? Really. The Elbow Rule. So the two guys at my door are never apart?

OP posts:
DutchOma · 16/02/2010 19:52

They don't drink tea or coffee, but they do drink CocaCola

MmeBlueberry · 16/02/2010 20:02

I don't think TV is forbidden. I have very observant LDS friends, and they have all the high tech gear.

I understand that it is the done thing to do a missionary year - like a gap year, but with even more uptake. Orthodox Christian denominations can learn a lot from them. They have a huge focus on the family, but the church dictates in most aspects of family life.

They don't drink tea or coffee, but may have some at home to serve to their non-LDS guests. They don't drink alcohol. They love bread, and this is seen as a good gift to bring to a dinner party. They have huge larders, and I think try to store enough food to last for one year.

I did a lot of research on making friends with an LDS family, but as an orthodox Christian, I see much error in their theology, but a lot of good in their praxis at the same time.

PositiveAttitude · 16/02/2010 20:06

Hi DM!

How can they drink cola, the rules state no caffiene.

onepieceoflollipop · 16/02/2010 20:12

Agree with MMeBlueberry.

Our new neighbours are "Mormons" but they introduce themselves as attending the church of the Latter Day Saints.

They are not "pushy" at all, like MmeBlueberry we are Christian and therefore don't believe exactly what they believe.

re the tea and coffee, when new neighbour first came round with the children she just said very calmly that she doesn't drink tea and coffee. No mention of her religion, although she did later mention their church in passing. I know that she definitely drinks hot chocolate and eats chocolate. Afaik they abstain from alcohol.

My neighbours are extremely generous natured; lent us a sledge on a very snowy day as it was dd's birthday, despite the fact that their own dd probably wanted to use it that day. However we lent them some chairs over Christmas and this felt very neighbourly.

I guess that like with most religions/faiths, some people are stricter than others. Perhaps some drink decaff for example (no idea if they do).

I went on a LDS website and tea and coffee is seen as a real no no.

onepieceoflollipop · 16/02/2010 20:13

re the tv, when I popped round neighbour had Cbeebies on - I realised then she was my sort of person.

expatinscotland · 16/02/2010 20:17

They're unpaid when they're on their mission. They save up money to do it and then have to live off it.

That no caffeine bollocks will kill it for me.

Bumperlicious · 16/02/2010 20:27

They probably borrowed the car. When they come over on their mission they are well supported by local church members.

I'm not really keen on Mormonism, though my old supervisor and good friend of mine was one, we would talk about it a lot.

The premise of the whole religion is a bit suspect, the gold tablets that got lost...also they are pretty strict on the anti gay thing, though obviously that is not exclusive to them. They are also very strict on marrying within the religion, which when you live in a very remote place like my friends did seemed quite tough, restricting their children's marrying pool in an already fairly barren place! It is a very community minded religion (within their own community at least) but there seem to be a lot of archaic and random rules which I think make many mormons rebel at some point.

expatinscotland · 16/02/2010 20:28

Yeah, every Mormon I've met, and it's a lot because I lived in a state adjacent to Utah , but I think the whole religion is a cult.

DutchOma · 16/02/2010 21:02

Yes, we had a Mormon staying with us before he became a missionary on an exchange programme and we thought that it was strange they drank no tea or coffee but coke was ok. We reckoned they didn't know there was caffeine in it.

mathanxiety · 17/02/2010 14:47

The cult idea struck me when I saw that elbow rule, expat.

CMOTdibbler · 17/02/2010 14:56

My friend is a member of the LDS, as are all his family (there are 10 children in his family, and he already has 15 nieces and nephews). Several of his brothers/sisters have married outside their church.

The caffeine thing is apparently a bit of a matter of personal interpretation.

The mission thing is more than a gap year - it's part of the becoming an adult, and you aren't welcomed into the inner part of the temple until afterwards

Those rules are for one particular place, but seen in the context that these 18 year old boys are sent off to live in a new place, far from home, and expected to be morally upstanding in the face of unprecendented temptation (just think about Freshers week at Uni), maybe it's more understandable ?

heQet · 17/02/2010 15:00

They're very nice and very ernest

They've got a different bible written - sorry, given to joseph smith, by God.

It basically makes America important. Jesus came to the people of America after his death.

They believe that still birth happens when only a physical body is needed. (that's what the missionaries who used to come to my house told me) Everyone lived with god before birth, needs a physical body on Earth and then goes back to God. There are several different 'levels' of heaven, and only on the, well, 'top' one if you like, are you actually WITH God.

Although they've officially moved away from polygamy, there are groups of them who do it.

It's a long time ago since I went to the church, but I think I've remembered it roughly.

angelstar · 19/02/2010 16:59

I am a mormon and have been on a mission for the church. Missionaries do live in very basic flats so it is possible they didn't have a sofa. The car will not have belong to them. Some thing people have put are correct we don't drink tea coffee,don't smoke and don't drink alcohol.

heQet, pologamy is not allowed and if found practising it you would be excommunicated from the church. It is practised in groups called fundamentalist mormons but they are not the same religion.

The church is a Christian religion and it full name of the church is "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints"

I have to run and make dinner but am willing to answer any questions or this is a good website www.mormon.org

DutchOma · 19/02/2010 17:33

Are you a man or a woman?

angelstar · 19/02/2010 18:23

Sorry I don't post much on this board. I'm usually on the pushchair ones. I'm a woman. Young men serve on missions for 2 years the earliest they can go is 19 they don't have to go but its is generally expected that they will. There is no punishment or consequense to not going.
Young women can go on amission from 21 for 18 months if they choose to. There is no expectation for them too though.

heQet · 19/02/2010 21:06

It didn't start as 2 separate groups. It's not 2 different religions in origin. It's the same religion split in 2 at a certain point - recently - one polygamous, one not.

angelstar · 20/02/2010 14:58

I guess I can see what you mean, but the Catholic and protestant religions didn't start as separate but they are now 2 different religions as someone decided to change the rules to suit them hence created a different religion. Approx 100 years ago I guess some people decided they wanted to continue living polygamy so decided to make up their own rules and created a new organization.

DutchOma · 20/02/2010 16:08

Roman Catholics and Protestants are no different religions, they are both part of the Christian religion, believing that God created the world and that He sent Jesus as a sacrifice for our sins to die on the cross. Both also believe in the Holy Spirit, in fact they both hold to the whole of the Apostolic Creed.
Maybe they differ on some points, but that doesn't make them a different religion.

CarmenSanDiego · 20/02/2010 17:43

They have this massive temple where I live. It looks like a Disney castle.

The gist of it is that a bloke in the 1800s was told by an angel that there were some buried golden plates. He dug them up and supposedly they told all about Jesus' further adventures in America. This all became the 'Book of Mormon'

There's lots of issues because it references technologies etc. which weren't available in the US in Jesus' time and there's not any archaeological or anthropological evidence to back any of it up.

Still, nice suits.

moondog · 20/02/2010 18:23

If you want a gripping read on the history of Mormonsim and Joseph Smith and its roots in giving men free rein to shag everything that movess polygamy, I highly recommend Under the banner of heaven which i could not put down.
However it is only fair to say that mainstream Mormons have renounced polygamy.