BYU study: Mormons and Easter

[yellowbird]

. For the lds, the observance of easter is a daily act of christian living which they do throughout the year. And not an obsevance of one week.

Then I assume LDS don’t celebrate their children’s birthdays either? Why only celebrate your child’s life on one day… everyday a parent should make their children feel special. I’ll have to try that on my own kids… no party this year… I observe & celebrate your life every day.

Ditto w/ wedding anniversaries, right? I mean, husbands and wives should LOVE and celebrate their marriages every day… not just on one day.

Same with Mother’s Day… Father’s Day… should children cherish their parents every day? Why make one day special?

And BIG time with Thanksgiving. Why exactly do LDS celebrate that one? Don’t they give thanks to God every day??? Now I’m confused.

 

[twopekinguys]

Interesting, this idea that you either are celebrating Easter on one day a year, or every day.

For any LDS reading this, Catholics celebrate every Sunday as a “mini-Easter”. It is why fasting and abstinence are practiced every Friday, in a recognition of the Passion of Christ. Sunday, there is no fasting or abstinence because we are celebrating Christ Risen. Most profoundly recognized in the Eucharist.

Don’t forget daily Mass!!

 

[why_me]

Interesting, this idea that you either are celebrating Easter on one day a year, or every day.

For any LDS reading this, Catholics celebrate every Sunday as a “mini-Easter”. It is why fasting and abstinence are practiced every Friday, in a recognition of the Passion of Christ. Sunday, there is no fasting or abstinence because we are celebrating Christ Risen. Most profoundly recognized in the Eucharist.

Every chrisitan faith has its own traditions and culture. Mormons, catholics and protestants have their own traditioins. I would not find the catholic mass in a baptist church nor would I find a baptist service in an lds church. Each worships god in their own way. And nothing wrong with that. The idea is to respect traditions and ways of worshipping.

 

[why_me]

And BIG time with Thanksgiving. Why exactly do LDS celebrate that one? Don’t they give thanks to God every day??? Now I’m confused.

The lds celebrate easter in their way. If you listen to the lds conference talks over easter you will find a wonderful christian message. You will also hear about the resurrection. And so what is the problem? The lds celebrate easter. But not in the catholic way. But do the baptists or methodists celebrate easter the catholic way? I don’t think so.

I listened to the lds conference and it was a good conference filled with many fine thoughts about god and christian living. And also about easter and the resurrected christ.

 

[why_me]

Don’t forget daily Mass!!

And does your protestant friend have daily mass too? I don’t think so. How was his easter celebration different from yours? Did you go to his service? Did his bishop reside at the service or was their just a pastor?

 

[why_me]

What the comment section shows is a lot of contempt by LDS members for non-LDS Christianity whether you admit it or not.

Except when they take time out to bash non-LDS for being drunk materialistic pagans who participate in debauchery. But again we see you’re unwilling to call LDS on their bashing.

Show me proof and I will personally call them on their bashing.

Now of course, a public forum can filled with mad hatters. But…lets see the proof that the comment section is filled with bashing and mocking.

 

[Marie5890]

All of this validates what Keith Wilson said about what his BYU study shows…

(quote)

"Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints “do celebrate, but it’s a minor celebration,” Wilson said. He surveyed approximately 500 people in six different LDS wards as well as scores of BYU students to determine the importance of the holiday to active church members.

(end of quote from article)

If people actually read what he said and what his study shows, this thread and it’s posts end up supporting those very conclusions.

 

[yellowbird]

Show me proof and I will personally call them on their bashing.

Now of course, a public forum can filled with mad hatters. But…lets see the proof that the comment section is filled with bashing and mocking.

Did you read the comments from that website? They totally bashed us. And by “us” I mean Catholics.

Although I may be getting that BYU article confused with another article in the same paper that talked about the Easter celebration at the local Catholic Church. The title of the article was something like “Christians celebrate Easter” and the picture was that of either a Priest or a Bishop. LDS posters had nothing nice to say about that finding particular issue with the word “Christian” being used in reference to Catholics.

You are right though… people can and do post all sorts of crazy mean stuff on public forums. It’s no different here. But for some to suggest that Holy Week is one long drunken party… well that is just wacked.

 

[Marie5890]

Then I assume LDS don’t celebrate their children’s birthdays either? Why only celebrate your child’s life on one day… everyday a parent should make their children feel special. I’ll have to try that on my own kids… no party this year… I observe & celebrate your life every day.

Ditto w/ wedding anniversaries, right? I mean, husbands and wives should LOVE and celebrate their marriages every day… not just on one day.

Same with Mother’s Day… Father’s Day… should children cherish their parents every day? Why make one day special?

And BIG time with Thanksgiving. Why exactly do LDS celebrate that one? Don’t they give thanks to God every day??? Now I’m confused.

Excellent and accurate observation.

 

[zaffiroborant]

Show me proof and I will personally call them on their bashing.

Now of course, a public forum can filled with mad hatters. But…lets see the proof that the comment section is filled with bashing and mocking.

Well I’d like to see proof from you that you have ever taken an LDS to task over bashing. I’ve seen some ugly stuff over at MADB and you just let it go. As to the comment section, every page has bashing of non-LDS on it. It was noticed and commented on by a couple of your fellow LDS members,

Fielding at 10:59 a.m. April 4, 2010

I am embarrassed by how many jabs I’ve seen in this forum at the Catholic church and at Protestants in general.

And
Nicholas at 5:29 p.m. April 4, 2010

How saddening to read so many defensive comments which belittle the practices of other Christian faiths as “empty” or “showy,”

You are conspicuously absent from those calling their fellows on the jabs and belittling of non-LDS. Quite hypocritical of you considering how you crow about you’re (yet unseen) defense of Catholicism.

 

[Catholic20064]

This is a quote I read that was attributed to Mormon writer Orson Scott Card:

It’s no great surprise that there’s a gap between the official and the unofficial. We face the same thing with the two great holidays in Mormon worship services. Officially, we would have to say that Christmas and Easter are the two most important Church holidays, with Easter being more important than Christmas.

Unofficially, though, we all know perfectly well that in most wards, when it comes to preparing sacrament meeting programs and special talks and presentations, the two most important holidays are Christmas and Mother’s Day, with Easter barely on the map as a distant third, and Father’s Day merely an afterthought, sort of a dinghy bobbing in the wake of Mother’s Day.

I am grateful that Mormons do not celebrate Easter very well. Their lack of Holy Week services drives some of their members to attend the Holy Week services at Catholic churches. If Mormons actually paid attention to Holy Week as we do they would be satisfied to stay in their own congregations rather than seeing the beauty of the Catholic observances. I have known several ex-Mormon Catholics who say part of their journey included attending the Catholic services in connection with Easter. I hope Mormons never appropriate this Christian observance to their non-Christian purposes.

 

[RebeccaJ]

This is a quote I read that was attributed to Mormon writer Orson Scott Card:

I am grateful that Mormons do not celebrate Easter very well. Their lack of Holy Week services drives some of their members to attend the Holy Week services at Catholic churches. If Mormons actually paid attention to Holy Week as we do they would be satisfied to stay in their own congregations rather than seeing the beauty of the Catholic observances. I have known several ex-Mormon Catholics who say part of their journey included attending the Catholic services in connection with Easter. I hope Mormons never appropriate this Christian observance to their non-Christian purposes.

I agree. LDS do come looking for something more at Christmas and Easter.

 

[why_me]

I am grateful that Mormons do not celebrate Easter very well. Their lack of Holy Week services drives some of their members to attend the Holy Week services at Catholic churches. If Mormons actually paid attention to Holy Week as we do they would be satisfied to stay in their own congregations rather than seeing the beauty of the Catholic observances. I have known several ex-Mormon Catholics who say part of their journey included attending the Catholic services in connection with Easter. I hope Mormons never appropriate this Christian observance to their non-Christian purposes.

My daughter is serving a mormon mission in a catholic country. She attended the easter service at the main cathedral. She said that when she attended the Mass, she thought of me and grandma. However, she also said that she felt like a robot as people were saying set prayers and sentences. But she liked the experience.

Attending a Mass is not easy for most non-catholics. There are set prayers and a lot of standing, sitting and knelling. It can be overwhelming. But the symbolism of the saturday evening mass can be beautiful with the lighting of the candles.

Your last sentences in your post assumes that mormons are not christians. If you listen to the last mormon conference from salt lake that occured over easter weekend, you will see that mormons are very much christian. For the lds, their easter weekend was spent listening to speakers that gave very christian talks. True, there was no symbolism but the words of the speakers stressed the resurrection and the living of a christian life.

 

[dianaiad]

As a former LDS member, I am not surprised at the data.

That was one (of many) sticking points that distressed me as an LDS was the lack of attention paid to Easter. Sure, I got the pat answer of ‘we celebrate the resurrection everyday’ and in every testimony. LDS focus on the risen Christ as seen by the lack of even crosses ,much less cruxifixes in their chapels and gospel art.
I particularlly disliked it when, like this weekend, General Conference is held on Easter. The speakers may make a few references from the podium, a few lilies scattered about the Tabernacle, but for the most part - talk about the BoM and how great the Prophet is, pay your tithing, keep up food storage, yada yada yada.
This is THE holy day of the year and without it, Christianity would be in vain. Yet, the ‘true church’ of Christ can’t be bothered except for a casual family egg hunt and a new dress to wear to Sacrament meeting.
Christmas, heck even Halloween with Trunk or Treat gets more fanfare…

as an aside - I do recall lesson plans in the sunday school manuals for an Easter topic, something which study denies. My experience is only three years old so your mileage may vary.

I don’t know which Conference YOU watched, but it certainly wasn’t the one that was broadcast last weekend.

 

[why_me]

I don’t know which Conference YOU watched, but it certainly wasn’t the one that was broadcast last weekend.

I agree. The poster seems to be in a disconnect from the mormon experience. It is certainly interesting to read such posts. But then, I think that such posters need to post such thoughts as a way to rationalize their choices. But there does seem to be a disconnect from the real mormon experience at easter.

 

[why_me]

You are conspicuously absent from those calling their fellows on the jabs and belittling of non-LDS. Quite hypocritical of you considering how you crow about you’re (yet unseen) defense of Catholicism.

I am not spiderman able to leap from forum to forum challenging all posts that seem negative about the catholic church. I do have a life. However, I have never seen you take to task catholics on this forum who bash the mormons, But you do seem to be a cheerleader for such posts.

So, maybe its time that you take your fellow catholics who bash the lds church to task on this forum. For example, answersplease is one and atticus is another. Not to mention the flybys by some regulars who bash also.

 

[Catholic20064]

My daughter is serving a mormon mission in a catholic country. She attended the easter service at the main cathedral. She said that when she attended the Mass, she thought of me and grandma. However, she also said that she felt like a robot as people were saying set prayers and sentences. But she liked the experience.

Attending a Mass is not easy for most non-catholics. There are set prayers and a lot of standing, sitting and knelling. It can be overwhelming. But the symbolism of the saturday evening mass can be beautiful with the lighting of the candles.

Your last sentences in your post assumes that mormons are not christians. If you listen to the last mormon conference from salt lake that occured over easter weekend, you will see that mormons are very much christian. For the lds, their easter weekend was spent listening to speakers that gave very christian talks. True, there was no symbolism but the words of the speakers stressed the resurrection and the living of a christian life.

I think the important thing is that she liked the experience. The temple ceremony of the LDS is as set as any Catholic mass so I don’t know why any LDS would be averse to a Catholic mass. A very Christian talk would accept the divinity of Christ which LDS reject. In my experience of 30+ years in Mormonism the various ceremonies and meetings of the LDS are very businesslike, but are not a worship experience. That may be what your daughter liked about the mass.

Again I think it is good the LDS do not celebrate Easter in any consistent way. If they did so they would probably be able to steer their inactives and investigators to a passion of Christ which ultimately rejects His divinity. As it is when a person attends mass they are in the presence of the living Christ in the Eucharist. Couple that with a true presentation of the passion and suffering of God in Christ on the cross followed by His resurrection and it can be a life changing experience if one is open to it.

 

[zaffiroborant]

I am not spiderman able to leap from forum to forum challenging all posts that seem negative about the catholic church. I do have a life. However, I have never seen you take to task catholics on this forum who bash the mormons, But you do seem to be a cheerleader for such posts.

You had already been on that forum reading the comments when you brought them up here as being noteworthy. So you were on that forum reading those posts and didn’t say anything about the jabs taken at Catholics and Protestants. I’m just pointing out that although you claim to correct those who “bash” Catholics when it comes to actual “Catholic bashing” you are silent.

So, maybe its time that you take your fellow catholics who bash the lds church to task on this forum. For example, answersplease is one and atticus is another. Not to mention the flybys by some regulars who bash also.

There are moderators to take care of posters who are out of line. You do realize your posting privileges would be revoked for this kind of behavior over on the MADB, they hate board nannies.

 

[why_me]

I think the important thing is that she liked the experience. The temple ceremony of the LDS is as set as any Catholic mass so I don’t know why any LDS would be averse to a Catholic mass. A very Christian talk would accept the divinity of Christ which LDS reject. In my experience of 30+ years in Mormonism the various ceremonies and meetings of the LDS are very businesslike, but are not a worship experience. That may be what your daughter liked about the mass.

Again I think it is good the LDS do not celebrate Easter in any consistent way. If they did so they would probably be able to steer their inactives and investigators to a passion of Christ which ultimately rejects His divinity. As it is when a person attends mass they are in the presence of the living Christ in the Eucharist. Couple that with a true presentation of the passion and suffering of God in Christ on the cross followed by His resurrection and it can be a life changing experience if one is open to it.

The lds do celebrate easter. We need to remember that the lds church is not just a utah church. In some european countries, the lds celebrate easter as a family event. So, in europe the former catholic lds do celebrate easter. They may not go to Mass but they keep their easter traditions which is dictated by their culture. Actually, the only businesslike meeting in the beginning is priesthood meeting where the priesthood discuss activities, who needs help, etc. Then they have a lesson.

My daughter went to mass with my mom when she was young. She always liked the experience of being with grandma at church and still remembers it. And yes, the symbolism is beautiful but the routine can be daunting for any non-catholic who is not used to standing, sitting and kneeling throughout the mass. And the set prayers can seem unnecessary for many non-catholics. That was my point. But yes, for midnight mass at christmass or the saturday night service before easter sunday can be beautiful.

Do penecostals celebrate easter? They just have a service like the mormons with their pastor speaking on christ and the resurrection. The same for baptists and other protestants. There is no pomp and ceremony. It is not just a mormon thing. And so, protestant and mormons can attend a special mass during christmas or easter for the symbolism and beauty.

 

[why_me]

You had already been on that forum reading the comments when you brought them up here as being noteworthy. So you were on that forum reading those posts and didn’t say anything about the jabs taken at Catholics and Protestants. I’m just pointing out that although you claim to correct those who “bash” Catholics when it comes to actual “Catholic bashing” you are silent.

There are moderators to take care of posters who are out of line. You do realize your posting privileges would be revoked for this kind of behavior over on the MADB, they hate board nannies.

I was there once when it was mentioned here on this forum. I haven’t been there since. When you take the catholics to task here, and I will promise to take the mormons to task here who bash the lds church, we will be moving forward.

But you will remain silent to mormon bashing as you have done for years now by the catholics here.

I have put my spiderman suit away for lack of time.