Why are Mormons so happy?

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Lemuel said:
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TOmNossor:
First, all LDS are not happy and LDS do have problems. To suggest otherwise would be dishonest.
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All LDS are not happy? Really? All of them? Every single one? You can’t find one LDS person who is happy.

I think you are the one being dishonest.
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Oh my!
Someone said “All Catholics” they know were happy.
I was saying that “All LDS” are not happy. I meant that some LDS are happy and some LDS are not happy thus ALL LDS are not happy.
I submit your statement that I am being dishonest is inappropriate and had you read what I wrote in its entirety you would know this.

Because I am feeling ornery (after being accused of being dishonest by you), why don’t I point out something that I believe to be true.
The way you read that first statement and then choose to call me dishonest is evidence of two things. First your willingness to ascribe to me negative things with the slightest reason.
Second, your unwillingness to read an entire post and/or try to synthesize what it means.

Further, let me suggest that your anti-Mormonism is a product of EXACTLY these two characteristics.

Now, I suspect you are not universally uncharitable when you read things from religions you reject or desire to reject AND I suspect you have even done more than cursory reading in some cases.

That being said, I TRULY believe one of the reasons folks leave the CoJCoLDS is that they find easy answers (simple not taking into context the entire issue) and they assign to historical individuals entirely one-sided characters. I suppose the CoJCoLDS is somewhat to blame here because when I try to teach morals to my Sunday School class I use historical and scriptural examples that produce “easy answers” and are largely “one-sided.” I however regularly remind my Sunday School class that I am teaching scriptures and history for the purpose of teaching LDS how to live moral lives, not to produce scholars or historians (I also almost get giddy when folks ask tough questions so such is encouraged).

Anyway, I was not being dishonest and I was quite taken aback that you would suggest this. As I have re-read this with an attempt to be charitable, I think perhaps you were joking. If so, then I TRULY believe that the general trends concerning critics of my church are true in many cases, but if you were merely joking then it was not you specifically calling me dishonest (which happens here too often) for no good reason and I hope to not offend you. (Actually, I have no desire to offend you even if you call me dishonest, I just want to make the point I made and say I was not being dishonest).

Charity, TOm
 
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Happy isn’t the same thing as being joyful… Are they happy or joyful? You can say are Catholics happy or joyful. One can experience great hardship in their lives but still have joy In the Lord which helps us through our hardships. I knew a Mormon family and one Mormon in particular who relied on my Catholic daughter to find his joy and sadly he often disrespected her and she let him go… I think there is a good facade going on there in my opinion… We ALL are a work in progress that’s why we need God in the first place…God doesn’t expect perfection out of us. He knows we can’t do it on our own that’s what mercy is about. We are not gods we have God. Seek humility.
 
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Well then what you said and what you meant were two entirely different things.
 
gazelam said:
This post ignores some key LDS beliefs regarding grace. For one, keeping the commandments continually includes the commandment to repent. And also, God specifically grants to man time to repent.
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I don’t think LDS talk about the concept of grace very much either in their doctrine or in church talks or by the leadership. It’s more about obedience to the precepts of the church than anything else (tithing, church callings, sustaining the prophet, sexual morality etc.). Grace is not big in Mormonism. If you could put those two concepts on a scale in Mormonism grace would rate about a 2 and obedience would rate a strong 10.
 
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Why are Mormons so happy? They aren’t, at least no more than anybody else. Mormons are part of very tight communities. They are assigned to specific wards so they always attend church with the same small group of people and those communities are thus quite close. On the plus side this gives them a “ward family” for support. On the negative, this can also be a case of “forced friendships” wherein you are kind of forced into being around a small group of people all the time whether you like them or not. Also because everybody knows everybody and LDS are so big on the obedience to the church thing there is a tremendous amount of unspoken pressure to appear as if everything is great in your family. I see this all the time from my LDS relatives who are constantly posting on Facebook about how great they are at being Mormons. It’s like they are always trying to prove themselves to other Mormons. Often, though, LDS are hiding problems going on behind the scenes. Ask any LDS bishop and he will tell you they have all the same problems everybody else does. The appearance of overt happiness is often a front to make everyone around them in their wards think things are just fine.
 
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Because Mormons have tight-knit communities and families. Essentially, they’ve made themselves less affected by secular trends. They know the world’s ways are fleeting and can be demonic.
Same with Muslims. Today’s secular age can keep telling us radical individualism is all that matters but the fact is humans are social creatures and community does matter.
 
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Another thing I would say about Mormons appearing so happy is this…this appearance is often only as long as everything in their lives is going according to the Mormon plan. You will find very unhappy Mormons when, for example, one of their kids decides to leave the church. In general when this happens to Catholic families they are not happy about it, but most understand that each individual needs to make their own choices and they still maintain good relationships with the person in the family who left. There are of course exceptions to this but by and large this is the case.

In the LDS world, however, when a member leaves the church it is absolutely devastating to the rest of the family because they literally believe that person will no longer be with them in heaven in the celestial kingdom. The member who leaves will be labeled an apostate and will be separated from their family in the hereafter for all eternity. This belief is of course false because there is no such thing as eternal families in the Mormon sense (LDS temple sealing is made-up false doctrine), so it’s sad that many LDS families suffer such tremendous agony over something that isn’t even true.
 
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I can speak as a former ‘happy’ Protestant.

Sometimes people seem happy when they’re not. Sometimes they put on a happy face because it’s what is expected of them.

Don’t presume someone is happy because they smile.

I know I seemed like such a bubbly, cheerful, happy Christian while inside I was harboring a lot of confusion, hurt, pain and doubt.

That said, I’m sure many Mormons ARE happy. They, after all, love Christ too. And it is in seeking God with all our hearts that we find happiness.
 
It is never a good thing to play the comparison game. I believe what we should be focusing on is whether we are happy ourselves.
 
My family is virtually 100% LDS, me being the only one I can think of who has gone astray. In general, they treat me fine. But I know they hold out a lot of hope that I will one day return to the truth. They put my name on the temple roles. They fast and pray for me. They send me literature. They bear their testimonies to me. I know they mean well. The funny thing is that I do basically the same thing for them. I want them to find the truth, as I have done. I want them to find real joy, as I have. The one thing that I dislike is that they consider our family as incomplete, or as “fractured” because I am the empty chair. They always talk about having no “empty chairs”.

The one thing I’ve noticed that frustrates a lot of Mormons is that when someone leaves the CofJSofLDS, they expect that that person’s life is going to fall apart and everything is going to hell in a hand basket. When they see just the opposite happen, they seem surprised and even disappointed.

I think a lot of Mormons are happy, and I say, good for them. I think a lot of Catholics are happy and I say the same. We are all just people trying to do our best and hopefully, find joy along the way to eternity.
 
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Yes most LDS simply cannot fathom that people can find happiness outside of Mormonism. The religion is so all-encompassing in every aspect of their lives that they simply cannot comprehend that there is any other way. They are also taught that people who leave the church have something wrong with THEM, as there cannot possibly be anything that wrong with the church.
 
I know plenty of happy Muslims, Jews, atheists and agnostics. Mormons are probably happy for a lot of the same reasons they are…I know this is an ambiguous answer but that’s because “happiness” is an ambiguous description of one’s state of being…
 
LDS are trying to expand to membership to more than 1% of the population. So there is an effort to appear to nonmembers professional and blessed and happy.

I don’t think they are any happier than Catholics. Probably more sad actually cause they don’t have the catholic acceptance of suffering. God will reward you on earth is their understanding.

Being in the most perfect of all the denominations does not mean you will be happier.
 
I suppose this is for another thread, but I’ve always been curious what would attract an intelligent, thoughtful, discerning person to Mormonism? From my vantage point and based on some of the things you’ve said it seems the teachings are, to be honest, not rational and even preposterous, and the spirituality unattainable. I knew a very lovely and intelligent man who became a Mormon. I don’t know what happened to him, but I’ve always wondered.
 
redbetta said:
if you’re not smiling every hour of every day, there must be something wrong with you.
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I’m wondering where you are because I feel like I have to smile to try to get the serious/ sour expressions off of people’s faces anymore…And my family always told me I was the serious one…
 
I think it’s an acronym for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Oh…Maybe a typo…?
 
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They don’t read the paper or watch the news or surf the net ? That’s bound to make you miserable.
 
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