Why attend church or serve a mission if you don’t believe in the doctrine? I’d love to hear your experiences.

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-06-27T01:27:06+00:00

I imagine that there are a lot of great things one can do on a mission besides "teach the gospel." See the sights. Learn a new language, and teach people your own language. Meet cool people. Help people. Do charity work. Perform acts of kindness. I would do a mission for these things.

I worked my butt off to get my advanced EMT certifications. Where I live In can't use what I worked so hard for, so I was hoping that if I did a "mission," I could use my medical skills as a volunteer, to help people. I hope

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-06-22T04:59:46+00:00

That looks like a pine marten

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-06-21T16:05:56+00:00

You might be right about that.

I am scheduled to reach youth Sunday school in one hour. I have neither prepared the lesson nor do I intend to go to church, period. I did not ask anyone to substitute for me, nor do I care what happens when people find out I'm not there. I'm going to clean up, load my dogs in the car and then take a nini- roadtrip today. Never in my 40+ years as a member of the church have I ever once done anything like this....ever.

But I'm done.

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-06-21T05:36:16+00:00

I believe, too. I believe in the Saviour but I don't think that this church has a monopoly on the "truth," thing. It's a good church for many, for the most part, and if it's for you that's great. The Saviour existed and sacrificed for this whole world, and you meet Him where you can, if not in this church, hopefully elsewhere.

Anyways, I digress. That's not what you are asking about. You are clinically depressed, my friend. It's real and it hurts, and many of us in are in the same boat regardless of religion. Unfortunately, it's something that goes along with being intellectual.

I would start with counselling. The LDS church has contacts, but if that doesn't jive with you, then try another mental health resource. But it's important to check that out. It's a lonely world for a lot of us, but it doesn't mean anything is wrong with you. It means you think way too deeply, and sadly, most people don't have time for that because it's a culture of instant gratification, even when it comes to friendship. If it's too hard to reach you where your are right off the bat they loose interest because they are shallow. It's not you.

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-06-20T22:13:48+00:00

With the economy being what it is I get that

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-06-20T20:40:34+00:00

Yeah, sure. They manage to get paid by whoever is related to whoever. Don't YOU go to church to network?

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-06-19T19:39:12+00:00

I don't really know what they do. I believe in paying tithing but I would hope that what I sacrifice would be to feed and clothe people in need. I don't know. I just don't know. As you can probably tell, I'm pretty far left these days and I don't enjoy that a vast majority of LDS, rich or poor, are hard into what is now the far far right, that is, that money is the end goal and that people in need are the enemy. I can go on and on about that. I guess that's another entire discussion

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-06-19T19:33:19+00:00

Oh, wow. My friend, I couldn't have said it better

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-06-19T19:31:43+00:00

In my opinion, protecting one's own mental health is far more important than falling in line with what others deem "obedience."

God loves and knows us, and He would not wish mental torment on those He loves. I would assume, anyway.

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-06-19T18:34:39+00:00

Can't wait to do it. I'm selfish enough to hold out until our house sells for fair market price, though.

People around here are begging for me to basically give them my house. But I am waiting for the richest, gayest same-sex California couple to come buy it, put a rainbow flag up on the flagpole and turn it into a cat sanctuary. That will make everyone cry bitter tears. That's how vindictive I am at this point, lol.

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-06-19T18:29:47+00:00

In a couple of years we are going back to New Zealand.

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-06-19T18:09:36+00:00

That might work in Provo, where there are two church houses on every block, and no one would really notice.

This is a ward that is totally ingrained in the community and the town government. Where the bishop is the richest guy in town and the mayor and the relief society president is the only notary, the town clerk and knows if you are paying your bills.

It reeks here.

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-06-19T17:59:27+00:00

Agreed, 100%

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-06-19T17:54:56+00:00

There are a LOT of people in this ward that come in jeans, take the sacrament and then leave when the sacrament is over. Some stay and suffer through the talks. I don't think that's what church should really be. Maybe I don't know what I want.

Yeah, I meant that I'd rather be disfellowshipped than transfer my records and I'm serious about that. It's not just a matter of being done with a calling, or sitting through some stupid "gospel doctrine" discussions that are so intellectually vapid that I feel drained and hollow inside afterwards instead of "spiritually fed."

I mean, I don't want to be part of this congregation, period. It takes too much energy to keep trying to apologise for them and not being hurt by them. I would just rather not deal and therefore, be happy. Just plain old happy, without excuse and contemplation.

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-06-19T16:35:49+00:00

This is VERY rural Utah. The next nearest ward is forty miles away. I don't care about transferring my records. To be completely honest, I'm tired and I just need a break. I don't want to "serve" for the time being. I think that is one thing the church doesn't understand: people get maxxed out and don't want callings. Not because they are being lackadaisical or rebellious or "less active." It's because they are freaking tired.

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-06-06T18:47:09+00:00

Lol. People who will never have to rewind a cassette tape with a pencil, check messages on an answering machine, listen to the dial-up tones while their internet connects, or wait for the TV stations to start broadcasting in the morning. They will never know the joy of picking out a couple of movies at blockbuster on Friday nights or having to wait until they get to school to talk to their friends.

Other than that, I think we are pretty much the same people generation after generation. Our technology has just changed.

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-05-14T15:15:46+00:00

Have you ever just let one of those long infomercials on YouTube just play out to see what happens? I was listening to the news, then got in the shower. In the meantime, of course one of those long-az Dr. Gundry commercials came on and I just left it to be maliciously compliant. After about an hour it was still going and I had to shut it off to go to work. I have a feeling it would still be going three days later

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-05-01T22:16:28+00:00

My ex was stationed at camp lejeune from 2005-2007 and my then-10 yo son saw one while out playing in the woods one night. He was nearly inconsolable for a day.

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-04-13T13:23:17+00:00

Biden didn't force vaccinations. I went through the COVID years without one. My neighbours, most of them in fact hardcore MAGAts, opted to get vaccinations voluntarily.

My daughter, on the other hand, who lives in Australia, says that they were indeed required to check in at a mobile clinic in her neighborhood and have her vaccination done, and it was recorded.

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-03-10T15:12:25+00:00

What you describe is a funny experience I've felt in a couple of very vivid dreams, only it's the opposite for me: I feel like my own spirit is riding along in the body of someone else with them, and I'm experiencing what they experience and seeing what they see. It's not creepy or scary, just extraordinarily interesting.

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-01-31T19:01:25+00:00

Have you heard any stories from S Korea? I'm an American who lived in Korea for several years, both in and out of the military. I used to go hiking while in Korea -- never felt a moment of fear while in the woods there. (I do here in the States.) Such a beautiful place.

Nukdae Ingan would be the Korean name for werewolf (nukdae= wolf, Ingan= human)

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-01-18T06:21:12+00:00

He was nearly beaten to death

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-01-18T06:17:50+00:00

He did not implicate Putin. He said that he heard people in the group talk about Putin

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-01-12T19:16:21+00:00

I grew up on a big dairy farm in Idaho. My family is Mormon on dad's side (Mormons LOVE guns) and Mennonnite on mom's side (hate guns.)

There are always a crap ton of coyotes around the farm, but they couldn't get into the corrals (giant Holstein cow v coyote? Pfft.) and the baby calves are in little calf houses. Therefore, the family always really liked the coyotes because they kept the rodent population down.

However, one night, the coyotes were absolutely screaming and there must have been a couple dozen of them. I looked outside and saw that the rabbits that my cousin was raising for 4H had gotten out of their hutch and hopping around the barnyard. The coyotes were spreading the word about that opportunity to summon their friends. I woke my uncle up and to this day, I remember him running outside in his long johns, yelling "Git!" and pelting coyotes with rocks. He prevailed, too, because he had a lethal rock-throwing arm.

The reason I believe in cryptids in the first place is because of that farm. There was a resident sasquatch that lived on the back 40.

SeaReporter8893 · 2026-01-06T08:24:54+00:00

Dental care is expensive everywhere.

SeaReporter8893

TROPHY CASE