Comments on: Iowa, Beck, Palin, Pawlenty – And The Courts! http://www.article6blog.com/2009/10/13/iowa-beck-palin-pawlenty-and-the-courts/ "Religion, Politics, the Presidency: Commentary by an Evangelical Christian and A Mormon" Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:05:06 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: coltakashi http://www.article6blog.com/2009/10/13/iowa-beck-palin-pawlenty-and-the-courts/comment-page-1/#comment-13342 coltakashi Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:43:32 +0000 http://www.article6blog.com/?p=1410#comment-13342 The comment about habituating Mormon males to avoid "demonstrative excesses" is pretty strange. I can't think of anything in the lessons I was taught or have taught others that was aimed at admonishing people about "demonstrative excesses". In fact, you could argue that the Church's training program for men encourages them to be more expressive of their feelings. Parallel to the religious training on Sundays for young men in the 12-13, 14-15, and 16-18 age brackets, they are encouraged to participate in the Boy Scouts programs for those age groups. Anyone who has been to Scout meetings knows they often involve loud songs, cheers and skits. At my church meeting last Sunday, a couple of young men were asked to report on their overnight camp that week, and their descriptions focused on the discovery of various dead animals of various degrees of "grossness". During missionary service (usually ages 19-21), young men are encouraged to be much more open and expressive in their speech and actions than their peers tend to be, so they can contact as many people as possible with their message. They are taught that the most effective method of teaching a sincere inquirer is to bear testimony, from their hearts, of their own faith in and love for Christ. They are taught to cultivate selfless love for the people they live among and teach, and engage in service, such as aiding the sick or persons harmed by natural disasters. In their lives as adult members of the "elders" and the older "high priests" quorums, hierarchy hardly enters into what they do each Sunday. Instead, volunteers are organized to perform service for individuals and families, such as helping people move into or out of homes within the congregation's geographic boundaries, or working on a church-sponsored farm that produces food for the poor. Assignments as leaders and teachers of these groups are usually rotated every couple of years, so many members of the group have opportunities for leadership roles. In the lessons they teach each other and discuss each Sunday, they are taught to express their love for their wives and children, and for their neighbors, both in and outside the LDS Church. Some of them will be called to teach children and teenagers. The result is that Mormon men do not become "regimented" but rather develop the capacity to be leaders and teachers among their peers. As Mormon congregations grow, they reach the point where they will be split in two, and from among all the members of the two congregations, all of the positions for leaders and teachers, including the new bishops of the two wards, will be filled by unpaid members accepting callings they did not seek but will generally accept. While the larger ecclesiastical structure is hierarchical, the people who fill the positions of leadership are, to a great extent, interchangeable with other members of their congregation and region. You can go from being a bishop one week to teaching 4-year-olds in Primary the next, and vice versa. All of that on-the-job training and experience encourages Mormon men to be more "demonstrative" than the average male in communicating their love and concern to others. Indeed, accoring to Glenn Beck, he found the expressions of love and caring unusual and suspect because he was not used to men saying such things and meaning them. It was only when he realized they were sincere that he let down his barriers and began to seriously consider joining them. When Beck lets a tear roll down his cheek as he is overcome by feelings of gratitude to God, he is doing what his fellow Mormon men do when they speak in Church about their love for their families and for God. Is such "demonstration" of emotions "excessive"? Not among the Mormons. The comment about habituating Mormon males to avoid “demonstrative excesses” is pretty strange. I can’t think of anything in the lessons I was taught or have taught others that was aimed at admonishing people about “demonstrative excesses”. In fact, you could argue that the Church’s training program for men encourages them to be more expressive of their feelings.

Parallel to the religious training on Sundays for young men in the 12-13, 14-15, and 16-18 age brackets, they are encouraged to participate in the Boy Scouts programs for those age groups. Anyone who has been to Scout meetings knows they often involve loud songs, cheers and skits. At my church meeting last Sunday, a couple of young men were asked to report on their overnight camp that week, and their descriptions focused on the discovery of various dead animals of various degrees of “grossness”.

During missionary service (usually ages 19-21), young men are encouraged to be much more open and expressive in their speech and actions than their peers tend to be, so they can contact as many people as possible with their message. They are taught that the most effective method of teaching a sincere inquirer is to bear testimony, from their hearts, of their own faith in and love for Christ. They are taught to cultivate selfless love for the people they live among and teach, and engage in service, such as aiding the sick or persons harmed by natural disasters.

In their lives as adult members of the “elders” and the older “high priests” quorums, hierarchy hardly enters into what they do each Sunday. Instead, volunteers are organized to perform service for individuals and families, such as helping people move into or out of homes within the congregation’s geographic boundaries, or working on a church-sponsored farm that produces food for the poor. Assignments as leaders and teachers of these groups are usually rotated every couple of years, so many members of the group have opportunities for leadership roles. In the lessons they teach each other and discuss each Sunday, they are taught to express their love for their wives and children, and for their neighbors, both in and outside the LDS Church. Some of them will be called to teach children and teenagers.

The result is that Mormon men do not become “regimented” but rather develop the capacity to be leaders and teachers among their peers. As Mormon congregations grow, they reach the point where they will be split in two, and from among all the members of the two congregations, all of the positions for leaders and teachers, including the new bishops of the two wards, will be filled by unpaid members accepting callings they did not seek but will generally accept. While the larger ecclesiastical structure is hierarchical, the people who fill the positions of leadership are, to a great extent, interchangeable with other members of their congregation and region. You can go from being a bishop one week to teaching 4-year-olds in Primary the next, and vice versa.

All of that on-the-job training and experience encourages Mormon men to be more “demonstrative” than the average male in communicating their love and concern to others. Indeed, accoring to Glenn Beck, he found the expressions of love and caring unusual and suspect because he was not used to men saying such things and meaning them. It was only when he realized they were sincere that he let down his barriers and began to seriously consider joining them.

When Beck lets a tear roll down his cheek as he is overcome by feelings of gratitude to God, he is doing what his fellow Mormon men do when they speak in Church about their love for their families and for God. Is such “demonstration” of emotions “excessive”? Not among the Mormons.

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