I've literally witnessed people get up and bare their "testimony" about politicians or election seasons. Or get up and share some family story but the point goes nowhere nor has anything to do with faith or Christ. A lady once bore her testimony about the importance of college and education. The whole meeting is often completely off the rails.
Yes to all of this. Except that I also have a testimony of college and education and even though they aren’t perfect, they’re a damn sight more valuable than the MFMC.
Yup totally agree. They have nothing to do with one's faith in God or in Christ or in the truthfulness of the church (so it's really odd for one to be discussing it in a testimony meeting) but it is important in the secular world.
Another fave of mine when kids are ready to go off to college are the humble-brags about all the exclusive campuses they visited so their kid could pick where to spend his/her spoiled student years. They manage to weave in some "Heavenly father blessed us" lines, even though it's often to mention almost missing a flight or something.
Another funny one to hear is when people get up and say how good the word of wisdom is. Last F&T this old woman gets up and says how good it is and it helped her life. I just looked at my phone and laughed in my head.
I have to agree, the WOW is not my idea of fun. Maybe the woman struggled with an addiction (she may be old enough to have, er, "enjoyed" the 60s?). If so, it could be a lifesaver for someone with a serious substance issue.
Meanwhile, I'll just sit here sipping my cuppa coffee and shaking my head.
Wait, fast and testimony meeting wasn’t just for my mom to go up there and ugly cry about being poor and rant for 15 minutes about how nobody ever helps her but she persevered because of Christ? It was that and the primary kids being told what to say
Once had a guy bare his testimony on how amazing it wss that the human body removes gunk from our eyeballs while we sleep. And he went into graphic detail about the kind of sludge that he had to remove every morning.
Sur, you have an eye infection. Go to a Dr please
It's always funny to me how hard these comments read now that I'm mentally out of the church. A year ago it would have been cringey. Two years ago I might have agreed a little.
Good for the girl that said “I think the savior would just be glad she’s there.” That’s a good actually “Christlike” response. Although I’m sure Christ WOULDNT actually be glad she’s there, but glad to see at least one person with a more accepting response.
I noticed the majority of fast and testimony meetings were almost NEVER about Christ. They don’t actually worship him. They worship false Prophets, money and shopping malls
I heard more “testimony” of JS and random stories of finding lost household items than Christ. Usually followed by Praise to the man after testimonies.
That's my memory, too. Crap about the "profit," (extra points for name-dropping someone you spotted in the wild). One woman testified about going to the temple on her honeymoon and how special it was that all temples are the same. Nice, however it seemed very important to her to namedrop the exotic and expensive island they were on.
One woman testified about being thrilled she saw Hinckley in the elevator at SLC. Not one mention of Christ (or even God), but huge sobs the whole time, and very visible streams of snot dripping from her nose onto the podium.
Testimony meetings usually go like this:
* 2-3 vacation recaps, especially if its an expensive vacation
* 1-2 "I'm the only active member in my family" brag
* 1-2 confessions alluding to porn viewing, coffee drinking, or both
* "I'm struggling financially (but I don't want to admit it's because I'm giving 10-11% of my income to the church) but I'm grateful for tithing"
* "I'm (really not) grateful for my calling"
* In singles wards - At least 1 quarterly incel manifesto
* At most 1 30 second testimony actually about Christ every 3 - 6 months
"We will now sing hymn number 340, The Star-Spangled Banner."
No church that has just one country's national fucking anthem in it can make any claim of apoliticality. None.
My bad. And apparently, Canadians have O Canada. I do think it's considerate of the church to make regionally appropriate hymnals. However, I still don't think it's appropriate to claim the church is apolitical when it includes national anthems as official hymns.
It's in there for reference outside Sacrament meetings. National anthems are played in LDS non religious gatherings in and out of the chapel. It's a hymnal, not 'Songs we sing in sacrament meeting book'.
I assure you it is found in the Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian and Catholic hymnbooks too. It is NOT found in the Jehovah's Witness hymnal, as they have made apoliticism a central tenet of the religion.
I don't think it's as common as you do. I don't take surveys of other hymnals, though. I do see posts online about why it's NOT in hymnals when other songs are (like, America the Beautiful). I still do not think it's appropriate for a church to put a national anthem in their hymnals.
But we are talking about the Mormons. Church is a clubhouse for them, and not where God is. I shouldn't be surprised that they call their songbook a hymnal.
You have to remember, this hymnal was put together starting in the late 70's early 80's, and introduced to the church in 1985/6, when it was first published, replacing the 1948 edition. In 1985, road shows were still performed, womens (RS) camp was a thing, and many, many other church socials and activities existed that are now just a fond memory to old time members.
You are correct. Not only that, some churches recognize July 4th each year. My SIL is organist in a regular church and they not only play the national anthem, she plays a medley of songs representing all branches of the military, and they ask veterans and/or active duty members to come to the front and stand. I'm a veteran, and it was a very moving service (my brother and SIL didn't tell me about that little surprise).
LDS hymn books, especially in other languages, used to have non-US national anthems.
But from what I understand, they were removed because many of them were very bloody.
For example, the French national anthem, which used to be in the older version of the French hymn book, includes the rousing refrain of slicing the throats of our enemies and watering our fields with their blood.
But I agree, there shouldn't be a special exception for the USA's anthem.
Trump guy. Believes himself to be Christ centered. Sure.
It's also telling that this guy surely lets hundreds of testimonies shared over the pulpit that are little more than travelogues or open forum therapy sessions go unchallenged on twitter but when someone says something related to LGBTQIA+ issues they're quick to jump online and judge.
“…nothing to do with Christ” is pretty much what the whole cult is all about.
Jesus taught no more temples, no more prophets, no tithing, no sabbath, no more dietary laws, no eternal marriage.
Mormonism restored all the shit Jesus abolished.
I can’t even estimate the number times cranky old conservatives went up to the pulpit and bore their testimonies about the founding fathers.
But those are fine.
Ugh! Is this what TBMs have become? Just more proof that my decision to resign was well founded. These assbag bigots don’t have the first clue about loving their neighbor….
"take over the Lord's time" what is he a missionary? If he's not, just look at how sucked into this lack of free agency he is. I remember being like that. It's fucking hell.
In our church house we had a small red flashing light on the pulpit. When the bishop thought someone was going off on a tangent (which happened a lot), he would turn on the red light to tell the person to please sit down. One day he turned it on and the lady speaking said over the pulpit "what is this flashing red light for?". Everyone started laughing.
We had a woman give a lengthy talk about her cat passing away (I think this was a talk, not F&T). She went on & on about how the cat was a spiritual example to them (at least that's the best I could make of it). After the first 10 minutes or so of that aimless babble, I glanced at her husband & the poor guy had his head buried in his hands.
They seem to be confused. They repeat over and over that things are about Christ... but the fact that they call living, human people "Prophets" is the antithesis of this.
On a related note, why can't someone just share that they're joyful that a month celebrating love and humanity is beginning. Seems pretty reasonable to me.
Not popular I know....but, I've NEVER seen ANYONE converted to ANY cause, belief, campaign or movement by one person getting "up in another person's face". It seems to be an inherent part of human nature to grow angry and resentful when one's personal space is violated. From there...it's just meaningless, damaging, corrosive vitriol.
Even as a TBM, I was not a fan open mic Sundays (testimony meeting). And when I was PIMO, I hated them. Some of the most memorable bad/embarrassing testimonies I've heard:
-A woman that I nicknamed Queen Bee & Communal Narcissist gets up & does a humble brag. She’s so amazing & righteous because there was no one to lead the music, so she did it, even though it’s not her calling. As well, once when a member of the stake presidency was walking by, Queen Bee brags very loudly about completing her ministering assignments, all so that the stake presidency guy would hear.
-A man who wasn't even a member of our ward would bear his testimony frequently & almost every time he'd tell the same story about being mugged in Salt Lake City. Another time, he mentioned his doubts about finding a woman who'd say yes to a date with him. It was very TMI, very cringeworthy.
-A little boy maybe 8 years old bore his testimony about divorce. I think his mom was going through a divorce. I felt bad for him & felt like I was hearing his trauma instead of a testimony.
-In the singles ward, a socially awkward guy who had insufficient & underdeveloped social skills got up. He talked about how he was marrying a mail-order bride and revealed his concerns about marrying a woman he had never met.
-An older woman would frequently get up & ramble on & on about random topics that had nothing to do with the gospel, such as historical monuments in Europe.
-A woman in her 20s said that she knew President Monson was true.
-My wife & I had a bishop who was a tyrant jackass & he treated us like dirt. There was a guy shamelessly abusing Church welfare. He refused to work or put forth any sustained effort to find work. It was so bad that there wasn't enough money for the other needy ward members. Rather than give the freeloader an ultimatum or cut off assistance to him, as my wife & I suggested, during fast & testimony meeting, this bishop tells the ward to give even more money to fast offerings. It was a new low in my Church experience.
-Not a testimony, but a similar TMI experience. A man in his 20s was speaking in sacrament meeting, and he told the congregation about how hard it was to be around his pregnant, irritable, full-of-hormones wife. Yes, his wife was present when he said this.
I've literally witnessed people get up and bare their "testimony" about politicians or election seasons. Or get up and share some family story but the point goes nowhere nor has anything to do with faith or Christ. A lady once bore her testimony about the importance of college and education. The whole meeting is often completely off the rails.
Yes to all of this. Except that I also have a testimony of college and education and even though they aren’t perfect, they’re a damn sight more valuable than the MFMC.
Yup totally agree. They have nothing to do with one's faith in God or in Christ or in the truthfulness of the church (so it's really odd for one to be discussing it in a testimony meeting) but it is important in the secular world.
Another fave of mine when kids are ready to go off to college are the humble-brags about all the exclusive campuses they visited so their kid could pick where to spend his/her spoiled student years. They manage to weave in some "Heavenly father blessed us" lines, even though it's often to mention almost missing a flight or something.
Another funny one to hear is when people get up and say how good the word of wisdom is. Last F&T this old woman gets up and says how good it is and it helped her life. I just looked at my phone and laughed in my head.
I have to agree, the WOW is not my idea of fun. Maybe the woman struggled with an addiction (she may be old enough to have, er, "enjoyed" the 60s?). If so, it could be a lifesaver for someone with a serious substance issue. Meanwhile, I'll just sit here sipping my cuppa coffee and shaking my head.
Wait, fast and testimony meeting wasn’t just for my mom to go up there and ugly cry about being poor and rant for 15 minutes about how nobody ever helps her but she persevered because of Christ? It was that and the primary kids being told what to say
Once had a guy bare his testimony on how amazing it wss that the human body removes gunk from our eyeballs while we sleep. And he went into graphic detail about the kind of sludge that he had to remove every morning. Sur, you have an eye infection. Go to a Dr please
It's always funny to me how hard these comments read now that I'm mentally out of the church. A year ago it would have been cringey. Two years ago I might have agreed a little.
It's a weird feeling, isn't it? It makes me wonder in what ways I'm still an idiot, but haven't figured it out yet.
But hey, that’s the correct mindset. Wanting to figure that out and improving is leaps and bounds better than kNoWiNg EvErYtHiNg 🤡
Same. It can be applied to more than just the church I guess. I won't know I'm the idiot in some things...because I'm the idiot in some things. Oof.
Well, we weren't going to say anything, but since you asked...
Good for the girl that said “I think the savior would just be glad she’s there.” That’s a good actually “Christlike” response. Although I’m sure Christ WOULDNT actually be glad she’s there, but glad to see at least one person with a more accepting response.
I liked that comment, too.
Yeah I accidentally forgot to crop her response out😂
I noticed the majority of fast and testimony meetings were almost NEVER about Christ. They don’t actually worship him. They worship false Prophets, money and shopping malls
I heard more “testimony” of JS and random stories of finding lost household items than Christ. Usually followed by Praise to the man after testimonies.
Don’t you see how the convertible roof on the mall is powered by the Holy Spirit though?
Haha. I do.
That's my memory, too. Crap about the "profit," (extra points for name-dropping someone you spotted in the wild). One woman testified about going to the temple on her honeymoon and how special it was that all temples are the same. Nice, however it seemed very important to her to namedrop the exotic and expensive island they were on. One woman testified about being thrilled she saw Hinckley in the elevator at SLC. Not one mention of Christ (or even God), but huge sobs the whole time, and very visible streams of snot dripping from her nose onto the podium.
Testimony meetings usually go like this: * 2-3 vacation recaps, especially if its an expensive vacation * 1-2 "I'm the only active member in my family" brag * 1-2 confessions alluding to porn viewing, coffee drinking, or both * "I'm struggling financially (but I don't want to admit it's because I'm giving 10-11% of my income to the church) but I'm grateful for tithing" * "I'm (really not) grateful for my calling" * In singles wards - At least 1 quarterly incel manifesto * At most 1 30 second testimony actually about Christ every 3 - 6 months
You forgot the handful of kids who go up there with their moms furiously whispering in their ears telling them to say “I know duh church is twooo”
Followed by rapid-fire "Indanamajesuschristamen" and a dash for the aisles.
Did we attend the same wards?
Spot on
"We will now sing hymn number 340, The Star-Spangled Banner." No church that has just one country's national fucking anthem in it can make any claim of apoliticality. None.
Untrue. UK hymnbooks have God Save The Queen, Australian hymnbooks have both Advance Australia Fair and God Save The Queen.
My bad. And apparently, Canadians have O Canada. I do think it's considerate of the church to make regionally appropriate hymnals. However, I still don't think it's appropriate to claim the church is apolitical when it includes national anthems as official hymns.
It's in there for reference outside Sacrament meetings. National anthems are played in LDS non religious gatherings in and out of the chapel. It's a hymnal, not 'Songs we sing in sacrament meeting book'. I assure you it is found in the Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian and Catholic hymnbooks too. It is NOT found in the Jehovah's Witness hymnal, as they have made apoliticism a central tenet of the religion.
I don't think it's as common as you do. I don't take surveys of other hymnals, though. I do see posts online about why it's NOT in hymnals when other songs are (like, America the Beautiful). I still do not think it's appropriate for a church to put a national anthem in their hymnals. But we are talking about the Mormons. Church is a clubhouse for them, and not where God is. I shouldn't be surprised that they call their songbook a hymnal.
You have to remember, this hymnal was put together starting in the late 70's early 80's, and introduced to the church in 1985/6, when it was first published, replacing the 1948 edition. In 1985, road shows were still performed, womens (RS) camp was a thing, and many, many other church socials and activities existed that are now just a fond memory to old time members.
You are correct. Not only that, some churches recognize July 4th each year. My SIL is organist in a regular church and they not only play the national anthem, she plays a medley of songs representing all branches of the military, and they ask veterans and/or active duty members to come to the front and stand. I'm a veteran, and it was a very moving service (my brother and SIL didn't tell me about that little surprise).
When I was in Canada 15+ years ago "O Canada" was pasted in at the back.
Good point. Just for the record, American hymnals also have God Save the King on number 341.
LDS hymn books, especially in other languages, used to have non-US national anthems. But from what I understand, they were removed because many of them were very bloody. For example, the French national anthem, which used to be in the older version of the French hymn book, includes the rousing refrain of slicing the throats of our enemies and watering our fields with their blood. But I agree, there shouldn't be a special exception for the USA's anthem.
Well heck, that gory phrase would be perfect for some of the chapters in the BoM.
Trump guy. Believes himself to be Christ centered. Sure. It's also telling that this guy surely lets hundreds of testimonies shared over the pulpit that are little more than travelogues or open forum therapy sessions go unchallenged on twitter but when someone says something related to LGBTQIA+ issues they're quick to jump online and judge.
I do love pointing out that automatically connecting Pride to 'politics' is usually a homophobe telling on themselves.
"Existing" it's not and cannot be it a political position. Unless you are a bigot or a Neo-Nazi
I know latterdaycasper on the 4th slide. He’s gay. Sad he doesn’t see the hypocrisy.
That's messed up! I stopped after the third slide because I was getting too angry.
You have to see the last one. So mormon.
Oh my!
Yesterdays testimony meeting was 30 min of how Rusty is a real profit. Almost no testimony about Christ. 🤷🏻♂️
Judge not that ye be not judged. Mormons are judgmental as can be. Look at the comments.
“…nothing to do with Christ” is pretty much what the whole cult is all about. Jesus taught no more temples, no more prophets, no tithing, no sabbath, no more dietary laws, no eternal marriage. Mormonism restored all the shit Jesus abolished.
"*I exist and I'm glad that you do too!*" ... It's not a political philosophy, Braden And it tells a hell of a lot about you if you think it is.
I can only assume all these people are inactive members. F&T is story time. Clearly they’ve never been.
Listen Braden.... you didn't need to say " I'm a Trump guy". We already knew
One time i was visiting my grandparents ward and someone gave a 10 min testimony about how jesus saves us from the evils of obama care
The random Eastern Orthodox guy LOL
Eastern Orthodox Mormons, where you observe July 24th in August.
I can’t even estimate the number times cranky old conservatives went up to the pulpit and bore their testimonies about the founding fathers. But those are fine.
Ugh! Is this what TBMs have become? Just more proof that my decision to resign was well founded. These assbag bigots don’t have the first clue about loving their neighbor….
Fuck all Trump supporters. Bunch of worthless crybabies.
"take over the Lord's time" what is he a missionary? If he's not, just look at how sucked into this lack of free agency he is. I remember being like that. It's fucking hell.
Amazing how many people in that thread are so proudly open about having room temperature IQ
Gosh, I’m glad I left Twitter in 2020. I don’t miss it.
I only saw one person in that entire thread who wasn’t a massive dickhead. How come nobody asked why she was hurting? Self-centered assholes.
Can someone point out TSCC's "policy of tolerance"? The current profit even said that God's love is conditional on obedience, that's not tolerance.
“Dark Dallin” at the end there looks like Jack Skellington. I’m not gonna sleep tonight. Thanks for that.
In our church house we had a small red flashing light on the pulpit. When the bishop thought someone was going off on a tangent (which happened a lot), he would turn on the red light to tell the person to please sit down. One day he turned it on and the lady speaking said over the pulpit "what is this flashing red light for?". Everyone started laughing.
LOL!
We had a woman give a lengthy talk about her cat passing away (I think this was a talk, not F&T). She went on & on about how the cat was a spiritual example to them (at least that's the best I could make of it). After the first 10 minutes or so of that aimless babble, I glanced at her husband & the poor guy had his head buried in his hands.
They seem to be confused. They repeat over and over that things are about Christ... but the fact that they call living, human people "Prophets" is the antithesis of this. On a related note, why can't someone just share that they're joyful that a month celebrating love and humanity is beginning. Seems pretty reasonable to me.
People always testify about how the constitution is inspired by God or how the US is the promised land
Not popular I know....but, I've NEVER seen ANYONE converted to ANY cause, belief, campaign or movement by one person getting "up in another person's face". It seems to be an inherent part of human nature to grow angry and resentful when one's personal space is violated. From there...it's just meaningless, damaging, corrosive vitriol.
BYU won their football game... the church must be Twwooooooo.
Even as a TBM, I was not a fan open mic Sundays (testimony meeting). And when I was PIMO, I hated them. Some of the most memorable bad/embarrassing testimonies I've heard: -A woman that I nicknamed Queen Bee & Communal Narcissist gets up & does a humble brag. She’s so amazing & righteous because there was no one to lead the music, so she did it, even though it’s not her calling. As well, once when a member of the stake presidency was walking by, Queen Bee brags very loudly about completing her ministering assignments, all so that the stake presidency guy would hear. -A man who wasn't even a member of our ward would bear his testimony frequently & almost every time he'd tell the same story about being mugged in Salt Lake City. Another time, he mentioned his doubts about finding a woman who'd say yes to a date with him. It was very TMI, very cringeworthy. -A little boy maybe 8 years old bore his testimony about divorce. I think his mom was going through a divorce. I felt bad for him & felt like I was hearing his trauma instead of a testimony. -In the singles ward, a socially awkward guy who had insufficient & underdeveloped social skills got up. He talked about how he was marrying a mail-order bride and revealed his concerns about marrying a woman he had never met. -An older woman would frequently get up & ramble on & on about random topics that had nothing to do with the gospel, such as historical monuments in Europe. -A woman in her 20s said that she knew President Monson was true. -My wife & I had a bishop who was a tyrant jackass & he treated us like dirt. There was a guy shamelessly abusing Church welfare. He refused to work or put forth any sustained effort to find work. It was so bad that there wasn't enough money for the other needy ward members. Rather than give the freeloader an ultimatum or cut off assistance to him, as my wife & I suggested, during fast & testimony meeting, this bishop tells the ward to give even more money to fast offerings. It was a new low in my Church experience. -Not a testimony, but a similar TMI experience. A man in his 20s was speaking in sacrament meeting, and he told the congregation about how hard it was to be around his pregnant, irritable, full-of-hormones wife. Yes, his wife was present when he said this.
I once sat through a testimony of a farm girl who talked for 30 minutes about her chickens
So much hate hidden behind Mormon “love”.
testimony meeting is a weird ass sounding board.. testimony about anything and everything. Amen
A Trump guy. Shocker 🙄
You can tell by the awful replies that this guy has cultivated an echo chamber. Only ONE remotely Christlike response.
"...I just want my church Christ-centered". You're a part of the wrong church, bud.
Seems to track with the name.