My friend posted THIS blog-post on her Facebook and I wanted to share it with you all because I think that this post was very well written and I agree with a lot of what she has to say. As I commented on my friend's post on Facebook post:
I love that she is pleading for fellow members to be understanding and compassionate and to get off their soapboxes to help other members feel loved and accepted instead of judged and unwelcome! I think if people really watched the way they phrase their comments in talks/lessons and pay attention to what message is being sent to other members by the phraseology of their words the church would be much easier to take for me. I am one of those that feels that if I were to truly be myself at church I would not be accepted and would be judged harshly for it and it makes me feel as if that's a direct hit to myself. I feel like when I am a little bit too open with my personality I am being judged and they won't accept me for who I really am and you know, I don't believe I'm a horrible person. I believe I have faults and I believe I am not anywhere near perfect but I like who I am for the most part. I do despair when I make mistakes but I don't believe that I am condemned by them. I don't believe that because I may not be fully integrated into the church that I am any less spiritual than the members who are fully integrated. Even know as I'm writing this I'm afraid of how people will look at me. I just agree with her when she says that certain phrasing and actions really can make or break a person's experience with the church. I hope the church leaders are really open to new changes especially the one she talked about with having female support for women in bishop counsel meetings. I think it would help women everywhere with what they are going through.
Read the blog-post HERE.
I'm not saying that the entire church needs to change I just feel that there are certain aspects of the church that could be improved by just taking a look at it from others' eyes. I think a lot of things also get misinterpreted in its teachings because we're all different human beings who interprets things differently and that can cause some members to act in ways that may give the church a bad name with non-members or in-actives and I think that if we take time to really think before we speak/act it could make a huge difference in how others view and feel about the church. I know it would make it easier for me to go to church every week. So let's take time to self-reflect and make church a more welcoming and accepting place for everyone. Isn't it worth it to try?
1 comment:
Kerry, you're a great person! You have friends who've known you for such a long time like me and even longer like Kayla. We love you no matter what. The church sometimes gets twisted, but that's not the church. The church is full of love, it's simple people who can misinterpret the teachings. Everyone has trials and has made mistakes, we're here to learn from them and to choose something better. It may be embarrassing if make you feel self conscious but you've chosen to move forward and you should be proud of the hard work that took. We should all be kinder and more understanding to each other.
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