Quote:
Originally Posted by jay santos
I've encountered it my whole life in the church inside and outside of Utah. We take a lot of pride in knowing our behavior is better than non-LDS: divorce statistics, teenage drinking, teenage sex, whatever. We're expected to be better and we believe we are. It reinforces our belief that the church is true. Being told that LDS temple marriage divorce rates are no better than avg US divorce rates (not saying they are, this is a hypothetical) would be just as damaging to a lot of LDS testimonies as an anti-Mormon proving a case against the Book of Abraham.
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While I have no problem with some self-reassurance that we're doing the right thing in abstaining from these behaviors, anyone who uses that fact to browbeat someone else is not in harmony with the teachings of the gospel, or of the church leaders.
I remember being stunned years ago at Ricks College when some of my college buddies from Utah explained how some of their parents wouldn't let their children date non-members. In fact, one fine upstanding non-member kid was turned off to the church because of one parents' reaction to him asking their daughter to prom, or some other high school function.
That kind of behavior wouldn't have been possible where I grew up, and I think Hinckley, for one, has spoken out against it.