Well there is, but only because it's spelled that way.
I happened to wander into the break room at work when a video version of
this article was on. The gist I got from it was "faith is not all about you."
There's a lot going on in that article, but yes, I agree with the idea that Christ requires His followers to serve others. In the LDS church the related scripture is
Mosiah 2:17, "...when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." If you love God, then you also love God's children, ie, your fellow humans, and when you serve them, you are serving God. Can you truly claim to love God if you turn inward and refuse to share what He has given you with others, particularly your time? When you join the LDS church through baptism you covenant "to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light ... to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort" (
Mosiah 18:8-9)
The article's main point, though, seems to be the idea that people are rejecting religion because the religious people aren't behaving well. I'm not sure that's true. I suspect the growth of atheism and agnosticism isn't because the religious are pushing people away (although, of course, this is happening as well) but because people don't find a purpose to believing. You express both aspects, being pushed away as well as not finding purpose in it, pretty succinctly:
I ... would rather unwind on the couch with a record or on the computer smashing the Iron Horde instead of getting dressed up and heading out to a church where I hardly know anyone anymore. And maybe part of it is an overall disgust with organized religion, where the notion of love only goes as far as "love those who are already like us."
So the bigger question for most people is, "Why go to church? What will I get out of it that's better than the dozen other things I could do with my time and other resources?"
But if you do attend, you'll often find that as you come closer to God, you desire more to serve the rest of humanity, which only requires more time and resources.
If anything, religion should make you look further inwards to change yourself, and further outwards to serve other people.
Kinda off topic, but my best friend growing up was Mormon and that foo had to be in church practically all day on Sundays (like 4-5 hours), later it was "family time" for the rest of the day.
Close. Many decades ago you'd have Sacrament meeting (a little over an hour), then Sunday School (which could occur on Sunday or during the week) and then another meeting for the Priesthood (men) and Relief Society (women). Different congregations had different schedules, but typically most would attend all three meetings. Going back and forth to church seemed inefficient outside of Utah (where you could walk to church, there are so many of them) and so they decided to combine everything into a single 3 hour block. You aren't required to attend all of them, but most do. Some choose to attend Sacrament meeting only, so their church attendance is only an hour and fifteen minutes a week. There is usually another 90 minutes of activities during the week primarily for youth. Scouting, youth activities, etc happen then.
The LDS church is largely lead by a lay ministry - our congregations each have a Bishop and various leaders for each congregation, and there are 5-8 congregations per "Stake" with a Stake President and various leaders, and many Stakes in an Area. None of the leadership from the Stake on down are paid, and most (if not all?) of the area level leadership are also unpaid.
That said, the calling I had which took the most time was as the Bishop's Executive Secretary. Mostly I attended all of his leadership meetings and coordinated his schedule, and that would often require me to be at the church on Sundays from 7am to 4pm, and 3 hours one other night weekly.
Interestingly, we always had a hard time getting our large family to church on time, but once I was at church early, leaving my wife to get everyone out the door, she got them there on time without me...
My calling in the church right now is in the cub scouts, so including the 3 hour meeting on Sunday, and a few hours a month doing pack meetings and individual visits with other members, I'm spending 4 hours a week on average doing church stuff. We we do encourage our family to spend the time together and treat Sundays as different than other days of the week, though. There's so many other extracurricular activities they can and do become involved in during the week that we feel it's important to set aside time to reconnect, play games or watch movies together, so our kids don't feel disconnected from the family.
You forgot the hashtag
.
Recruitment is an interesting thing. I prefer the, "Hey, here's some thoughts that apply to the situation you're discussing with me from a religious perspective. Let me know if you'd like to discuss this more," rather than, "You're a bad person if you don't believe this," or "I pity you", or "I'm better than you, but you can improve" methods.
I think, however, that this is a reflection of the individual, rather than the collective. Certainly, one group or another may use a particular technique generally, but if you look towards the leadership you'll find that this is the technique they have taught.
You see this in other areas, though. If someone goes through school after their older sibling they're almost certainly going to be compared because there's always going to be something they are worse at than their sibling.
Some parents use this technique to motivate their children. I do not prefer it, but I'm going to stop short of calling it a bad parenting technique because it's so ingrained into some cultures as the best way. Telling your child that they need to improve or they'll be left behind by their peers, or telling them their work is terrible, then showing them another child's work and saying they need to be more like this other child. This sort of environment is not uncommon, and can easily lead those children to grow up and become adults that attempt to motivate others through comparison. "Our company needs to step up its game, because company X is winning," for instance. I'm sure most people run into adults that have this worldview or perspective.
Its use inside religion may be effective for some, but it seems to me that it doesn't exude love, care, and concern. A knowledge of and respect for inherent individual worth seems lacking in such an approach.[DOUBLEPOST=1453139872,1453139754][/DOUBLEPOST]
I have long maintained that you don't really become SOMEbody until you surrender to something that you believe greater than yourself. This is often religion, but it could also be football, your company, your family/kids, Pokémon, art/music, whatever.
--Patrick
That's an interesting thought I'm going to ponder further. It certainly describes the transition from self-seeking and self-satisfaction and a turning of the only thing you truly own - your time and what you do with it - towards the good of others/society.
