Friday, July 1, 2011

Fact: it is Friday. {Mormon}

Fact: it is Friday: Where I talk about myself. On Fridays.
I don't talk about my babies, unless I want to, which sometimes I might. But mostly Fact: it is Friday is when I'm going to tell you something you maybe didn't know about me.
Or perhaps a story from my bucktoothed-childhood or bratty teenage years.

Becky Fact 4: I have maaaany peeves. But my pet peeve is when people try to tell me things about my religion that just aren't true.

For some inexplicable reason, people like to begin conversations about religion with me by saying things like "Why do you believe that God is an alien from another planet?"
"I do not believe that."
"Mormons believe that."

Okay. No we do not.
Why on earth would people think that we believe that nonsense?

Or another favorite? "Real Christians would be really upset by that, Becky."
Ummm, and I'm not a real Christian because...?

So, because I know many people that read this blog are not Mormon, and I am very Mormon, here are some facts about Mormonism, and therefore me.

1. Mormons are Christians. We believe in Christ. We hope in Christ. He is our Savior. Yes, we believe that He died on the cross. Yes, we believe that He is the literal son of God. Yes, we believe that He rose from the grave on the third day. We try to be more like Christ, and take His name upon us.
That is pretty much the definition of Christian, right?

2. In fact, "Mormon" is a nickname. The actual name of our church is "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints."  The Latter-Day Saints part refers to the fact that we believe we are living in the "latter-days," and soon Christ will come again. The Church of Jesus Christ is the church He established when He was on earth. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the exact same church, but in our day. Make sense?

3. We read the Bible. Yep. The actual Bible. You know, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, etc. We believe that it is scripture. We believe that it is the word of God.
We do also read The Book of Mormon, which is where our nickname "Mormons" comes from. The Book of Mormon is another book - like the Bible - that was written by prophets and apostles about Christ. We think of it as a companion to the Bible.
(You should read it. You'll probably like it.)

4. We absolutely do not practice polygamy.  Travis does not get a second wife. There are people in Utah who practice polygamy, but they are not Mormons. You may be thinking "You're just not the the type of Mormon who practices polygamy. Some Mormons have multiple wives."
No. Okay? They don't.
Mormons DO NOT practice polygamy.
I feel like I can't say this enough.
We don't. We don't. We don't.

5. We do not hate gays.  In fact, I know several Mormon men who are participants in the Mormon religion, who go to the temple, read the Book of Mormon, go to church every Sunday and are homosexuals.
We do believe that marriage between a man and woman is ordained of God, and so -yes, we don't support Gay marriage. However, (with the exception of the bigoty few that sadly exist in and out of every religion) Mormons understand that homosexuality is something that many people struggle with.  We don't believe that being attracted to people of the same gender is a sin.
But we do believe that sex outside of marriage is a sin, and we don't support homosexual marriage, so... yes. Being a gay Mormon is pretty much a life of celibacy.
But sadly, so is the life of any single Mormon.
Anyway, no haters on this blog please.
I don't need any comments about how unkind, screwed up, or wrong I am to support my church in this.
I have thought a long time about whether or not I agree with the church on this, and I've prayed about it, studied my scriptures, and decided that I do. It's a hard thing to figure out.

6.  We do not believe that God is an alien from another planet. Why do people think this?
It blows my mind.

Okay. So this was a blogpost about lots of facts.
And if you've seen any of the "I'm a Mormon ads" (which are my favorite thing ever, and I LOVE to watch) here's what I would say at the end of my "I'm a Mormon video:"

I'm a wife, a mother to twins, a dedicated blogger, and food addict. I have a seriously messy kitchen, and I make lots of mistakes.
My name is Becky Pitcher, and I'm a Mormon.

Okay. Here one of my favorite I'm a Mormon ads, because I just can't help but post it:



Also, if you have any questions about Mormons, you can visit lds.org or mormon.org or just leave me a question in the comments.







*       *        *
Fact: it is Friday. 
I think you should do it too. 
And here are your instructions (not really rules...):

1. Write a fact about yourself.
2. Elaborate.
3. It can be long or short, detailed or not.
4. Don't write about your kids. (Unless you want to. Because, I mean... it's your blog. I can't stop you from writing about your kids.)
5. Link up to this blog, so we can all read some facts, and not feel bad that we dropped out of school to be stay-at-home moms. (Since if we're reading facts, then we are still learning.)
6. You're not a dropout like me? Or a stay at home mom? No biggie. You can still play.

Can't think of what to write? Start like this:
Fact: When I was a kid I was really good at...
or
Fact: My biggest pet peeve is...
or
Fact: I have a third nipple.
Etc.

I haven't quite figured out a link list yet, so just post in the comments if you participate, and next week after I've read through your facts I'll give a shout out in my post to my favorite fact from last week.
Good deal?

Fact: I would love it  if you voted for me by clicking below:

Click To Vote For Us @ Top Baby Blogs Directory!

5 comments:

Kara said...

I am a Christian, but not a part of the LDS church. Many of my co workers are, and I grew up alongside a few families in school who were as well. Personally I think the reservation about your denomination (religion?) is the highly publicized polygamists that also claim to be Mormon, as well as the things we hear in the media about Mormonism- like when a man dies he becomes a God with his own planet - maybe that is where the alien question comes from?

People get scared by what they don't understand I guess. And all religions get flack for being moral and vocal about what they believe. I think blog posts like this help with that. I talk about God and Jesus all the time on my blog, I'm sure people think I'm crazy for it. Oh well.

I'd love to hear more about this subject from you!

Allyssa said...

My great aunt's family is all Mormon. Do you know where the idea that all Mormons have big families came from? Or the idea that maybe they don't use birth control? Is it true/false? I have a friend who has a big family and he tells everyone because his family is Mormon (I don't think he's a believer though).

Thanks for the clarification on it though. I knew nothing about being a Mormon.

Becky Pitcher said...

Lots of Mormons DO have big families, because Mormons believe that families are one of the most important things in life and that we can be with our families for eternity.
And Mormons aren't for or against birth control as a religion. I think some people don't use it because they believe that if you get pregnant it's because God wants you to have kids.
But um, yeah. We're on birth control.
God might want us to have more kids, but WE want to wait awhile....

Allyssa said...

Thanks Becky! I didn't mean you specifically but thank you so much for clarifying the reason for me. I definitely look forward to posts about your babies but the friday posts are funny too. If we lived near each other, I think we would get along. You seem so awesome.

Mary Helen said...

I feel like I could have written a very similar post as a catholic. I think we're very similar in being very misunderstood and sometimes I want to smack the people who tell me what "we" believe. Of course that wouldn't be very Christ-like of me and probably just prove their point so I refrain lol But I understand your frustration! Wonderful post!