Interesting comments Mark.
I have known the Stoddard family for some 50 years when Mark's parents took me and my wife, as newly weds, under their wing. The family were then living in Watford,England, I miss them all dearly.
MikeOctober 1, 2018
I don't want to get into a debate on several topics at once. But since Patricia started the ball rolling on one, let me give it another kick.
Imagine an old Beach Boys song playing: Two girls for every boy.
That almost describes the Single's Wards, not all of them but too many of them. We preach to the YM- go on a mission, it is your duty. About a third or a little more do heed the call and go. We preach to the YW- stay active and reserve your virtue and charms so you can marry a return missionary. About two thirds heed this call. Our current social situation sets up nearly half the faithful YW to fail to find a suitable husband.
While they wait, many are anxiously engaged in various good causes such as education and service which does lead to careers. We eschew most tendencies for active women to marry less active men within the church and heaven forbid any marrying outside of the church. Women don't sit home and do nothing.
The bigger problem than the exploding divorce rate, happened a century before when the family farm was mechanized and the industrial revolution created more wealth by working in factories. The fathers left the home. Before that, both parents worked all day every day with their children until they married and even then they often lived on adjacent farms.
We adapted to that new reality. The information age could open up more options for men to return home to work. But unless we resolve the " Beach Boys" discrepancy, we will slowly dwindle.
PatriciaSeptember 28, 2018
Insightful and thought provoking article to consider prior to General Conference. I agree with all your ten invitations from the Prophets. Generally, we have seen that women are more welcome in the work place and opportunities for higher education have provided added value and meaning to women’s lives. The big problem came during the 1970’s when the US divorce rate exploded and women were abandoned by husbands to raise children without adequate means of support and mothers did not have a education to provide the necessary needs for a family. Enter the Women’s Movement that championed equality for all women and the march to end gender discrimination. It has resulted in an ugly social impact. Now today, we see even young LDS women who choose education and career over family without hesitation. I refer to Family: Proclamation to the World written in 1995 by President Gordon B Hinckley and the Apostles. When I read this 23 years ago, I wondered why it was necessary. It seemed so self evident. Today, we have drifted so far away from this standard of truth, it is profound. I wonder what we will hear this General Conference and in the coming years.
Victoria HuishSeptember 28, 2018
Thank you for this! I have done a serious inventory of my life.
A mother in this day and age!September 28, 2018
Amazing article! If the words are hard to us we need to check ourselves, not the other way around! Thank you for being blunt! We need more of this!
HalSeptember 27, 2018
Thank you for this article describing what I have been thinking about for a long time. I have been interspersing my listening to recent conference talks with previous conferences since recordings were available (April 1971 - I'm currently finishing up with the April 1973 conference). The tenor of the talks has certainly changed, but the warnings and admonitions to love one another and keep the commandments are still the same. As for your # 10 that you left blank, I would mention the prophets' cautions to handle the marijuana issue with great care. In my 60+ years, I have seen the prophets - ancient and modern - correctly predict social and political calamities with incredible accuracy.
GrandpaSeptember 27, 2018
Brave man to bring this topic up. :-) Yes, there are topics that the prophets have gone strangely silent on. It is purely my own personal feeling that the Lord, through the prophets, has said all that can be said on certain topics, but we as a group have turned too much of a deaf ear to those topics. It's not that the Lord gave in and is allowing it; it's more of Him allowing us to stumble and fall until our ears get some hearing back in them.
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John H WaitingOctober 2, 2018
Interesting comments Mark. I have known the Stoddard family for some 50 years when Mark's parents took me and my wife, as newly weds, under their wing. The family were then living in Watford,England, I miss them all dearly.
MikeOctober 1, 2018
I don't want to get into a debate on several topics at once. But since Patricia started the ball rolling on one, let me give it another kick. Imagine an old Beach Boys song playing: Two girls for every boy. That almost describes the Single's Wards, not all of them but too many of them. We preach to the YM- go on a mission, it is your duty. About a third or a little more do heed the call and go. We preach to the YW- stay active and reserve your virtue and charms so you can marry a return missionary. About two thirds heed this call. Our current social situation sets up nearly half the faithful YW to fail to find a suitable husband. While they wait, many are anxiously engaged in various good causes such as education and service which does lead to careers. We eschew most tendencies for active women to marry less active men within the church and heaven forbid any marrying outside of the church. Women don't sit home and do nothing. The bigger problem than the exploding divorce rate, happened a century before when the family farm was mechanized and the industrial revolution created more wealth by working in factories. The fathers left the home. Before that, both parents worked all day every day with their children until they married and even then they often lived on adjacent farms. We adapted to that new reality. The information age could open up more options for men to return home to work. But unless we resolve the " Beach Boys" discrepancy, we will slowly dwindle.
PatriciaSeptember 28, 2018
Insightful and thought provoking article to consider prior to General Conference. I agree with all your ten invitations from the Prophets. Generally, we have seen that women are more welcome in the work place and opportunities for higher education have provided added value and meaning to women’s lives. The big problem came during the 1970’s when the US divorce rate exploded and women were abandoned by husbands to raise children without adequate means of support and mothers did not have a education to provide the necessary needs for a family. Enter the Women’s Movement that championed equality for all women and the march to end gender discrimination. It has resulted in an ugly social impact. Now today, we see even young LDS women who choose education and career over family without hesitation. I refer to Family: Proclamation to the World written in 1995 by President Gordon B Hinckley and the Apostles. When I read this 23 years ago, I wondered why it was necessary. It seemed so self evident. Today, we have drifted so far away from this standard of truth, it is profound. I wonder what we will hear this General Conference and in the coming years.
Victoria HuishSeptember 28, 2018
Thank you for this! I have done a serious inventory of my life.
A mother in this day and age!September 28, 2018
Amazing article! If the words are hard to us we need to check ourselves, not the other way around! Thank you for being blunt! We need more of this!
HalSeptember 27, 2018
Thank you for this article describing what I have been thinking about for a long time. I have been interspersing my listening to recent conference talks with previous conferences since recordings were available (April 1971 - I'm currently finishing up with the April 1973 conference). The tenor of the talks has certainly changed, but the warnings and admonitions to love one another and keep the commandments are still the same. As for your # 10 that you left blank, I would mention the prophets' cautions to handle the marijuana issue with great care. In my 60+ years, I have seen the prophets - ancient and modern - correctly predict social and political calamities with incredible accuracy.
GrandpaSeptember 27, 2018
Brave man to bring this topic up. :-) Yes, there are topics that the prophets have gone strangely silent on. It is purely my own personal feeling that the Lord, through the prophets, has said all that can be said on certain topics, but we as a group have turned too much of a deaf ear to those topics. It's not that the Lord gave in and is allowing it; it's more of Him allowing us to stumble and fall until our ears get some hearing back in them.
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