Why Do Mormons Have a Tendancy to be Judgmental?

[_Who Knows]

It's called sarcasm, man.

[_The Nehor]

One thing that has always bothered me, as a member of the Church, is the judgmental attitudes of other members. These judgmental attitudes seem to exist toward other members who may not be living the Church standards to "their" specifications. It could also apply to non-members or former members of the Church.

The gospel does not encourage this type of behavior, yet it seems to be very prevalent in Church members.

I can understand wanting to protect your family members (children in particular) from harm due to association with a "bad" crowd, which, in my opinion, would be along the lines of kids who are doing drugs, etc.

But this constant "putting your nose in someone else's business" and feeling that you have the right to judge others when none of us are perfect is not a way, in my opinion, to conduct your life, or interact with others.

Thoughts?

To put in my shilling 5 pence on the subject.

Part of it is just parenting. Our Church has a lot of activities and tends to socialize amongst our own a lot (too much if you ask me) and parents tend to become unreasonable psychos when they believe their children's safety is in any danger, no matter how minor. When I was in High School we had a shotgun pulled in the library. The parents turned into raving lunatics obsessed with making sure everything is safe. It was one of the highlights of school while I was there. Posters went up in the Cafeteria before the day was out to get the guy out of prison as there were some teachers we wanted taken out.

I believe the other and even stronger element is the pervasive guilt you find in some of Mormonism. While sin can be contagious (anyone who has been in a 4-man apartment on their Mission can back me up here) I think the real fear is that that person could be you. So the snubbing and judgmental attitudes are to excise it so you don't have to see it anymore. Eventually this leads to looking for it when it's not obvious.

The last and most obnoxious group are the "easily offended" among us who are ironically committing a larger sin. They tend to live quiet, stable, ordered lives. They tend to have few kids and those kids they have are unhappy. Many are the old people who remember the good old days. The days that were mostly the same but are colored by the fact that they had a sense of humor and proportion back then and didn't have a feeling of entitlement. These are the people who seem to genuinely believe that a little more quiet, a little less sin in the ward, and if the Bishop would understand their needs a little bit better they would be genuinely happy. I expect them to be complaining about how bright the afterlife is and how back in the old premortal days it was never like this. If I end up in a kingdom with them I will volunteer to be moved further down. Give me honest sin over this garbage.

Meanwhile some members are too busy repenting to be worried about everyone else and they tend to live lives with little guilt and are genuinely happy. When they see someone with a problem they help if appropriate and ignore it if it isn't (the most motivated pray for them, I'm not at that level yet). They realize they don't deserve salvation but that they can get it anyways. Praise God! They tend to be the core of the ward and they tend to like being together at parties, dinners, etc. They are the kind of people I want to spend eternity with.