Inactivity In The Church?


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Can a person or family be overwhelmed by excessive downtrend of bad luck, and not attend as many meetings as they used to and still be considered active?

 

No. Activity is a factual state and has no relationship to the spiritual, mental, or emotional state of a person. It's a simple matter of you're are active or you are not. You come or you don't.

 

To be fair, we consider faithful and active as the same thing. And that may not always be the case. But activity is only usually an indication of faithful. It is not one and the same. But it is, regardless, a fact. You are active, or you are not.

 

Is being active having and bearing witness of a testimony or is more based in being seen in church?

 

Being active is coming to church. It has nothing to do with testimony or the sharing of it. There are plenty of active people who don't have or bear witness of their testimonies. That's irrelevant to activity.

 

I think maybe you (and perhaps others) are reading meaning into "activity" that is not there. Yes, we do tend to judge people's spiritual state based on activity. In many cases there may even be validity to this (not the judging part...that's a different discussion...but validity to the idea that activity and faithfulness likely do go hand in hand in most cases). 

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  • 3 years later...

Associating with the saints by going to church on a weekly basis could be a challenge for anyone under the "right set" of circumstances.  If you feel that you're not liked or understood, or if you feel the members of the ward are judgmental, or that the challenges of life are beating you down, or if going to church makes you feel guilty for not being a better person, or if you don't feel you are contributing enough and no one feels confident in your abilities, or even if you have doctrinal questions that aren't being satisfied, all of these things could tempt anyone not to fully participate like they should.  I think pretty much everyone has dealt with similar feelings at one time.   

These are the strategies that have helped me, and I pass them onto anyone who might be struggling.

First off, make sure that you have a testimony of the gospel before relying on having a testimony of the church members. Ask yourself the following: Do you feel that the Savior atoned for you individually?  Do you feel the need to renew your baptismal covenants by taking the Sacrament on a weekly basis? Are you praying sincerely every day and trying to listen to the still small voice?  Do you daily ponder the scriptures in order to feel the Spirit and in order to broaden your understanding of the gospel, and in order to feel internal peace when external forces make you feel in disarray?  If you can answer affirmatively to these questions, then you probably won't feel tempted to stop coming to church no matter the challenges activity brings.

Remember no one at church is perfect. They don't see every circumstance clearly because they don't have all the information to make correct judgments. Maybe your activity can help them realize this.  Some people in any group can be harsh, judgmental and spiteful.  But don't make the mistake that they represent the entire group.  Maybe you could learn that these individuals can't be trusted.  Remember, you can forgive them, but that doesn't mean that you have to trust them for support, let alone be best of friends with them.  You can be nice to them and say that you recognize that none of us is perfect, but at least we're all trying to be better. You can feel blessed that you recognize that their actions represent poor behavior and not fitting for for a disciple of Christ. But don't dwell on it, and pray to be quick to forgive.

When I've felt offended in the past, I've told myself things like, "Why should I let his/her poor actions affect my eternal salvation?  If I stop going to church because of this, I'm not going to hurt them, but I'll only be hurting myself.  I want to take the Sacrament frequently.  I want to see what I can get out of the meetings.  I want to learn to love as the Savior loves, and this situation will help me do just that.  I may have to be long suffering, and kind as the Savior directs no matter how hurt this action has made me.  Either way I'm not going to let this situation draw me off the path that the Savior asked me to be on.  I'm going to endure to the end."

The best gift we can bring to any ward is to be loving ourselves.  If people look at me funny, and I jump to the conclusion that they have a problem with me, that is their challenge, if my assessment of their glance is even true. It might be that their stare has nothing to do with me.  Maybe they're going through a challenge, and that is just the look they have. The best thing I can do is hang in there and make sure that I don't cause others to feel uncomfortable because of my stares being anything but showing love and acceptance.

As far as doctrine goes, sometimes things are a little different than we first imagined. That's okay, because we should constantly be learning and gaining more truth. As President Uchtdorf suggested, it is better to doubt our doubts, than our faith.  As I've had doctrinal questions in the past, I have found resolution to 99.9% of them just through studying a topic and praying about it.  Some things had to be tabled for awhile, but as I've gone back to them, I've discovered answers that broadened my understanding and increased my faith because I've finally uncovered a personal mystery.  These have brought me greater hope and joy and increased my appreciation for my testimony. 

So in a nutshell, activity is a personal choice.  The more consistent I am with the little things like prayer and scripture study, through every vicissitude of life, the more my testimony grows. I cherish my Savior more and realize that even during the most challenging episodes, that these were all part of the divine plan.  As long trials have passed I've realized that activity helped me get through the hardest times, and has been a big blessing for me.

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