On the heels of the BYUi article, comes another one from Time Magazine.
Now before I start my rant, I’ve been told by *more* than one person, that they are suprised what I write.
Do any of you find that as well? Are there reasons why? Am I doctrinely wrong? Am I making the Female Gender upset with me?
Anyways, the Times article quotes Elder Oaks (of the Twelve) in a talk he gave.
A talk he gave around May 1st. In this talk, he said “Hanging Out is Not OK”, and listed the three P’s. I can’t help but feel that this article is a bit late though…..
The one part I remember is “Close the Pantries.”, in fact, I posted about my plight aftewards here.
I found the article interesting, especially since I also wrote about the other article about the growing singles population on in this article.
So.. Onto the article: Alone in the Pews
The church has tried to do some adjusting itself. Since the 1970s, it has ministered to single members through singles wards, congregations specifically for unmarried 18-to-30-year-olds. In the past five years the number of those congregations has jumped to more than 500, from 300.
That’s an addition of 200 units! That’s over 50 units a year! For me, that’s a huge number, especially if you figure 60 avg people attending x 200 units. Over 12000 additional Young Singles are Young Single Congregations.
Marie Wilson, who converted to the LDS faith 10 years ago, is the only never married member of the singles group in her Winston-Salem, N.C., ward and, at 35, the youngest by at least a decade. Her church friends, she says, “can’t relate because most of them have been married since they were in their early 20s. I’ve lived alone my entire life.”
I think this has been brought up in most of those other articles. There are the two groups. Those who are able to get married fast, and after the mission, and those who get married a big bit later.
I was recently at a SAMS club, eating my Saturday lunch (aka, walking up and down the samples isle) talking with one of the samples ladies (I’ve become good friends with, surprising. Really) when she was enquiring about my love life. Along came some people, looking to get some sample sugar cookies when they heard her and I talking. They managed to hear me and the samples lady discussing what we though, and the guy said something to the affect of “Don’t let her pressure you, it took me until I was 40 to find my wife *As he hugged her* and I wouldn’t give her up for anything”. The samples lady then shoooed them away with something like “No COOKIES for YOU!”.
Anyways, this is becoming a sociatal norm. Is it good? Is it right? I don’t know. I do see a widening gap between the world and the Church on this issue. I can see why it’s easier for people to slowly fade into in activity as they get older. The world just doesn’t have the expectations that the Church Culture does.
Even in Manhattan–with a vast support network of unmarried Mormons–Jeffrey Jackson, 27, says he and friends in his singles ward immediately put “more focus on one-on-one relationships,” proposing more dates and trying to consider their female friends as potential wives.
All I can say is yea.
Despite what I think a few girls think, there is no vast male consipiracy to not date or not get married. Most men do want to get married.
It’s just that ya’ll are smart and intimidating and stuff.
Actually, I don’t know. I don’t know what the root problem is, so I have no idea what the solution is.
Thus, I am not an advice columnist.
I’m just having fun on this journey called life.
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