Mark 7
10 For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:
11 But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.
12 And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother;
13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

From my point of view there is a certain culture in the church that is toxic. I do not call this the gospel but perhaps “Mormon Culture”. I think many of us that have been in the church for generations have perhaps picked this up. It seems to be more prevalent in North America and especially the Mountain West and Alberta.

One example that particularly gets my goat is putting all the less active on a DNC list and then calling your home teaching 100%. The focus being on statistics and not people.

Another is the cliquishness of many wards. How can we be a Zion people, with one heart and one mind if we divide into cliques. But it is easy to associate with those like yourself.

“Rules”, even if they aren’t official ones, even if they’re only part of the “unwritten order of things” (ugh) like the tattoo/earing/beard/flip-flop/white shirt stuff actually hurt the church.

When the church becomes the end in and of itself, rather than the means to a much more noble end, there’s a problem.

And there IS a problem.

It wasn’t till the end of the post when I saw your motivation and intention. We could all be a little kinder, and less judgmental.

Your post does raise a question with me however. One of your replies spoke of Pharisees. We are all hypocrites to some degree or another. When does hypocrisy move beyond simply human nature to becoming the deadly spiritual state the Savior lashed out so strongly against?

You say “Exactly. We need fewer rules (especially the petty ones) and more focus on personal spirituality”. I would say that the brethren are trying to lead us in this direction but we are slow to follow. How many times have please to reduce, simplify gone unheeded. The new handbook is simplified. The discussions have been changed to be more from the heart. But we love to hang on to the past.

The simple way requires more spirituality and faith. According to Elder Eyring the church is getting better and it will continue to get better.

PS I hope your job search is going well.

I feel that if the church has improvements to make we could take a lesson from the Pharisees and reduce our dependence on rules of law and increase our focus on the saviour and spirituality.

Exactly. We need fewer rules (especially the petty ones) and more focus on personal spirituality.

I am glad our stake presidency has encouraged all bishoprics to announce that testimony meetings need to be about personal testimonies of the Saviour. Yesterday was a great testimony meeting.

Oh, and for the record, I am guilty of judging others, of seeing others’ motes despite my own beams.

I do agree that if we judge someone for their personal choices or for any reason whatsoever we are the one with the greater sin. I feel that if the church has improvements to make we could take a lesson from the Pharisees and reduce our dependence on rules of law and increase our focus on the saviour and spirituality. In an effort to sound extremely hypocritical we need to stop being so judgemental of each other and increase our love and encouragement of all our fellow beings.

Regardless, my point still stands that what is most important is what is on the inside. The Lord has told us he looks upon the heart, not on outward appearance. Likewise, what we speak is more important than what we consume.

Having a tattoo has as much effect on one’s personal righteousness as having long hair and a beard, and the discouragement of tattoos by church leaders has less to do with being subject to God’s will and more to do with maintaining the public, outward image of the church and its members.

That being said, because President Hinckley said it doesn’t change the intent of the post. If your local temple had graffiti, would it change what happens inside?