Marriage and Mormonism
The purpose of this site is education. Marriage is our most important decision in life. Add to your knowledge base wisely.
The most important decision in one's life has to be marriage. Failed marriages result in pain not only to the individuals in the contract, but to the children, family, and financial stability of all involved.
So, the question is .... does Mormonism contribute to a stable and sound marriage?
To introduce the subject, let's visit www.exmormon.org BBS. Following the link below, read and examine the flow of thought. Put yourself in their shoes. What can we learn?
On Marriage and follow up messages
While Mormonism tries to profess building of the family, with the slogan, "Families are Forever," something seems to be missing.
The core value in a good marriage stems from your own family upbringing and education. Family values are taught from infancy. Certainly, school, friends, other family members, church, college, and society add to and mold these core values. Good input, then, is key to our and our children's success.
Next, the question comes up, "Where can I find these worthwhile educational elements?"
The LDS faith, Mormonism, is a scrambled egg mixture of core values and myth ... often inseparable. Most of those at the helm of Mormonism are untrained in the field of the social sciences. Because of the loose organization, many (Bishops and Stake Presidents, for example) are, likewise, lacking in skills to serve as counselors in recognizing and effectively aiding in the solution of marriage problems.
Many ideas with no basis of fact are innocently spread from the pulpit, - often with disastrous results.
One example comes to mind. While not written in Mormon doctrine, nevertheless a common myth that continually circulates in the Mormon community about marriage is that ... missionaries should get married shortly after returning from their missions. If a missionary is not married within a year of his return, he is not living up to the Mormon "gospel" expectation.
Social studies indicate that such quick engagements and marriages are not healthy. Not knowing your mate well enough and not having a chance to spend real time with the future mate, parents, friends, and family can give an erroneous perspective. The soundness of a marriage seems to be directly linked to the length of time you know that mate. Additionally, the older you are when you marry, the better chances for success of that marriage.
Another important factor to good marriage is that both individuals have a common religious background. An interesting thing happens, though, with Mormonism. It is a religion based upon a weak foundation with it's leaders attempting to coverup its tragic past history with a generous spread of sweetened frosting. Couple this with the fact that the LDS Church is run more as a business than a religion and you have the elements for an eventual calamity. Usually it's the individual and family who get caught in the crossfire. In short, the religion is fractured with a confusion of ideas and principles that are in conflict with science and society ... ideas and principles which make it far from homogeneous and stable.
The question then is, ... can such an unstable religion contribute to a stable marriage?
To say that the Mormon membership is a happy, solid family, seems to be a misnomer. Indeed, the number of sites appearing on the Internet which warn of Mormonism's pitfalls, should be a warning to those investigating the religion and a marriage within it.
Only information from knowledgeable, qualified, and skilled people in the field of social work should be used for weaving the educational fabric and mapping out future plans for marriage.
DO make your sources of education concerning marriage - outside - the Mormon organization.
Page Modified April 10, 1999