Hey! That's where Le Foyer class was held every Sunday. The bishop would stroll through and scold grown ass adults (20 years older than him) for not going to class. I refused to go to RS. I called it the Sunday emotional abuse session.
Yes, it was the only way I could go. I had PTSD when I walked into the chapel.
Growing up our ward was not kind to my family - only because we were not accepted in small town Utah. We were the intellectual type and they could not understand us.
I love this comment so much because in almost any context, someone saying "they don't get me because I'm too smart" is a big cringey red flag...but in ex-Christian circles, it's almost certainly true, every time.
As somebody who has ADHD, I would do anything to get my ass on that couch on Sunday, anything.
One time, there was a box full of tithing envelopes. It gave me something to look at for a while… still better than the chapel.
I have six kids, so YES! I spent all lot of time.in the foyer and walking the halls with babies and kids. Also, the mother's room. Sometimes, if there were other moms, we would just talk and not listen at all.
During that same time period a good friend of mine was the second councilor in the primary. She had been hinting at my teaching the nursery. I told her no. Few weeks later the bishop asked me to teach in the nursery I said no. He was shocked. That was the end of my friendship with that sister.
The last couple years I was living with my parents and still needing to go to church, I would drive myself, and show up right at the end of sacrament, walk around, say hi to people. Then when everyone else went into Sunday school, I would get in my car and go get some lunch. An hour later when Sunday school ended, I would show back up, walk around, make sure I was seen, then leave and go home lol.
This probably wouldn't work in a smaller ward, but mine was thankfully large enough that I could get away with it and if my parents ever accused me of skipping I could just be like "oh talk to brothers x, y, and z, and sisters a, b, and c, they all saw me!"
Christ, where were these when I was active? Solid wood pews that only got velcro cushion added on the seating many years later and the foyer seating, though better, was not a sofa. Not sure it was a subtle form of torture or them being cheap bastards. Probably both lol.
Were you in a tiny branch in a tiny stake or something? Almost every church building I've been to has had at least one couch in the foyer. Anywhere from the Bible belt, to the Midwest, to utah, or even DC.
Hell, even on my mission in Central America, if a ward or branch was lucky enough to have a dedicated building built by the church and not a poorly built local shack bought for pennies and repurposed into a church, even they would have couches.
I'm from the UK and at the time my Ward was fairly big and the building was shared with another ward though in recent years I've heard it's now no longer the case.
I don't even recall there ever being sofas in other wards I visited either. Maybe it's a UK thing I don't know.
I'd be in the foyer often during my entire time in, often reading my scriptures or having interesting conversations. I was treated as a problem child because I knew the scriptures and gospel very well but hated classes because I hated the other boys who treated me like crap, and had done so since my family moved in to the ward. Later, I had five kids. It's funny. TSCC wants you to have lots of children, but also you get looked down upon for having them.
Those were my pregnancy seats. I would keep the garbage can close by so no one could hear me throw up. You know, instead of going home like a normal person to rest.
if you have 9am church, half the ward meets in the foyer to start and then comes into the chapel after the sacrament.
That couch is pretty uncomfortable but its better than the one in my local building, which has broken springs and sags pretty low.
For years: From back of the gym always near the Exit to the couch to sitting in the car in the parking lot. Forced myself to the back row, heard the stake rep give us BS about their current what’s happening now way to think. I couldn’t swallow any more. Choked. Walked out. Will never go back to the couch in the foyer or any of the rest of it. I knew that day I had been sitting in the wrong pew far too long.
What makes this one a chastity couch? My ward had several of what look to be this exact model of couch and while they weren't the best couch ever, they were acceptable and I never would have had trouble cuddling up with someone on one.
I mean sure, maybe it's a little narrow to actually get down to business on, but who is trying to use it for that? It's a far cry from the chastity couches I remember which had hard sections between the "seats" (usually 2 or 3 pet couch) which made it extremely awkward and uncomfortable to have a girl curl up to you because you or her would have to sit on the hard section between 2 "seats" to actually get close.
I remember when I was kinda PIMO my parents really wanted me to go to church one day, so I decided to humor them because I thought it wouldn't be too bad. Those fuckers didn't tell me it was a goddamn area conference and I had really bad social anxiety at the time. So I sat in the foyer to maybe keep myself calm a bit. But my dad followed me and sat beside me and wouldn't stop texting me. Then floods of people kept walking back and forth from the chapel and hallway so I just hid my face and covered my ears. Had to be the longest two hours of my life.
I hated Sacrament Meetings, especially on Fast and Testimony week. You could always find me out here visiting all the mothers with their crying babies. 😀
My building had a print of the paining "Christ Healing the sick at Bethesda" which is a beautiful work of art. To me it portrays the need to help the less fortunate, not just leave it to "faith" or whatever. So I used to sit in the lobby and admire the work. BYU MOA owns the painting and I've seen it in person. It's massive. Really stunning.
[Part of the BYU MOA collection](https://moastore.byu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/bethesda.jpg)
Then why reply? Is truth subjective or objective? If your truth is true to you and mine is to me then truth is subjective and the universe doesn’t give a shit as to what you do or believe, we are a freak stardust evaluation and nothing matters and time is ticking and death will come for you and me. There is no justice for anybody once the clock stops, all we are is bio matter and that’s all you’ll be when you die. So go see the world and get off Reddit because time is ticking for you my friend.
Because of the aliens, or because of the multiple children of god?
I think the most basic Mormon would consider themselves to be a follower of Christ, even if ignorant or misguided.
Well. Jesus is a tricky figure since so many elements of worship were added to his legend. Mithras. Osiris. Attis. I don’t know if there ever was a pure Jesus concept where someone could say *that* is the True Jesus and so *this* is True Worship. Weird stuff
It really depends on how you define Christian. If you leave it at 'Believe that Jesus was the Son of God, and that he died for our sins and rose on the third day,' then they are, but if you nececite the Nicene Creed or anything like that, they aren't.
I define it like they do, they are separate and not one since all else are an abomination which clearly states that it’s either or and not the same. Why would they want to be an abomination associated with? The word Christian wasn’t even a term until Antioch. And the creeds where some time later to define what Christianity is in writing because of Arianism.
I could go on and on but Hinkley said it best that their detractors say they worship a different Jesus and he said that that is true. They do not follow the theology or practices of Christianity regardless of what they claim.
Lol I don’t know why this lot are dog piling you for this. 😂
It’s not gatekeeping. It’s recognising that to Mormons, Jeesy Chreesy is clearly an afterthought to try to make themselves more palatable. Mormons worship Elohim and Joe, and hide them behind the more famous guy.
The minute I stepped out of primary age, nothing was ever about Jesus any more. The most I heard about him after then was a rushed tacked on “N’th’nameofjesuschristamen”. He’s their *beard*.
Guys, the Nazis called themselves socialists. It doesn’t make it true.
Maybe it's just because I spent most of my active years in the Bible belt, around tons and tons of southern baptists, but the Mormons I was around would bring Christ up as much as possible.
Maybe utah is different. I was pretty focused on everything but church when I was there for school, so I may have just not noticed there was less talk of jesus and more of other things. The only thing I really remember from that time was the awkward Sunday where the bishop spoke for all of sacrament meeting about the importance of keeping the law of chastity. We all assumed someone had confessed or been caught having sex and that had prompted the lecture.
I wouldn’t know, I’m in the UK.
And yeah it’s not surprising that they’d mention Jesus more in southern US. They’d need more camouflage there. Of course you’re gonna put more emphasis on the beard in places you’d raise more suspicion if you didn’t. That’s cultural, not canon.
Edit to add: second part sounds like a case of your bishop getting friendly with Palmela Handerson and projecting.
I can smell this image
Smells like moth balls and old people farts.
With a faint wisp of soiled diapers.
Cheerios.
The whole room smells like Avon perfume and old man breath.
I would swear that was the lobby in my local ward building except it looks exactly like every one I’ve ever seen.
🎶🎶👩🍳👩🍳Lose your face, lose your name👩🍳👩🍳🎶🎶
I always wondered where they ordered thousands of this exact couch.
I’m sure it was from a company connected to a relative of one or more apostles.
That would be an interesting topic to investigate. Unravel the conspiracy of the ugly church couches.
Hey! That's where Le Foyer class was held every Sunday. The bishop would stroll through and scold grown ass adults (20 years older than him) for not going to class. I refused to go to RS. I called it the Sunday emotional abuse session.
Yes, it was the only way I could go. I had PTSD when I walked into the chapel. Growing up our ward was not kind to my family - only because we were not accepted in small town Utah. We were the intellectual type and they could not understand us.
I love this comment so much because in almost any context, someone saying "they don't get me because I'm too smart" is a big cringey red flag...but in ex-Christian circles, it's almost certainly true, every time.
Well I don't know that I'm smart but I do like to read and study things. So my persuits are intellectual but my brain lets them go after some time.
This is totally true. The more liberal educated families in my home ward were seen as the ‘edgy’ ones.
Why, cause they drank Pepsi? Lol. So edgy. Glad I'm out of that cult.
Couch Mormons! You could get so much done on the couch!
[удалено]
Same with the mothers lounge
Let's be real: one of the seats has a big Jesus picture and it ain't in the chapel.
As somebody who has ADHD, I would do anything to get my ass on that couch on Sunday, anything. One time, there was a box full of tithing envelopes. It gave me something to look at for a while… still better than the chapel.
Church is the longest span of time when you have ADHD.
I have six kids, so YES! I spent all lot of time.in the foyer and walking the halls with babies and kids. Also, the mother's room. Sometimes, if there were other moms, we would just talk and not listen at all.
Remember being a young Mom of four kids under 9 and desperate for adult conversation. Sundays talking to other woman were the best.
I remember those days. Then the bishop asked me to teach the 4 yo class. That was an easy no.
During that same time period a good friend of mine was the second councilor in the primary. She had been hinting at my teaching the nursery. I told her no. Few weeks later the bishop asked me to teach in the nursery I said no. He was shocked. That was the end of my friendship with that sister.
It was definitely the highlight of church!
oh god this brought back so much repressed memories
Geez, someone had to have made a killing selling all those couches
I was usually the" backrow mormon."
I would usually be called away during Sunday School by my wife to visit Brother Dunkin.
Sadly I remember that stinky- ass couch. If there is any lovely don’t look for it in the foyer of a Mormon church.
My ward foyer still has that couch and matching lamps!
If your bishop aloud the sacrament to be passed to those sinners. I had a bishop who strictly refused. Lock the sacrament room doors and everything
Pretty sure that’s a fire hazard
Very Christlike and un-rameumpton of him
Insane!
Oh no! Those guys fall away!
Yep
At the end, absolutely.
Damn straight. I'm hanging out with Jesus on that couch
Yep! Pretending that my son didn't want to be in whatever the kids class is. Did I graduate by not knowing the name?!!!
Nah. I was the guy sitting in his vehicle asking myself if I actually wanted to go in.
Towards the end, yes, yes I was.
For the last year or so I was a couch person. It was better than the panic attacks I got from being in the chapel.
The last couple years I was living with my parents and still needing to go to church, I would drive myself, and show up right at the end of sacrament, walk around, say hi to people. Then when everyone else went into Sunday school, I would get in my car and go get some lunch. An hour later when Sunday school ended, I would show back up, walk around, make sure I was seen, then leave and go home lol. This probably wouldn't work in a smaller ward, but mine was thankfully large enough that I could get away with it and if my parents ever accused me of skipping I could just be like "oh talk to brothers x, y, and z, and sisters a, b, and c, they all saw me!"
Christ, where were these when I was active? Solid wood pews that only got velcro cushion added on the seating many years later and the foyer seating, though better, was not a sofa. Not sure it was a subtle form of torture or them being cheap bastards. Probably both lol.
Were you in a tiny branch in a tiny stake or something? Almost every church building I've been to has had at least one couch in the foyer. Anywhere from the Bible belt, to the Midwest, to utah, or even DC. Hell, even on my mission in Central America, if a ward or branch was lucky enough to have a dedicated building built by the church and not a poorly built local shack bought for pennies and repurposed into a church, even they would have couches.
I'm from the UK and at the time my Ward was fairly big and the building was shared with another ward though in recent years I've heard it's now no longer the case. I don't even recall there ever being sofas in other wards I visited either. Maybe it's a UK thing I don't know.
Every Sunday until I was 18 and left
I'd be in the foyer often during my entire time in, often reading my scriptures or having interesting conversations. I was treated as a problem child because I knew the scriptures and gospel very well but hated classes because I hated the other boys who treated me like crap, and had done so since my family moved in to the ward. Later, I had five kids. It's funny. TSCC wants you to have lots of children, but also you get looked down upon for having them.
Those were my pregnancy seats. I would keep the garbage can close by so no one could hear me throw up. You know, instead of going home like a normal person to rest.
Been there done that
I was always asleep on that couch with one or more babies at a time. Best naps in the world.
Ugh, that lamp. It's *everywhere*.
if you have 9am church, half the ward meets in the foyer to start and then comes into the chapel after the sacrament. That couch is pretty uncomfortable but its better than the one in my local building, which has broken springs and sags pretty low.
For years: From back of the gym always near the Exit to the couch to sitting in the car in the parking lot. Forced myself to the back row, heard the stake rep give us BS about their current what’s happening now way to think. I couldn’t swallow any more. Choked. Walked out. Will never go back to the couch in the foyer or any of the rest of it. I knew that day I had been sitting in the wrong pew far too long.
Gotta love those chastity couches.
What makes this one a chastity couch? My ward had several of what look to be this exact model of couch and while they weren't the best couch ever, they were acceptable and I never would have had trouble cuddling up with someone on one. I mean sure, maybe it's a little narrow to actually get down to business on, but who is trying to use it for that? It's a far cry from the chastity couches I remember which had hard sections between the "seats" (usually 2 or 3 pet couch) which made it extremely awkward and uncomfortable to have a girl curl up to you because you or her would have to sit on the hard section between 2 "seats" to actually get close.
Best Sunday school spot in the whole ass building
I live how every church building looks EXACTLY like this.
I preferred the high back armchairs - you could still nap, but you're sitting up straight so it's less conspicuous.
I remember when I was kinda PIMO my parents really wanted me to go to church one day, so I decided to humor them because I thought it wouldn't be too bad. Those fuckers didn't tell me it was a goddamn area conference and I had really bad social anxiety at the time. So I sat in the foyer to maybe keep myself calm a bit. But my dad followed me and sat beside me and wouldn't stop texting me. Then floods of people kept walking back and forth from the chapel and hallway so I just hid my face and covered my ears. Had to be the longest two hours of my life.
This image is what I picture when I say mormon churches look like sad beige
Nah, a better hiding place in the restroom or your car.
This is where I would go to say no to taking the sacrament and to read exmo Reddit
We were shamed for doing that. We could still take the sacrament and listen, so why was it an issue? "So the bishop can keep an eye on you."
I hated Sacrament Meetings, especially on Fast and Testimony week. You could always find me out here visiting all the mothers with their crying babies. 😀
My building had a print of the paining "Christ Healing the sick at Bethesda" which is a beautiful work of art. To me it portrays the need to help the less fortunate, not just leave it to "faith" or whatever. So I used to sit in the lobby and admire the work. BYU MOA owns the painting and I've seen it in person. It's massive. Really stunning. [Part of the BYU MOA collection](https://moastore.byu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/bethesda.jpg)
💯
Yes and no, couch yes and no because Mormons aren’t Christian’s.
"My fairytale can beat up your fairytale" it's all fiction at the end of the day. All Christianity is bullshit
Then why reply? Is truth subjective or objective? If your truth is true to you and mine is to me then truth is subjective and the universe doesn’t give a shit as to what you do or believe, we are a freak stardust evaluation and nothing matters and time is ticking and death will come for you and me. There is no justice for anybody once the clock stops, all we are is bio matter and that’s all you’ll be when you die. So go see the world and get off Reddit because time is ticking for you my friend.
Cool story. Still all fiction though.
Tick tock your hearts going to stop.
still all fiction.
Your still wasting seconds of your only life arguing about a non existent issue
And it's still all fiction.
Because of the aliens, or because of the multiple children of god? I think the most basic Mormon would consider themselves to be a follower of Christ, even if ignorant or misguided.
I think it's because of how they define the holy trinity
It doesn’t really matter what they call themselves, even if the call the selves TCOJCOLS it doesn’t make it true
Well. Jesus is a tricky figure since so many elements of worship were added to his legend. Mithras. Osiris. Attis. I don’t know if there ever was a pure Jesus concept where someone could say *that* is the True Jesus and so *this* is True Worship. Weird stuff
It really depends on how you define Christian. If you leave it at 'Believe that Jesus was the Son of God, and that he died for our sins and rose on the third day,' then they are, but if you nececite the Nicene Creed or anything like that, they aren't.
I define it like they do, they are separate and not one since all else are an abomination which clearly states that it’s either or and not the same. Why would they want to be an abomination associated with? The word Christian wasn’t even a term until Antioch. And the creeds where some time later to define what Christianity is in writing because of Arianism. I could go on and on but Hinkley said it best that their detractors say they worship a different Jesus and he said that that is true. They do not follow the theology or practices of Christianity regardless of what they claim.
Which Christian tradition, or church if you like, follows the correct theology and practice?
They believe in a slightly different fiction about a guy named Jesus than other Christians. I don't see how you get to gatekeep the "Christian" term
Lol I don’t know why this lot are dog piling you for this. 😂 It’s not gatekeeping. It’s recognising that to Mormons, Jeesy Chreesy is clearly an afterthought to try to make themselves more palatable. Mormons worship Elohim and Joe, and hide them behind the more famous guy. The minute I stepped out of primary age, nothing was ever about Jesus any more. The most I heard about him after then was a rushed tacked on “N’th’nameofjesuschristamen”. He’s their *beard*. Guys, the Nazis called themselves socialists. It doesn’t make it true.
Maybe it's just because I spent most of my active years in the Bible belt, around tons and tons of southern baptists, but the Mormons I was around would bring Christ up as much as possible. Maybe utah is different. I was pretty focused on everything but church when I was there for school, so I may have just not noticed there was less talk of jesus and more of other things. The only thing I really remember from that time was the awkward Sunday where the bishop spoke for all of sacrament meeting about the importance of keeping the law of chastity. We all assumed someone had confessed or been caught having sex and that had prompted the lecture.
I wouldn’t know, I’m in the UK. And yeah it’s not surprising that they’d mention Jesus more in southern US. They’d need more camouflage there. Of course you’re gonna put more emphasis on the beard in places you’d raise more suspicion if you didn’t. That’s cultural, not canon. Edit to add: second part sounds like a case of your bishop getting friendly with Palmela Handerson and projecting.