A plethora of Jack Mormons
I know a lot of people that really qualify as Jack Mormons. Jack Mormons are those who really kinda believe it, but don’t really want to live it, so they go about doing what they want eventually intending to end up back in the jesus jammies and at the Sunday three hour meetings. JMs used to bug me a lot, because I felt it was hypocritical. Either you BELIEVED IT and LIVED IT, or you didn’t.
Nowadays, I’m too tired to even worry whether or not my socks match, so I’m not so concerned with their obvious hypocrisy. I am very good friends with more than a few of them.
Plus, in all honesty, what does it really matter? Hey, if you want to invest in some ugly underwear, and give away your money and time, more power to you. I don’t have enough time as it is. And my granny panties are as far as I am going in the ugly underwear department.
But it leads me to wonder how many Jack Mormons are also just playing the “cultural” game. I mean, if you REALLY believed it, wouldn’t you be living it under the fear of God. You know what happens when he gets pissed off. Say, Soddom and Gommorah? Noah’s Ark? In other words, maybe it’s just lip service to a community that expects so much of its people. Maybe they aren’t really going to “go back” at all, but just want to make peace with family members by making nice and pretending agreement.
What do you think?
November 28th, 2009 at 6:28 am
Almost certainly the latter. If you go to exmormon.org, you’ll find any number of people who don’t believe it anymore going along to get along.
November 28th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Like most things, I think there is a spectrum. I know many JMs that definitely don’t believe, but put on the front for the family.
But I think the most common type is one that doesn’t spend much time studying the doctrine or the history. When “we” tell them about the contradictions and evidence against the truth claims, they kinda go blank. They figure there are answers to the issues that the “smarter” scholars have that would satisfy them, but they’re really not interested in the research process. Subconsciously I think they just don’t want to know, then they would have to change and confront family…and nobody like conflict in the family!
…It’s just worth it to them
~Rick
November 28th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
It’s good for business to be LDS in Utah. My brother is a prime example. He’s a non-believer who attends church every Sunday and wears the Jesus Jammies! He wouldn’t make nearly as many sales if he was a ‘gentile’.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
I have to agree with Wendy…it’s good for business. I once dated a man that was LDS, and he spoke as if he were active and well, a TBM, but his conduct was against what all TBM’s know as moral….I asked him once why he still wears his garments. He was honest and told me that certain people expect it, including his parents (He’s over 50) and his clients. I was so surprised. The end of wearing garments for me was a conscious decision made because I knew that I didn’t choose to live my life the way I was any more. I made that decision regardless of my employment or my parents..which believe me was not an easy decision….
Jack Mormons to me were just like the “less active”, but for some reason I always had a picture in my mind that these were the rebellious people…not just less active..they choose to get in trouble and be bikers, and drink, and like they knew better or something…of course this was through the eyes of a young girl, and highly influenced by the judgment of my faith and family….sooooo glad that’s not the place I’m at now….
Live and Let Live I say…
Love and Light
Mindy
Thanks for the thought provoking post…
December 10th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
I think that this situation occurs in all religions. People don’t want to hurt their family members or be left out of the family, so they talk the talk (whatever talk that is) but don’t walk the walk. This is not something that is isolated to the Mormon church.
December 12th, 2009 at 9:53 am
I refuse to be a Jack Mormon, I love my family and hate to disappoint them, but I rather not go to church at all than be a hypocrite. I don’t believe in half the things I used to think I believed in so why be fake? It’s just to much work! Not to mention I look a lot better in my current underwear.
December 12th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Of course, Some Chilean Woman - you left Mormonism. I read some of the posts on your blog. You can’t be a Mormon woman; you enjoy sex.
Carl
December 26th, 2009 at 12:33 am
I suspect the latter is true more often than not. I grew up in a TBM family in Spanish Fork Utah in the 60’s and 70’s. I later married a gentile girl and became a “Jack Mormon” as a young adult.
The truth is I believed in Jesus and instinctively trusted the Bible (still do) I didn’t however have any faith in the BOM or believe in the church (still don’t!).
In any case like a lot of Jack Mormons I had a lot of problems with alcohol, tobacco, and other mundane consumables the word of wisdom frowns upon.
It wasn’t until many years later that I became a born again Christian quit drinking and smoking and finally came out of the “Jack Mormon” closet. Needless to say my TBM family were all seriously distressed by this change and the family was in an uproar.
It’s funny, my family would have preferred me to remain a troubled Jack Mormon than to be a happy, clean and sober Christian.