We were lucky to have Brother Wilcox back to teach today. What a great class! We are reading in Romans where Paul has to regulate on the Jews and the Gentiles because the Gentiles are eating pork and the Jews are judging them and telling them they are not good Christians.

Brother Wilcox knows how to take the things that Paul went through and relate them to similar situations that we go through in our lives today. Makes it it so much easier to understand! Anyway, these are the issues he brought up that we may either do or find ourselves judging other people for doing within the "mormon community".

To drink coke or not?

Swearing

Hunting

(office pool, betting)

Wearing shorts? Nylons to church? flip flops?

Wearing white shirt and conservative tie

Living in big house...excess

Playing bunko

Long hair on men...facial hair

Homework on Sunday?

Eating out on Sunday when traveling

Family size

Face cards, dice

Music-questionable movies rated pg13
He had us all laughing as he went over each one...he was really tippy toeing around each one for fear of offending anyone and wouldn't say whether he thought it was wrong or not...except wearing a white shirt...he was totally against having to wear a white shirt every day. (probably because he has to dress every day in a shirt and tie for work.) It was pretty interesting and an eye opener for me to think about these things and to consider if I was a judger ( you are bad because you do these things! or a despiser ( "You are fanatics!" "lighten up!") or a set at naughter ( don't care what people think about them)
Paul had a good case for both sides and tried to persuade them rather than impose his authority on them ( "The brethren said you have to do this or else!")

He told the judgers to stop judging...the decisions these people were making were between them and their God...He will do the judging. Don't try to impose your standards on someone else!

Then he told the despisers to consider what they were doing...does it impact other people? Couldn't you compromise a little to have unity and peace with the people around you that are affected by your actions? What a great message! One I needed to hear!

I try not to judge people, and consider myself pretty passive as to what others do. I am one of those live and let live type of people and would never say anything to anyone about what they were doing; but in my mind, I realize that I do judge people on some things. What came to my mind was keeping the Sabbath day holy. It goes back to what Paul was saying though about why people do the things they do and the way that they were brought up and the standards they were expected to keep.

I was raised in a home where you kept the sabbath day holy. You NEVER went to a store or a resturant on Sunday. You didn't play sports on Sunday. Didn't go on outings on Sunday. We just went to church, (this was back when the meetings were seperate, so it pretty much took up the whole day.) We would go visit relatives or play games or nap or read or just sit around together and visit. Sometimes I would think my parents were too strict as I watched some of my friends go out to eat, or go to movies or whatever they wanted on Sunday, But as I got older, I was grateful for the standards they set and expected me to keep. It just made it easier when I was placed in those situations... I knew what I would do because the decision had already been made. We have tried to teach our kids to keep the Sabbath day holy...Hope they will choose to live their lives that way...but then again, after we have taught them the best we can, then it is up to them to choose what they will do.

Anyway, I know that not all people were raised that way, and everyone has a different idea of what keeping the Sabbath day holy means. So I am going to try to not judge like that anymore. And as far as doing some of those other things on his list...I am totally guilty, but I don't think they are bad things. I'm going to consider if any of those things have an impact on the people I love though, and if they do, I would stop doing them .

I always come away from his class with my head full of things to contemplate and things to do to try to be a better me.