#LIGHTTHEWORLD

[glass shelf]

Is it just me or have posts on Facebook about this died off? The first day was really annoying, the second day was almost as bad, day 3, nothing. Now watch, they'll all come back because of FHE tonight.

I saw some last night, but I suspect is was the double-dip of a PR act and FHE. I think it will keep tapering off.

[Linked]

The focus on branding in the church was a big shelf item for me and has always bothered me. #Lighttheworld is more of the same from the marketing and sales entity that is the church. I hate the marketing part of #Lighttheworld with the fury of 1000 suns.

With that said. The primary presidency gave a #Lighttheworld handout to all the primary kids the last Sunday in November with a calendar and what the kids should do each day to #Lighttheworld. My son brought his home and was very excited to start. I had to take a step back from it while I processed how much I hated the marketing of #Lighttheworld. Now I have gotten over it, and I really like that my son is excited to do something good and helpful and serve everyday! That is exactly what I want for my son. So now I am helping him do his daily service, and tweaking any of the tasks that aren't actually service. Yesterday we were supposed to pray for someone who is sick, so on top of that we took a treat over to a neighbor friend of my son's who has had a cold. And it was the epitome of what I hope Christmas becomes for my kids.

So, I hate #Lighttheworld, and I love #Lighttheworld. And you can too! Only 10% of your income required, and you will need to badger your social media circles.

[Culper Jr.]

It's so funny to me how the church does a couple of minor one time service projects and thinks it's special. Many of the churches around my area do incredible long term service; real service like feeding the hungry, visiting the sick and lonely, taking care of the disabled. I've done more service with my tae kwon do class than with the church. Unless you count useless meetings and calling for home teaching stats as service.

[Newme]

It's just the Church saying "look, see we aren't self-absorbed. We don't just care about our organization. We care about the world, and our members are lighting it". But all the Facebook posts and tweets and social media whatevers don't change the fact that the Church really is self-absorbed and cares only about itself. When it tries to convince you otherwise it is just PR. It doesn't even care about its members, let alone the rest of the world.

To be fair, I'd say some of the church leaders might care, but overall, they have chosen to steal from members and the poor - they actually steal - and they're dishonest financially.

1. They charge money for celestial worthiness - to get a temple recommend - and other manipulations like tithing settlements.
2. They charge based on income rather than increase, which causes poverty instead of preventing or lessening burdens, taking what is not theirs.
3. They hide how money is spent but Oaks admitted that no tithes are given to the poor - thereby he admitted that they as church leaders disobey the law of the tithing which states (Deut 14:28-29) that at least 1/3 of TITHES are to be given to the poor - so they also steal from the poor.

What I'd like to "light the world" about is how tithes should be gathered and spent in truly Godly ways - which is NOT how lds church leaders work.
According to the WHO, almost 1,000,000,000 (1/7th) of the world's population is "chronically hungry" - many die EVERY DAY due to hunger-related causes.
If the church actually invested 1/3 of their money for the poor - imagine how many lives would be saved - how much suffering would be lessened!

[Enoch Witty]

This campaign was doomed from the start. The corporate church likes to set expectations really high, on everything, from the mundane to the profound. It doesn't differentiate or prioritize, just says that it's all important and we need to do everything right, all the time.

This never happens. How many Mormon families have you known that have set a goal to start doing something consistently (scripture study, family prayer, FHE, etc.) and then it completely falls apart after the second or third attempt?

That was #LightTheWorld from the start. I bet that every single day, fewer posts on the subject are being shared. There might be a bump the week of Christmas, but come on. The church could have set a goal that each family/ward/stake/whatever could have chosen one meaningful, large service project for the month, and it might have been done. But a different task every day? With encouragement to shout our alms before men?

Yeah, that was going to taper off before the end of the first week. And while some of the ideas on the calendar are great, others are not service:

Dec 2: Example: Learn about an ancestor and their story [so you can do their temple work for the eighth time this decade.]
Dec 6: Example: Post your favorite scripture on social media [so your friends can identify the most sanctimonious one.]
Dec 8: Example: Ask God how you can be an answer to someone else’s prayer [but that's it, don't actually do any service.]
Dec 11: Example: Purchase a picture of Jesus for your child’s room [preferably from Deseret Books!]
Dec 13: Example: Think about a time you relied on God [like when I got the EQ to help me move rather than pay for professionals!]
Dec 15: Example: Listen to Christmas hymns [really running out of ideas here, guys, huh?]
Dec 16: Example: Give only encouragement [to leave the church] online
Dec 18: Example: Turn off your phone [and the internet] for a few hours [or preferably, for the rest of your life. Information = bad!]
Dec 21: Example: Be kind instead of right for today [because it's impossible to do both!].
Dec 22: Example: Offer a prayer of thanks, no requests [then post about it on social media!]

[wtfluff]

Relevant

[shadow]

Dec 6: Example: Post your favorite scripture on social media [so your friends can identify the most sanctimonious one.]

I'm not on any social media, but as my wife was scrolling through her FB feed last night, I noticed a post from a new ward member. It was a scripture [don't remember which one], but the message that she got from the scripture was that she shouldn't feel guilty for all of her material blessings and that it was okay to be happy with all of her stuff. So, not only was she able to identify as the most sanctimonious, but also the most ostentatious. A real twofer.

[wtfluff]

#GASLIGHTTHEWORLD

(My new favorite #hashtag stolen from reddit.)

[Ghost]

I haven't bothered to read much about this campaign, but I did see a short video someone posted that contrasted Jesus helping people with normal people doing things that were within their power. That made me think that having a symbol/legend like Jesus can be a good thing regardless of which parts of the story are historically accurate.

If members are encouraged to boast about their specific good deeds rather than simply encouraging others to find good things to do, then I guess that's not so great. But even then, I suppose that if someone engages in true service and then wants to be recognized for it, that person's personality flaws don't negate the good that was done.

Also, I have to defend the "Helping Hands" efforts. In my area, at least, they have done large-scale work after disasters on many occasions. I have no problem wearing the yellow shirt since I don't really care who gets "credit" and in my case the LDS church actually does deserve the credit for getting me out there to help when I otherwise wouldn't know where to start or might not bother at all. They don't always have the shirts, though, and I've never seen anyone who cared if someone didn't wear one. (I didn't take one for one project because I knew I had one at home already.)

I hope my mentioning that I have taken part in such projects doesn't come across as the very thing being criticized here. Just for the record, I'm nobody special and I don't do nearly as many good deeds as I could do.

[LaMachina]

Whenever I see this hastag I can't help but think of this:

[ulmite]

I agree with Ghost that encouraging people to serve is a good thing. I would even say that many of your criticisms seem to be addressing the Church in general, not this specific thing. I'd cut the PR department some slack for having to come up with *24* different feasible acts of 'service' ; the response by feminist mormon housewives suffered the same fate, i.e. the first 10 or so are original and then you get bogged down. Not saying I could do better, just that it's hard.
I hardly use social media, but telling members to post daily is overboard and definitely obnoxious.
I wore a yellow shirt once and I hated it because I hate wearing clothes that I haven't bonded with, which takes about 3 wash cycles for jeans, 4-5 for T-shirts, 20-30 sundays for a suit jacket, and since I was a deacon and counting for white shirts and even longer for dress pants!

[StarbucksMom]

This is what I am posting to civilly express a few of my ideas about # lighttheworld

"I want to thank all the good people, community service organizations, and churches who make it a priority to give service whenever, wherever, and to whomever it is needed without seeking acknowledgment from others. There are some amazingly unselfish people and organizations here in Anchorage who consistently and quietly give generously of their time, talents, and money. You know who you are, May you continue to prosper with generosity in your heart, an able body, and the support of your friends and family.

Liberated, this is PURE GOLD. Just wondering what the response was?

[Lithium Sunset]

This is starting to annoy me on Facebook...

[Not Buying It]

#LIGHTTHEWORLD makes members think they are having a positive impact on the world, and to be fair some of them are doing things as a result that are. I shouldn't disparage that. But it's really just a rah-rah pep rally sort of activity to help remind members how great we are. It isn't about service, it is about branding and strengthening member's connections to the Church. It's like when we were all encouraged to go buy tickets to see "Meet the Mormons" a few years back, members get to feel like the Church makes a difference in the world, when in reality it is still just a relatively small and insignificant organization in the world trying to get its members to do some good things, just like lots of other organizations try to get their members to do good things.

Should LDS Church members be as proud of their #LIGHTTHEWORLD as people who work with the Salvation Army, which has done much more at the holidays for far longer?

Meh. I'm unimpressed.

[wtfluff]

But it's really just a rah-rah pep rally sort of activity to help remind members how great we are. It isn't about service, it is about branding and strengthening member's connections to the Church.

#iampartofanadcampaign

[AzCommando]

Should LDS Church members be as proud of their #LIGHTTHEWORLD as people who work with the Salvation Army, which has done much more at the holidays for far longer?

I have been reading up on the Salvation Army recently. If I was looking for another religion..... What Jesus Taught and what Christianity should be. IMHO Not to mention financial transparency, and it's all on their website. ( sorry to jump in here )

[Liberated Me]

This is what I am posting to civilly express a few of my ideas about # lighttheworld

"I want to thank all the good people, community service organizations, and churches who make it a priority to give service whenever, wherever, and to whomever it is needed without seeking acknowledgment from others. There are some amazingly unselfish people and organizations here in Anchorage who consistently and quietly give generously of their time, talents, and money. You know who you are, May you continue to prosper with generosity in your heart, an able body, and the support of your friends and family.

Liberated, this is PURE GOLD. Just wondering what the response was?

Late to the party, sorry I haven't been on this site much lately. I noticed that a few close friends stopped doing the hashtag on Facebook immediately and that there was generally no acknowlegement from any of my LDS friends.