Growing Up in a Mormon Family

If you are born and raised in Utah, there is approximately a sixty percent chance that at least one of your parents is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly referred to as the Mormon Church. Since the LDS Church encourages its members to lead a lifestyle very different from what is commonly accepted in today's world, people outside of the Church often wonder how children, teens, and young adults can possibly be expected to live up to the expectations placed upon them by a strict religious upbringing.

I am one of those Utahns born and raised in a home where both of my parents are active Latter-day Saints. As part of my upbringing, we attended Sunday church meetings for three hours every week; we held Family Home Evening (a time dedicated to family togetherness, including songs, prayer, gospel study, a family activity, and, of course, refreshments) one night a week; we participated in daily scripture study and family prayer; we were taught to pray individual every morning and night, and to offer prayers of thanks before every meal; during our teenage years we attended mid-week activities that ranged from hiking and swimming in the summer to learning homemaking or self-reliance skills or attending a local concert or theatrical performance.

In addition to all of the meetings and activities that we were expected to attend, there were other daily rules and guidelines we were expected to adhere to. Church leaders have asked that we avoid R-rated movies and other forms of entertainment that include pervasive sexuality, nudity, drug use, profanity, and violence. We are commanded to abstain from drugs and alcoholic drinks, cigarettes and other forms of tobacco, coffee, tea, and it is recommended that we avoid other caffeinated beverages. We are also commanded to avoid pre-marital sexual relations of any sort, including viewing pornography.

All in all, many people wonder just what it is that members of the Mormon Church are allowed to do, and how is it possible to abide to such a strict set of rules and restrictions? Well, I can attest to the fact that you will not find a "perfect" Latter-day Saint, though you will find many members of the LDS Church all over the world who are actively trying to live the gospel on a daily basis and to do all that is required of them.

When approached with the right attitude, any member of the church young or old can recognize that the guidelines set forth by the Church are for our health, safety, and protection. Living a morally clean life enable one to avoid many pains, regrets, and loss of freedoms associated with drug and alcohol use, all forms of addiction, premarital sex and the ensuing consequences, and legal repercussions from breaking the laws of the land.

Many Mormons deal with persecution for the sake of their religion. Some converts to the Church have been disowned by their families or have lost ties to all former friends and colleagues as a result of Church membership. Yet, those who fully live their religion can attest to the fact that they enjoy greater health, freedom, and happiness by living gospel standards.

It may not be easy to be raised in a strict religious home in today's world, where temptations are accepted as commonplace, but it is not impossible. True, mistakes will be made as each of us succumb to human nature, but there are youth in the world both inside and outside of LDS Church membership who have come to recognize the value behind living morally clean lives, and they are willing to take a stand and do their part to better themselves and those around them.

Growing up LDS has enabled me to avoid addictions that plague those around me; it has given me good parenting and homemaking skills that enable me to be a better wife and mother; it has provided me with friends and "family" who love and willingly serve one another no matter where I live; it has taught me how to forgive others and, more importantly, how to forgive myself.

We are given laws and rule to follow in order to keep us and others safe. Governments all over the world enact and enforce laws designed to keep their citizens safe and free. A rancher builds fences and corrals to keep his animals safe from predators and to keep them from becoming lost or hurt. It is the same with the guidelines set forth by churches everywhere: commandments are created to keep us safe, happy, healthy, and free.