Discussion With A Mormon

~Anastasia~

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Most Orthodox in this country are so focused on their ethnicity that it causes them to have a very myopic view on things. This I think is the primary issue that is the cause of the lack of an overall unified vision and message. The vision and message is there, its not being articulated.

Where do you live Kylissa? I'm asking because I'm wondering if you're from a part of the country that doesn't have a large Mormon or Jewish population (the Jews are similar in this respect to the Mormons) I grew up in the DC area and now live in Baltimore, there is a very large and influential Jewish population in this area, as well as a large Mormon presence (more so in DC than Baltimore)

One famous landmark in the DC area is the Mormon temple in Kensington MD, a few miles outside DC.

I'm asking this because I've been able to compare what they are like (Jews and Mormons) to what we are like (Orthodox) having grown up with many Jewish and Mormon friends, neighbors, teachers, doctors, etc.

Their ethnicity is very important to the Greeks in my parish. They are very warmly welcoming of outsiders, but they hold tightly to their language, customs, history, and so on.

I live in northwest Florida. I have known a few Jews here, and there are Mormons. Both are a small minority though, as far as I am aware. The religious sector is, I think, heavily Baptist and mixed Pentecostal, for the most part, with I think Catholics after that. I think most others are minorities. I'm not sure there is still a Jewish place of worship, but there used to be. Mormon I wouldn't know, but they visit from time to time.

I have heard before that cradle Orthodox families living in isolation are socially very compatible with Jewish families, especially in their cohesiveness. Which is interesting, I found the Jews in general to be very welcoming and socially much like the Greeks.
 
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~Anastasia~

† Handmaid of God †
Dec 1, 2013
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Florida panhandle, USA
✟922,745.00
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United States
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gzt, you are reading waaaaayyy too much into what I'm saying. Take note that I specifically mentioned that I have experience growing up amongst a significant Jewish and Mormon minority presence and saw/experienced first hand the way they do things and how that impacts their communities.

My comment automatically puts it on the macro level, you are focusing on the micro/interpersonal relationships, that's not what I'm talking about.

Yes, I'm certainly not friends with everyone. Some are in fact "hard to love" but I find myself serving with them, which is good for me. And some are socially just of a very different kind, and that's ok too. We do greet each other sometimes at coffee hour though. And I think it's more like many circles, which overlap other circles, which overlap others, that makes a kind of connection where otherwise there is none. We care for others because they are part of the Body of Christ, and sometimes because they matter to people who matter to us.

At least that's what I see?
 
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