I live in an area within the “shadow” of SLC. If this girl is looking for a temple marraige, you will have to convert, and no, your family will not be allowed to attend. But that is just the beginning, and I have no intention of laying out the rest of it. There have been any number of convert marraiges, but there are expectations well beyond just getting married. What is being a good Mormon goes well beyond church on Sunday. Do yourself and this girl a favor. Do your homework and talk to as many of the faith and those not of the faith as you can. Mormonism isn’t for everyone, and you may decide that there is a little too much involved to pursue the relationship seriously.
I know a fair amount of Mormons that drink. They do it on the DL, granted, but they do it. And I’ll put good money down on many Mormons having a niiiice cup of coffee to help get the day started.
Like anything else, a certain amount of hypocrisy is expected.
Are you under the illusion that there is only one “true love” out there? Considering the population of this planet, and the fact that most people get married to a person that lives within 5 miles of where they grew up, I find that highly unlikely.
There is a difference between the notion of “one true love” and simply that of “true love”. As I said earlier, every relationship involves compromise. If both parties are unwilling to compromise on an issue, well, either one party has to simply let go or they have to break up. From there, it is all about how important the issue is.
From my perspective, atheism vs. theism is a silly issue to break up on. Perhaps it is because I was raised atheist, so I don’t have any real negative associations with theism (aside from wackjobs using religion as a political tool), but if it were important for my girlfriend for us to, say, silently sit for twenty-minutes a day in from of some statue of a fat dude, well, she is worth twenty minutes a day. Like how another girlfriend was worth going to Meeting and sitting silently for 90 minutes a week. Or how it was important for my Grandmother that we go and attend Mass for my Grandfather for two-hours at his funeral. Small, small sacrifices that just take up a moment of time for the non-believer but for the believer are of immeasurable value.
At the end of the day, it is a gesture. If the juice is worth the squeeze, make it. If not, well, it is time to drop out.
I agree, but there is a difference between a theist and a Jehovah’s Witness or a Mormon. Depends on how seriously they take the religion, but it’s very difficult not to take those two seriously. They are built under fundamentalist ideals.
Agreed. And in the case of my brother, mild catholicism was an easy compromise to make. Had my sister-in-law been a JW, I’d wager that she wouldn’t be my sister-in-law at present . . . but then again, my brother probably wouldn’t have dated her either had that been the case. Given that the OP involves people who have decided to date, I’d say that he has already made the decision that the juice is probably worth the squeeze and is, presently, looking for a justification to support that reasoning.
have fun would ya? and if you get serious, talk it out. You will be surprised to know that you don’t just marry the person, but their family and their culture. I have found that sometimes in a marriage you have to compromise with religion allowing your spouse, who may have the stronger faith to take the family in that direction. If you don’t care, just respect her faith and her ways. But I repeat:
You don’t just marry a person, but the whole shebang - including the rules of her church, her hangups, her anxiety and her annoying grandmother. Easier to fall for an agnostic, but life isn’t supposed to be easy, now - is it? Respect and love each other, but don’t get married with your eyes closed, ok? Truth? Wait til you are 30 and you will have a better shot. at knowing yourself and what you need and more importantly what you deserve… .