vasectomy

[danimal]

I was thumbing through the Church Handbook the other night when I saw a section on vasectomies. I was surprised to see that the church not only discouraged them, but said that Bishops should be consulted in making this decision.

I think this is bizarre for 2 reasons:
1. This is buried in the back of the CHI where no regular church member will read it. I know lots of active men who have had them and know they didn't even think to consult their bishop.
2. I don't get why the church really cares. They got over birth control decades ago. Think of it as a condom that doesn't wear out.

[Levin]

My brother got a vasectomy right before he was called as Bishop; it was funny when he told me about reading the Church Handbook.

I probably wouldn't get a vasectomy because what if my wife passed away and I got remarried to a hot little thing who wanted to have my children?

[PaloAltoCougar]

Originally Posted by Levin

My brother got a vasectomy right before he was called as Bishop; it was funny when he told me about reading the Church Handbook.

Someone extremely close to me had the Big Snip four months before being called as Bishop, and did so only after conferring with his wife and urologist--Church authorities were not consulted. But during the calling interview I, I mean the guy really close to me, told the stake president about what had happened, and asked (hopefully perhaps) whether that might disqualify one for office. The stake president, a great guy who went on to serve as mission and temple president in Africa, blew off the concern and said that while such things "aren't recommended," it's ultimately a personal matter and had no bearing on fitness to serve.

But the SP was/is also a big Ute fan, so his inspiration is open to question.

[BigFatMeanie]

Had a vassy. Didn't even think about consulting my bishop although I was well aware of the paragraph in the CHI.

[Goatnapper'96]

Originally Posted by BigFatMeanie

Had a vassy. Didn't even think about consulting my bishop although I was well aware of the paragraph in the CHI.

I will join your ranks within the next two or three months. I am open about it conversation so the Bishop might hear about it from via the grapevine, I reckon I will ask him in ward council just to make the Relief Society President uncomfortable.

[RC Vikings]

Originally Posted by Goatnapper'96

I will join your ranks within the next two or three months. I am open about it conversation so the Bishop might hear about it from via the grapevine, I reckon I will ask him in ward council just to make the Relief Society President uncomfortable.

It's a great ice breaker with the women "Hey you wanna see my scar".

[DrumNFeather]

"Do you know how hard it is to go through 3 vasectomies? Snip snap, snip snap, snip snap." - Michael Scott

[CardiacCoug]

Originally Posted by PaloAltoCougar

Someone extremely close to me had the Big Snip four months before being called as Bishop, and did so only after conferring with his wife and urologist--Church authorities were not consulted. But during the calling interview I, I mean the guy really close to me, told the stake president about what had happened, and asked (hopefully perhaps) whether that might disqualify one for office. The stake president, a great guy who went on to serve as mission and temple president in Africa, blew off the concern and said that while such things "aren't recommended," it's ultimately a personal matter and had no bearing on fitness to serve.

But the SP was/is also a big Ute fan, so his inspiration is open to question.

Funny stuff. The first counselor in my current ward is a urologist. He auctioned off a free vasectomy to support the Scouts a few months back and I heard there were several bids. I think the anti-vasectomy statement in the handbook will be gone within 10 years or so.

[UtahDan]

I'm going to thread jack a little, but I sometimes think that we have become the Pharisees in some ways. In Christ's time the law had become so thoroughly developed that there was a law for just about everything. One could count on it to prescribe nearly every aspect of ones life.

Christ spends a lot of time in rebuke of the Pharisees not because they don't fulfill the law, but because they have become so focused on the minutia of the law that they lose sight of the "weightier matters."

Matthew 23:

23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.


He chided them for praying on street corners to be seen. He taught them that it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath (even if this was in violation of their law). When asked what the great commandment in the law is, he answered loving God and loving ones neighbor.

Joseph seemed to echo this idea when he talked about teaching correct principles and allowing self governance.

I guess my concern is that the more "laws" we have, particularly with respect to minutia, the more likely we become simply do these and omit the weightier matters: judgment, mercy and faith. What had ought to make us peculiar and set us apart as members of Christ's church? If asked, in my perfect world, it would nice to be able to answer "we are merciful, quick to love and slow to condemn, we cloth the naked and feed the beggar, we constantly seek to good to all men."

I fear that our most distinguishing characteristic (in our behavior not in our doctrine) is still the WOW.

I guess I sometimes feel that the more we are required to do or not do by the law, the more likely we are to feel self satisfied in the fulfillment of the smaller points and fail, as the Pharisees did, to understand that the law is not end but a means. Not a checklist, but a path. The end, the path, is to being like the Savior, which primarily, in my opinion, means loving all as He did and serving and lifting the least among us. Those things that do not point to this end, in my opinion, are not the things that are going to save us and the more of these little things there are for us to think about the more likely we are to believe that they will.

These are my ramblings this morning.

[UtahDan]

Originally Posted by UtahDan

I'm going to thread jack a little, but I sometimes think that we have become the Pharisees in some ways. In Christ's time the law had become so thoroughly developed that there was a law for just about everything. One could count on it to prescribe nearly every aspect of ones life.

Christ spends a lot of time in rebuke of the Pharisees not because they don't fulfill the law, but because they have become so focused on the minutia of the law that they lose sight of the "weightier matters."

Matthew 23:

23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.


He chided them for praying on street corners to be seen. He taught them that it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath (even if this was in violation of their law). When asked what the great commandment in the law is, he answered loving God and loving ones neighbor.

Joseph seemed to echo this idea when he talked about teaching correct principles and allowing self governance.

I guess my concern is that the more "laws" we have, particularly with respect to minutia, the more likely we become simply do these and omit the weightier matters: judgment, mercy and faith. What had ought to make us peculiar and set us apart as members of Christ's church? If asked, in my perfect world, it would nice to be able to answer "we are merciful, quick to love and slow to condemn, we cloth the naked and feed the beggar, we constantly seek to good to all men."

I fear that our most distinguishing characteristic (in our behavior not in our doctrine) is still the WOW.

I guess I sometimes feel that the more we are required to do or not do by the law, the more likely we are to feel self satisfied in the fulfillment of the smaller points and fail, as the Pharisees did, to understand that the law is not end but a means. Not a checklist, but a path. The end, the path, is to being like the Savior, which primarily, in my opinion, means loving all as He did and serving and lifting the least among us. Those things that do not point to this end, in my opinion, are not the things that are going to save us and the more of these little things there are for us to think about the more likely we are to believe that they will.

These are my ramblings this morning.

This was brilliant.