To be a member, or not to be a member. That is the question

I was having this discussion in another thread but didn't want to derail that thread so I am creating a new one. The discussion in this thread is over the pros and cons of being a member of this Temple vs being a guest. Here is what I originally said.

Honestly I've never understood why a person who wanted to be here would want to remain a guest. It seems like a weird distinction to me. "I go there, but I'm not really one of them." It feels almost hipster-ish to me. Lol. I don't get it. The only requirement for membership is the application and 7 day waiting period. That's all. No oaths, no training, no nothing. In my opinion if you want to be here and participate you should become a member.

That said, some of my favorite people fall onto that category so it doesn't really bother me much. It's just not how I Jedi.

I would very much like your thoughts on the matter. Thanks.

There are criteria for membership in the FAQ:
www.templeofthejediorder.org/faq#HowtoJoin

> How to Join TotJO
> Jedi here fulfill the following criteria:
>
> A belief in the Force. The Force resides within you, surrounds you and flows through you.
> Acceptance of our teachings and Doctrine. These serve as spiritual guidance for Jedi. You may hold other spiritual convictions along with being a Jedi.
> A completed Membership Application.

It took me a while to break down my own barriers too, like the one saying 'the force is a silly idea' - because silly ideas can actually be a lot more sensible than a lot of my ideas... It was time spent in an honest search, not being a hipster (criteria for being a hipster here being carrying a chicken in your jacket on the bus).

I'd already started looking at doctrine, but I had a few habits, and ways of behaving that I considered to be blatantly not in alignment with my understanding of doctrine. So I committed to changing those things. Some will be long battles, some have already been won. But the movement was there. I was satisfied, and submitted my membership application.

I became a member Jan 6th 2018. Been here at TotJO nearly 6 months. "Guest" doesn't mean nothing - it means "welcomed person". "Member" is "belonging person". I like that I belong here.

I am still a guest but I have submitted a request to become a member and completed a couple packets in the IP which as I understand it is kinda like an auto request.

I have been on this site since early January but have not yet been accepted as a member so what is one to do about that.

We have to be patient and wait until someone gets around to accepting us as members it's not always that someone hasn't or doesn't want to be a member.

Congratulations! It seems you are a member according to your rank flag now! But if anyone else was having issues, they should message MadHatter.

Twigga wrote: Congratulations! It seems you are a member according to your rank flag now! But if anyone else was having issues, they should message MadHatter.

Ty funny I was not a member a second ago. I guess I would raise the concern of how do we know we are having an issue? I was just being patient waiting for the time I was selected. I don't know where my membership status is or was in being reviewed or if it was just up to someone to make it happen.

As to choosing to remain a guest it might have something to do with people holding on to their past and wondering if this CHURCH is any different than all the others...

ནའдհдཀ༑ནკ wrote: Ty funny I was not a member a second ago. I guess I would raise the concern of how do we know we are having an issue?

If a application hasn't been processed (rank not changed) after two weeks, one would contact membership affairs, or just resubmit the application. There really isn't a way to know if it's been rejected unless you contact membership affairs, as they don't message people directly if that's the case.

ནའдհдཀ༑ནკ wrote: As to choosing to remain a guest it might have something to do with people holding on to their past and wondering if this CHURCH is any different than all the others...

Well, saying we are the only ones to be above the numerous varieties of human imperfection that plague all sorts of institutions would be highly vain.

But we do try

Some people may feel they are just exploring and don't want to commit to anything yet. Membership of a religiously minded group can be a big deal, they might want to wait until they've finished some or all of the IP and spoken to a number of members here first before committing. Some people aren't comfortable with the Application itself, because it asks for personal information they would rather not give out.

Akkarin wrote: Some people may feel they are just exploring and don't want to commit to anything yet. Membership of a religiously minded group can be a big deal, they might want to wait until they've finished some or all of the IP and spoken to a number of members here first before committing. Some people aren't comfortable with the Application itself, because it asks for personal information they would rather not give out.

And THIS ^^ is why the Jediism forum should be open to the guests. they're "just exploring and don't want to commit to anything yet".