04-02-2009, 05:01 AM | #41 |
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Interrupt all you like. We're involved in a complicated story here, and not everything is quite what it seems to be. —Paul Auster |
04-02-2009, 01:33 PM | #42 |
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04-02-2009, 02:24 PM | #43 | |
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"Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; " 1 Thess. 5:21 (NRSV) We all trust our own unorthodoxies. |
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04-02-2009, 03:06 PM | #44 |
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04-02-2009, 03:07 PM | #45 | |
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"Have we been commanded not to call a prophet an insular racist? Link?" "And yes, [2010] is a very good year to be a Democrat. Perhaps the best year in decades ..." - Cali Coug "Oh dear, granny, what a long tail our puss has got." - Brigham Young |
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04-02-2009, 03:29 PM | #46 | ||||||
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Quote:
Here's another: Quote:
It's clear he blames the church for the resulting ripples of discontent in his family after his apostasy. And he spends paragraph after paragraph complaining about it, taking forever to get to the point. We finally get the first glimpse of what's specifically bothering him on page 6: Quote:
He gets on the church's case for "limiting" the paths of spirituality, eventually citing September 11 and "what we know about how fundamentalist communities of all types operate," suggesting, of course, that orthodox Mormonism is on that path. I actually laughed out loud at that Godwin's Law-esque citation. Next he tears out a page from Mike Waters: Quote:
Outside of that one throw-away paragraph about the Book of Mormon's historicity, he never really gets to the concrete issues. Just a lot of complaining about how the church won't let him help people privately apostatize. My favorite line in the whole letter: Quote:
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"Have we been commanded not to call a prophet an insular racist? Link?" "And yes, [2010] is a very good year to be a Democrat. Perhaps the best year in decades ..." - Cali Coug "Oh dear, granny, what a long tail our puss has got." - Brigham Young Last edited by Tex; 04-02-2009 at 03:32 PM. |
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04-02-2009, 04:01 PM | #47 | |
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There's a tax lawyer in Canada who has apostasized and goes around attacking the Church. Leave already. He also is not literate in any particular discipline affecting the ancients yet he is a know-it-all. Debate him if you like, and you'll find condescending, never-in-doubt, but not always right.
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Ἓν οἶδα ὅτι οὐδὲν οἶδα Last edited by Archaea; 04-02-2009 at 04:08 PM. |
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04-02-2009, 04:06 PM | #48 |
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Hey, whoa, wait a sec, I've offered many possible reasons why the church's market share is not growing.
I don't think the proliferation of anti-Mormon material has *helped* growth. I actually do know a case of a die-hard Baptist who immersed himself in anti-Mormon material and took it upon himself to correct the Mormons. And who found himself a convert. I liked that guy. And one of his sacrament meeting talks was one of the all-time doozies I have ever witnessed--it involved reading quotations from a Dungeons and Dragons manual (as an example of Satanism) and had the Bishop kicking him in the back of his shoes. He was a strong member, but not altogether of the same stripe as the average son of pioneers. Any publicity is better than no publicity. Maybe. Did Mormon General Authorities think that there would never be any scrutiny of history? Is that a serious way to handle these things? To deny, deny, deny? Mormonism is this strange beast, where if you are a member, and you are a social critic in every domain of your life, you are not allowed to be a social critic of your own religion. If you are, you are dangerous. This makes ones religious life unsatisfying at times. You are a problem solver, you like issues and problems, you like exploring ideas and brainstorming. But you are in a church who has no use for you, no want for you, and in the worst case scenario, brands you an enemy. Maybe things in the church are going great. Maybe they aren't. The point is--it's not my job to solve things, or really even take measure. Just shut up and do your job, keep your head down, there is no suggestion box, there is no role for you, go home, get out, be gone, be done, are you still here? I'm no one special. I have no great answers. I was born the way I was born, with the desires of heart that were placed there. And to be honest, probably the worst thing that could happen is for me to be placed in a position where I could enact change, because then I would have changed hats from observer/critic to revolutionary. And I will tell you one thing I have learned--almost every revolution fails. It's God's ship, he's the one responsible for it. And let's be honest--God's ship has sunk to the bottom of the ocean in the past. We tend to operate on the idea that that is impossible now, which gives a sense of bravado and confidence that does nothing for when the storm comes. We rest on the laurels of a destiny that is not sure. |
04-02-2009, 04:11 PM | #49 | |
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Stay classy, Tex. Angie Harmon would be proud. |
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04-02-2009, 04:17 PM | #50 | |
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The unfortunate language aside, the article is hilarious.
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"Have we been commanded not to call a prophet an insular racist? Link?" "And yes, [2010] is a very good year to be a Democrat. Perhaps the best year in decades ..." - Cali Coug "Oh dear, granny, what a long tail our puss has got." - Brigham Young |
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