beastie wrote:I really don't know what else to conclude. When you look at that long list of pejorative adjectives, and realize at least half originated with either you, Ray, or leaders of the church, you realize that believers are just as prone to attack exbelievers as vice versa. For some reason, that is ok with you. We're supposed to "wear it", while believers are justified in calling exmormons Lutherites who contribute to future violence.
I can't think of any other reason why other than the one I just stated.
I remember someone once asked Dan Vogel whether he was atheist. His reply, as far as I can remember, is that it depends on what mood he's in and what's on the news. I'm sure it was tongue-in-cheek, with some truth. We all have those moments when we question everything. in my opinion pure hard logic isn't the best approach. The discussion on MAD now about psilocybin is a case in point. For some reason, no other spiritual experience I have had in my life was equivalent to what I experienced when reading the Book of Mormon. For me, this was an "outside" experience, for want of a better word. Not comparable to any other spiritual experiences, and for me anyway, very different. I think Gene England felt the same, and he said, to the ridicule of many, that he could seldom read a line of the Book of Mormon without feeling tears welling up. Maybe we are just well and truly screwed up in the head, but it is something we cannot just put on the shelf, cannot just ignore. I explained this on RFM in 2002, to howls of laughter from the mockers [in the great and spacious building] (The bracketed portion will offend you.)
Logically, there is a lot I "don't get", a lot of loose jigsaw pieces, and putting it together has been just about impossible. I don't have a "TBM" testimony. But I do have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. If there is a true church, then I do believe it is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, yes. But I'm not going to announce this from the rooftops, and I don't feel any need to defend or promote this, like "the people on MAD" do.
I am sympathetic to Mormons, and yes more tolerant of their foibles than exmos, because of my belief in the Book of Mormon. But I still don't see the hatred emanating from them that I do in angry exmos. You obviously don't agree. I
do see much angry ex-Mormon comment as being very similar to what Martin Luther said about Jews. We will have to disagree on that point.
So in principle I stand by my belief in the Book of Mormon, even though I don't follow Church teachings. I know one former branch president who left the Church for 20 years, and in that time denied everything! But one day his eyes were once again opened, and he said, "it's time to go back". It was a revelation to him. He remained faithful for the last 20 years, and recently died at age 96. We can feel the wind blow, but we don't know where it comes from, or where it will take us. I don't see any point in being bitter or resentful about my Mormon experience. I could blame Mormonism for a very, very difficult life, how hard you don't know. At the worst point of my life, separation and divorce, and loss of all of my children, with fleeting thoughts of suicide, do you know what I did? I knelt down and prayed to God for the strength to conquer. Week by week, month by month, year by year, I was somehow given that strength. It could have been my imagination, but I do believe it was God. For these reasons, also, I continue to believe. All of these experiences came because of Mormonism, because one day in mid-1974 I opened the Book of Mormon, and the first words I said, upon reading a few verses, were, "this book is a revelation from God". So I see all of my life experiences as stemming from that, good and bad, bitter and sweet. I could look back and curse God, and "that Church" and "that book", but instead I say, like President Kimball, "give me this mountain, give me these challenges", because they have made me a better and much stronger person. That, I suppose, is why I'm not bitter.