Hmm. IDK. Seems having money is kinda nice. Had a great beer the other day. That was nice too. Some R rated movies are really enjoyable. I even spent a few Sundays just doing nothing. The lapdance at Spearmint Rhino had me liking life for three weeks at least. Sometimes I don't have a "good cause" and just wanna play games on the computer. Our country was built on the tobacco industry. That Cohiba the other week was pretty relaxing especially with the almond tequila. How well off would our country be if we all lived a mormon lifestyle? Would there be malls, amusment parks, good movies, internet, computers, cars?

On a scout camp out once the leader was spouting some of that same line of thinking about wickedness not bringing happiness.

Every other scout camp out I'd been on never had any church talk going on, and I was annoyed. So I said, "whoever said that never got drunk and fucked."

Its like that old adage that says money can't buy happiness.

I'd like to test that theory. Don't hear a whole lot of wealthy types sayin' they'd rather be poor.

Timothy

Good point, Timothy. I think it was Alan Alda who said you don't have to have money and fame to be happy. Money alone will do.

Money can't but happiness. But it can buy a jet ski and I've never seen a person riding a jet ski who was unhappy.

I mean, even with the strict OT rules, you still would have been able to do most of that.

...but it can buy some real nice substitutes!!

The StalkerDog™ Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ...but it can buy some real nice substitutes!!


Yes, it can. For me money pays for optional travel, which really IS happiness for me.

Dude! Now all you need is a Starbuck's, a seedless fatty, and a stolen bicycle from your neighbor's garage. You'll have all the bases covered.

Just sayin'...

Ron

trump your thoughts on your own feelings.

But what you're citing, to be fair, is not "wickedness." Mormons call some weird things "wicked" or "wickedness," same way the call people who drink "drunks" and "alcoholics." I drink two cups of coffee in the early morning, both before 8:30. TBM DW tells people I'm "addicted" to coffee. I wouldn't give credence to any word as defined by Mormons. You know, like "truth," and "history."

I would say this is true.

I have never seen as much wickedness as in the Mormon church which is loaded to the max with bigotry, homophobia and mysogyny and child abuse. What could be more wicked than that? And you have to pay cash for a piece of that!

So keep popping those pills Mormons at an accelerated rate like you do. Because I don't believe you for a second when you say you are happy.

Mormons do not define wickedness for me. Proof is in the pudding.

So if we are happy, we must not be wicked, after all. Therefore drinking coffee and shopping on Sunday instead of going to church must be righteous.

Meanwhile, Mormons insist they are happy, but they pop anti-anxiety pills anti-depressants at an alarming rate. In all fairness, I don't think it's because they are wicked. I think they are just stressed out by perfectionism to the point of depression.

Sometimes I wish I could just shake them and say "Hey, if what you are doing doesn't bring you peace and happiness, why not try something different?"

When "wickedness" includes benign activities like having a coffee, you really need to examine whatever definition is used I would think?

By any scale what is "worse"? Drinking a cup of coffee, or being so whacked out you call a piece of furniture the "cocoa table" instead of the coffee table because you can't face speaking about such "evil" every day? (not making this up).

Oh my god, that reminds me of something that happened a couple of years ago. I was at IHOP with my family, and my TBM stepmother asked the server to remove the coffee pot from the table. No one at the table was drinking coffee, I guess just seeing the pot bothered her.

Jeez! Yep, avoid even the appearance of eeeeeeviiiillll.

Evil, wicked coffee, keeping me from being happy.

I was pretty unhappy with my life when I decided to throw myself back into the mormon religion. I'd made some very poor decisions that hurt me and others.

One of the things that had sunk in, and sunk in deep, growing up in the church, was this phrase "Wickedness never was happiness."

I wanted so much to be happy, and to get over this horrible time in my life. I became convinced that if I'd been following the gospel (and in reality, this is true, although one doesn't need the gospel to avoid bad decisions, and thus avoid the aftermath of them), I would never have found myself in the predicament I was in.

This became my mantra. I would be happy if I just lived the gospel. If only I hadn't been so wicked, I'd be happier now.
I taught this concept frequently to my primary kids and young women. "There's a right way to live and be happy," "Choose the right, choose the right..."

I was so worried when I left the church that I would not be happy. I had myself convinced that I was going to be miserable, actually. Imagine my extreme surprise and delight when I started feeling happier and happier as the weeks and months and now years went on!

And I'm wicked! I drink the wicked coffee. I *gasp* fornicate! Regularly! Alcohol? You bet. Swearing? Oh, yes.

So mormon wickedness does not have to lead to misery, after all! Woo hoo and pour the coffee.

edited to add a p.s.

P.S. I have had many people remark to me in the last year that I look so very happy. That they can see it in my face and my actions that I'm happy. Yay me!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/2016 08:52PM by claire.

This explains perfectly why I was never really happy as a mormon.

Happiness is found in abundance outside the cinder block walls of Mormonism. So where does that leave wickedness?

I'm generally happier when I have some money backing me. Wondering how you're going to cover your living expenses is never a happy time no matter how righteous you are and expecting GAWD to magically intervene and drop some cash in your lap is just plain delusional.

RB

Wickedness:

Starbucks lattes
Sex on the Beach (cocktail)
Sex on the Beach (non-cocktail)
Not giving money to the Cult of Joseph
Uncovered shoulders
Gays out of the closet
The Book of Mormon (musical)
Sunday family hiking trips
Yoga/meditation
Independent women

Not Wickedness:

The Book of Mormon (non-musical)
Red fruit punch
Buttugly undies
Business fraud (as long as the cult gets 10% of the spoils)
Closeted gays
Inappropriate sexual behavior by those in authority
Submissive women
Pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth

Hmmmm, now which one do I REALLY think would make me happier? Mormon wickedness or mormon acceptance?

> How well off would our country be if we all lived a mormon lifestyle?
>

First of all, there is no such thing as a Mormon life(lifecycle)style. Even Joseph Smith himself couldn't do it!

> Would there be malls, amusment parks,
good movies, internet, computers, cars?
>

If Hollywood can't do it, the lds surely can't! There wouldn't be parks, computers or cars. They're bad! Really bad.

Nothing would get done - people would be meeting all the time... and still not have anything to discuss.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/2016 07:21PM by moremany.

Maybe money can't buy happiness, but it'll purchase a happy ending nonetheless.

Wickedness never was happiness? Ha, tell that to Joseph!

Happiness never was wickedness!

Money certainly can fund situations where happy times and thus happy memories are made....

Thank you, morg, for instilling in countless people the near-constant worry that as soon as they start having any traditional sort of fun that it possibly could not be cult approved and, just in case, they should stop immediately! (j/k)

My takeaway: there's almost always something more mormon to do in mormonism, likely a much higher priority in that sense than what you would authentically like to do. In the morg I think it could be said that there's never fully any rest for the righteous.

I can't help and crack up about the coffee table being called a "cocoa table." I grew up thinking it was called that and my parents were converts. Coffee was considered so evil when I was a child. My poor grandmother wasn't allowed to drink coffee when she visited us in our home. I always felt so sad that my Grandma wouldn't be in heaven with me because she drank coffee.