Years ago I was an IT consultant in Chicago and a Counselor in the Bishopric of the Chicago 1st Ward and a solid true believer when I came across a front page article in ComputerWorld magazine about a lawsuit over the church handbook of instructions between Intellectual Reserve Inc. and Utah Lighthouse Ministry. I did some web searching to learn more and came across this message board. Someone posted a comment saying that if anyone still believed in Joseph Smith that they should click on it because it would certainly change their mind. Well I certainly did believe that Smith was a true prophet but I knew that my rock solid testimony could handle whatever anti-Mormon jibberish I might find at that link. And that's when I came across the Kinderhook Plates story which left me wondering "did Joseph Smith pretend to translate those brass-like plates". Months later as this issue weighed on me I fasted and prayed fervently on General Conference weekend for guidance on how to get the Spirit back as this Kinderhook crisis I was experiencing was taking its toll. I thought I felt inspired to do a google.com search on Kinderhook and next thing I know I'm learning a lot about many other issues as the genie came out of the bottle for me. The real tipping point came for me with that Lamanite/DNA story of Simon Southerton because when I read it I then emailed him for references of scientific journal articles, he sent me 4, I quickly found 2 of them at web addresses of prestigious USA universities, and suddenly I began to question whether my boyhood heroes from the BoM ever existed - i.e. Brother of Jared, Ether, Nephi son of Lehi, Jacob, Enos, Benjamin, Alma, Alma the Younger, Mosiah son of Benjamin, Ammon, Aaron, Captain Moroni, Helaman and his 2060, Amulek, Zeezrom, Helaman's son and grandson named Nephi, Mormon, and Moroni. And considering how my prime intellectual development years were during the ETB presidency of 1985-1994 and I had read the BoM at least 20 times cover to cover by then I was well-indoctrinated in the view that the church's claims completely rested on whether or not the BoM was a true book or a fraud. So suddenly I woke up realizing it was fiction but stuck living the life of a supposed TBM who was in a Chicago LDS bishopric and frankly the church was the center of my life.
I live in the Uptown neighborhood, not far from you, JB. Formerly a member of the Lake Shore YSA branch turned ward. (Interestingly, it became a ward right after I left. Did a flood come in upon my exit? I doubt....I think some membership numbers were fudged).
I also work in the Loop. :)
We should arrange a Chicago Ex-Mo meetup sometime!
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/02/2014 07:20PM by godtoldmetorun.
godtoldmetorun Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I live in the Uptown neighborhood, not far from > you, JB. Formerly a member of the Lake Shore YSA > branch turned ward. (Interestingly, it became a > ward right after I left. Did a flood come in upon > my exit? I doubt....I think some membership > numbers were fudged). > > I also work in the Loop. :) > > We should arrange a Chicago Ex-Mo meetup sometime!
I am a 20 year ex-mo in the uptown area. Welcome back to Chicago. The people here never tire of my stories of BYU in the early 80 and the gay witch hunts of which I played a part I ashamed to say. You will have everyone's attention and this "Joe Smith" thing is a curious oddity - not like in UT or AZ where everyone is familiar with church.
I agree a Chicago meet up would be a kick.
We actually have some work to do as the church here is teaming with the Catholic church and have already purchased a suspicious 6 story building that has a dubious use as office space/ward house. Hmmmmm.
All I know is they are not benign but it is a pleasure to be here where they safely occupy the fringe and have no chance against the Catholics and even the more powerful Moody campus.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/02/2014 07:36PM by markchicago.