My memory of my progression is very fuzzy, but at a certain point in my childhood, I stopped believing in a jolly old elf-man living at the North Pole who busied himself keeping track of who was naughty and who was nice...  I don’t remember enough regarding the strength of my conviction in the Santa Claus myth, but at a certain point, that’s what it became: a myth.

      I do recall not feeling that I was the victim of an elaborate, nefarious hoax; I didn’t think my parents were signaling each other by pressing an index finger along the side of their noses, like in “The Sting,” during the progression of the yearly ritual.

      So maybe that’s another thing Santa Claus and the temple ceremony have in common: “Hey, kids, it’s for your own good!” along with the 'victims' saying to themselves, “It can’t hurt!” and the perpetrators mumbling, “We just want what’s best for you!”

      I’ve mentioned (ad neaseum) that I walked into the temple believing the mormon church was ‘true’ and walked out believing that the temple experience was convincing evidence, to me, that the church wasn’t ‘true.’

      Personally, I ended up with the opinion that “going through the temple” is an insult to one’s intelligence.  There’s a meme out there featuring an obviously gentile old lady, her back to the viewer, dressed in 1950s frumpery, standing in front of ghawd, and ghawd is saying to her, “Sorry, LaVinya, you didn’t do the second handshake correctly, so off you go to the terrestrial kingdom; have a nice Eternity.”  

      Mormonism is filled with things that must be swallowed without trying to savor them: they have to be choked down, eyes closed, mind empty, manta-like humming, “I’m-asking-no-questions-I-hope-you’re-not-lying…”

      I see Joseph H. Smith, Jr. (JoJu) as a lazy borrower.  Along with Native Americans being of the Tribe of Israel, the Masonic temple rituals, and Three Degrees of Glory, he also borrowed the “I had a vision!” motif that was popular in the ‘burnt over’ region at that time, even though it wasn’t until a few years after the publication of the book of mormon and then the April 06 (Jesus birthday), 1830 formation of la iglesia mormona that he announced the First reVision.

      And speaking of "Jesus' birthday," this raises an interesting issue for people with time on their hands: what constitutes a year, and is it best judged on the solar or sidereal scales?  If you don’t know the difference, don’t worry; it doesn’t really matter...  (Did you know that 1752 AD only had 355 days, but 46 BCE had already made of it, at 445 days long!)

      But one fact has been nailed down: for various reasons, some understood, some not so much, the length of a solar year varies (as in, no two years are exactly the same length), but yet, without the slightest understanding of this concept, roosters crow every sunup, along with all of us being born, aging and dying, totally unable to discern the yearly differences.

      I am unaware of anyone refusing to participate in life because it’s so disorderly.  People of science say they like orderliness, and we are not surprised when they complain about some recent discovery that violates some rule of order.  The latest one, which sparked today's outburst, is the discovery of a solar system that ought not to exist, based on some rules someone made up based on “observations” and the conclusions these prior observations inspired.  But there that solar system is, in all its glorious, disorderly kinkiness!

      How can people believe in a ghawd of order?  It makes perfect sense to me that the disorderly situation regarding the length of the solar year should spark doubt regarding the existence of a supposed orderly ghawd... 

      Wasn’t the existence of a (likely) infinite Pi (п) enough of a clue?

Wow. I'm left wondering what to think.

Lot's Wife Wrote:
--------------------------
> Wow. I'm left wondering
> what to think.


Huh!  I'm reading that as, "Wow.  I'm sinister..."

I've been here before.

I read one of your disquisitions and am left utterly speechless. I look at my watch and realize five minutes have passed, but I have absolutely no idea what happened in the interim.

It's remarkable.

Scientists think it's a young solar system, and that our solar system probably had the same type of regularity in its younger days. I think that the astronomer interviewed in this segment said that in this particular solar system, there are no planets in what we would think of as the habitable zone.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-six-planet-solar-system-in-perfect-synchrony-has-been-found-in-the-milky-way/

"Personally, I ended up with the opinion that “going through the temple” is an insult to one’s intelligence." says EOD.

What I find is that going through the temple more than once qualifies as insulting yourself.

In a nutshell what I got from your epistle is nobody knows as much as they think they do. Even with fact and proof everything could still be wrong. Which means the Mormons could still be right. And wasn't Joseph Smith a creative genius?

Uh-oh! Better get those handshakes right.

"The International Astronomical Union (IAU) downgraded the status of Pluto to that of a dwarf planet because it did not meet the three criteria the IAU uses to define a full-sized planet. Essentially Pluto meets all the criteria except one- it “has not cleared its neighboring region of other objects.”

What they don't get is Pluto doesn't care. Yea, does not even give a rat's ass what some creatures on the blue planet think.

Humankind loves to label and define and then consider their specification be brilliantly of the utmost importance.

I personally still consider Pluto to be as good as every other planet even if it is mostly tan and brown and pock marked and not the ideal blue---God's chosen planet.

D&D said,

> What they don't get is Pluto
> doesn't care.  Yea, does not
> even give a rat's ass . . .

"Imagine the freedom one gives oneself when one ceases to consider as needful, much less useful, what nonaligned entities (aligned entities are your spouse, boss, offspring, etc.) think of you..."

      --Judic West, upon the occasion of
         abandoning Gladys Lot as his PR rep

I don't know what I'll do without those fifty-cent checks every month.

Well, most months.

Yes. As we have learned from Pluto's demise, it is often important to "clear your region of other objects."

I hope Gladys finds other employ in a timely manner.

Dear Mr. D&D,

May I interest you in my services as a public relations specialist? My associates and I are confident we can clean up even your current scandal.

Sincerely,

Lots of Love, Inc.

Thanks. But I wouldn't want to monopolize your time when a certain ex-Congressman is so much more in need of your unusual services.

Justice for Pluto! Once a planet, always a planet. Pluto should not have to accept second best.

> I hope Gladys finds other
> employ in a timely manner.


Yes <heavy sigh>, your "I wouldn't touch her with a telephone pole!" sentiment is almost certainly curable via a rethinking of what she apparently considers to be 'sensible shoes' ...

"Mormonism is filled with things that must be swallowed without trying to savor them: they have to be choked down, eyes closed, mind empty, manta-like humming, “I’m-asking-no-questions-I-hope-you’re-not-lying…”

Church leaders speak for God, so they don't lie. God is misheard with amazing frequency, however.

What's the matter with Church leaders feeding you BS if everything you believe is already BS? Isn't it just a matter of choice of BS, like Coke vs Pepsi?

So why don't I go back to Church? I don't like the way Mormons are. It's not doctrinal. I can believe anything.