That sounds like a great and meaningful life.....Going to starbucks and Target. Those of us who can't live the commandments (let's face it--we can't) better come up with better alternatives for what the saints offer. (they offer meaningful service to the poor, a worldwide humanitarian program, a way to take care of homeless, and even eternal life (they say). Its all a lie - but wow what a good one.) Can we come up with something of more substance than our selfishness?...can't we?, -like Ghandi-offer something to build the world. Is there a more meaningful ex-mormon forum out there???
In response can I just say : 1) percentage wise the church gives less to charity and humanitarian aid than the average American, so by leaving the church and not paying tithing you're actually increasing the chance of your extra money going to charity and I bet most here do give.
2) having more free time to explore yourself and the world (even when that includes enjoying coffee and going to target) is a HUGE offer
3)learning to think critically and not be trapped by all the lies about reality that lds sells you means you're more likely to contribute to the progression of society rather than send it backwards by being afraid of change, information, science etc etc.
I think those are some pretty enticing alternatives to what tscc is selling.
If you actually read this forum for very long, you'd be aware of a few things:
People often make jokes in their posts. Learning to be aware of when posters are being facetious would help your understanding of the forum considerably.
People here regularly show a deep caring for others, both on this forum and outside of it. And many do a great deal to put their caring into positive action.
And in between the joshing, there are some very serious posts here.
What Ballard said was both ludicrous and vile. Trying to frighten people into imagining that there is no good life outside the Mormon Church. It is such a despicable thing to do, that even if I hadn't already done so, I'd lose all respect for the man on that basis alone.
Who are you to determine what brings meaning to my life? The joy of leaving is that I get to determine that. Not you, nor the church gets to make that call.
Start living for myself (and not for some church that is full of lies). Start thinking for myself. Not have my worth determined by whether or not I am married or have kids.
What he means is what will we think without the church telling us what to think and what to do and what to say and what to read and what to wear and what underwear to have on what we can do or not do while having sex and on and on ad nasueam.
As if our minds don't operate independantly of the pile of garbage Moron church.
A beaten-down slave doesn't care where he/she goes, just as long as it's far away from their cage, the abuser and the abuse. Freedom doesn't need a destination.
Harriet Jacobs mentions in her writings that the venomous snakes in the swamp seemed less terrifying than the masters and slaveowners in the south. I think we can apply the same outlook on the leaders of the cult.
I will find others in the same boat. We will flip you guys off. Then, we will figure out the answer to that question rather than let your manipulation scare us into thinking that you are as good as life gets.
I'm GOING to a bar to GET drunk. Then I'm GOING to a shooting gallery to GET addicted to heroin. Then I'm GOING to rob a bank to GET money. Then I'm GETTING caught and GOING to prison. Isn't this what he's implying is going to happen?
The sad part of this is, Mormons believe this shit. The Gone Boy Boner.
What will I do? Well...for starters I will save my 10 percent of my gross income for my own retirement rather than support entitled Ballard, who has lived high off the Church hog for many decades now.
Again, he's not talking to us. He's talking to the active membership. He's scaring them. Trying to make them think that without the Church they'd be helplessly adrift--that they'd have nothing.
He's the abusive husband telling his wife that if she leaves him she'll be living in a dive and flipping burgers.
He's Christo at the end of "The Truman Show" telling Truman that he won't survive in the outside world.
He's every con man panting a fancy word-picture about how you'll regret not falling for his con.
From Ballard's Oct. 2014 "Old Ship Zion" address, quoting of all people himself:
"On another occasion this year, I spoke to the young adults of the Church in the May CES devotional broadcast. I said:
'I have heard that some people think the Church leaders live in a "bubble." What they forget is that we are men and women of experience, and we have lived our lives in so many places and worked with many people from different backgrounds… When you thoughtfully consider our lives and ministry, you will most likely agree that we see and experience the world in ways few others do. You will realize that we live less in a "bubble" than most people… We have experienced it all, including the consequences of different public laws and policies, disappointments, tragedies, and deaths in our own families. We are not out of touch with your lives.'"
Ballard is talking like a Ford Edsel salesman, which is what he used to be. Mormonism, the Edsel of religions.
Misnomer, but I get what you're trying to relay. Actually, the Edsel failed because it was loaded with futuristic options (power everything) that Americans weren't ready for. Most of those features are now standard in today's cars. The mormon church was never ahead of times. They've always been 50 years behind the current year at the time. The Edsel was a failure because it was too progressive. The mormon church is a failure because it has no relation to reality.Even with a prophet that gets his info from god.
i'd wager they have never experienced bankruptcy & homelessness nor lived through a severe drought or flood in an undeveloped country. Neither did they experience growing up in poverty - they have in no way, shape or form experienced even a small percentage of the trials and ordeals of ordinary life that the general membership worldwide has experienced.
It is a bit pompous to tell people that they have experienced more than they did, in fact I believe it could be considered fraudulent.
In my case I went all over the world. I learned to surf, got 2 blackbelts in Karate and a brownbelt in Small-circle Ju Jitsu, bought an amazing house, built a 'stealth RV' complete with Solar power and went to grad school at an Ivy League University (fully paid for). I will be Defending my Ph.D. Dissertation this week. So this time next week, I will be Dr. Elfling - though still not logged in.
The rest of his talk was repulsive, out of touch and insulting.
"Today is no different. For some, Christ’s invitation to believe and remain continues to be hard—or difficult to accept. Some disciples struggle to understand a specific Church policy or teaching. Others find concerns in our history or in the imperfections of some members and leaders, past and present. Still others find it difficult to live a religion that requires so much. Finally, some have become 'weary in well-doing'."
Once again, not even touching on the actual issues why we leave, and making it seem like we didn't have a desire to do good and just wanted to be lazy. What a fuckstick.
"Some disciples struggle to understand a specific Church policy or teaching. Others find concerns in our history or in the imperfections of some members and leaders, past and present."
Indeed----"concerns" such as the fact that the church's story of its founding is completely false, and "imperfections" such as the fact that the church's founder was a criminal and an adulterer.
Yep, except for those little flecks of history, the church is great!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/02/2016 03:28PM by randyj.
says it all in my book when one of the cult's so-called-elite, stoops to belittling, insinuations, name calling and good ole lying abiyt those who dare (in Ballard's eyes) defy the Big Old Parents and skip ship.
But this is what a bully does, isn't it?
When I was first asking myself why I had fallen for such behavior, you know this bullying, the lying, the Big Brother Routine, it didn't take me long to realize that it was partly due to the fact that this is how I had been treated in my youth at home. I just fit right in to the abuse that was dished out by the cult.
I had had enuf and discovered the joy of facts, science, freedom and truth being strong, firm anchors to guide my life.
My mom told me that my children would be hoodlums if they didn't have the church. My kids were great teenagers and they are currently going to college and working. My church raised siblings all had issues-gee isn't that interesting...
anonski21 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > "For those of you who go inactive or leave the > church. Where will you go? What will you do?" > > What a complete piece of shit.
uhhhhhhhhhhhh have a life that is not centered on the ultra boring way too expensive and consuming MORmON cult religion, you know -one worth living.
I quit attending 20 years ago. I finally divorced myself from all belief 18 years ago. my ONLY regret is that I did not do it sooner, much MUCH sooner.
but what Ballard says scares the Hell out of my MORmONISM addicted TBM family members. They do not know how to have a relationship outside of the filthy damn MORmON cult. but really, they just do not know how to have a relationship at all, which is why they so desperately cling to their MORmON social club network.
I'm gonna have a beer or 3, and watch some porn, and have coffee with my friends, and do fuckall on a Sunday, or go to a trap club and shoot clay targets on a Sunday (I luuuuuve doing that). Bednar is such a fucking self important, self righteous POS asshole!
Reminds me of that very old TV commercial with Karl Malden at the airport. He looks at the camera and says, "you've lost your wallet at the airport. What will you do?"
Unlike him, i've never been dependent on the mormon church for my income, social life, entertainment, spiritual life, or a place to do service.
Even as a mormon I found other places that served me and my family better than the mormon church ever could or would.
Where will we go? He's kidding right? How often have we had threads talking about what were doing this Sunday? Just about every single week. We have a list a mile long that's full of better places to go and things to do than the mormon church.
At the very least, Ballard needs to GO online. It's there he will find the answer to his question. His job as a helper running the mormon show is looking a bit gloomy these days, and I don't think there are any head hunters out there looking for Apostles.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/02/2016 05:17PM by madalice.
As Tommy is wont to quote 'Related Poem Content Details BY ROBERT FROST Audio Player 00:0001:16Use Up/Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease volume. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference."
Where I will go is a mystery, an untravelled path. I am going to enjoy the exploration of this beautiful life
15 million nominal Mormons. About 6 million active Mormons. Half of them in the US. There are 330 million Americans, so Mormons are less than 1%. If you go East or to Canada or Europe, Mormons are as common as unicorns. Where will you go? Almost anywhere else but Utah.
This is a classic sign of a cult - "What will happen to me if I leave?" Ballard is an ass for emphasizing this cult characteristic. To instill fear is abominable. Life is so much better after Mormonism. Hopefully more folks will find us as a result of his talk.
Ouch! The great "I-am-not-a-Dodo" speaks again, and shoots another claw off. What inanity! How out of touch! That man is fossilized!! He adds a new definition to the term "being stoned."
You don't need an organization to define a self. Especially one that wants you to lose yourself in it.
There is so much more in the world and universe to do and see than an organization disguised as a church created by a con man.