Posted by:
LJ12
(
)
Date: August 16, 2019 06:56PM
This is interesting (not the post itself).I think I recently stopped following John Dehlin on Facebook. I can’t remember why - maybe that says something on it’s own.
I agree he uses too many words, without saying nearly enough. I genuinely couldn’t even read the whole thing in detail but I think got most of it.
It’s true that mormonism does seem to make a lot of people very happy and it works for them. I don’t really feel it’s right to criticise that, except to comment that they perhaps don’t know any better. It’s not my place to judge, but I don’t think we need to be told such a thing. And their happiness doesn’t generally impact on my life, so I live and let live - unless of course they start judging me, which is not uncommon.
He talks as though ex-mormons don’t understand the appeal of religion and community, etc. This is condescending BS; we know very well, otherwise we would not have been in it ourselves. Saying we owe it a “HUGE” (!?) debt of gratitude is unbelievable. Just what is his objective here - and generally: what is his purpose?? He misses the point...
I can see some benefits the mormon church had in my life, sure. I learnt public speaking, teaching, planning, time management (um, plus how to NOT do a whole bunch of stuff). Plus, if I hadn’t gone through that I probably wouldn’t think critically and have an understanding and appreciation for things like philosophy, for example. But this doesn’t make it ok. It is precisely why the mormon church has a bright “up” side that makes it dangerous and controlling. It’s like the analogy of the abusive relationship: Why do women stay with abusive and controlling men? Well, because most of the time they are just lovely human beings, that’s why, and because it can take years to figure out that this is all fake.
He is taking the piss. It’s as though he thinks we don’t know why people are happy in the mormon church. I can respect and understand that mormons are happy, and not resort to hatred and wanting it wiped off the face of the planet. And at the same time STILL have the right to think (and say) that the corporation itself is downright dishonourable and corrupt. The two views are actually NOT mutually exclusive, and him preaching with the assumption that people don’t know this basic fact is sanctimonious.
Which makes me think this post is not directed at us, but that he is putting on a show for the mormons, by trying to set himself up as some middle-man guru. Perhaps that’s who he is officially, I don’t know enough about him. But it reeks of showmanship and marketing. And if it’s not that, then it’s still a load of bullshit. Of COURSE it’s better to rid yourself of bitterness. But it’s not his job to state a better way of processing things. There’s no right way and why does there have to be? Why should we care? We already KNOW all of this shit. We KNOW that our mormon family members feel it works for them, how they engage in non-thinking and that they interpret our thinking-arguments as personal attacks. Worst case scenario, we live and learn, but not necessarily; I think I had an idea of this anyway. Best case, is this is aimed at new ex-mormons? Or is he stupid? He sucks if he is a psychologist. I’d be very interested what your therapist has to say, cl2.
My overall response to this is, WTF?
Everything he says is really obvious. He either thinks he’s
a) educating people (patronising); b) he is stating the obvious because he’s out of touch, or c) he is virtue-signalling as a marketing ploy, or in a self-unaware spiel of self-righteousness.
F*** off. This is annoying.