Those family photos are weird...

... People don't think your family is as good looking as you...

Your daughters with no education loading up on kids, is actually kind of sad...

A working uterus isn't a miracle, especially for a teenager or twentysomething.

Thank you.

thx OPie ~

Wishing to live in the (claimed) hereafter for eternity with religious zealots? No Thanks!!

I am a nuanced, active member who reads this board (and /r/exmormon) because I find that sometimes there are thoughtful discussions. These comments remind me that in some ways, the exmormon community is still a lot like their former TBM selves, judgmental and full of irrational absolutes. What is the point of this gratuitous insult? I hope everyone thinks their own family is beautiful. I love seeing family photos of friends and relatives, regardless of the shape, size, age or appearance of those in the photos. Why would we shame someone for appearing ugly, especially if that is somehow tied to religious belief?

It will be interesting to see if this comment gets deleted.

Because we are angry, hurt and traumatised by the church. When we get triggered we get to lash out and vent. Here, in a safe place.

To help heal the wounds we suffered at the hands of that vile organisation.

This idea that any behavior is justified because someone was hurt is nonsense. "I can say any offensive, insulting, ridiculous or illogical thing because I was hurt." Malarkey.

I've thought about leaving the Church many times. Over the top exMormon rhetoric, I have to be honest, is a factor that keeps me in.

because I do not take myself seriously.


Who is here to be offended?
There are things far worse.

Lao Tzu wrote of this 2500 years ago, writing in part:

There is always an official executioner.
If you try to take his place,
It is like trying to be a master carpenter and cutting wood.
If you try to cut wood like a master carpenter, you will only hurt your hand.

LongTimeNuancedLurker Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Over the top exMormon rhetoric, I have to be
> honest, is a factor that keeps me in.
===============================

If this is all, suggest remaining.
Ready ye are not, my friend.
Life is challenging.
Structure is critical for such a one.

Perhaps, one day.
But not now.

All the best

LongTimeNuancedLurker Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've thought about leaving the Church many times.
> Over the top exMormon rhetoric, I have to be
> honest, is a factor that keeps me in.

Criticism of family photos is the basis of your testimony?

That speaks for itself.

LongTimeNuancedLurker Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've thought about leaving the Church many times.
> Over the top exMormon rhetoric, I have to be
> honest, is a factor that keeps me in.

Or maybe it’s that your conscience no longer functions after a lifetime of singing “Praise To The Man” who was a serial sexual predator who abused his power and authority over his followers to abuse his followers wives and teenage daughters?

Your reply, and the subsequent dissapearance from this thread show that you are indeed not very nuanced, nor to be taken seriously.

If people venting their pain and frustration on a message board on the internet is what keeps you 'in' then I'm truly sorry.

Wishing you all the best.

I've thought about becoming active again so many times.Over the top LDS rhetoric, I have to be honest is a factor that keeps me an exMormon.

LongTimeNuancedLurker Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am a nuanced, active member who reads this board
> (and /r/exmormon) because I find that sometimes
> there are thoughtful discussions. These comments
> remind me that in some ways, the exmormon
> community is still a lot like their former TBM
> selves, judgmental and full of irrational
> absolutes. What is the point of this gratuitous
> insult? I hope everyone thinks their own family
> is beautiful. I love seeing family photos of
> friends and relatives, regardless of the shape,
> size, age or appearance of those in the photos.
> Why would we shame someone for appearing ugly,
> especially if that is somehow tied to religious
> belief?
>
> It will be interesting to see if this comment gets
> deleted.

Because you like seeing family photos doesn't mean everybody does. And like we can decline getting many megabyte emails with family photos.

Sounds like a TBM, lurking and trying to start stuff.

newcomer Wrote:
------------------------------------------------------
> Sounds like a TBM, lurking and trying to start
> stuff.
===============================
Would be remarkable if indeed the case.
It would be an unwise use of time for such a one!
(Per admonishments of The Brethren)

Enough almost to make me enjoy another cup of coffee.
Black.
Shaken, not stirred. ;-)

“What is the point of this gratuitous insult?”

Sport. My favorite is mocking the Lord’s anointed, especially Joseph Smith. No joke is too tasteless. You should give it a try.

Watch it, Bradley. You are strengthening OPie's testimony.

All this time I thought people stayed because someone brought them cookies!

A nuanced active member! How precious! Please, do tell us about your nuances.

Are you pro-LGBT? If so, do you support and sustain Dallin Oaks as a prophet, seer and revelator in the Q12?

Do you consider the word "Mormon" a win for Satan? If you do, were Hinckley and Monson wrong in approving and endorsing the word to the extent of engaging in a massive "I'm a Mormon" ad campaign? And if you don't, is Russ Nelson leading the church astray in his insistence that its usage is a win for Satan? They can't all be right, so which is it?

Are multiple earrings okay with you, Nuanced Mormon? How about uncovered shoulders? So many questions!

And now you show up to scold us about shaming church members over something or other, using attempted shame to guilt us about perceived shame. I'm quite sure you don't see the inconsistency (hypocrisy) in your approach.

You don't come across as a nuanced member. You come across as a genuine believer, attempting to stifle criticism of the church by guilt-tripping us and blaming us for your continued participation in the church. That won't work. Your level of activity, whatever it is, is on you and no one else. None of us bear any responsibility for your church involvement.

But… it looks like you've already left the building; yet another failed drive-by with delusions of putting us in our place.

The people who I still am friends with on fb (few) from childhood do share all kinds of photos and bragging. Now maybe I'm jealous? Nope. I would have been except I know their whole stories and what they say on fb is a bunch of bullshit.

My neighbor growing up was friends with my sisters and I. She is 2 years younger. She has 6 kids,a ton of grand kids. So many stories to talk about with her. She supposedly had br__st cancer. Within 6 weeks (after supposed chemo) she was cured. her mother supposedly had cancer all over inside her when they opened her up, yet a month later she and her kids were all traveling to New York and she got to meet the guy who plays the phantom (who she is in love with and has gone to see Phantom you can't count how many times) and she went to LA to see him. All of them in about 2 weeks. (They are not rich--the only thing I can think is reverse mortgage.) They had a glass hearse for their dad's funeral.

So then she gets brain cancer. I told my sisters hang on, let's see what happens. They put up a go fund me (which they've done many times). They were looking to get 20,000 so they could redo a bathroom because she will be incapacitated for a long time. Please fast and pray for her. AND lo and behold it wasn't the cancer they thought it was. It is curable, not a death sentence after all, miracle of miracles. She had no biopsy. Haven't seen a bandage on her pictures yet. She poses for pictures that make her look sick one day and she looks fine the next day. Now she says she needs a bone marrow transplant and they are asking for more money--sending out texts. She doesn't have my phone number. She tries to contact me now and then on fb. I ignore her.

AND she talks about all her kids going to the temple together with their spouses and they went to the temple together after their dad died at the time of day he WORKED IN THE TEMPLE. HE WORKED IN THE TEMPLE. If I wasn't already out, that would do it. What a piece of yuck! I won't go into how he treated me as a teenager--inappropriately.

AND YET--she has cheated on her husband a few times.

And that is always what I KNOW about the mormons I grew up with and what they share on fb.

I'm SO GLAD I found my way out. SO VERY GLAD. They can live in their bubble.

. . . the beginnings of an acerbic yet witty quote . . . "If you can't make it, fake it" . . . ?

;-D