Awhile back, a TBM family member asked everyone to comment on his status on what the purpose of life was. Considering almost all of his friends and family are TBM, I knew where the conversation was going quickly. I refrained from posting because I did not want to create controversy.

Well, he noticed I was refraining from participating, so he specifically asked me to participate. I had already reviewed many of the answers, and most of them were the usual mormon bile. "To get a body, live my life like jesus, temple marriage, blah blah blah." I asked him what exactly he would suggest I put, because I knew it could get explosive if I were being at all honest. He then told me not to get religious, aka my "agnostic view" on things....
so I asked him why he was asking for my input..... He then proceeded to say, " Well whats important to you? From what I can see your life revolves around making money, your cats, and enjoying the material world."

It was very condescending. You could tell he was insinuating that if you did not have the church in your life that you are a fool and truly do not understand the complexities and the purpose of life. It was a superiority complex. So from there, I damn well posted my agnostic view on things. Practically wrote an essay on it. At the end of it I finished with telling them that I did not need a God or a written literature to make morally and ethically sounds decisions in my life. Boy did I piss some people off, but he was asking for it.....

Tell him you feel the purpose of life is to learn to be kind and to make the world a better place and that you consider him an epic failure in both areas.

+1

What happened to "judge not, that ye be not judged"?

Turns out that the Bible version of the Sermon on the Mount was wrong.
Joseph Smith fixed it to Jesus' real words: "Judge not unrighteously, but judge righteous judgment."

So if extbm1324's family member is more righteous than extbm1324, it's perfectly acceptable to be judgmental.

Thanks Joseph Smith!

Now I'm really interested as to what you said! Could you post it?

And damn. What an asshole! If he knows he's going to hate your answer because the only answer he'd accept would be about Mormonism, why ask you at all?

To eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.

I don't want to pursue these things in an afterlife I'm not convinced exists.

You handled the situation really well, really, first by trying to avoid that sort of explosive conflict. But you're right, he asked for your views, and by that point you had every right to post whatever you did!
How narrow-minded it is for him to ask about others' views on the purpose of life and yet tell you not to express your agnostic views! That's like having an ethnic cooking competition, but telling the Japanese they can only cook American-style.
How condescending indeed.

Whatever you wrote, it probably stuck out like a sore thumb. Posting a coherent, thoughtful response instead of regurgitating trite church catchphrases is bound to attract attention. I'm with woodsmoke, I'd love to see what you wrote if you feel comfortable sharing it.

Your purpose is to decide for yourself what your unique purpose is, instead of letting a church define your purpose like a bunch of lemmings!

I think you handled the situation very well. Too bad you didn't have a big-middle-finger emoticon to add! If they don't want to hear your honest answer, then they should not ask.

It's A-OKAY for your brother-in-law to get religious in his reply, but off-limits for you??? Yep, sounds about right, because, after all, he is a TBM while you are not, so in his crazy world he has the authority to call the shots.

Glad you called him on his arrogance.

Just realized you said he was a family member, not a brother-in-law. I was trying to be psychic I guess.