From what I've read, the one reference to Jesus by Josephus in the history of the Jews is the only reference made in historical records, and even that is dubious, at best.
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'81 here. Barely squeaked past the cutoff. Whew! ;)
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If I were a bold youth, I would have asked: "How can we get the General Authorities to address our questions about church history/ doctrinal issues? I've heard about some of them, and I don't know where to look for answers. It seems like the prophet should have some answers for us. If we can't ask YOU, who SHOULD we ask?"
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Cool. I'll have to add it to my list. I've been having some arthritis like flareups from lots of years of knitting and crocheting for business. I already use glucosamine, MSM, and I add turmeric to my daily smoothies. Capsaicin looks like it's going to be added to my regimen. Thanks for the recommend.
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Wow. These are so reminiscent of my own PB. I had just pulled it out the other day. I hadn't read through it since I was trying to decide if I should leave the church and how I should go about trying to be faithful during my divorce. I remember poring over it, just hoping to glean some insight. When I read it the other day, I realized just how empty, vague, and vacuous it was. And now I see
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My kids came home totally gaga from this event. My son's response: "I've always seen their funny side. It was so neat to see their Spiritual Side. I love them even more now!" Gag. Choke. Smile politely. Terms like "Spiritual side" bring up conflict that was always in my mind as a TBM. I could never make my "spiritual side" overcome and take precedence to my oth
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I'm a psych major at my college. As an undergrad, I get to be a research assistant and run participants through research studies. It's quite fun, and despite the constant reminder that we're going to have a sample bias because we're mostly interviewing WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) college age students, I am enjoying it immensely. One of the studies I'm running i
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I used that website of the lawyer in Utah that is helping people resign. Easy. Painless. I never heard a peep from my local leaders. And ever since, I have stopped receiving Relief Society emails and reactivation visits.
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Oh my gosh. I was rolling. Thanks for sharing this one. I hadn't seen it before.
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Yeah, in my kids' ward, the youth group is pretty small. (And we're here in crazy Rexburg!) They ended up combining all young women into one group instead of Beehives, Mia Maids, and Laurels because there weren't enough youth to have all 3 groups when they re-zoned the ward boundaries (ward creation, you know! ;D )a few months ago.
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My first exposure to an atheist (although I didn't know it at the time) was Bill Nye the Science Guy in school and on tv. I just always admired his ability to make science cool. When I left the church, I transitioned through a lot of metaphysical and agnostic material. It eased my transition. But then, my first real awareness of atheists were Richard Dawkins and Ricky Gervais. I watched a
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I'd be interested to see more info from other ranking sources. All I have is personal experience. My 2 years at BYU-I were child's play compared to Idaho State Univ. where I attend now. It was pretty much a mockery of higher education, IMO. Lots of religion. Minimal subject matter. Heavy emphasis on Mormon paradigm propaganda.
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Congrats! Best wishes that the 3 of you will get some sleep in the near future. :)
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I've watched 2 of his music videos from this album. They're pretty angry. "Trash" even goes as far as showing temple tokens and symbols. I think his album appeals to exmos because it resonates with their frustration. But, it will definitely be abrasive and offensive to those who might be thinking about questioning. It will embody the dark, scary, satanic apostates that they've been
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When I was a TBM, I didn't even know this was a thing - to shave downtown. I was woefully naieve, as many TBMs who remain "chaste" and save themselves for other naievely chaste partners are. However, since leaving the cult, I did a lot of reading and exploration into the arena of what's possible as far as sexuality and such. It was then that I realized that people even did this.
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Studying at my local coffee shop. The peeps here are more family to me than any ward I ever attended. :)
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poopstone - I thought the same thing. I was surprised to see such "open" acceptance in the voting. If I had to guess, I'd say that more and more mormons now know someone - either friend or family - that identifies as LGBT - and when you know someone, it changes the dialogue. It's personal all of a sudden. I'm surprised like Hie said earlier, though - people tend to report in a way th
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So, I'm researching religious demographics and correlating them with personality traits for a research project, and I came across more info on the Pew Research study that was in the news a while back, when it made headlines that the religious "nones" group was growing. I found the page for the Mormons that they sampled, and these charts are kind of interesting. It gives an idea of ho
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I agree - mental gymnastics are definitely required to write this kind of post! But because so many TBMs are doing this kind of mental gymnastics on a daily basis, it's often necessary to do the same thing in order to reach them where they are at. If you're trying to persuade a TBM, if you can show them that you "mostly" are the SAME as them, they're a whole LOT more likely to listen to
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Evangeline Lilly. Spunky. Feisty. Girl next door.
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It would be cool to chat off the board sometime. I bet we know a lot of the same peeps. :)
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Yes, RandyJ - Pres R's daughter was my good friend. Kept in touch with her during her brief stint at BYU. His other child of the same persuasion, but different gender was my sister's friend.
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I agree with ren. When I went to BYU-I back when it was Ricks college, my roommate selection was about the same. 50% straight laced. 50% getting drunk and disorderly. BUT - the classes are SOOOOO laced with religion. Most start and end with prayer. And just today, a member of our local ex-mo group was lamenting about how a class at BYU-I was requiring them to relate the 5 stages of digest
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Yes, please ! I was wishing yesterday that I had the time + skills - but I lack both. Who's up for the task?
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Don't be embarrassed because of us! If you're really legit, it will sort itself out - and we're glad to be of help! If not, we'll laugh if off later. Water off a duck's back. Life's too short to get bogged down in worrying what others think. Ask your questions. You may get some smart aleck comments. It's the norm here. But you'll probably also get some genuine help. Don't be afraid. We don
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Hmm.....you might be on to something there, GBL. ;) But the Mormon mishies might insist on Green jello instead of mud.
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I was sitting on campus yesterday, enjoying my lunch between class and lab research. I had barely bitten into my sandwich when I was interrupted by two girls who looked like they were barely in high school. "Can we talk to you for a second?" "Okay...." "We are just out here talking to people about what they believe in for class." "Okay......what do you wan
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I got a copy of my official "release" from Church membership today. Woo to the hoo! It's done. Feels good to let that shoe drop. Think I'll have a drink to celebrate. In other news, have any of you guys caught wind of the doc leaks over on reddit? I briefly scanned topic lines and didn't see anything.
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I have so much empathy for this poor girl. I was in her shoes at one point in time, too. Just didn't know what I didn't know - and was innocently trying to defend what I believed. I believed what my leaders had told me - that if I stood up for what I believed, people would be convinced of the truth by my sincerity. She will grow up. And she will get wiser. It happens with time. I also think th
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I feel your pain, edz. You're not the only one. I'm now a divorced mom of 3 - and my kids and my ex are all TBMs. I get my kids on weekdays, the ex always has them on weekends so they can still go to church. (Kids' choice, not his) And they leave my house midweek to go to YM/YW activities. Then, they come home, and it's like they're afraid of me. They don't trust me anymore. They treat me l
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