I am reminded of a line from a story by Arthur C. Clarke, enititled (I think) "The Fountains of Paradise". In the story a visiting intielligent machine arrives at earth from the far reaches of the cosmos. People start asking it all sorts of questions, mainly about science stuff. One person changes the subject and asks it about God, to which the machine responds that in al its travels it
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Is she part of the company that organizes the handcart treks?
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It is indeed a Mormon thing. To the average mormon mind, God is found in current events. Current events are all about the run-up to Armageddon, which battle is all about validating Mormonism. Mormonism is all about validating each member's sense that he or she is the center of the Cosmos, which means that each member's psyche is based on them being the center of the struggle between Satan and God
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Personally I am looking for a revival of the old Greek ways. The "gods" are not all powerful and certainly not all holy and righteous and good. They were reflections or embodiments of the unpredictability of life, rather like the Irish leprechauns before they got taken over by Hallmark and some breakfast cereal. Isn't it so much easier to "believe" (whatever that means) than t
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Cheryl Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Females were always descriminated against. Moms, > grandmas, aunties, and godmothers have always had > to sit down in the pew seats while "worthy" dads, > grandpas, uncles, and best friends were honored to > stand up front where dignitaries are honored. > > Those who sit in the pews at
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I guess the thing I hated most as a Mormon teenager was church dances. It was hell for me (I'm a totally straight male, BTW). I had no idea how to converse with anybody, male or female. I danced a lot but that was all I could come up with to do there. Other people seemed sopmehow to come away from dances with some sort of relationship, but I never could figure it out. The problem is this: isn't t
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Just a side historical note: Up until sometime in the 1980's (I am not sure of the exact time period) there was no rule as to who could participate in the circle for blessing babies. Non-Priesthood men (i.e., fthe fathers) were actually encouraged to join in, in the hopes that they would feel the camraderie and perhaps investigate a little further. Now there is a strict rule that only Priesthood
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I think most of us are in the same boat you are. Biblebeltbetsy is compiling a treatise on depression among Mormons. I am sure she would love to hear from you.
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Allow me.The Google translation doesn't quite get it right. The name of the blog is "About Mormonism". He is announcing the end of his blogging days. He explains: Today I received an email that was very disappointing. I was disappointed mainly because I wanted to approach someone to propose a project even more ambitious than this one, which project I am working on now. She misunde
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We had three receptions. One was on the lawn outside the church, one was in my parents' back yard, and one was a barbecue in a park with our same-age friends. One of the saddest things I have ever witnessed in my life was a gym reception for which the groom was Italian. His mother came over from Italy the festivities. From Italy. For a reception in a gymnasium. With the usual Mormon reception
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Wise counsel indeed. But how come it only applies to the underlings,and not to the leaders? Or am I mistaken? Something about the pigs eventually becoming indistinguishable from the humans on the farm...
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IMO, there can never be a great Mormon body of literature because of what that means. Great literature involves conflicting viewpoints and the search for self. Think Huckleberry Finn or Les Miserables. The whole basis of Mormonism is that only one point of view is allowed,and the exploration of the self is evil because all meaning is to be found in the church. So, no- we will never see an LDS War
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I too am suffering from what everybody calls depression, but which I feel is better described by words such as terminal frustration and despair. The way Mormonism is set up there is indeed no way anybody except the G-15 can ever be good enough- and the G-15 know this and like it. My therapist had me read a book which explained a great deal. It is called "The Drama of the Gifted Child".
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By his own admission in general conference, neither has Dave Bednar.
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When I was in 3rd or 4th grade I was one of a small group that horribly tormented a Catholic boy. Eventually he transferred to a different school.This was in Mormon Central- Orem, Utah. I have regretted it ever since.
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This isn't quite what you wanted, but I was Dave Bednar's home teacher for a while at BYU (he was a grad student, I think)
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Meanwhile, the boys are instructed to play basketball.
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I know what they won't say. They won't say that they have finally actually had some facetime with God and would like to share what He said. And/or they have finally worked out the last few details on how everybody can set up an appointment so speak with God, and they would be revising the Sunday School lessons sothat everybody gets a chance to visit with their Creator and loving Father and get so
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How about: Yeah, there are a few things I need. Like a religion that is willing to be honest about its claims. A religion that really cares about me rather than draining my soul dry for their own aggrandisement. A religion that really delivers on their promises of actually having an avenue to God. A religion that at least once in a while acknowledges that my healthy psychological development may
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This reminds me of the phenomenon in the 70's by a company called Eagle Marketing (or something like that- it's been a long time) when the company would embed its salespeople in LDS wards, and the salespeople would get ward lists as their customer base. Since their products (books and tapes and so on) were right in line with the LDS lifestyle, the salespeople were viewed as official representativ
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SaxGirl07 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > To be honest, I never got an answer to my > is-the-church-true prayer. I figured it would come > after joining (it never did). I joined because > everything else just felt right. I did belive the > story about his vision. I had various religious > questions that the church was able to answer: >
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Many years ago some local church leaders in my area went around trying to get people to invest in a coke mine (the kind used as a fuel for steel production). Their spiel was that all the world's coke mines were being depleted and that if they acted fast they could get in on the inevitable price hike. Several church members gave them money. Our bishop was the one who approached my father. My fathe
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Joseph Campbell said it best. An idol is any god who is not transparent to transcendence. In other sords, anything to which you cling for meaning in your life is spite of clear evedence that it is flawed (since "God" is the reification of your world-view). A symbol, on the other hand, is that which you clearly understand to be not what it looks like, and which you can use to achieve a m
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BTW, when BY was giving instructions for the trek west, among the items the Saints were required to bring along were coffee, tea and whisky. see the 7-volume (I think) History of the Church. When I was in seminary many years ago the list was included, but those items were replaced by elipses...
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One problem is the absolute impossibility of attaining a decision-making position on the basis of anything that can be called merit or special talents. It is completely on the basis of dedication to the organization, and that means telling the acive membership that they are especially favored by God. Any attempts by those nice, intelligent, hard working folk you describe to request any sort of in
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Plesase, please, please remember that when the signs and tokens were first invented (14th century Scotland) they were not symbolic in any sense of the term. They wereinvented by the Templars as a means to keep their identities secret and thereby escape the usual methods of executing outlaws, which in the 14th century included things like throat slitting, ripping peoples' chests open,and disembowe
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The "worst thing" about LDS missions is the fact that the enitre church is a missionary initiative, and young people are forced from Day 1 to subsume any impulse toward individuality and self expression in deference to the whims of arrogant, self absorbed losers whose only chance at any sort of accomplishment in life is found in being adored by church members, especially the attractive
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Just for the record, the Laffertys did not murder in the name of fundamentalism. They murdered in the name of what everybody told them was the wy the Holy Ghost communicated with mortals. Or am I mistaken?
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It looks like my password works, so I'll post my real thoughts. IMO, the God of the theists- those who feel a special dispensation to champion God- is a projection on the cosmic screen of their own world-view/sense of self- the Ego in the old Greek sense. So of course that God must be thr source and the end of all things, along with all those omni's (potent, present, etc.), not to mention totally
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This is a dummy post to see if my password still works.
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