No I do not. We don't need to believe in gods. We need to individuate and learn to come to terms with our mortality.
Forum: Deconstructing Mormonism

The Venn-diagram that I proposed as an insert placed the deconstruction and assessment of Mormonism at the intersection of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, but evn that didn't quite capture it. Finally I settled on the last two paragraphs of the General Information section in the Introduction on p. lxiii. This work pertains to any and all concepts of god, i.e. the way the term 'God' -- by name
Forum: Deconstructing Mormonism

Hello All, First of all, what is a "TBM"? I've been racking my brain on this and can't for the life of me figure it out. Second, I will attempt to later reply to those posts that jumpe out at me in some way, which is probably how I'll approach my involvement when I'm not asked a specific question. Where the proverbial "rubber hits the road" for me in this Introduction
Forum: Deconstructing Mormonism

I owe you more than a paycheck my friend. Your review seems to have created a ground-swell of interest in a demographic I didn't even consider; the demographic represented by the RfM Forums. Thank you again for having the courage to read and review the book as you did. Your review alone has made the 4 year sacrifice in writing it worth while. My hope is that other notable apologists will re
Forum: Deconstructing Mormonism

SD, Welcome! Good for you in focusing on the "Common Reasoning Fallicies" and "Last Defense" in the Introduction. These sections, together with the sections on "Mormon Apologetics" and the "Evasive Possibility Strategies" in Ch. 2 are critical. They are, from my perspective, the "Achilles Heel" of Mormon and Theistic apologetics. Learn them
Forum: Deconstructing Mormonism

Hello Kerry! Nice to hear from you and finally connect. Thank you for so respectfully reading my book, and reviewing it as you have. That you have done so as a once "defender of the faith" of some renown is I think a testament to you as a person. I too look forward to exchanging thoughts with you (and others)on the book, and perhaps exploring unchartered territory together. Our p
Forum: Deconstructing Mormonism

Uncle Dale Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > In my own > way, I'm > just trying to picture the plausible boundaries of > reasonable > application in the common consensus reality we all > live in. Dale, With respect, I do not know what specifically you're referring to here when you write of "picturing the plausible boundaries of
Forum: Deconstructing Mormonism

Well done DF! Thanks!
Forum: Deconstructing Mormonism

NG, Congrats on getting through p. 1. :) I think you're wise to take it slow. There is no speed-reading this book. I've read it cover to cover several times, and am reading it again with all of you...and still learning...and I wrote it! And I expect to learn from all of you. Deconstructing Mormonism, as I conceive of the term "deconstructing", is not about kabitzing -- or sh
Forum: Deconstructing Mormonism

You have indeed been bitten by the "wolves of doubt" EB, and will soon die to god and return to your natural Atheism. With this death you will be free to embrace -- as a mature, free-thinking person (see footnote 82, pp. 123-4) -- your natural place in the cosmos with the rest of biological existence, and do so with the realization that there is no "self" (much less "s
Forum: Recovery Board

EB, I'm trying to stay out of DM threads until the we begin digging into the book together in earnest, but found your posting provocative, and your question apropos to all who have allegedly carefully and reflectively read and truly understood the book. Perhaps, as your question at least implicitly seems to suggest, the relationship is more with "mormonism" than with any particular
Forum: Recovery Board

I'm ready when all of you are Susan. Last I read, there was a proposal on the table by SC, who volunteered to facilitate the first thread on the Betrayal of Doubt Intro. to the book by calling for questions and setting a date. Assuming those who want to participate are reading when they can at a pace that suits them, and that I will be notified when there is a collective readiness to begin.
Forum: Recovery Board

Me too. Exciting, isn't it? I think you started this, didn't you? I think so. Anyway, you got me involved, and I'm thankful. How come every time I see your name I smile? So great to be reunited after all this time. You are, and always have been my friend. And with that, my friend, I must go, before I can no longer see the keyboard.
Forum: Recovery Board

Hi SC. Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I'll be there on the 10th, if that's the date. Let me know please. I'm really OK with however you all want to proceed, and appreciate your sensitivity to everyone's time and interests. Perhaps, in retrospect, things will evolve as they need to once we get started. I'm new at this, so my concerns might be unwarranted. As for the concerns about the natu
Forum: Recovery Board

I agree. Publicity is good! "Lurkers" are certainly welcome. As for FB, I don't use it and know little-to-nothing about it. I'll show-up wherever I'm invited (and sometimes just because I want to weigh-in on what's being discussed). "TT"
Forum: Recovery Board

Hi Nightingale, Suggest you read footnote 174, p. 319 of the book. Striker's work cited and summarized there might be of interest to you. I think it's powerful and very disturbing. T
Forum: Recovery Board

Darkfem Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > In the meantime, I'm wondering. As the book's > author, are there questions you'd like us to > consider as we read? Anything specific you'd like > us to focus on? Anything you want to foreground as > the book's author? I'd be very interested in any > questions you want to put on the table.
Forum: Recovery Board

Hello All, By now I'm guessing everyone has their book. Hope so. If not, you should have it this week. Before we begin I want to announce that I have at last depleted my personal supply of books. Please spread the work, as I continue to receive emails from hopeful folks who want the book, and it pains me that they can't get one. Hopefully the publisher will be releasing the 2nd printing soo
Forum: Recovery Board

Hello again UD. This thread was an interesting read. You write: "Enough talking about me. I want to talk about the book." But from what I have read in this thread, the book is also about you and your present beliefs, though perhaps more indirectly. Not surprised that Ch. 7 did not resonate with you, as you do not seem to be a traditional theist. Ch. 7 is part of a cumulative At
Forum: Recovery Board

Hello again UD. This thread was an interesting read. From what I have read, the book is also about you and your present beliefs, though perhaps more indirectly. Not surprised that Ch. 7 did not resonate with you, as you do not seem to be a traditional theist. Ch. 7 is part of a cumulative Atheistic argument for traditional theists. Your particular strain of the "god virus" is
Forum: Recovery Board

Exist, existence, real, reality. ...It's all about how language is used at a particular time, in a particular context, and for a particular, determinative purpose. Existence in a subatomic context is different than existence in a biological context, which is different than existence in a physical context. In one sense, to say something "exists" is to say it is "real", a
Forum: Recovery Board

Dale, Perhaps this isn't the appropriate thread to take this subject further, but I'll share this in reply in answer to your concern about "how 'real' will be considered thereafter." Essentially, as I see it, your guide will be the context in which the words "real" or "reality" are used in the text. E.g. the sentence "This is a real problem" uses t
Forum: Recovery Board

Hi Dale. Sorry about the rock you bit down on. Glad to read that you're wrestling with what you're reading so far. I assume what you might be struggling with is the "problem of reality" presented on pp. 22-24 of Chapter 1, correct? If so, none of what's written there has anything to do with whether or not you really bit into a rock or whether or not you really experienced pain
Forum: Recovery Board

Hi All. Good reading to all of you. You've even got me re-reading my book again. I have to concentrate like hell in places, and I wrote it! ;) Look forward to your thoughts, and the exchanges and mutual learnings. SC, I do have a few more books for any interested. Crom and AngelCowgirl if I didn't reply to your email I didn't get it. Please try again. tjriskas@yahoo.com.
Forum: Recovery Board

SC, I hadn't read your reply to my post on "spirituality" before including you in the "NOTE" to this reply. Clearly you're not in need of any therapy for residue "spirituality sickness." ;)
Forum: Recovery Board

Oh, BTW SC, 16 books went out in the mail today. Yours was one of them. Let me know when you get it. Thanks so much for your interest.
Forum: Recovery Board

I agree. Atheists who still use religious terms (like "spiritual") likely have some therapeutic work to do. They are still likely infected. I agree with Eller that we need to jettison the term "spiritual" in relation to experience, and merely refer to our experiences as natural, biological "human experiences."
Forum: Recovery Board

I missed your first question about magic, Daoism and Joseph Smith. Actually, I didn't dabble in magic before becoming a Mormon. I was fascinated, however, by JS's use of "seer stones" (and actually favorably affected by Quinn's book later) and later found myself at the alter praying for my own seer stone, and finding one (by revelation, of course) after being directed (by the spirit, of
Forum: Recovery Board

Yes I have. I have no idea what "spiritual" means, or by what specific, verifiable criteria one could intelligibly distinguish -- without begging the question or resorting to "God-talk" (which I argue at great length is itself unintelligible and factually meaningless) -- a "spiritual" experience from a natural, human experience, or, perhaps more specifically and tech
Forum: Recovery Board

Steve, I actually remember the Toe story, and yes, it is more than a bit humiliating ;) Still, it's fun to be able to laugh at now, even though I would have severly chastened you then for being "light minded" and terribly "irreverant", right? On second thought, I hereby take back my "forgiveness of sins" blessing. Can an "apostate" do that? All levity as
Forum: Recovery Board