NOM

This is the topic that has driven religions throughout the ages, and I trust we all agree on that. Like CS Lewis famously said about belief in a god or gods: Plan A- some or part of what you learn may be true. There may be a god. Or plan B: None of any religion is true. All are wrong, which is the ...

This is sort of a loaded question of the earlier post "reason not to resign". First of all, I said before and I will say it now, I think it is pointless to resign, and I am speaking for myself only here. It's not worth the effort, and it's sort of fun when some dip-stick tries to sniff your ass as ...

Personally, I think that banning books is a childish, selfish ego driven act. Hell, if you don't want to read the Bible, don't read it. Who gives a s**t? No one. If you do, it's not going to make you an ax murderer. I'd bet that of the people wanting to ban the Bible, that there's not more than 5 ...

Went to church today. Pretty good meeting I thought, for fast meeting. No obnoxious kiddies sing-songing how they "know the church is true". Not one. Lady got up and said that she had been doubting the church's truthfulness. I knew this lady well and was surprised to hear her say that....but it was ...

Groupthink, tribalism requires not just surrendering your moral compass, but surrendering your entire compass in all things. United we stand, divided we fall - from soldiers to football players to orchestras - united unquestioned blind obedience to authority - conformity. Wear the team uniform ...

Have not been to a temple in quite some time, unless you count a Buddhist temple that I visited in Korea a few years back , so I don't know how they do it now, but I always thought writing names on pieces of paper and dropping them in a box so that people who you don't know, who don't know your name ...

I would like to bear my testimony that the church is true. The leaders of the church know the covenant path. I wish to follow my loving leaders. To do so, I set up 13 shell companies to pay my tithing through. This is the way. I also have learned from my leaders how to evade paying taxes, which ...

It is interesting to me how the growth in the church seems to have stalled to a crawl in most of Holland, Belgium and the areas adjacent to them. Last time I was in Belgium, I did not see any mission mormonaries at all. No churches, and no sign of a Mormon presence. And I really looked for it. At ...

It seems pointless to resign, at least to me. Those of us who have been close to someone who resigned have more likely than not found that resigning did not bring their Mormon thoughts or feelings to an end. Sorry. This, I've found, is especially true if the person who resigns was once a member who ...

Wow, a lot going on over there across the pond. Sounds like the opposite of the gospel of Christ there in your corner of the world. Bishop from hell sounds like a real corker. Wonder which crazy and stupid mold these bozos come from. As was said, we have plenty just like him here in the states ...

Thought provoking post this. Trust a lot of us have gone through the same experience upon attending church, uninteresting or talks about nonsense. Notable difference between attending in places where church membership is more dense. My experience has been that people further out of Utah and Eastern ...

It's probably different for everyone, but for me it was the Bible (and with it my concept of theism) that fell apart first. Though it was the problems of Mormon history and doctrine that allowed me to realize that it was possible to question the foundational stories and doctrines of the Bible. I ...

Sounds familiar. Losing the garments is a toughy. They really think you are on a path straight to hell with that one. My wife still wears them but I'm still holding out hope there. She says she's okay with me giving garments the old heave ho many years ago but I think she still holds out that I will ...

Feeling your pain here. Hard for many of us to believe that any logical person really believes in the church unless they know little about it. Sure, I understand how people want to feel a part of something, we all do that, mingle with those like us, hell, isn't that what NOM is all about? But really ...

The dull ache of that hurt, after 3 1/2 years is very much there. I'm so sorry for your sorrow, Gaitorbate. I sort of get it why people hang onto their religious belief, trying just to get through a few years, faithful enough to have a hope of seeing their loved one again. I for one would never try ...

Points well taken. Not sure where the $236 B number came from for the church assets, but I'm pretty sure it could be higher than that, but I'm not expert. Lots of land holdings hither and thither, tax free. Those have to be worth quite a lot of moola. The widow's mite has forever struck me as wrong ...

Joseph was an opportunistic serial predator. On the ranch my Grandpa used to say once a bear or wolf got a taste of a cow, or more usually a calf, it would focus on the calves, to the exclusion of its usual food/prey. A side note: C.S. Lewis once said something like God doesn’t reveal himself to us ...

Wow, great post. Loved everyone's thoughts on this one. For me, spirituality is something that either you have, or you don't. Can't fake it, yet I cannot say that I understand it. It is more of a presence or a feeling that you get that sometimes brings you to tears when you feel someone's love for ...

Glass shelf wrote: If there's one thing I know about Mormonism from living in "the mission field" for all my non-BYU years, it's that no one else thinks Mormons are nearly as important as Mormons think other people think Mormons are.

Spot on noble one. Could not agree more.

Not long ago I was dining with some friends that I've had for more than 50 years, yep, I'm a geezer...The topic of church presidents came up and we each decided on the ones we liked and listed ones that we thought really made a difference for good and were not just "place holders". We limited ...