NOM

You've been in my thoughts all day . . . I would literally give almost anything to spare you what you're going through. We are here as a sounding board, or shoulders to weep on or whatever . . . so sorry.

My heart aches for your loss, Achilles. I'm so, so sorry.

Oh my friend, I am so sorry. My heart is breaking for you.

But ultimately, suicide is an indication of much more baggage than the church (ie abuse/trauma from childhood & consequent issues). I'm sorry, but you don't know what you're talking about. You have Alas, the mother of a gay child, testifying to the damage that the church has done to her gay child. ...

Sending good thoughts your way.

If you're going to get up to SLC, you might want to stop by Lighthouse Ministries and visit with Sandra Tanner.

I work for a Jesuit university and was telling my uber TBM SIL about my experiences here. I actually like working at a faith-based organization where there is an emphasis on service and the mission of the university. She listened somewhat dubiously and then asked whether the school teaches morality....

Thinking of you, Achilles. I hope the news continues to improve.

I'm sitting in my favorite chair with a hot cup of my favorite blend of coffee, looking out at a beautiful morning. The sun is sparkling on the leaves of our peach trees, which are laden with ripening peaches. On the ground next to the peach trees are the limbs of an oak that cracked and blew down i...

What a great discovery for both of you. I bet there are a lot of us who wish it would happen to us.

I agree that Dehlin has a right to compensation for the time and resources he has poured into his organization. He provides a lot of value. I think the issue is that he goofed in setting Open Stories Foundation up as a non-profit and staffing the board with people who had a conflict of interest beca...

So many really good comments here. The opposite of love is not hate, which is still an active engagement with the object. The opposite of love is indifference, or apathy. When I stop giving energy to the church, then I have taken back my power -- whether I am attending or not. Before, when I was all...

Elder Snow said the volumes will be “transparent, honest and faithful,” with controversial aspects of Church history covered in the context of the entire story. This has the ring of a carefully worded . . . something. I've become very cynical, but in speaking of Mormon history "transparent" and "ho...

I think one of the biggest pain points for people who start to even question is the attitude that it is wrong to ask, that a person is bad for not having the faith to accept and believe no matter what. I don't know you or your situation obviously, but I think you could support her without outing you...

The light has gone out of your countenance.

You've lost the spirit.

The church is perfect but the members aren't.

Brent Metcalf told John Dehlin in his Mormon Stories interview that when he worked for LDS security, he was asked to go to a meeting of ERA supporters and write down license plate numbers. They then got sympathetic (or church-broke?) policemen to run the plates and find out which attendees were memb...

I remember some of the posts from a darker time in your life, Doc, and it cheers my heart to hear that after all you have gone through you are in such a good place right now.

I feel like alot of us here and a lot of my personal journey has involved retooling a belief that minimizes god being an a$$hole. This, exactly! I told DH at one point that since I imagined a god who was so much larger in scope and inclusive, I could no longer worship the one imagined by JS. I came...

It's so interesting to hear people's stories; thanks for posting this, Consiglieri.

I'm not familiar with the response to the Book of Abraham essay you referenced. Could you provide a link?

I like to think of God as the best thing I can imagine. My imagination says that God wants us to use our thinking power to seek answers, find solutions and make life better for all concerned. I do not wish to give up on a God whose existence, although unprovable, can be a source of both joy and com...