NOM

Corsair wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 16, 2018 12:37 pm

I have joked with other apostates that a "Trading Places" program might work. Just have a bishop preside over two mixed-faith marriages and swap the spouses so that two heteronormative couples emerge. One marriage would be "temple worthy" and the other couple would be "Jack Daniels worthy". They could bargain with children like free agents in the NFL draft. Surely some lawyer in the ward could donate his time and talents getting the paperwork in place.

The believing couple could have their former sealings be fast tracked to the Office of the First Presidency for appropriate dissolution and get to temple right away. The other couple could simply live in sin like filth apostates with no waiting period! Two quick divorces can result in one eternal marriage and one dumpster fire of whatever it is that apostates do between consenting adults.

Reuben wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 19, 2018 7:25 am

wtfluff, you are priceless!

I'm unsure of how much filth a couple with TK smoothies could get up to... and I just realized that I want to give it exactly zero more minutes of thought.

Regarding the trade, there are a few issues.

First, my wife has been far enough down the early church history rabbit hole to know what the main issues are. In that time period, she's only missing out on 1) details of polygamy (In Sacred Loneliness might be a good choice here) and 2) different, simpler interpretations that are more likely to be true. So her end of the trade would have to include filling these two holes.

Second, I don't think going down that rabbit hole would be enough. She seems to be much more affected by issues in current policy and culture. I'm not sure what else she could do in this regard. Every individual issue is easy to write off as a one-off thing. I relate them to systemic problems I see, but while she respects my opinions and is willing to listen to them, she hasn't adopted most of them.

Third, I would want it to be fair and above all not catastrophic for our family, so I don't think a trade is feasible. Anything she could do that would result in a faith crisis would need to be counterbalanced to make up for the fallout. For various reasons I don't want to get into, currently, the fallout would likely be immense. Further, after being in a new country only a couple of years, the church is still our main means of community support. It does such a horrific job at the most minimal support after a faith crisis - simply not rubbing salt in the wounds - that it's ridiculous to expect any support from it at all. We would probably thrash and then sink.

I think I would at least have to offer her a replacement community, tutors for our kids for a year, weekly therapy, and something to make up for loss of standing in her family. I couldn't get away with offering less, because she would work out that she would need those things, too.

Thoughtful wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 21, 2018 6:28 pm

Yeah. We get into it pretty deep, don't we? It's so hard. I feel for both of you.

Reuben wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 22, 2018 1:30 am

Thoughtful wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 21, 2018 6:28 pm

Yeah. We get into it pretty deep, don't we? It's so hard. I feel for both of you.

You know what? So do I. But I mostly feel for myself right now because I'm having a hard time with reading comprehension. I was too serious, so to make up for it...

Hmm... maybe I could get her to read In Sacred Loneliness if I throw on something skimpy and sing a song I just made up called "I Want To Pour Syrup On My Love For You." Or would that come across as too desperate?