Infected with Doubt

[slavereeno]

I admit the possibility that fowler's buckets can't be universally applied,

This is true, in fact Fowler himself asserts this in his book. He states that his stages concept is merely a framework for having a conversation about human faith not an empirical categorization for human beings. So I see it as such, a way to try to understand where I am and where others may be. I found the book helpful as I fell deeply into "the dark night of the soul" but the framework has limitations and is often not explicitly applicable to a Mormon faith transition.

On another note I stumbled on the FAIR article on the "So Called Stages of Faith" what a load of BS, the article is trite, dismissive, deceptive and filled with intentional malice towards the disaffected.

The page summarizes Fowler's concept with this:

Sadly, Fowler’s Stages of Faith is yet another avenue for those who have rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ to rationalize that decision.

I can respect some genuine criticism of Fowler's book, like that from the developmental faith model advocates, but the above quote from FAIR is just intellectually insulting.

[Jeffret]

This is a flaw in using Fowler's divisions as a tool to try and educate stage 3 people.

Since stages are numeric, people will feel unfairly judged and somehow lesser for being labeled.

Yes, that's fraught with problems. Fowler's stages are more of a framework for thought than any hard, fast structure. They can be useful, but it can be dangerous to use them to judge others. Or to argue.

I appears that people have to pass through each one, though the nature of that is different for everyone. Some people transition some stages pretty quickly and easily. Peggy, who introduced me to Stages back in the 90's and had Fowler autograph her copy of the book, was convinced that though she raised her daughters as accepting universalists, they would still have to pass through the stages from being a stage 3 dogmatic universalist to a more nuanced understanding. It seems that those who pass through the stages when they're younger can do so more easily and quickly.