NOM

Ghost wrote: ↑

Fri May 10, 2019 4:18 pm

I barely had a faith crisis before it became an existential crisis. (I don't really like using the word "crisis" here but it's the common term.) While I find the issues specific to Mormonism interesting, I think the more serious issues lie a few layers deeper. What Joseph Smith did or didn't do loses a lot of its significance if the Christian foundation he built on is similarly shaky, as well as the theism that underlies that.

One of the main reasons I stick with Mormonism (to the degree that I do) is that even if it's all made up, so is everything else and it doesn't ultimately make a lot of difference whether I choose one tradition over another or attempt to break free of all of them (at whatever cost that exacts).

I think it's an understatement to say that nihilism isn't comforting, but I've resigned myself to the idea that some flavor of it is probably inescapable for me. That said, from my limited investigation of such things, I tend more toward absurdism than nihilism.

This is a topic I actually enjoy thinking about and discussing. Well, the discussion part is mostly in theory. I try not to bring it up too much because I fear it's not a pleasant topic for many and I have no more desire to spread nihilist ideas than I do religious ones.

A side note, but I find it interesting that some people have affection for God in the absence of any belief in an afterlife, or with the belief that one's unique personality and memories will be gone as one is absorbed into some sort of heavenly collective consciousness/God.

Red Ryder wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 14, 2019 2:07 pm

Happy 3rd Birthday NOM 2.0!

In celebration please share a memorable post that resonated with you. Sort of like testimony meeting.

PS. Did Captain S pay the bill to keep this slum rental going another 3 years?

Red Ryder wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 04, 2016 11:28 am

Emower wrote:Why does God have to be so distant?

I used to ask this same question. Then I realized he was always close. So close in fact, that I found he was right between my ears the whole time. He even speaks to me all the time too.

He says, "Don't worry, be happy!"

1. In a thread in which we were discussing finding meaning and value in things during and after a faith transition, I'm pretty certain it was oliver who pointed out that nothing generically "matters." You always have to consider who something matters to. So the value that we place on something isn't any less real than meaning granted by God or the cosmos in some abstract sense. It's all we have. This is something I've thought about a lot since.
2. I don't remember the context of this one, exactly, but I believe it was a comment by Hagoth. Something about how it's equally valid to live a life full of accomplishments (by whatever measure) or to live a "quiet life." One is not better than the other and it comes down to what we choose to value. Sorry, Hagoth, if this wasn't you or if it was and I remember it wrong or misinterpreted it. But it's another thing that I've thought about a lot.