Will I fall off the planet?

[Redcrown27]

{with my face overly close to the microphone breathing soooo deeeeply}

I would like to bare my testimony I know the earth is flat. I know the book of flat is true. I know that the founding members of the flat earth society were right. I know that our current leaders should be followed because he knows the way and will never lead us a stray. I love My Mommy and Daddy and brothers and sisters.

I say these things so I won't fall off the planet AMEN!

I just thought of that while getting ready for bed this evening and I started laughing.

I think it put things into perspective for me. People who literally believed that the earth was flat didn't want to hear a single word about the earth being round. They didn't want to drift too far from their comfort zone because they feared they might fall off the planet and never be seen again. Anyone who went exploring never came back to their village so they must have fallen off the planet right?

I feel like being raised Mormon was basically like being raised in a village of people who still believe the earth is flat. No one can tell them that they are wrong despite all the strong evidence that proves that the earth appears to be much more round like a baseball than it is a frisbee.

" Don't read any of those round earth books!"
"Don't drift too far you might fall off the planet!"
" Keep attending our meetings and you will be safe!"
" Listen to the top 15 men of our organization and do whatever they say."

I read plenty of books that proved that the earth is round but that doesn't mean the earth is a bad place to live.

I have ready plenty of articles, books and listened to podcasts that proves to me that the LDS church is not the one and only true church on the planet. With that in mind choosing to believe in something isn't such a bad thing to do.

I was baptized in a christian church earlier this year and I was recently married to a lovely christian woman. I feel that we do not believe 100% exactly the same way. I also feel that we do not need to believe 100% exactly the same way. I view God much differently now than what I did being raised a Mormon.


I guess my main concern right now is figuring out away to still have a relationship with my TBM parents and relatives while choosing to consider myself a Christian that doesn't want anything to do with the LDS church.

I feel that is why I am reconnecting here once again as a place to vent and bounce off ideas from everyone when needed.

[Corsair]

I feel that is why I am reconnecting here once again as a place to vent and bounce off ideas from everyone when needed.

I increasingly believe that the most important function of NOM is helping people learn to live happily with the believers in their life. Your post is amusing, but would likely fall flat (heh) if you passed it to your believing family. If there was an easy way to formally explain a faith transition to believing parents or spouses then we would already know it. There is not One True Way to do this.

Most of us have had an ironic interaction with believers. If they find out we left the church then they will almost never really want to discuss it with us. It is still quite rare for believers to want to understand us, our transition, or the issues. That is starting to change, but it's no where near a healthy and established policy. My dear wife still does not want to discuss issues with me and I fear that this is the unfortunate model for most of us.

I would like to say that you will need to find new topics to discuss with family. Most of the time the believers in your life will want an apologetic topic to be a lecture and not a discussion. LDS Living articles very commonly are written this way. Apostate forums lament a common interaction where a believing family member sends an article to them or posts something LDS centric on their social media pages. But no discussion is ever invited or encouraged. The least bit of polite criticism can be feelings of being insulted. I have definitely felt that from some of my fervent relatives.

It's this "drive-by ministering" where this apologetic explanation is thrown at you like an airplane dropping water on a forest fire. The pilot hopes this solves the problem without needing boots on the ground where the fire might affect the ground crew. Belivers don't want the issue that causes a change in faith to possibly affect new family members.

I really don't bring this up with my believing friends and family that actually know my beliefs. It has created this black hole of topics they will not discuss that appears to be deeper than differences in political belief. Mormons have a very difficult time discussing challenging topics if even a casual and friendly non-believer is present. A non-believing family member represents a bigger existential threat.

[RubinHighlander]

People who literally believed that the earth was flat didn't want to hear a single word about the earth being round. They didn't want to drift too far from their comfort zone because they feared they might fall off the planet and never be seen again. Anyone who went exploring never came back to their village so they must have fallen off the planet right?

Sad thing is this flat earth thing is still a thing and it's gaining momentum. Check out the Netflix Documentary: "The Hidden Curve"

[Random]

Sad thing is this flat earth thing is still a thing and it's gaining momentum. Check out the Netflix Documentary: "The Hidden Curve"

Ain't that the truth? So weird, to me.

I looked for that documentary on Netflix and couldn't find it. I wonder if it's on youtube?

[wtfluff]

If I'm not mistaken, the flat earth society is in the process of gathering funds to "sail" to the "edge of the earth," so they are, in fact going to find out if you can "Fall off the planet."

I hope that they do in fact set of on this expedition, and that they document it well. It will be amazing watching the mental gymnastics when they are proven wrong.

(If you haven't watched "Behind the Curve" please do. The points in the film where blatant evidence right in front of of the Flat Earther's eyes proves them wrong are absolutely fascinating.)

[RubinHighlander]

Sad thing is this flat earth thing is still a thing and it's gaining momentum. Check out the Netflix Documentary: "The Hidden Curve"

Ain't that the truth? So weird, to me.

I looked for that documentary on Netflix and couldn't find it. I wonder if it's on youtube?

Sorry I put the wrong title there, it's called "Behind the Curve"
https://www.behindthecurvefilm.com/

[Redcrown27]

I was honestly just using the flat earth belief as a tongue in cheek metaphor.

I watched the Behind The Curve Documentary. I will say that I am still a round earth believer because I trust the documented videos and pictures taken by the Space programs all over the world.

I will say that I enjoyed the potential soap opera between Mark Sargent and Patrica Steere. I feel like Mark actually has feelings for Patricia. Sadly it seems Patricia does not feel the same way about Mark Sargent or perhaps she is playing hard to get. Perhaps one day they will have a flat earth wedding cruise. They can set sail from Seattle and head west until they hit the far eastern continent of Australia proving once and for all that the earth is FLA... wait. GASP West to east? The earth is round? uh oh. Sorry Baby this won't work out. The flat earth thing is what put us together and now that is gone sooo...

Sad story That.

I did like to see their visit to the museums in Seattle and Texas. I like the fact that they used a GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM to find the Nasa Museum in Texas.

I felt sorry for Patricia because with fame comes alot of criticism and hate mail. She was called a blood drinking reptilian and transgendered. She commented on how even if she showed pictures of her childhood everyone would choose to believe that the evidence was fragmented.

I tried not laugh during that section. I really did feel sorry for her but at the same time she believes that all the pictures from NASA and any other space organization is a lie.

The part that I loved the most was Bob Knodel an Engineer took the time to create a sensor with a 20 thousand dollar ring laser gyroscope to prove that the earth is not moving at all. The very expensive device proved that there is a 15 degree per hour drift, which means that the earth does rotate. Mr. Knodel has such a great love for his Flat Earth community he doesn't want to leave it despite the evidence that the flat earth belief is false. He creates this crazy theory that the sky is moving so now he needs to put his device in a special case to block the sky.

I am seeing so many parallels to these people and members of the LDS church. These people would rather lie to themselves than leave their community. It is really kind of sad to see.

[Random]

Sorry I put the wrong title there, it's called "Behind the Curve"
https://www.behindthecurvefilm.com/

Thanks.

[Random]

I got 23 minutes into the documentary and had to stop. It was inane. Two bits of "science" - a revolving sun and moon, in which the sun would light the sky over all the earth 24/7. We'd see the sun moving around the perimeter of the sky instead of setting, and the sky would never get dark. And we can see Seattle from where we are, so that proves the earth is flat. Never mind that the earth is so humongous that it's going to take a lot more than a couple hundred miles for something far away to disappear. (Also, on threads I've been on with them, flat earthers have some "debunking" argument when people point out that when ships disappear into the distance, their bottoms disappear first - and against people like my navigator uncle (Air Force) who could see the curvature of the earth from the planes he was in. Can't have it both ways.)

After that pretense at science, the documentary went on and on about how more and more people are believing the flat earth theory, how you should only marry someone who believes it if you do, and all of the many flat earth products that are out there. I left during the implied romance between the two people who are, I guess, the main characters of the documentary.

The whole thing seemed to be, "I'm awesome. Look at me."

[Redcrown27]

I feel that is why I am reconnecting here once again as a place to vent and bounce off ideas from everyone when needed.

I increasingly believe that the most important function of NOM is helping people learn to live happily with the believers in their life. Your post is amusing, but would likely fall flat (heh) if you passed it to your believing family. If there was an easy way to formally explain a faith transition to believing parents or spouses then we would already know it. There is not One True Way to do this.

Most of us have had an ironic interaction with believers. If they find out we left the church then they will almost never really want to discuss it with us. It is still quite rare for believers to want to understand us, our transition, or the issues. That is starting to change, but it's no where near a healthy and established policy. My dear wife still does not want to discuss issues with me and I fear that this is the unfortunate model for most of us.

I would like to say that you will need to find new topics to discuss with family. Most of the time the believers in your life will want an apologetic topic to be a lecture and not a discussion. LDS Living articles very commonly are written this way. Apostate forums lament a common interaction where a believing family member sends an article to them or posts something LDS centric on their social media pages. But no discussion is ever invited or encouraged. The least bit of polite criticism can be feelings of being insulted. I have definitely felt that from some of my fervent relatives.

It's this "drive-by ministering" where this apologetic explanation is thrown at you like an airplane dropping water on a forest fire. The pilot hopes this solves the problem without needing boots on the ground where the fire might affect the ground crew. Belivers don't want the issue that causes a change in faith to possibly affect new family members.

I really don't bring this up with my believing friends and family that actually know my beliefs. It has created this black hole of topics they will not discuss that appears to be deeper than differences in political belief. Mormons have a very difficult time discussing challenging topics if even a casual and friendly non-believer is present. A non-believing family member represents a bigger existential threat.

It is good to know that most of the time the believers do not want to discuss reasons for us leaving the church. I feel like it will be the same for my family. I hope there will be mutual respect between what everyone believes.