I had a conversation with a friend about people who wonder why post-mormons don't all quickly move on. I'm sure you've all heard the saying, "You can leave the Church, but you can't leave it alone." This is my response to that claim:

There's a huge double standard, as evidenced by the following:

1- I don't go knocking on my neighbor's doors to tell them about Agnosticism.

2- I don't text them saying, "I noticed you went to Church today. I sure missed you at not-Church. Hope to see you soon."

3- I don't bribe their kids with treats to stay home from Church.

4- When my Mormon neighbors move, I don't track them down and invite them to leave the Church in their new area.

5- When PBS has a show on about Charles Darwin I don't make fancy invitations and invite them to watch it with me.

6- I don't keep track of who's going to Church and who's not.

7- I don't fly across the country to Philadelphia at my own expense and spend two years trying to get Philadelphia Mormons to leave the Church.

8- I'm not constantly quoting Richard Dawkins or Carl Sagan on Facebook.

9- I don't put on a huge anti-Mormon pageant every year and invite all of my Mormon friends.

10- I don't secretly interrogate their children to find out why their parents are staying in Church.

11- When a Mormon neighbor makes the decision to stay in the Church, I don't write them a letter explaining the eternal consequences of their decision and telling them that before they make such an important decision they must sit down with me to discuss it.

12- I don't drive down to the Church on the night they're having youth activities and say, "Hey kids, we're on our way to the arcade. Do you want a ride?"

13- I never look at a Mormon and try to figure out what type of underwear they're wearing.

14- I never use funerals as an opportunity to teach the plan of natural selection to grieving Mormons.

15- I have never written my testimony inside a copy of No Man Knows My History and given it to a Mormon while explaining what the book means to me and how it has changed my life.

16- I have never bought a Mormon a gift subscription to a Secular Humanist magazine.

17- I have never told a Mormon how they should vote.

18- I have never criticized a Mormon for the clothes they are wearing.

19- I have never chastised a Mormon friend for posting something on Facebook that was too mormony.

20- I do not deny my Mormon friends and family the opportunity to attend weddings, even if they're not Agnostics in good standing.

21- I do not send Birthday cards to my Mormon Neighbor's Children with a note that says, "Darwin loves you and so do I. We sure miss you when you go to Church."

22- I don't tell my Mormon friends that they're going to hell because they don't believe in the Big Bang.

23- When my less-active Mormon neighbors decide to start going to Church more often, I don't visit them at a time when I know their spouse will be at work and tell them, "Now you know you don't have to go to Church just because your spouse wants to go. You're allowed to make up your own mind."

24- I don't disown my child if they decide to be Mormon.

25- I don't counsel anyone to divorce their spouse because they've decided that Atheism isn't true and that Mormonism makes more sense.

26- When I notice that a family in my neighborhood has attended Church for several weeks in a row, I don't leave delicious chocolate cupcakes on their doorstep with a note that I wish they would stop attending.

27- I don't get together with several of my Post-Mormon neighbors and say, "Hey, lets make a list of all the Mormons in the ward boundaries, and let's think about it and pray about it, and we'll narrow that list down to 5 names, and we'll focus all of our energy and attention on these five people or families, and we'll try to get them to leave the church."

When I was Elder's Quorum President, I was instructed to contact all the elders and potential elders every year, even if they had requested not to be contacted, because they could have changed their mind since last year.

So who's not leaving who alone?

I don't leave it alone because it hurts me, my family, and many of my neighbors on a daily basis. Boner.

As far as I'm concerned, that f'ing church ruined my marriage. Maybe in the long run I'm better off but how they pressured DW and her kids was enough to make you cry.It made me cry anyway.

Exactly. It's always one rule for us and another for them. They're allowed to do things that other people are not, according to them.

"I sure missed you at not-church". Lol I love it.

another +1. Very funny....except it's sad that all those things are done so thoughtlessly to us.

Can mormons say "double standard"?

Great list. And spot on. Thanks for sharing.

I'm glad you guys like it.

Great post! So funny how true it is that the mo-mos don't leave you alone, but don't call them out. I loved this one..because it is so true.

Brilliant!

Excellent post! I've been thinking along these same lines lately and this is better than having to come up with something that wouldn't have been as good.

I enjoyed this, may I request you add something clever about not getting names of dead people and resigning them by proxy?

Dead cat, I'm starting a blog. Should be online within a week. May I use your idea about baptism for the dead. If I may, how should I credit you. Credit can be to anonymous or to a name or nickname.

Love it!

WEll said!

What a brilliant post! Way to go, farside!

Even though I do look at Mormons and snicker about what underwear they're wearing. But I'm with you on all of those other points.

Totally brilliant! Thanks.

Great list!

May I add it to my webpage at http://packham.n4m.org as a FMA (Frequently Made Argument)? With attribution, of course!

Richard

Very funny and pointed!

I may do a few of those however, like baking delicious cupcakes for a family and leaving a note wishing that they would not attend church. :)

Really good list - really good points.

Terrific list.
I have to admit, though, I've done #19.
The rest, same as you. :)

Great counter argument, showing the hypocrisy of the Mormon church.

When Members ask: Why do you keep venting against the church?
they often bring up the idea that I fulfill prophesy: “You kicking against the pricks fulfil prophecy!”
Or that: “Your anger isn’t helping anyone.”


But I also tell them:

It would be irrational of a person not to be angry at being defrauded. This financial con of six-figures alone would keep anyone upset for years. Add the robbing of my youth, philosophy, culture and emotional security, of my family and friend associations, then of course I am upset! Again, if I weren't upset by having all of that money, security and association taken from me by deception, I would be a very irrational and dysfunctional person.

My question to them is, why do you think it would be hard for anyone to "prophesy" anger when you knowingly lie to them and defraud them of so much?

It's not a hard prophecy if you know you’re screwing others
If they find out, they’re gonna be pissed!


Joseph Smith's so-called kicking-against-the-pricks prophesy is very telling that he knew he was defrauding others and those that found out would be very angry. He was stacking the deck ahead of time so he could dodge those crying out against his scam.

So, the prophesy is revealing because it shows JS knew he was scamming.

(sorry to repeat so much, but I am trying to make a point that I feel isn't coming out clearly.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/2014 11:33AM by Jesus Smith.

Jesus Smith Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Joseph Smith's so-called
> kicking-against-the-pricks prophesy

"And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus
whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the
pricks.
--Acts 9:5


"And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice
speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul,
why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks."
--Acts 26:14

For the record, the "kick against the pricks" phrase is not
original with JS.

RPackham, I'm starting a blog and the list will be the first entry. The blog should be online within a week. I'll announce it and provid elinks here (if it's allowed). Can you wait until my blog is online and then just credit the blog?

28 - I didn't create an invasive corporation run on the tactics of a cult that makes members subscribing to their services feel the need to promote their products in the spirit of the most aggressive multi-level marketing companies out there. And call myself a not-for-profit corporation.

Let alone think that the head of my corporation has some special powers which give him responsibility over all human souls living or dead.

So true, I was just telling dh the other day that it's very strange that TBMs tell exmo's "you can leave the church, but you can't leave the church alone", for these very reasons.


-For my b-day my father gave me a Terryl Givens book (The God Who Weeps - what a boring piece of drivel!)

-The seminary teacher called us 3 times to try to get my dd to go to seminary. Then she love bombed us - she came by the house with a handwritten card and a basket of candy for dd, saying she would love to see her in seminary.

-I've been given the old line "we miss you in church" a dozen times.

-My facebook feed is inundated with prophet quotes, I'm A Mormon crap, and tons of other Mormon links and scriptures.

-Keep getting invited to church.



Excuse me, who can't leave who alone??? I mean seriously, do they stop and think for 2 seconds before they say this? They're the ones who send hundreds of teens for two years to sell their church, but WE can't leave THEM alone.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/2014 01:22PM by twistedsister.

Exactly. They send sheltered teenagers out to harass people, and when someone doesn't show up at church one Sunday, they send people to their doorstep to find out why they weren't there.

One of the best posts EVER. We will leave the church alone when they quit telling our families we are "wayward." It doesn't matter how long we've been out, when they put those labels on us, they are NOT leaving us alone. It's a two-way street.

They can leave the "world" but they can't never leave the "world" alone.