Shame on you Randy not everyone meets the right person at the right time and not everyone lives in communities where women are seen as second class If they aren't married and churning out kids with an RM when they are 23. A bit of a personal below the belt punch that one.
This is the same big dork who wrote that Harry Reid can't get into the Celestial Kingdom because he's a democrat. I find it fascinating that educated TBMs would ever take this guys seriously. He's an embarrassment.
I do find it a bit bizarre that john Dehlin has not been excommunicated already. He doesn't believe in the church, which is founded on thin air - that dream of Lehi or was it Nephi had it the wrong way round, the mormons are in the building the nonbeleivers are following the true path while being laughed at by the jackass believers. He makes the problems with the church as public as he can. while I was looking into the church and it's history his stuff was a lot easier to find then those essays hidden in gospel topics. If everyone he wanted to listened to his podcasts he wouldn't have a church to be a member of. I think it's a good idea he should go to guatemala and then hopefully those poor sods who walk for hours to attend the church for 3 hours can do something more productive. The walk is probably the only useful thing they do on sunday. lastly does that Eric Friel guy in the original articles comments really think Fairmormon answer the questions adequately?
"There are faithful Mormons everywhere who struggle with certain doctrines, yet they find a way to reconcile their faith with their doubts."
And there are those who are "DNA Mormons" who have found it impossible to reconcile Mormonism with their knowledge. Those to whom Mormonism is part of their family structure, but cannot accept the founding claims of Mormonism. These are the ones who are like the Jews who are atheists but are still considered Jews by the Jewish Community, that the article mentions. In Judaism it's a difference of opinion among members of a community. In Mormonism it's an excommunication offense.
From the article:
"Instead of excommunicating him, Dehlin’s disciplinary council should ask him to return to Guatemala, the land where he served as a young missionary, and give presentations to the members there – many of whom walk many hours to and from church every Sunday -- on why he is willing to leave the church over his online activities. I’d pay a great deal to be there during the Q&A sessions afterwards."
I get the impression that the writer would not be happy with the results of such a Q&A session. I think having John go to Guatemala and giving a presentation to members there is the LAST thing the Church (and the writer of the article) would want. After all, he is being "disciplined" for publicly stating and defending his position.
The potshot about him not getting married until his 40's was pretty funny, but you could see how sensitive he was when he responded that he was looking for a "beautiful, multilingual returned missionary to be the mother of my children, and it took me a while to find her". Clearly hit a nerve. I always think it's best to look for incredibly specific traits in the women I seek instead of going into the dating scene with an open mind about the women I meet.
This dude did nothing to respond to anyone, he just said 'This has nothing to do with the Jewish things I write about' ad infinitum. Leads me to believe he's an idiot.
Tal, thank you for commenting on that article. The ugly side of Mormon behavior really comes out when they are faced with facts they don't like. The author calling you stupid is the kind of behavior that the public needs to see.
According to the Mormon playbook, members who don't believe but keep quiet are fine. But those who start publicizing details of their doubts and the problems with Mormonism are to be ex'ed.
Well, it seems to me Dehlin has done lots of publicizing but he's on thin ice and not ex'ed most likely because he apparently dislikes certain aspects but in the same breath still defends Mormonism (or used to.... haven't followed him lately).
That said, I'm totally with you Tal. Either buy into it and stay, or disagree with it and leave. Man up, John!
That said, people say John has been trying to reform Mormonism by not willingly leaving. That is one of those grey areas for some and black and white for others. The guys at the top of Mormonism might reform things a bit here and there but due to public pressure, not usually due to a Mormon blogger. Some of us feel that Mormonism is and has been depraved from the beginning and thus should not be reformed, just cut off.
I can't believe how peeevish and immature he sounds writing back to you. Wouldn't he at least ATTEMPT to sound like a serious person on his own blog comments instead of responding like a Daniel Peterson email?
The answer, of course, is no. Following Nibley, Peterson and his former colleagues popularized within the Mormon community a form of pseudo-apologetics for which the goal was not to defend truth or a particular perspective, but to protect the stupefaction (their own and others') required for Mormon belief from the disruptive effects of reason and evidence.
To that end, Mormon pseudo-apologists rejected sharply reasoned argument based on reliable evidence for (amongst other things) sarcasm, ad hominem potshots, pedantry, thought-terminating cliches, mockery, sanctimony, verbosity, smugness, and exaggerated indignation. It's no wonder that Mr. Paredes, who's no doubt familiar with those writings, feels inclined toward a couple of those same techniques.