Why? Because he created a new screen names like Norther_Lights and BridgeExplorer saying things like:
"I have believed that the Character of Joseph Smith did not merit belief, but my studies have concluded that in all instances he was in fact correct by the best authorities of the human race that I can find in every age. Without expert help and advice, I think my return is inevitable. Perhaps there is some combination of error in judgment or weakness in Joseph Smith, and conviction that he has been slandered that will eventual satisfy me on the few remaining accounts."
Wonderer is getting bored, so getting a little more in your face with his message, though it was pretty overt when it was suggesting ex-mormons make artistic renderings of mormon pioneer handcarts and wagons as a mode of therapy. First post I read smelled funny.
On another note, I haven't smoked since your thread on smoking. Can't explain why, but so far - Thanks.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/12/2012 09:43PM by thingsithink.
thingsithink Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > First post I read smelled funny.
A "double agent," my mind can handle. A "triple agent" gets harder to deal with. And a "quadruple agent" just plain freaks me out.
I don't mind LDS disbelievers who act as apologists, for various personal reasons. I do not even much mind LDS disbelievers who play the part of believer trolls, functioning with the hidden motive of promoting the Church's party line.
But -- a believer, acting like a disbeliever, in order to pull stunts as a faux believer troll, for unknown reasons, is a bit bothersome.
Better to just give the old LDS Institute instructors' testimony, and tearfully extol Joe Smith as a true prophet.
For the record I am a different person from wonderer. I have posted here before under this very screen name. Just not as frequent as others but I have been around for awhile.
LOL. I am not sure I can offer you a simple answer. I will offer what I can here. Honestly I don't always understand myself, so I can only offer so much while I figure things out for me.
I am soooo not a TBM. I think it is funny you could even ask after others are accusing me of trying to recruit people to Eastern Religions or to some personal cult.
I have explored a lot. I don't think in black and white, or even gray. I think in color.
I am asking questions, observing, poking around in my own head and heart. Mormonism didn't 'feel' right to me years ago and so I left, but I didn't leave based on the history, so I enjoy looking at that. I also returned to be around family and face some things about Mormonism that I liked and to sift through my thoughts and feelings.
I am sooo not trying to get a rise out of people. Frankly I don't love the backlash, but sometimes ideas that are challenged help people ask different questions and consider different options. For me others have done that and it has helped me find other options for myself. I am grateful for that and happy to offer it where it may be helpful.
If you look through my threads you will see that there are people who respond quite well to my thought processes and repeatedly thank me for the threads. In that way I am not sure I am 'not like the rest of you'. I am not alone in exploring Jung or Eastern Spiritual traditions. I am also less absolutist in thinking than some in their eastern practices and studies. I honestly was surprised by how many there are on the board with such interests.
I am perhaps a hopeful agnostic. My interest is in people knowing that there are options beyond Christianity and Atheism which so many don't seem to know, and people actually healing and recovering from Mormonism vs. just being angry about it. I am still figuring it out.
That is about as short and simple as I can offer based on your question.
LOL... You make me laugh about thinking the covered wagon thing smelled funny. Someone got talking about how they wanted to paint a covered wagon with women pulling it and girls pulling it. That would not be orthodox Mormonism in any way and I loved it.
re: thinking I created other screennames. I did no such thing. I find it funny how many characters are in the room that got talking once I opened my mouth. I had no idea there were so many who would respond to my ideas both positively and negatively. I like art and art often provokes.
re: your smoking cessation. Congrats. I am happy for you whether it had anything to do with me or not. I dance with smoking myself.
I guess I forget how odd I can be for some folks. Some people can have a love/hate relationship with me and me with some people.I don't understand myself, so I can appreciate the frustration some have with me. I have driven plenty of Mormons crazy, so y'all should take heart in that. I am an equal opportunity crazy maker.
Lost Mystic... short and sweet is all relative. Maybe it was medium and a bit spicy?
No I did not ever post here before. I have posted on other boards before on Mormon subjects and have been around the conversations around Mormon Stories and some other groups.
I did just jump headlong in. People seemed to be enjoying it (obviously not all, but that is not usually expected). I was somewhat surprised both by the warm reception of some and the darker reception of others. Partly though I can see how some people got a very bizarre skewed perception of me and also just how I don't think in black and white which people are used to thinking in terms of.
That weird poster with the art idea was me :) I personally don't care about any ulterior motives on anyone's part, my creative/artistic ideas have been spurred on by many, many posts and ideas I have come across on this awesome board. I'm not looking to replace one cult with another, I just appreciate the ideas brought up in some random threads.
Thanks to EVERYONE, even the creeps at fair/farms.
This is just a small part of our journey. carry on :)
Why does it matter if we are suspicious? Why does it matter if we think people are posting with sock puppets?
The admins are very good at what they do. They are much better than we are at detecting trolls and sock puppets. The best thing to do, and the thing we are asked to do, is to report suspicious behavior and ignore it.
LM - As someone who has explored Eastern Philosophy and Religions and alternative views on things for years now, I get tired of people talking about God only from a Mormon perspective.
I have lived outside the Zion boxes and I can appreciate that I would probably be an Atheist if all I knew was Judeo Christian thought in a more literal way.
For me exploring other ideas had made it all a bit more like calculus than basic math. So then I am thinking more in subtle ways as I try to piece things together based on my own experiences and observations which are diverse and scattered at the moment after my own emotional journeys recently.
So thus, I am here to put pieces together and pull pieces apart like others, but those pieces include Mormonism and ExMormonism, but have other pieces as well. I hadn't thought of them disturbing some others as they have. But I also hadn't thought they may inspire others as they have.
I like deeper conversations and my situation has put me in unique positions to examine things that I didn't know could be examined or needed to be - like the history nuances among others.