NOM

LDS Manager: Well we don't feel it is being secret, it is confidential. IOW it's sacred, not secret. I'm not hopeful that the church will be held accountable. I felt that way in 2016 after ... (mumble) ... some political events or other. I thought people would wake up and see. The outcome was just ...

Not knowing more about the story than I do- what I know is just what I've learned here on NOM- unless the victim has some kind of benefactor with extremely deep pockets, there's no way she could afford the costs of trial. The church most definitely wouldn't want the bad publicity of a trial, but at ...

dogbite wrote:It is my opinion that spirituality is sloppily loaded word.

Spirituality is just like pornography- hard to define, but I know it when I see it.

There's an idea floating around that we are all born with a "God-shaped hole" in us. Christians use that idea as evidence for God. My first encounter with that idea was through CS Lewis, who I think might have gotten it from GJ Chesterton or someone like that. The argument was that having such a ...

Most NOMS were not like that. We were people who really read and thought about the words, and expected the promises to yield spiritual results if we did it right. Ah, I begin to see your problem. You took the Moroni promise as an actual scientific test, something that could yield either a positive ...

Her face assumed a look of terror and she slowly backed out, as if she had just been led into a satanic blood ritual or something. You should hang a picture of a temple in the room, perhaps next to another picture with scythes and other sharp instruments of harvest and/or sacrifice. That would ...

This is f***ing brilliant! However, it still doesn't quite work for me. For some reason I imagine the former missionary looking at his bloody face in the mirror, then seeing himself smile and hearing an eerie voice inside his head saying "Ha! You think this is the end?? Think again 'Brother Brown'! "

The dull ache of that hurt, after 3 1/2 years is very much there. I'm so sorry for your sorrow, Gaitorbate. I sort of get it why people hang onto their religious belief, trying just to get through a few years, faithful enough to have a hope of seeing their loved one again. I for one would never try ...

alas wrote:Second reason, it is nasty. I do not like the burn, I do not like the taste, so even all sugared up in mixed drinks, it is just nasty.

This reminds me of something my dad would say: "It's a good thing I hate alcohol, because if I liked it I'd drink it, and I sure hate it!"

Emower wrote:I have been trying to be a force for progressiveness in SS this year.

Boulder, meet Sysiphus. Sysiphus, Boulder.

This seems to me like just another drop in the bucket of evidence that discredits the teachings of the Church. The D&C said (IIRC) that those who receive the Spirit will not be deceived. And lo- a large percentage of church members- bishops, stake presidents, even some general authorities (again ...

My thought is that one reason it's hard to accept that death is the end is that humans by nature tender to reason by trying to understand what some experience would or will be "like". I had a friend who expressed it thus- "I can't believe that death is the end, because I couldn't face it, all that ...

This discussion puts me in mind of a quote by the Indian physicist Subrahmanijan Chandrasekhar: “In my entire scientific life, extending over forty-five years, the most shattering experience has been the realization that an exact solution of Einstein's equations of general relativity, discovered by t ...

What philosopher David Chalmer called the "hard problem" of consciousness is answering the question "Why should physical processing give rise to a rich inner life?" I not only see my wife, I experience seeing her, I see myself seeing her and I know- although I cannot explain it in so many words ...

I got two tattoos in January- does that count for not caring? Imagine me- a 70 year old getting tattoos! I actually got them for the purpose of reminding myself about two disciplines I try to keep in mind constantly, practicing mindfulness and always asking questions. So I got an "M" on my left hand ...

That is truly amazing. It doesn't sound amazing to me, even as i reflect on my own path out of the Church. People aren't computers; there is nothing that makes their reasoning conform to truth and evidence. Confirmation bias is a real thing. One of the things the brain does best is to explain away ...

... continuing on, I think it's important to remember that the "shelf" metaphor is just that- a metaphor - and even though a particular metaphor may be apt and useful, if pushed too far it will break and collapse. Just like a "shelf". :) One reason I think the "shelf" metaphor is particularly apt is ...

I don't want to be guilty of "hypobole" (if there's such a word), but, well, people are complicated. I spent years trying to keep myself in the church. When I spent hours each week preparing Sunday school or priesthood lessons, I was really directing them to myself, trying to give myself permission ...

Polygamous mother genetics are a hobby of it’s own. It becomes especially complicated when the mothers are likely to be actual sisters or cousins. :) Thanks for giving this thought, Red! It's good to hear from you again. Now that I've done a fair amount of healing, I can see myself drifting back to ...

My ward's last attempt to get me into a calling made it fairly easy to refuse- they wanted DW and I to be the official non-official missionaries for the street we live on. At least I just said "no", not "hell no" as I was thinking. I should add that I at least had been sliding in my calling ...