I don't believe much in signs, but this one makes me wonder if God wants me to spread the truth lol

[jfro18]

So the ldsdiscussions website goes up two months ago... it gets maybe 1-2 emails a week and usually nothing too crazy.

Then about 3 weeks ago I get an email from someone who had some questions about the polygamy essay that Hagoth did. I sent him some sources to back up some claims and I also told him on some the info is scarce and we don't have perfect answers, etc.

The email took me by surprise because the name is my kid's name - first and last. I actually thought someone was screwing with me, but the only two people that know about the site are my wife and SIL... and they're not going to go through that kind of effort.

Anyway - he replies and has the same area code as me in his signature. Keep in mind I live in Illinois - it is very rare to come across Mormons unless you're drawn together @ church.

As we email back and forth it turns out he's the EQ president of a local ward here and was told about the site by a younger person (34) in EQ.

Pretty insane coincidence... a guy with the EXACT same name as my kid living 10-15 minutes away that saw the site and emailed about it?

I'm taking it as a sign that God wants me to spread the LDS gospel... not really but kind of.

We're supposed to meet up this weekend just to talk for a little bit and I'm actually really excited about it. I told my wife yesterday and I think even she was floored about someone being so close with the same name that just happened to email... maybe on some level it will normalize it for her that this is a real problem and not something that some random internet trolls just made up to screw with the church.

Sorry to be long winded - I just can't get over it even though I know deep down it's just a coincidence.

If I ever get excommunicated at least there might be two people that show up for me.

[Linked]

Wow. If it were faith promoting then that would be fast and testimony meeting material right there.

I'm glad to hear you are making a difference in the blogosphere. One soul at a time. How was your teaching received?

[græy]

That is really cool jfro18.

I'm always dropping conversational hints here and there to people I think might be NOMish or at least open for discussions, but so far there have been no takers. Either my hints are too subtle, or no one around me is ready to talk, or they just don't trust me.

[wtfluff]

[IT_Veteran]

Spreading the good word - I like it! I know there was a comment on Reddit about putting a name to the material, but I wonder if this person wouldn't have reached out if it was somebody he knew?

[jfro18]

Spreading the good word - I like it! I know there was a comment on Reddit about putting a name to the material, but I wonder if this person wouldn't have reached out if it was somebody he knew?

I wonder that too - although I don't know if he would've connected the dots even with the names on the site.

Either way I can't shake how insane the odds of that are, but of course I also am not a believer that if there is a God (I'm still trying to figure that out), that God intervenes in our lives in any real way.

But if God were to intervene in our lives, I'd have to take this as a sign that I need to keep trying to spread the word.

Wow. If it were faith promoting then that would be fast and testimony meeting material right there.

I'm glad to hear you are making a difference in the blogosphere. One soul at a time. How was your teaching received?

He met with the stake president last week and asked to be released as EQ president, so clearly the stuff he read broke his shelf quickly. His wife seems to be shaken but still wanting to believe Joseph was a prophet, so a similar situation to many of us here.

[slavereeno]

Wow that's cool, and much more significant than what I hear as rock solid proof in Fast and Testimony meeting on the first Sunday each month.

[Red Ryder]

Mary Snap?

[jfro18]

Just met him for lunch and it was really nice.

It's really amazing how his story is both so similar and different to mine (or any of ours). His shelf broke over a few months... he started with the essays and Saints and Saints of all things made him want to look elsewhere. That led him to the CES Letter which he didn't like, and then another member of the ward got him onto Reddit which is where he found the ldsdiscussions site.

His wife has been listening to podcasts from Dehlin and Reel and at least right now still feels like the BoM was real but that Joseph was a fallen prophet. Judging from others I've listened to, it's only a matter of time before that shelf collapses completely.

He invited my wife and I to have dinner with them at some point... I'd love to do it but doubt my wife would. I think it would be really eye opening for all of us, which is why it's not going to happen anytime soon.

But still - I can not get over the coincidences of it all, so I'm feeling like I should go to church tomorrow to participate in F&T about the impossibility of it all and how I know I am on the right path.

[sparky]

But still - I can not get over the coincidences of it all, so I'm feeling like I should go to church tomorrow to participate in F&T about the impossibility of it all and how I know I am on the right path.

Please do it! Your mic would likely be turned off as soon as they realized it wasn't actually faith promoting, and you'd probably be escorted off the podium with an invitation to talk to the bishop later, but it's worth a try!

[IT_Veteran]

I don’t think the odds are as small as you assume. As you noted, he was referred to Reddit first. You’ve gotten quite a bit of traction there as an honest review of Saints and the Essays. It’s the first place I point anybody asking where they can get a deeper analysis of them. If they search for the term “Saints” in exmo, the only results they’re likely to get is discussion of the book where ldsdiscussions inevitably comes up.

As to your point about his wife, I have to agree. That’s precisely where DW went for a short time (the fallen prophet narrative, BoM is still true, etc). Eventually, she let herself consider whether that was the most likely explanation and also found her way out.

Tread carefully with your wife in this though, she may feel like you’re actively deconverting others now and feel like that’s a bigger sin.

It’s like a stone cut from the mountain beginning to roll forth...