Happy Birthday NOM!

[Red Ryder]

Happy 3rd Birthday NOM 2.0!

In celebration please share a memorable post that resonated with you. Sort of like testimony meeting.

PS. Did Captain S pay the bill to keep this slum rental going another 3 years?

[Linked]

Happy Birthday!

I enjoyed this post by Ghost which brings up absurdism in a Slavereeno thread about Nihilism. It was the first time I had heard of absurdism, and it really resonated with me.

I barely had a faith crisis before it became an existential crisis. (I don't really like using the word "crisis" here but it's the common term.) While I find the issues specific to Mormonism interesting, I think the more serious issues lie a few layers deeper. What Joseph Smith did or didn't do loses a lot of its significance if the Christian foundation he built on is similarly shaky, as well as the theism that underlies that.

One of the main reasons I stick with Mormonism (to the degree that I do) is that even if it's all made up, so is everything else and it doesn't ultimately make a lot of difference whether I choose one tradition over another or attempt to break free of all of them (at whatever cost that exacts).

I think it's an understatement to say that nihilism isn't comforting, but I've resigned myself to the idea that some flavor of it is probably inescapable for me. That said, from my limited investigation of such things, I tend more toward absurdism than nihilism.

This is a topic I actually enjoy thinking about and discussing. Well, the discussion part is mostly in theory. I try not to bring it up too much because I fear it's not a pleasant topic for many and I have no more desire to spread nihilist ideas than I do religious ones.

A side note, but I find it interesting that some people have affection for God in the absence of any belief in an afterlife, or with the belief that one's unique personality and memories will be gone as one is absorbed into some sort of heavenly collective consciousness/God.

[FiveFingerMnemonic]

I want to bear my Nom-imony that I enjoy all of Red Ryder's posts denouncing garments and expressing hatred for them repeatedly.

[jfro18]

Happy birthday NOM - so glad to have been steered your way a year-ish ago!

There have been a lot of posts I've really enjoyed reading - I need to think about this and report back... been some great conversations over the last year that I've either enjoyed just reading or have been really interesting to discuss and see the back and forth.

I'll try to think of some of those and post them here later. I wish I had some cake to celebrate the day today... because I love cake.

[DPRoberts]

Yes, happy birthday to NOM.

I am a person who can never have one favorite anything, but this post is definitely a hall of famer with me.

viewtopic.php?t=2767

[Corsair]

Happy 3rd Birthday NOM 2.0!

In celebration please share a memorable post that resonated with you. Sort of like testimony meeting.

PS. Did Captain S pay the bill to keep this slum rental going another 3 years?

The Captain only paid for one additional year, but it's for a surprisingly good reason. The web hosting provider had a lower cost for renewing for 12 months instead of 36. I truly do not know why they would have made it $5.00 per month cheaper to renew for only a single year. I suspect that this was some kind of error on the part of BlueHost, but I am happy to exploit it. Perhaps I will spend my savings on some kind of Word of Wisdom violation.

In any case, Happy Birthday to NOM and I continue to enjoy seeing that discussions continue to happen. I'm happy to know all of you in some small way.

[Hagoth]

and might I add:

And you smell like one too...

I brought cake but damned if I can figure out how to share it with y'all.

Thanks Captain and RR!

[2bizE]

Let’s Celebrate

F89CA8D2-FD5A-40E4-A854-DAB54608CEA7.jpeg (130.68 KiB) Viewed 8413 times

[blazerb]

I can't say that I know of a specific post, but I really like reading jfro18's analyses of the essays and other publications. They have been most enlightening. This site has been an important part of helping me navigate painful transitions.

[wtfluff]

ONE memorable post? My fluffy brain can't do it.

[SincereInquirer]

I would like to shout out the "What are you drinking right now?" thread in "The Coffee Shop" for this birthday celebration...three years of NOM 2.0 and 17 pages of confessions in.

That was one of my favorite threads from the old NOM, and I am glad it was started up again here.

In memory of that old thread, and celebration of the new, I quote the old tagline from cwald (a regular poster to the old thread):

"Beer makes you feel the way you ought to feel without beer. -- Henry Lawson"

Cheers NOM 2.0! Happy Birthday!

[moksha]

[MoPag]

HappyBdayNOM!.png (138.52 KiB) Viewed 8344 times

[Wonderment]

Happy Birthday to NOM, and many, many thanks to everyone for all the wonderful posts. Thanks to Capt. S and to everyone who work to keep this site up and running. It's been a real sanity-saver and a real day-brightener for me. Happy Birthday, and hopefully many, many more. - Wndr.

[Random]

It's difficult to name one post.

Some contenders:

Posts answering my questions about the Book of Abraham.

MoPag offering MoPag blessings to everyone.

Some of the recipes I got from the What Are You Drinking thread.

I think it was this (new) site that helped me transition to Gentile underwear, but can't say for sure.

MoPag's threads about gen conf that invited people to rate speakers, then the posts with the final tallies.

Almost anything by RR and Moksha



And so many I cannot name because I don't remember who wrote them/exactly what they contained.



And even the sad ones where people were going through sad or scary or painful times, because of all the love and support given (I rarely post in those, but I definitely do the prayers to heaven/positive vibes thing - and have the coffee in honor of the son that is gone).

[Emower]

This place is a godsend for many. Thanks ya'll, for being there for those of us who drift in and out.

Although there is so much to chooses from, this quote from early on in my posting days has remained memorable. Thanks RR.

Why does God have to be so distant?

I used to ask this same question. Then I realized he was always close. So close in fact, that I found he was right between my ears the whole time. He even speaks to me all the time too.

He says, "Don't worry, be happy!"

[crossmyheart]

Happy Birthday!!!!!!

One of my favorite threads is the annual halloween unveiling. I have always been too chicken to participate. But I am nearly to the F%$#-it stage and just might this year.

The reason I stay on NOM is because of the importance of my relationships with my TBM family. The threads that help debrief some of the conflict tend to be my most favorite.

[Mackman]

Happy birthday NOM 2.0 !!!! Love it and all my Nomies!!!!!!!!

[Ghost]

I wanted to mention a couple things in this thread when it was new, but I was afraid that I'd misattribute one of the things I wanted to mention. But I will go ahead and mention them anyway. Both are from an old iteration of NOM.

1. In a thread in which we were discussing finding meaning and value in things during and after a faith transition, I'm pretty certain it was oliver who pointed out that nothing generically "matters." You always have to consider who something matters to. So the value that we place on something isn't any less real than meaning granted by God or the cosmos in some abstract sense. It's all we have. This is something I've thought about a lot since.
2. I don't remember the context of this one, exactly, but I believe it was a comment by Hagoth. Something about how it's equally valid to live a life full of accomplishments (by whatever measure) or to live a "quiet life." One is not better than the other and it comes down to what we choose to value. Sorry, Hagoth, if this wasn't you or if it was and I remember it wrong or misinterpreted it. But it's another thing that I've thought about a lot.

[Reuben]

Happy boithday NOM! Thanks to everyone for the low-level bitterness. It's tremendous.

My favorite threads are the General NOMference ones. But if I had to pick one that's not GN, this one sums up everything that's awesome about NOM 2.0:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4653