Murder and apostasy

[blazerb]

I recently saw a TBM blog post that described exmormon redditors as "howling for blood" of church members. The author put in a footnote that acknowledged that, as vitriolic as the exmormon subreddit can get, they don't literally desire physical violence. However, the author claimed that this phrase understates their malice because they are trying to lead others away from the church.

I probably would have accepted this reasoning in my believing days. After all, physical violence only damages the body. Convincing others to forsake the faith destroys their eternal destiny. The new interpretation of Alma 39 that is being pushed by progressive Mormons even supports this. The sin next to murder is not sexual, in this interpretation. Rather it is leading others not to believe in the gospel.

I've been trying to imagine how I would dispute this if I were speaking to the author in person. I don't think there's any way to do so. Mormonism creates a self-contained bubble that makes internal sense. It is only when you can question some of the basic postulates that it starts to fall down. It took me so long to be able to accept that I get to preside over my own life. Each person has the ability to reason out how they should act. The notion that someone is SLC has more insight into what an individual needs than the individual is dangerous, as I see it now. This is going to be difficult as my apostate status becomes more apparent to my family.

[dogbite]

I suppose then it is no surprise that JS had to blood atone as it is writing of the BOM that broke my shelf. I lost faith because of the BoM. And that's JS. And if you claim the BoM is divine in spite of JS, then I guess God better get busy dying to atone for his breaking my shelf.

[Just This Guy]

If slavery worked for some people, Harrett Beecher Stowe should have just let things slide because she did more harm than good. Right? Maybe Rosa Parks should have kept her mouth shut.

Maybe things would have been better if Sharon Watkins hadn't spoken up. How about Edward Snowden, Mark Felt, Frank Serpio, or Jeffrey Wingand?

It is human nature for people to speak out when they see that others are being taken advantage of and abused.

[alas]

If slavery worked for some people, Harrett Beecher Stowe should have just let things slide because she did more harm than good. Right? Maybe Rosa Parks should have kept her mouth shut.

Maybe things would have been better if Sharon Watkins hadn't spoken up. How about Edward Snowden, Mark Felt, Frank Serpio, or Jeffrey Wingand?

It is human nature for people to speak out when they see that others are being taken advantage of and abused.

It is human nature to speak out when we see others taken advantage of or abused. But it is also human nature to try to shut up the whistle blowers when you are the person doing the abusing. The south wanted to protect the good thing they had going with slavery, and the church wants to protect the good thing they think they have. Saying that telling people the church is all a big fake is next to murder is trying to shut up the whistle blowers.

[MoPag]

TBMs and their persecution complex Good Lord!!!!

I've been trying to imagine how I would dispute this if I were speaking to the author in person. I don't think there's any way to do so. Mormonism creates a self-contained bubble that makes internal sense. It is only when you can question some of the basic postulates that it starts to fall down. It took me so long to be able to accept that I get to preside over my own life. Each person has the ability to reason out how they should act. The notion that someone is SLC has more insight into what an individual needs than the individual is dangerous, as I see it now. This is going to be difficult as my apostate status becomes more apparent to my family.

I'm sure most of them could use mental gymnastics to get around any rational explanation that murder is not the same as apostacy. I remember those days. I could make anything make sense because I needed it to. I needed the church to be true because it was my world. *sigh*

[blazerb]

I'm sure most of them could use mental gymnastics to get around any rational explanation that murder is not the same as apostacy. I remember those days. I could make anything make sense because I needed it to. I needed the church to be true because it was my world. *sigh*

"Sigh" indeed. I know how flexible my gymnastics was. We needed the church to be true, good, and beautiful.