NOM

Welcome to my twilight zone.

The Ryder Family is going in next week.

Full, Full, Full, None (followed by the patented Sloth stare)

Three temple recommends, two baptismal only, one set of grand parents that take two kids dunking, and a bleeping slacker of a dad who's sold his eternal reward for a cup of coffee!

19 pairs of garments (sold in pink plastic bags), 12 bought for size fitting, zero that fit right. 10+ years of frustration, followed by cycles of anger, new underwear, propped up by months of apathy, and a persistent home teacher whom doesn't have a clue. Two hours a week of maximum bench time seems to help.

34 wives of a prophet, too many false claims, emotional agony followed by embarrassment. A sword? Really? God commanded you to marry them? Sorry Emma, I didn't know either.

Hours and hours of podcasts, internet discussion boards, and so many like minded people. A church that refuses to stay relevant in the internet age. Ramble, ramble, ramble. Blah blah blah. Where will you go?

Blah blah blah! Doubt the dumb... Just believe, don't let Adam marry Steve. Blah, blah, blah, blah....

Red Ryder wrote:Welcome to my twilight zone.

The Ryder Family is going in next week.

The Corsair family is probably doing that also. I will be out of town the following weekend for the temple wedding of a nephew so I can't jeopardize my recommend quite yet. My good bishop will also ask everyone "Are you a full tithe payer". The family in attendance will also be recording "Full" for everyone with two amusing caveats.

Mrs. Corsair will probably state somewhat cryptically, "Yes, I am a full tithe payer." She is a lovely and honest rule follower and her conscience is trying to hint that someone else in the room might be playing fast and loose with the rules. This is the counterbalance to me who will simply say "Yes". As many of you know, I am continuing to run the experiment where I pay no tithing and see if the bishop notices at the end of the year through the power of discernment. I am a duplicitous, arrogant, but high-functioning narcissist.

The Korihor Family has made no such plans, and there was much rejoicing.

But I have prepared a statement, in case I am cornered. "Bishop, whatever you want to put down is fine with me."

That being said, the long john underwear is still donned at the Korihor house.

Wow! You two are in the thick of it!

Highlanders are "mostly" out of the zone, like 95%. It's been a year since the email went to local leadership and I must say we were lucky with the local leader roulette because they have respected our wishes. I've had a couple of text messages from a good friend who is TBM, but he keeps it light: "I was just thinking about you guys, hope all is well." This usually comes a day or two after a GC. He's a good guy so I keep the channel open with him although never diving into the issues.

We've only had one baptism this past year and my brother was totally cool with my decision not too participate. He knows where I am, a participating NOM himself. My parents and DW's mom and other extended TBM fam do not know we are out, but I'm sure it will trickle that direction over time. I think there was some discomfort at the baptism when I wore a non-white dress shirt and did not stand in the circle.

I think that since our kids are older, it was an easier exit for us. Our married kids were out before we were and our youngest at 14 was more than happy not to be slogging that treadmill anymore. My TBM cooworkers seem to be fine with it, as they tend to be more open minded than the average. They also work with a very diverse population of folks from all over the world, it's not a Mormon majority workplace like many others in UT.

An interesting side note: at the Home Depot last night, we were checking out with some spray paint and the self checkout told us to show ID to the attendant. We were joking with the guy about all the tagging we had to get done and this ID step was cramping our time. He didn't ask for it and just cleared the message so we could finish out; he also commented that the State liquor store didn't ID him last time he was in, even though he looks much younger than 40. I told him how I hate that the state liquor stores are designed to make you feel ashamed, because they are dumpy little buildings in crappy neighborhoods, they are under-serviced and always lacking desired products.
I also told him I've stopped shopping there because there are so many local breweries and distilleries to visit now and you can buy direct, which is a much better shopping experience. Somehow it slipped out that his whole family were TBMs and he's a non-believing but still attending Mormon. We told him we'd been out for a year and encouraged him to hang in there. DW told him how I still attending for her benefit, before she got out, even thought I didn't believe, and how important it was for him to keep the peace in the family. He asked if we had read the CES letter and he was so excited to talk to us about where he was with his faith crisis and to know folks like us who had left. I told him to come and find NOM. It just struck me that there might be quite a few poor souls like that out there who are struggling with this but feel alone in their predicament. We felt so much empathy for him as we left the store.

I'm not sure where the next potential conflict of interest twilight zone event is in our future, but I'm sure there will be one. At least I don't have to do the renewal boogie anymore; now it's just dealing with possible explanation on non-participation.

Hang in there you participatory NOMers!

It is a dimension as vast as Kolobian space and as eternal as The Principle. It is the middle ground between belief and pretence, science and superstition, it is the nexus twixt an angel's sword and the spasm of man's desire. This is a dimension of imagination in an area we call the Church. For you see, Red Ryder has just crossed into the Twilight Zone.

My Twilight Zone?

Sometimes I think my entire life is nothing more than an episode of the Twilight Zone. One of the scary, nightmarish episodes, that never ends; Not a fun episode with cute aliens* and such...



*Yes, I mentioned aliens just for your benefit Kish-Kori.