Bob wrote: ↑Thu Dec 03, 2020 9:57 pm
Res Ipsa wrote: ↑Thu Dec 03, 2020 9:47 pm
I’ve interacted with enough Bobs to last a lifetime. They blow into a forum talking smack and dripping with condescension. They confidently make all sorts of dogmatic claims, but respond to pushback with dodging and insults. I keep thinking one of them will have some interesting ideas, but I’m always disappointed.
Life is complicated and hard. I have a ton of compassion for people who struggle to understand their place in the universe in a way that will let them be happy. I have lots of relatives and friends who do this through Mormonism. And that’s okay by me. I’ve have never tried to deconvert any of them. And none of them have tried to reconvert me. (And I totally get that I’m lucky in that respect.)
And I have all kinds of respect for Mormons who thoughtfully try to wrestle with Mormonisms problems and find a solution that works for them. Most that I have encountered are both sincere and humble about it.
But the Bobs—those who adopt fringe views of Mormonism yet retain the arrogance that they’ve discovered the truth and treat others who disagree with disdain and contempt —
I have little patience for. Anybody who insists that dismisses cognitive dissonance as just an emotion yet claims that emotions are spiritual evidence and gets offended when his views aren’t accepted has just swapped one set of dogmatic beliefs for another.
Not one of the things you have said here is true.
That is literally false.
I have no condescension. I have responses for condescension applied to me.
I forgot to include an absence of self awareness. Your first post in this thread drips with condescension.
I have not once tried to reconvert you.
Never said you did.
I have not come here to fight with you, only to post "stuff".
I totally get that. You’re here to preach your truth, but unwilling to subject it to scrutiny.
You claim I am insincere and arrogant, neither of which are true.
I never claimed you are insincere. I think you are 100% sincere, just like every other Bob I’ve encountered. And arrogant. You walked in here and right off the bat started telling everyone how they should act and spouting excuses for your lack of sympathy. (Personally, I’d have used the word “empathy”.)
I am confident and resilient enough to not take it when someone tries to sucker punch me. That is all you have experienced from me in this thread.
Equating challenging claims you make is not “sucker punching.” All I’ve experienced from you is defensiveness, evasion, deflection, and childish insult.
I never once presumed you would accept what I have to say, nor did I care if you did accept them. I have only stated what I had to say in response to your queries.
I never claimed that you expected me to accept them. Like all Bobs, you get your rocks off preaching the “truth” and calling people to the repentance. Just like an Old Testament prophet.
My beliefs may be swapped for what is normal Mormonism, but you asked me what my Mormonism was, and I answered. You should have expected that anyone coming here that is still a member would have a reinvented Mormonism. I never claimed mine was anything other than that.
Funny, I don’t recall asking you about your Mormonism. I do recall asking you questions that you responded to with insult rather than substance. And I don’t fault you for having a non traditional approach to Mormonism. I fault you for arrogantly claiming to know the truth and asserting factual claims as true just because you said so. It’s the complete arrogance of the TBM, although we need a different term like TBM*
I am not the least bit offended. I have simply answered and countered in attacks. I have presented the way I have become mentally to deal with what I know and deal with and what I now believe, when over the decades I have encountered what I have encountered and grown from.
Stop attributing to me what are false attributions.
You’ve misinterpreted challenges to your claims as “attacks” because you came here with an enormous chip on your shoulder. Had you simply showed up and communicated that you have a different take on Mormonism that you wanted to share, you certainly wouldn’t have had push back from me. But that’s not what you did. Your first communication to this community as Bob was arrogant, judgmental, and condescending. I do believe I welcomed you and defended your right to start fresh with a new nickname. But as soon as I pushed back on your claim that belief is a simple choice, you got defensive, evasive, and insulting. I stand by every attribution — at least the ones I actually made.
If you want to simply share your wisdom without being challenged, just say so. I’ll stick you on ignore and talk with the folks here that are willing to actually discuss their ideas.