More Travel and Dining Expenses for "Bowdlerizing Brigham"?

[Physics Guy]

As a child, Clive Staples Lewis rejected his given names and would only answer to “Jack”. He explained this in his autobiography. He remained Jack to friends and family all his life.

[Everybody Wang Chung]

I found myself alone in the church and felt impelled to say something, I simply looked toward the altar and whispered “Thanks, Jack. Thanks. Thanks.”

(My chosen flavor, by the way, was clotted cream and blackcurrant ice cream. It was excellent, and I heartily recommend it to any others

[Everybody Wang Chung]

I've seen some of these broken kids, bright kids going into Mopologetics with aims of learning ancient languages and showing the world how smart they are, but then they end up crumpled in a corner of an abandoned building somewhere quoting C.S. Lewis.

That is the tragic, wasted life of the Afore in a nutshell. It’s a fitting description of a man who spent his whole adulthood throwing tantrums, lying, plagiarizing, scamming people out of money, and attacking anyone he viewed as an enemy.

The saddest part? C.S. Lewis (the man The Afore practically worships) would have been absolutely disgusted by him. Lewis would have despised his fake scholarship, his toxic character and everything the Afore stands for.

[drumdude]

I don’t have enough faith to eat the way Dan does. It seems he’s been tempting fate with his diet for many years. It’s a bit cavalier for my taste.

[Everybody Wang Chung]

I don’t have enough faith to eat the way Dan does. It seems he’s been tempting fate with his diet for many years. It’s a bit cavalier for my taste.

But, isn't blackcurrant a fruit?

[I Have Questions]

In yesterday’s post, I briefly mentioned having eaten a scoop of Bennetts Ice Cream (as most of the others in our group also did) up on the slope of the Herefordshire Beacon. I knew that such a reference would prove to be irresistible catnip to some of the addicts on the Peterson Obsession Board, and so, indeed, it was. Their little board has exploded with mockery. And yet — perhaps I’m going out on a limb here — I would be willing to venture good money (if I were a gambling man) that even some of them have, at least once in their lives, eaten a scoop of ice cream. (My chosen flavor, by the way, was clotted cream and blackcurrant. It was excellent, and I heartily recommend it to any others who might visit the Herefordshire Beacon after me.)

In this post Dan is, once again, deliberately misleading his readers about the reason his food exploits are a talking point. It's not the eating of ice cream (I actually agree with Dan that Bennetts Ice Cream is well worth a scoop), it's not the constant consumption of unhealthy foodstuffs, it's not that he's been morbidly obese for 5 decades at this point. He can eat what he wants, he can maintain as unhealthy a food regimen as he pleases. None of that would be any of our business.

The issue is that he holds two conflicting positions. One that promotes the notion that Dan holds dear the belief and practice around a health code known as the Word of Wisdom - which at it's core is about maintaining a balanced moderated diet to maintain good body health. And the second is Dan's practice of consuming very unhealthy foodstuffs in quantities over and above any sensible level. He cannot eat like he eats, have the morbidly obese physique that he maintains, AND simultaneously state that he strives to keep the Word of Wisdom or promote it. It's not the eating, it's the dishonesty in his relationship with himself and his Church and the public to whom he opines.

[Gadianton]

As a child, Clive Staples Lewis rejected his given names and would only answer to “Jack”. He explained this in his autobiography. He remained Jack to friends and family all his life.

It's psychologically fascinating that he imagines himself as being on a first-name basis with C.S. Lewis.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

As a child, Clive Staples Lewis rejected his given names and would only answer to “Jack”. He explained this in his autobiography. He remained Jack to friends and family all his life.

It's psychologically fascinating that he imagines himself as being on a first-name basis with C.S. Lewis.

Can a Wikipedia plagiarist really be considered a peer amongst the luminaries of human philosophy and literature? I think “Jack” might be surprised he’s on a first-name basis with a Mormon apologist, lol.

[Marcus]

I read with irony the Afore's response, while on his current trip, to a
Sltrib article about racism in Utah.

...Unfortunately, I don’t feel that I can do much about it. I would be very surprised if any of those who follow this blog are prone to making racist insults. In fact, I rather suspect that the tendency to engage in racist misbehavior is inversely correlated with faithful commitment to the Restoration. It’s certainly incompatible with the principles of the Gospel. So, if Church leaders have been unable to reach Utah’s racists, I’m certainly unlikely to do so. Nevertheless, I urge myself and others to take whatever steps we’re able to take to combat such attitudes and such actions...

The irony I felt is based on my very first exposure to the Afore's blog, some years back. He posted an actual photo of a lynching, comparing the negative responses to his posting habits to being lynched. Only after much objection did he finally take it down. If I recall correctly, he never apologized and instead attempted to argue it was just a joke and people should lighten up. I was so horrified to see a Mormon justify that kind of racism that I went searching for responses from others and ended up here. Unfortunately, it was not the last time racism reared its ugly head on his blog, contrary to his assertion.

[Doctor Scratch]

As a child, Clive Staples Lewis rejected his given names and would only answer to “Jack”. He explained this in his autobiography. He remained Jack to friends and family all his life.

It's psychologically fascinating that he imagines himself as being on a first-name basis with C.S. Lewis.

So the idea, I guess, is that he's going to go to the same church (from an "apostate" sect, I might add) that Lewis used to attend, and he's going to sit in the exact same pew that Lewis used to occupy--right near the so-called "Narnia window." This is straight-up hero worship, and a pretty silly variation of it, if you ask me. It's like a way more "cringe," more milquetoast version of the screaming "Beatle-Mania" fans who were practically passing out with excitement over seeing John, Paul, George, and Ringo. And don't get me wrong: there is nothing inherently bad or wrong about being a fan--even a ridiculously enthusiastic fan--of someone or something. But there is a spectrum to such things--avid connoisseurs on the one hand, who really deeply appreciate and study the thing in question (like highly knowledgeable WWII buffs), and the hardcore enthusiasts who get subsumed by the subject--think of like hard-core Trekkies who dress up like Mr. Spock and take the time to become fluent in Klingon.

And there are certainly some similarities with our Mopologist fan-boy. It's like he wanted to bask in the feeling of what it might have felt like to actually *be* C.S. Lewis attending church--just like the dorky Star Trek worshipper who wants to pretend to be Captain Picard. "Thanks, Jean-Luc. Thanks. Thanks."

What a tool.