Another candidate for the "Banned from MAD" club...

[_Runtu]

He was just being tongue-in-cheek, Ray. Everyone knows that.

He has a cheek?

Asses usually do. ;)

[_Persephone]

He was just being tongue-in-cheek, Ray. Everyone knows that.

Sure.

Just like Brigham Young when he said this:

"I will tell you a dream that I had last night. I dreamed that I was in the midst of a people who were dressed in rags and tatters, they had turbans upon their heads, and these were also hanging in tatters. The rags were of many colors, and, when the people moved, they were all in motion. Their object in this appeared to be, to attract attention. Said they to me, "We are Mormons, brother Brigham." "No, you are not," I replied. "But we have been," said they, and they began to jump, and caper about, and dance, and their rags of many colors were all in motion, to attract the attention of the people. I said, "You are no Saints, you are a disgrace to them." Said they, "We have been Mormons." By and bye, along came some mobocrats, and they greeted them with, "How do you do, sir, I am happy to see you." They kept on that way for an hour. I felt ashamed of them, for they were in my eyes a disgrace to "Mormonism." Then I saw two ruffians, whom I knew to be mobbers and murderers, and they crept into a bed, where one of my wives and children were. I said, "You that call yourselves brethren, tell me, is this the fashion among you?" They said "O, they are good men, they are gentlemen." With that, I took my large bowie knife, that I used wear as a bosom pin in Nauvoo, and cut one of their throats from ear to ear, saying, "Go to hell across lots." The other one said, "You dare not serve me so." I instantly sprang at him, seized him by the hair of the head, and, bringing him down, cut his throat, and sent him after his comrade; then told them both, if they would behave themselves they should yet live, but if they did not, I would un-joint their necks. At this I awoke.

I say, rather than that apostates should flourish here, I will unsheath my bowie knife, and conquer or die. (Great commotion in the congregation, and a simultaneous burst of feeling, assenting to the declaration.) Now, you nasty apostates, clear out, or judgment will be put to the line, and righteousness to the plummet. (Voices, generally, "do it, do it.") If you say it is right, raise your hands. (All hands up.) Let us call upon the Lord to assist us in this, and every good work."

http://journalofdiscourses.org/Vol_01/refJDvol1-16.html

I'm telling you, these people are a lot more scary than you give them credit for. And as our culture puts more and more pressure on them to conform to the expectations of a diverse and tolerant cosmopolitan society, they might very well turn to more radical means to "do the Lord's work."

[_Runtu]

I'm telling you, these people are a lot more scary than you give them credit for. And as our culture puts more and more pressure on them to conform to the expectations of a diverse and tolerant cosmopolitan society, they might very well turn to more radical means to "do the Lord's work."

Oh, I understand who and what we're dealing with. This is the guy who made not-so-subtle threats against me and then said I was paranoid because I took them at all seriously.

If this is what it means to be "wheat," I'm happy to be a tare.

[_Ray A]

Asses usually do. ;)

For some reason the word Baalim just came into my mind. Maybe the Lord does speak in mysterious ways.

[_Persephone]

Asses usually do. ;)

For some reason the word Baalim just came into my mind. Maybe the Lord does speak in mysterious ways.

I remember sitting in Sunday School classes when this story was discussed ... and the consensus belief was that the donkey really did speak to Balaam. In all seriousness, these people believe crap like that. How hard would it then be to believe that God wanted you to eradicate apostates, root and branch?

And if these people think like that, then how stupid and naïve are we if we continue to permit them to gain power and influence in our world? Do we just sit back and hope that they will lose strength as time goes on? That hasn't been the case up until now. They've continued to gain more and more strength from generation to generation. I guess we could console ourselves with the thought that the mighty internet is in the process of dealing a mortal blow to the beast, but sometimes I'm not so sure. I tend to think there are more idiots out there than there are smart people, and Mormonism tends to do a very good job attracting just the right kind of idiot to do the bidding of the "brethren".

[_Sethbag]

I would be more worried about God banning you from his presence.

I wouldn't worry too much about that. The likelihood of Cinepro getting banned by a divine homo sapiens named Elohim is about the same as that he'll get banned by a titan named Cronus, or another divine homo sapines named Zeus, or that Thor will throw his mighty hammer at Cinepro's head and squash him like a bug, or that Hephaestus will stick his club foot right up Cinepro's ass.

What you cannot, or will not see, but which is nevertheless true, is that Elohim the divine primate man is a figment of the human imagination. He won't damn anyone because he doesn't exist outside of various deity memes in peoples' minds, and a few words on paper.

And considering how hard you work to persuade others to not believe, I'm sure you're heaping up quite a pile of condemnation for the day of judgment. At least you won't be doing it on the MAD board anymore.

Good riddance, I say.

Fear, uncertainty, and doubt. All this is is fear-mongering, trying to scare someone into thinking the way you do. But the fear is misplaced, because the imagined scorned deity does not exist.

FUD - it's not just for marketing executives anymore, it's for priests and witch doctors too!

[_Runtu]

And if these people think like that, then how stupid and naïve are we if we continue to permit them to gain power and influence in our world? Do we just sit back and hope that they will lose strength as time goes on? That hasn't been the case up until now. They've continued to gain more and more strength from generation to generation. I guess we could console ourselves with the thought that the mighty internet is in the process of dealing a mortal blow to the beast, but sometimes I'm not so sure. I tend to think there are more idiots out there than there are smart people, and Mormonism tends to do a very good job attracting just the right kind of idiot to do the bidding of the "brethren".

Mormons aren't idiots. And it isn't stupidity that motivates people to follow their church leaders. Yes, there is the occasional asshat (but then we have a few among us critics), but fortunately, they aren't the norm.

I had lunch yesterday with one of the young men I taught back when I was YM president. He's now 33 years old, and we got talking about all the good people we have met in the LDS church, even though neither of us believes in the church.

We don't need to badmouth church members just because the church isn't actually true.

[_Ray A]

And if these people think like that, then how stupid and naïve are we if we continue to permit them to gain power and influence in our world? Do we just sit back and hope that they will lose strength as time goes on? That hasn't been the case up until now. They've continued to gain more and more strength from generation to generation. I guess we could console ourselves with the thought that the mighty internet is in the process of dealing a mortal blow to the beast, but sometimes I'm not so sure. I tend to think there are more idiots out there than there are smart people, and Mormonism tends to do a very good job attracting just the right kind of idiot to do the bidding of the "brethren".

I'm not even sure Wheat is an active Church member. On Feb. 23 this year he wrote:

I'm not even a church-going LDS and I know that.

Then on Sept. 19 he wrote:

I think I’m a 100% orthodox chapel Mormon in almost every way I can imagine. And the folks I have known in the various wards and stakes I’ve lived in are, with some exceptions, pretty much just like me. (emphasis added)

Note the "have known". He's probably someone who struggles with serious addictions and likes to project on others what HE fears most in his never-ending cycles of sin/repentance.

[_Runtu]

Note the "have known". He's probably someone who struggles with serious addictions and likes to project on others what HE fears most in his never-ending cycles of sin/repentance.

I can't comment specifically on Wheat, but I have noticed that some of the most harshly judgmental Mormons I have known have been those struggling with that cycle of sin, guilt, and repentance. It's almost as if knowing that we apostates are worse than they are (at least in the church's eyes, who's worse than an apostate?), they can feel better about themselves.

[_Scottie]

I'm telling you, these people are a lot more scary than you give them credit for. And as our culture puts more and more pressure on them to conform to the expectations of a diverse and tolerant cosmopolitan society, they might very well turn to more radical means to "do the Lord's work."

Oh, I understand who and what we're dealing with. This is the guy who made not-so-subtle threats against me and then said I was paranoid because I took them at all seriously.

If this is what it means to be "wheat," I'm happy to be a tare.

He was just "acting", wasn't he??

Although I have to hand it to Will. Who else could post one stupid comment and rile up the whole board??