Kishkumen wrote:Droopy wrote:He has been quite clear and unequivocal that the core mission of Mormon Stories is to assist members of the Church in leaving it and to make their transition out of the Church as emotionally and psychologically comfortable as possible.
That is a bald faced lie, Droopy.
No, its the truth of the matter that comes from looking at Dehlin's carefully and subtly worded explanations of this motives and mission, the site's political and social positions and preoccupations, and from a look at the testimonials at this website. The clever rhetorical and psychological ploy Dehlin uses to mask his rather obvious core focus, is to claim that he is not advocating that people stay in the Church or come out of it. He want's to have a place where people can feel comfortable with any decision they make - a thoroughly relativistic womb in which any decision, whether to leave the church or stay in as a
cultural, but not converted Mormon, is OK. Its like a grand Rogerian Client Centered therapy workshop. Stay or leave, its OK. No challenge, just warm, fuzzy acceptance and affirmation.
Nice, wonderful, New Ageish stuff, until one realizes (and one might not realize this unless one is a "TBM" Mormon), that it is the Bishop's, Stake Presidents, and other members of a person's ward or stake who should really be the one's turned to during a crisis of faith, and especially those local ecclesiastical authorities who have the role and responsibility to help members through these kind of transitions. This, however, is not what most of these folks want to deal with, because this might mean that one's desire to rebel against various standards of the Church, to reject core doctrines, to throw oneself fully into political or social movements inconsistent with Church teachings, to openly accept a homosexual orientation (the
obsession at Mormon Stories, as with Religion Dispatches, with homosexuality and homosexual marriage is at
saturation levels), rejection of the mantel and authority of Joseph Smith or the modern Brethren etc., will, while not necessarily opposed by Dehlin, also not be challenged or questioned.
Beneath all of this, just beneath the surface, lies the real motive, which is to encourage any number of alternatives to church membership while leaving staying in the church a theoretical option.
This is, effectively, to encourage and shepherd others, not necessarily into but
through the process of apostasy, while affirming and supporting that decision, and that is
just as evil,
just as wicked, and
just as much the encouraging of the diminution and possibly destruction of the soul as is any other form of relativistic sophistry that claims to be caring and loving, but is hiding a needle underneath all that cotton.
He is not advocating that people leave the Church, but he is there for those who have made that decision for themselves.
Exactly. He is a
facilitator of apostasy. Wolves
facilitate the killing and eating of tasty little lambs that have wandered from the fold, do they not? They just take advantage of the opportunities presented, no?
And, if you and your friends thought about it for a moment, or really did care for anything other than your own egos, you would realize that it is probably better for the Church to have someone out there helping them be less bitter on their way out so that they don't haunt the internet as virulent anti-Mormons ever after.
People like Kevin Graham were probably as they were long before they left. Indeed, it is highly likely that those personological attributes were key in the apostasy itself. There are plenty of people who fall away from the church who do not, and never will, behave as does the classic public
anti-Mormon.If only you guys had a little imagination.
We do.
We also have your number.
