Chalk Up Another MAD-Influenced Apostasy

[_Gadianton]

The deck is stacked for Mormons and their "happiness" and "joy". Some people might really be happier being Mormon than doing anything else, it's a crazy world out there. But notice the transitions from "happiness" to "joy" in key places. When everything is going good, the church, God, Joseph Smith, and GBH are making the person the happier than a clam. But when "trials" set in, tears flow, pain centers are tripped, then Mormons shift to "Joy" mode, which means, "joy in afflictions". Or in other words, life sucks, the church isn't making me happy, but cog dis lays down the old "sweet lemon" card.

[_moksha]

The deck is stacked for Mormons and their "happiness" and "joy". Some people might really be happier being Mormon than doing anything else, it's a crazy world out there. But notice the transitions from "happiness" to "joy" in key places. When everything is going good, the church, God, Joseph Smith, and GBH are making the person the happier than a clam. But when "trials" set in, tears flow, pain centers are tripped, then Mormons shift to "Joy" mode, which means, "joy in afflictions". Or in other words, life sucks, the church isn't making me happy, but cog dis lays down the old "sweet lemon" card.

Hey, if religion can serve as an opiate for the masses, why complaint? Life can have a lot of pain.

[_beastie]

Oh, I don't care if people use religion as an opiate at all. The only reason I'm arguing this point is because Charity acted like this description:

Thus the effectiveness of a doctrine should not be judged by its profundity, sublimity or the validity of the truths it embodies, but by how thoroughly it insulates the individual from his self and the world as it is. What Pascal said of an effective religion is true of any effective doctrine: it must be “contrary to nature, to common sense, and to pleasure”

doesn't fit Mormonism, when it obviously does.

The deck is stacked for Mormons and their "happiness" and "joy". Some people might really be happier being Mormon than doing anything else, it's a crazy world out there. But notice the transitions from "happiness" to "joy" in key places. When everything is going good, the church, God, Joseph Smith, and GBH are making the person the happier than a clam. But when "trials" set in, tears flow, pain centers are tripped, then Mormons shift to "Joy" mode, which means, "joy in afflictions". Or in other words, life sucks, the church isn't making me happy, but cog dis lays down the old "sweet lemon" card.

This is exactly right, and is the same shift that Charity engaged in on this thread. She can't sanely argue that Mormons have more fun and pleasure than anyone else, so the shift is instead to this idea of "happiness" and "joy" which can take place even in the midst of pain and affliction.

[_truth dancer]

OKAY CLASS, ONE MORE TIME: CORRELATION DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION!

LOL!

Charity, have you ever had a brand new Freshman come into a class and start trying to lecture you on, say, Developmental Theory?

It is funny, at first. ;-)

Seriously though Charity, pretty much everyone on this board is having difficulty interacting with you for the same reasons. People have told you again and again what the problems are. Did it ever cross your mind, even for one second that maybe the problem is not EVERYONE else, but maybe you have some difficulties here?

Just curious....

:-)

~dancer~

[_Some Schmo]

When studyiing 'happiness' one researcher wrote: What do they find? In a nutshell, they find that people who are involved in religion also report greater levels of happiness than do those who are not religious. For example, one study involved over 160,000 people in Europe. Among weekly churchgoers, 85% reported being "very satisfied" with life, but this number reduced to 77% among those who never went to church (Inglehart, 1990). This kind of pattern is typical -- religious involvement is associated with modest increases in happiness

This may be how the religious people responded, but given that they believe in the great sky daddy, their answers can't really be trusted, can they? I think the non-religious tend to be a lot more realistic, given the paradigm from which they work. I take the word of the 77% non-church goers much more readily than I believe the fantasies of the 85% supernaturalists.

[_Yoda]

When studyiing 'happiness' one researcher wrote: What do they find? In a nutshell, they find that people who are involved in religion also report greater levels of happiness than do those who are not religious. For example, one study involved over 160,000 people in Europe. Among weekly churchgoers, 85% reported being "very satisfied" with life, but this number reduced to 77% among those who never went to church (Inglehart, 1990). This kind of pattern is typical -- religious involvement is associated with modest increases in happiness

This may be how the religious people responded, but given that they believe in the great sky daddy, their answers can't really be trusted, can they? I think the non-religious tend to be a lot more realistic, given the paradigm from which they work. I take the word of the 77% non-church goers much more readily than I believe the fantasies of the 85% supernaturalists.

Just because someone is religious, that makes them incapable of answering the question of what does, and what does not make them happy? Sorry, Schmo, I have to disagree with you here. A person having a belief system does not make them irrational. It also hardly disqualifies them from making a judgment call on what makes them personally feel happy. There are many brilliant, rational people in this world who are/were religious.

[_Some Schmo]

This may be how the religious people responded, but given that they believe in the great sky daddy, their answers can't really be trusted, can they? I think the non-religious tend to be a lot more realistic, given the paradigm from which they work. I take the word of the 77% non-church goers much more readily than I believe the fantasies of the 85% supernaturalists.

Just because someone is religious, that makes them incapable of answering the question of what does, and what does not make them happy? Sorry, Schmo, I have to disagree with you here. A person having a belief system does not make them irrational. It also hardly disqualifies them from making a judgment call on what makes them personally feel happy. There are many brilliant, rational people in this world who are/were religious.

You are irrational (at least, on the subject of religion) if you believe irrational things about it; it's that simple. I'm not saying they all lied, but I am questioning whether the percentage is really that high given the fact that religious types tend to believe what they want to believe whether it's realistic or not.

[_Yoda]

You are irrational (at least, on the subject of religion) if you believe irrational things about it; it's that simple. I'm not saying they all lied, but I am questioning whether the percentage is really that high given the fact that religious types tend to believe what they want to believe whether it's realistic or not.

I would agree with you if the poll was regarding a topic that is objective. Happiness is NOT objective. It is very subjective.

One can only answer that question based on their own perception of what they believe happiness to be.

[_Gadianton]

The deck is stacked for Mormons and their "happiness" and "joy". Some people might really be happier being Mormon than doing anything else, it's a crazy world out there. But notice the transitions from "happiness" to "joy" in key places. When everything is going good, the church, God, Joseph Smith, and GBH are making the person the happier than a clam. But when "trials" set in, tears flow, pain centers are tripped, then Mormons shift to "Joy" mode, which means, "joy in afflictions". Or in other words, life sucks, the church isn't making me happy, but cog dis lays down the old "sweet lemon" card.

Hey, if religion can serve as an opiate for the masses, why complaint? Life can have a lot of pain.

"Opiate" is your word. The "sweet lemon" logic can be applied to many other things to help us deal with disappointment.

[_LifeOnaPlate]

If MAD draws people out of the Church, I think I am safe in saying this board is great at driving people into it.