Beastie, are you saying Will and other online apologists will apostatize because they are guilty of some secret sin? Are you saying guilt is a basic motivation for them?
April fools.... right?
....right?
No, I actually don’t believe Will is going to apostatize at all. He already knows too much, and still retains faith, for me to think that knowledge is going to undermine his faith. He’s one I view as a True Believer. I do think he
may have been truthful in stating he’s minimally active. Of course I may be wrong in that, and I’m not going to hold my breath on him honestly informing us of the reality, but I wouldn’t be surprised. The first time I saw it happen, years ago with some unremembered TBM on ZLMB, I
was surprised. I don’t even remember how or when it finally came out, but one of the staunch defenders of the faith admitted to not being active. I thought that was strange – someone isn’t even active in the LDS church but yet is motivated enough to come on an internet message board and defend it ardently? What’s up with that?
As time went on, the same phenomenon would reveal itself from time to time. I don’t remember the names, nor am I willing to go on extensive searches to find these past conversations, so take it with a grain of salt if you will. But just look at our own little corner of the internet Mormon/exmormon world – we have coggins, who is marginally active and has problems with the WoW, and we had whyme, who, If I recall correctly, wasn’t active in the LDS church at all. And of course, we had Ray A, who wasn’t even on the rolls anymore. That’s a significant percentage of defenders of the faith on this board, where defenders of the faith are few and far between. And these are only the ones who, for whatever reason, were open about their inactivity. Now I’m sure the percentage would be less on a place like MAD that has appreciably more defenders of the faith in the first place. Perhaps inactive or troubled defenders of the faith, for some odd reason, are more likely to post on this board than other boards. However, as I already stated, I did see the same thing on ZLMB, although it’s been too long for me to remember specifics.
Now when I say a “significant percentage”, I don’t mean the
majority of defenders of the faith. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see a number around 25-30%, and to me, that’s a significant percentage. These people are motivated enough to come on an internet board and defend the church, but aren’t motivated enough to be active or keep the church’s commandments. Again, what’s up with that?
I think it’s because coming on an internet board and arguing in defense of the faith is easier than being fully active or keeping all the commandments. Yet surely these people must feel that they’re doing something that would please God – defending his One True Church from the criticisms of evil apostates. So maybe, just maybe, God will look more kindly on them in the end.
I will admit that part of what prompted this musing on my part was that Will’s post reminded me of the rumor that went around ZLMB at one time regarding his possible inactivity as well. I have no idea if those rumors were founded or unfounded, but Will’s post reminded me of it. Perhaps the rumor was created by another April Fool’s joke. I really don’t know.
Seth:
I've been thinking this for some time now, especially in cases like Ray A. I think it's a very real possibility that these guys do the whole Defender of the Faith thing as a way of "making up" for their other in-the-eyes-of-the-church deficiencies. I think it's a big-time compensation thing - hey, I may not have gone to church very often, and [insert some collection of LDS sins here], but I stood up for the church and defended it against the forces of Satan. That's gotta count for something.
Yeah, that’s what I mean. Again, I’m not talking about even a majority of defenders of the faith, but I’ve seen it often enough that I consider it likely that a significant minority would fall into this category.
I’m just trying to figure out why someone who doesn’t believe in the LDS church enough to actually be active and live the commandments bothers to get online and defend the faith. Or they claim to believe it, but still can’t quite live up to it. We all know that’s got to cause stresses and guilt, particularly keeping in mind the “works” aspect of LDS theology in the first place.
Besides this particular idea, I do wonder if believers do this as some form of missionary work. When I was active, we were constantly pressured to do missionary work. Maybe that was just a phase, or maybe it was because we lived in “the mission field”. But I always felt guilty for not doing more missionary work, and for failing miserably the few times I got up the courage to even try. So I used to do more genealogical work and tell myself the LORD would also view that as a form of “missionary work” and maybe he would forgive me for falling down on the job otherwise. I’m betting that some defenders of the faith view their participation on internet boards as a form of missionary work, and hope that will compensate for failing in that regard in real life (as the vast majority of Mormons do).
dude:
We've all seen it. Apologists who say, "Sethbag says he left because he learned about church doctrine and history, but that's not the real reason. He left because he had a problem with masturbation, or he committed adultry... those are the real reasons behind his actions. The more he protests that it was about the facts, the more sure we are that it was about secret sins." Man I hate that. I know you do to.
But how is it any different to say RayA or Will Schryver defend the church, not because of their stated reasons, but to compensate for [insert some collection of LDS sins here]?
This is wrong, guys. I suggest you disavow this thinking before Pahoran or Selek gets wind of it.
I want to be clear. I am NOT talking about the majority of apologists. I am wondering why people who can't even bothered to be fully active in the LDS church or follow its main guidelines come on to internet boards and play the part of Ardent Defender of the Faith.
I also want to clarify I'm not talking about some "secret sin". I'm talking about people who have
admitted that they are not fully active or have problems with some church commandment. I am wondering if being a super TBM on an internet board makes them feel less guilty for their real life perceived inadequacies.