rcrocket wrote:I neither like nor dislike you, but I admit that your style of writing and knowledge in some subjects has attracted my attention. But, think about your position and mine. I post with my real name. My real life is the same as my life on this board. My views with my in-person friends, my church, my family are the same as here. Integrity means not being a hypocrite, not hiding in the dark or behind a cloak. Courage means putting your name to your public persona.
My real life is the generally the same as it is on this board too, Bob. My colleagues know that I am an ex-Mormon. The only thing that I do not do is share my participation in online discussions with them. They know quite clearly how I feel about the LDS Church. Once again, I have no idea why you think you are somehow superior to me in this regard. The restriction that I feel is one of it not being professionally "cool" to participate in this kind of forum. That is all.
rcrocket wrote:Real courage is not demonstrated in your first paragraph I repeat above. You may be anonymous. You may feel secure in using anonymity to attack and belittle people with real names. But, God knows you. I hope that someday you will come around and know that there is no value to throwing turds on the roof of the synagogue at night because you hate Jews. The Mormon faith is a powerful testament to the mission of the living Christ; many believe and find solace in it; many thrive and help others with it. To continue to belittle it, anonymously, with occasional hits against real people, is deplorable. And god will sort that out in the end.
Pardon me if I do not take you to be a model of real courage. Only a coward like you would compare me unjustly to an anti-Semite, because you have the luxury of doing it from a distance. That is egregiously inflammatory rhetoric and completely baseless. It is like calling a Reformed Jew who vehemently criticizes an aggressive, orthodox Zionist an "anti-Semite." It is remarkable that you imagine you are courageous.
I do not believe in your God, Bob. The Mormon faith is a testament to many things, some of them genuinely positive, but it is not a powerful testament to a living Christ. The person Jesus died many centuries ago. All that lives of the Christ is the myth that was created in the aftermath of the man's death. If people find solace in that, fine. It does not place their thinking and behavior beyond criticism.
The fact that I criticize Mormonism, and poke fun at it, is legitimate and healthy in a free society. I do not march into ward buildings to belittle people's faith. I do not spend time on the bloggernacle or discussion boards with a clear devotional purpose. I have even taken down my blog. I only come here, where people like you choose to tune in and exchange blows. Sometimes I tune into and participate in other fora for apologists. You and they, sir, are fair game, not victims of some kind. And you certainly aren't some kind of hero in the cause of truth.
So take your self-righteous indignation to a place where people won't see it for the sham it is. Only your fellow apologists imagine that what you are saying here has any share of the truth.