Why I am not a Mormon

[_GoodK]

This place is fast becoming the Internet version of the Jerry Springer Show.

Actually, thanks to you, it has become the Internet version of the Jerry Springer Show. We needed a redneck who married his first cousin to make it official.

I'm sorry Coggins. That was rude.

[_GoodK]

Did Dan bother to also tell you that GoodK has said many flattering things about you on this board, as well? That you are intelligent, wise, and a good man???

As well as flattering things about Dan himself. And Brother Crockett.

Ya, I'm a dick.

[_Daniel Peterson]

You really are a tool. You, more than anyone, knows why this thread hasn't helped him. Well done, bishop.

I suppose that, as it usually is, my failure to toe the Scratchite line will be chalked up as yet more evidence of my depraved character. There's probably nothing to be done about that. It's Scratchworld. You're gulity, and if you deny that you're guilty, that proves your guilt and compounds it. Only admitting your guilt can possibly save you from being guilty.

You suggested that I wasn't mad at you when we spoke in March, and I knew that you had forwarded that letter to my Dad. That, Professor, is a lie.

If I'm wrong, it is an error.

If you have evidence -- beyond some sort of quasi-Scratchite faith in my fundamentally evil nature -- that I've deliberately sought to deceive, you're welcome to share it.

Not a mistake. A lie. An untruth. With the intent of suggesting I was ok with you rubbing my post in my dad's nose at one point, and I only now have a problem with it.

Unless I'm mistaken, your father told me just this afternoon, on the phone, that you didn't seem especially angry about his learning of your mockery of him back in March. Nor did he respond angrily to it.

His email is nothing but hurtful. Nothing.

It's certainly not "nothing but hurtful." Among other things, it supports my defense of my character. Agree or disagree with that support, it still makes the letter considerably more than merely the mean-spirited attack on his own son that you (and others here) seem to want it to be. GoodK's father was writing, at least in part, to support a friend whom he has known for nearly as long as GoodK is old. That he had to defend me against his own son's accusations is very unfortunate.

There is no evidence of harm.

You are living a fantasy.

True. I keep hoping for rational thought here -- and for at least a minimal level of charity and sympathetic understanding toward even a vocally believing Latter-day Saint. Instead, my motives are not only impugned but are almost invariably assumed to be thoroughly bad.

Here's the problem - Mormons tend to be so self-absorbed, so egocentric, so imbued with a sense of entitlement, that neither you nor GoodK's father apparently had the slightest clue how is letter would sound, and what effect it would have.

You have THE TRUTH. Not only do you KNOW - with a sure knowledge - that GOD exists, and Joseph Smith was his prophet, and God will not be mocked! that you can't see beyond the tips of your own noses. . . .

by the way, I want to remind folks that GoodK has, in the past, spoken kindly in regards to not only his father, but crocket and dan. He has tried to help other posters keep some perspective about the characters and nature of these men.

In retrospect, perhaps he was too generous (exempting bob, who has not participated herein).

I also believe that this incident helps demonstrate the fact that Mormons often have issues with personal boundaries.

LOL. I'm sorry that I distracted you from your sermonettes about how arrogantly judgmental Mormons are.

The good thing about this is that many folks are seeing DCP for who he truly is.

I doubt it. First of all, not all that many folks pay any attention to this. But those who do, and who are able to see through the vituperation and character-assassination and prejudiced mind-reading that dominate this thread and this place altogether, will get only a little peek into who I am. (That's true, I sincerely hope, of just about everybody who posts on message boards.)

garbage produced by a man who would rather accuse me of being insensitive to my baby sister's life-threatening illness than just apologize.

Neither Unspeakably Horrible GoodK Epistle requires apology, and neither accuses you of being insensitive to your baby sister's life-threatening illness. (I've provided the full texts of both on this thread.)

Nor do I think that I've actually made such an accusation anywhere on this thread. For one thing, I would be very much surprised if it were true. I felt awkward about bringing your mockery of your father to your father's attention at that time, and I thought it was deeply unfortunate and a bit strange that you were mocking your father at that time, but I've never imagined that it was because you didn't care about your little sister, and I've never said so. In fact, I think it much more likely that your mockery of your father ("venting," as some here have called it) was occasioned at least partially by the stress and worry of having a loved one in the intensive care unit whose prognosis was, as I well recall, very uncertain for a fairly long time.

[_GoodK]

Nor do I think that I've actually made such an accusation anywhere on this thread.

This feels like Deja Vu.

In case you really don't get it, this is why I am exceedingly angry with you, Dan.

As for "trying to make you look . . . insensitive to the situation," I said nothing in my very brief note to your father about any insensitivity on your part. Not a word.

No. You said it here. Shall I quote you? Ok.

when you mocked him quite contemptuously while he was dealing with your hospitalized and seriously ill sister

frankly, most in the general public, if not here, would have taken GoodK's derision of his father as counting against GoodK rather than against GoodK's father (and particularly so at a time of severe family crisis)

Shall I keep going? I only looked at the first TWO pages of this thread.

[_Rollo Tomasi]

His email is nothing but hurtful. Nothing.

It's certainly not "nothing but hurtful." Among other things, it supports my defense of my character. Agree or disagree with that support, it still makes the letter considerably more than merely the mean-spirited attack on his own son that you (and others here) seem to want it to be. GoodK's father was writing, at least in part, to support a friend whom he has known for nearly as long as GoodK is old. That he had to defend me against his own son's accusations is very unfortunate.

What's "unfortunate" is that the father felt he needed to push his kid under the bus just so you could save face. Somehow everything comes back to you, even at the cost of a family relationship. Well done, bishop.

There is no evidence of harm.

You are living a fantasy.

True. I keep hoping for rational thought here -- and for at least a minimal level of charity and sympathetic understanding toward even a vocally believing Latter-day Saint. Instead, my motives are not only impugned but are almost invariably assumed to be thoroughly bad.

Too bad there wasn't "rational thought" when you decided to send those messages to GoodK's dad, and then compounded your idiocy by pulling GoodK's dad into this. You are either incredibly stupid or "thoroughly bad."

The good thing about this is that many folks are seeing DCP for who he truly is.

I doubt it. First of all, not all that many folks pay any attention to this. But those who do, and who are able to see through the vituperation and character-assassination and prejudiced mind-reading that dominate this thread and this place altogether, will get only a little peek into who I am. (That's true, I sincerely hope, of just about everybody who posts on message boards.)

With well over 4,000 views, a lot of people are on to you, bishop. And that "little peek" they're getting is a horror show.

garbage produced by a man who would rather accuse me of being insensitive to my baby sister's life-threatening illness than just apologize.

Neither Unspeakably Horrible GoodK Epistle requires apology, and neither accuses you of being insensitive to your baby sister's life-threatening illness. (I've provided the full texts of both on this thread.)

And the hole just gets deeper ...

I felt awkward about bringing your mockery of your father to your father's attention at that time, and I thought it was deeply unfortunate and a bit strange that you were mocking your father at that time, but I've never imagined that it was because you didn't care about your little sister, and I've never said so.

That "awkward" feeling was telling you to butt out of this family's affairs. So much for Bishop Dan's following the Spirit ....

In fact, I think it much more likely that your mockery of your father ("venting," as some here have called it) was occasioned at least partially by the stress and worry of having a loved one in the intensive care unit whose prognosis was, as I well recall, very uncertain for a fairly long time.

Geesh, now you're trying to read GoodK's mind. Another smokescreen, but it still doesn't save you, bishop.

[_Daniel Peterson]

Nor do I think that I've actually made such an accusation anywhere on this thread.

This feels like Deja Vu.

In case you really don't get it, this is why I am exceedingly angry with you, Dan.

As for "trying to make you look . . . insensitive to the situation," I said nothing in my very brief note to your father about any insensitivity on your part. Not a word.

No. You said it here. Shall I quote you? Ok.

when you mocked him quite contemptuously while he was dealing with your hospitalized and seriously ill sister

frankly, most in the general public, if not here, would have taken GoodK's derision of his father as counting against GoodK rather than against GoodK's father (and particularly so at a time of severe family crisis)

Shall I keep going? I only looked at the first TWO pages of this thread.

My concern was that your father was going through an excruciatingly difficult time while you were mocking him. I thought that was unfortunate, and poorly done on your part. I still do.

I said nothing about insensitivity toward your sister. I don't believe that I ever have.

Incidentally, I've sent you a private message. You may or may not feel like replying.

[_Rollo Tomasi]

My concern was that your father was going through an excruciatingly difficult time while you were mocking him.

So you felt compelled to inform the father who already "was going through an excruciatingly difficult time"?

Incidentally, I've sent you a private message.

We may finally be getting somewhere.

[_Daniel Peterson]

Rollo, I know that you and your Master dislike me intensely, and you've expressed your contempt for me with admirable clarity on this thread.

Well done.

But, surely, it's done. Don't you think?

[_Rollo Tomasi]

Rollo, I know that you ... dislike me intensely, and you've expressed your contempt for me with admirable clarity on this thread.

I neither dislike you nor hold you in contempt. Your actions, at times (like in this thread), are what I dislike and hold in contempt.

Rollo, I know that ... your Master dislike[s] me intensely ....

Jesus loves you, too, but He hates the sin.

But, surely, it's done. Don't you think?

Fair enough.

[_GoodK]

My concern was that your father was going through an excruciatingly difficult time while you were mocking him. I thought that was unfortunate, and poorly done on your part. I still do.

I said nothing about insensitivity toward your sister. I don't believe that I ever have.

Incidentally, I've sent you a private message. You may or may not feel like replying.

Thank you, and I have responded to your message.

We'll continue this offline, if it needs to be continued at all.

So, we can get back to talking about why I am not a Mormon now?