DCP: A New form of Missionary?

[_Jersey Girl]

(Getting up on my soapbox now..) How many serious debates do you see on this board? How many "discussions" do you see that don't devolve into insult fests and back biting? There are very few posters on this board who are serious about topical discussion and even those rare threads are obliterated to hell and back again. Half the posters on this board aren't capable of intellectual honesty to start with. Do you honestly see a plethora of intellectual debates or discussions on this board?

You've got to be kidding me. How does it feel to attempt to make something serious out of a non-serious board?

Stepping down off my soapbox...and enjoy the rest of your evening.

You have my applause. ENCORE!!!!!!!!

Sure, but you probably won't like it. This board is one big fat game and that's about all it is. It could have been something more, but it's just not. Why on earth would anyone invest a substantial chunk of time researching topic for this board? If anyone has the expectation of me, they'd be seriously disappointed. I research and compose lengthy narrative, presentations and lecture in real life. Why in the world would I do that on this board--after hours? Is somebody going to compenstate me for my time? I don't think so. Is there someone here I'm supposed to impress? Uh, I don't think so.

Open any random thread and what you'll see in most cases is a recurring ****fest. My guess is that most posters don't post what they really think on this board because (1) They don't care to think, (2) They don't know how to think, (3)They are afraid of alienating the group they "side" with or (4) They're just drunk on their ass.

You pick.
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And pick this ad while you're at it.

[_Jersey Girl]

Nehor...with all due respect. You fall for the bait hook, line and sinker. It wouldn't matter to me if Daniel were an apologist (much less "chief") or a Wal Mart greeter. He holds no status in my mind. No apologist holds any particular status in my mind with regards to their apologetics or the church.

I'm not LDS. Don't you get that?

Huh? I wasn't talking about you. I was talking about Scratch. Everything to him is a move on a chessboard.

ProTip: People who use chess metaphors like manipulating people.

I know, but when you consider that I have no reason to be impressed by anyone, let alone a posters so-called apologist "status", you have to realize how ridiculous all of that appears to me.

[_The Nehor]

Sure, but you probably won't like it. This board is one big fat game and that's about all it is. It could have been something more, but it's just not. Why on earth would anyone invest a substantial chunk of time researching topic for this board? If anyone has the expectation of me, they'd be seriously disappointed. I research and compose lengthy narrative, presentations and lecture in real life. Why in the world would I do that on this board--after hours? Is somebody going to compenstate me for my time? I don't think so. Is there someone here I'm supposed to impress? Uh, I don't think so.

Open any random thread and what you'll see in most cases is a recurring ****fest. My guess is that most posters don't post what they really think on this board because (1) They don't care to think, (2) They don't know how to think, (3)They are afraid of alienating the group they "side" with or (4) They're just drunk on their ass.

You pick.

I liked the encore.

In fact this should be on the heading of this message board and always displayed.

[_Jersey Girl]

I liked the encore.

As well you should.
:-)

[_Jersey Girl]

In fact this should be on the heading of this message board and always displayed.

Silk purse, sows ear.

[_Gadianton]

ProTip: People who use chess metaphors like manipulating people.

is rather like a chess game in which Murphy makes his opponent's moves for her. Employing such a technique, and given enough time and practice, he is quite likely to win many of his matches.

- Prolegomena to the DNA Articles

A devastating blow, indeed.

[_The Nehor]

A devastating blow, indeed.

I never realized you so highly valued my views. Thanks for the compliment.

[_harmony]

The second theory (far more plausible) is somewhat poignant, and it comes to me via an "anonymous informant."

For all we know, his wife may be an attorney or a doctor or some other profession that makes megabucks. Heck, they may have some original stock in Microsoft. Just because he takes trips with his family doesn't mean the church pays for them.

I have received permission from the individual in question to cite from a serious of fascinating and provocative PMs. These are devastating accounts of The Good Professor's utterly selfish, manipulative, and monomaniacal behavior. [Note: I have edited these accounts slightly for readability, and to protect this "informant'"s anonymity.]

He was trying to dominate the whole board, and I saw the old ZLMB DCP all over again. All I wanted was some decent and very frank and open discussions with him, but that's not possible with DCP - you either agree with him or you're a lost cause. He was not here to debate Mormonism - he was here to "have the critics for lunch".

When DCP speaks, the debate is over. I don't dislike the man as a person at all, but on Internet boards he can be obnoxious. And I did get sucked in again by posting on FAIR/MAD, a mistake I won't be making again. DCP is a man who seems to think that if you criticise him, you're criticizing God himself.

Yeeouch! Quite a devastating critique! But, sadly, it gets worse. It turns out that this individual---"Agent B"---had once been victim of DCP's incredibly deceptive gestures towards friendship.

...DCP is a strong personality. DCP misread me very early on, and I told him in two emails that I didn't want his [contact with me] to be anything other than social, that I would be pleased to meet him... but largely because of my "spiritual expressions" about the Book of Mormon, he thought he could finally convince me it is history, and he was wrong. Once that failed, I sensed that he didn't have the same interest, not even a friendly email to ask "how are you going?" Communication dropped altogether, and I realized that he had only one goal in mind, which was to convince me about Book of Mormon historicity.

None of these quotes is anything but heresay. If you don't have something original from Daniel to prove your Agent B's accusation, you don't have squat.

Your comments about Jersey are misplaced. I'm beginning to doubt your reading comprehension abilities.

[_Dr. Shades]

What occurs to me amidst all of this is that DCP and other Mopologists are a new kind of "missionary" for the Church. Whereas traditional LDS missionaries are trying to convert people to the Gospel, and to do the Lord's work, Mopologists are trying to save people from leaving the Church---or, as The Good Professor has put it, to "open up a place for faith" (or whatever it was he said). The key difference, in my mind, is that there is no oversight for apologetics. These are missionaries torn free from any ethical moorings or administrative oversight. DCP doesn't have to constantly be with his "companion." Lou Midgley does not have to report to his Zone Leader. Instead, these folks are free to bash with whomever the want, in whatever manner they want.

That's some interesting food for thought. Yes, we all know that the official missionary program--the one designed to bring people into the church--is run like a well-oiled machine. As you noted, the unofficial effort to keep people from leaving is entirely freelance, which lack of oversight leads to all sorts of excesses.

This makes me wonder, though: What if the church did indeed institute just such an official "reverse missionary" program, complete with settings apart, callings extended, jurisdictions assigned, manuals issued, and general authorities overseeing? What would that effort look like, and who would be the types of missionaries called to it?

Alas, I think such a program would be kept on the "down low," like they originally attempted with the SCMC, since to admit the existence of such a program would simultaneously admit to a problem with members defecting.

Oh well, like I said, food for thought.

In the meantime, I suppose we can expect him to continue lobbing his pathetic waterballoons from the cushy safety of the aptly named MADboard.

Has DCP been lobbing water balloons at you, or at MormonDiscussions in general (or both)?

[_Pokatator]

Nehor, I am not permitted to post on the aptly named MADboard. You know that.

Yeah, well when I become a MOD using my secret CAMPAIGN to get POWER to alleviate my LONELINESS and deep SENSE OF INADEQUACY if I caught you on the board I'd chop your hands off at the wrists and stick hot pokers in your eyes to keep you from ever typing anything on the board from another IP address or another location and that you would never read another hallowed word on that board again.

Nehor

There you go again with all this horrid violent talk. Man you have issues. Do you torment little animals in your neighborhood? I suggest you get some help or at least start over in Sunday School as a Sunbeam or something and get a little nicer view of life. Maybe sing "popcorn popping on the apricot tree" or "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam" when you get these evil thoughts, sing loud and hard until the thoughts go away. Try something please.

Sincerely,
Pok