Joseph Antley's Apostasy from the Church

[_Joseph Antley]

Title is a joke. I wanted to plug a blog article I've rewritten, and see what you guys think about it. Is there room in the LDS Church for members who have unorthodox religious views? Did you leave the Church because your unorthodox views (which you probably based on you being a rational human being) weren't accepted, either formally by the leadership or informally by the members?

http://trevorantley.com/2011/12/31/morm ... ahs-flood/

[_sock puppet]

What's the point of remaining if one is not orthodox?

[_Mike Reed]

Title is a joke. I wanted to plug a blog article I've rewritten, and see what you guys think about it. Is there room in the LDS Church for members who have unorthodox religious views? Did you leave the Church because your unorthodox views (which you probably based on you being a rational human being) weren't accepted, either formally by the leadership or informally by the members?

http://trevorantley.com/2011/12/31/morm ... ahs-flood/

Thanks for the link, Joseph. I look forward to reading it tomorrow... when I am sober. Happy New Year, my friend.

[_Runtu]

I think the Noah's ark example is a good one because it illustrates the kind of unorthodoxy that can be accepted. Whether or not there was a literal flood and Noah was on an ark with all the animals is not really a big issue with most people, so you can express disagreement with the literal flood and still be fine with the church. However, the same is not true with more important doctrines, such as the literal veracity of the Book of Mormon. You cannot openly express disbelief in core doctrines without some reprisal (see David Wright, for example). Such views must be kept to yourself.

I wish I had the same belief that you do that the church stands up to scrutiny and should therefore welcome it.

[_Joseph Antley]

What's the point of remaining if one is not orthodox?

That depends on what you and I mean by "orthodox," I suppose. I consider myself "unorthodox" (relative to the "people's orthodoxy" or the "koine Utah orthodoxy") in many ways but am convinced that the LDS Church is God's church and that the Gospel itself extends beyond that.

[_sock puppet]

What's the point of remaining if one is not orthodox?

That depends on what you and I mean by "orthodox," I suppose. I consider myself "unorthodox" (relative to the "people's orthodoxy" or the "koine Utah orthodoxy") in many ways but am convinced that the LDS Church is God's church and that the Gospel itself extends beyond that.

A very humanistic approach you have.

[_sock puppet]

Joseph, do you have any earrings in either of your ears?

That might be the ultimate 21st Century unorthodoxy for a Mormon.

[_sock puppet]

Joseph, is 'unorthodoxy' your way of announcing that you have become a NOM? Or that you now consider yourself to be a Mormon apologist? The two are very close in spirit.

[_moksha]

What's the point of remaining if one is not orthodox?

That sounds like, "What's the point of driving if it isn't in a 1959 BudgeMaster Supreme". You can choose another model and still enjoy driving.

[_Jason Bourne]

What's the point of remaining if one is not orthodox?

Wife, family...a community of support, a place to exercise some sort of faith if that is important to someone.

I liked the blog post. But it illustrated some of the challenges that an unorthodox LDS person really does have. The church is still very deeply entrenched in the McConkie, JFS, BKP fundamentalist mindset that the tightly controlled correlation committee still promulgates. As Runtu mentioned, try challanging something like the histirocity of the Book of Mormon or something like Joseph Smith being in error over polygamy and see where that gets you.