A tale of a church court.

[_MCB]

It is a by-product of the Restoration Narrative: everything before that moment in the grove was corrupt and wrong. There's just this big hole in history that one never goes back and fills in because one doesn't even know it is there.... It is good to emancipate oneself from an organization that has been oppressive for you, but at the cost of shutting down any understanding of, or interest in, a rather large part of human history and experience?

The irony here is that, without spurious scripture, it had happened before.
http://books.google.com/books?id=p3EaAA ... ll&f=false

At Munster, in Germany.

[_lulu]

There's just this big hole in history that one never goes back and fills in because one doesn't even know it is there.

Which is why, when I left, I started a grad program at a seminary. There was this giant historical religious gap between say, the end of the New Testament, and Joseph Smith. All I had needed to know as a Mormon was that it was all bad. lol

[_Kishkumen]

And there are many other huge gaps to fill for many folks out there. Christianity is but one religious tradition. Hellenic philosophy developed sophisticated theologies and cosmologies. Nothing like modern scientific cosmology, but much more interesting than popular Christian ideas.

[_son of Ishmael]

I can see where you are coming from, and believe Mormonism creates the dichotomy you reference, but I don't agree entirely.

I consider myself an agnostic. After leaving Mormonism, I started applying the same critical thinking to other religions and found all of them to have holes in their truth claims, or had beliefs that I simply couldn't accept as reasonable or true.

There is just as much evidence to believe Ancient Alien Theory as to believe any other explanation of religious origins.

If I am going to evaluate the evidence against the LDS church with as open mind as possible, how much more so will I do the same with other religions I have less affinity towards.

Both of these quotes pretty well sum it up for me

[_lulu]

And there are many other huge gaps to fill for many folks out there. Christianity is but one religious tradition. Hellenic philosophy developed sophisticated theologies and cosmologies. Nothing like modern scientific cosmology, but much more interesting than popular Christian ideas.

So true and then there is Asia. I hope my brain hangs on as long as my body does. So much to learn.

[_moksha]

If it does turn out that her PC was hacked by Church authorities (I don't know how else they'd know "everything" she was viewing), then this is a case where the "antidote" is worse than the poison.

Putting aside legality, morality and ethics, it is a technical accomplishment for the Church to have NSA-like surveillance capabilities. To overlook these capabilities is like overlooking Philo Farnsworth.

[_Jeneum]

God reading this woman's accounts made my heart sink. Where the hell is the love of Christ in the LDS church? Certainly not in the leadership!

I hope she will take this 12 months of disfellowship to realize that there are alternatives for her and her family, which do not necessitate paying 10% of your income to a hateful, marginalizing organization.

I'm currently attending a Community of Christ congregation and couldn't be happier.

[_mercyngrace]

If it does turn out that her PC was hacked by Church authorities (I don't know how else they'd know "everything" she was viewing), then this is a case where the "antidote" is worse than the poison.

Putting aside legality, morality and ethics, it is a technical accomplishment for the Church to have NSA-like surveillance capabilities. To overlook these capabilities is like overlooking Philo Farnsworth.

The funny thing is that when I read the part of Eva's post about the church knowing everything she viewed, my first thought was that the bishop had clicked her blogger profile to see which blogs she follows and was making a sweeping and laughably inaccurate claim.

Wouldn't be the first time someone thought they knew more than they actually did.

[_Blixa]

The funny thing is that when I read the part of Eva's post about the church knowing everything she viewed, my first thought was that the bishop had clicked her blogger profile to see which blogs she follows and was making a sweeping and laughably inaccurate claim.

Wouldn't be the first time someone thought they knew more than they actually did.

That's a good point M&G.

It's such a heart rending story. Whatever one thinks of Eva's claims (ie., Setbag's "fantasy land), I think it's clear that these elders did not help her one whit.

[_Sethbag]

That's a good point M&G.

It's such a heart rending story. Whatever one thinks of Eva's claims (ie., Sethbag's "fantasy land"), I think it's clear that these elders did not help her one whit.

Isn't it interesting to you that the elders treated her as if she were a sinner, when all she was really guilty of is imagining and discussing with people her own little spiritual world that wasn't 100% in line with the church's?

Like I've said already, I think she took the whole Holy Ghost/spirituality thing seriously, believed it as if it were real, and lived it in her own way. And for that she gets hauled into a church court with the guys whose church teaches Holy Ghost spirituality, gifts of the Spirit, real honest-to-gosh revelation, visitation by Jesus and Angels and whatnot.

All that spirituality stuff is well and good, so long as she toes the line and doesn't encroach on those types of experiences over which the men of the LDS church,and particularly the leadership, claim preeminence.