Dan thinks ex-Mormons are sad and pathetic on Sundays for coming together online

[doubtingthomas]

I know DCP in real life. I would certainly not describe him as a happy person. He has always seemed very anxious, distressed and insecure. He loves to talk about critics, both inside and outside of the Church. He also is not healthy and I'm sure that has negatively affected his well being.

Predictable. A happy person doesn't waste thousands of hours doing apologetics.

[Kishkumen]

I think you guys have it all wrong. DCP is very happy and he loves doing apologetics. DCP loves life. He loves every day of it. Apologetics are part of what he enjoys most. He is a happy, committed Latter-day Saint, and he loves defending his beliefs. I think it is absolutely absurd to speculate otherwise.

[canpakes]

I’m perfectly willing to step onto a Sunday session in Dan’s ward to hear his alternative, uplifting message, if he chooses to speak.

But, I’m going to compare it against an uplifting leisurely Sunday drive through and lengthy walk amongst the colorful aspens of Guardsman Pass, so it had better be good. : D

[doubtingthomas]

I think you guys have it all wrong. DCP is very happy and he loves doing apologetics. DCP loves life. He loves every day of it. Apologetics are part of what he enjoys most. He is a happy, committed Latter-day Saint, and he loves defending his beliefs. I think it is absolutely absurd to speculate otherwise.

I bet he suffered from erectile dysfunction very early in life.

[drumdude]

I think you guys have it all wrong. DCP is very happy and he loves doing apologetics. DCP loves life. He loves every day of it. Apologetics are part of what he enjoys most. He is a happy, committed Latter-day Saint, and he loves defending his beliefs. I think it is absolutely absurd to speculate otherwise.

I bet he suffered from erectile dysfunction very early in life.

I heard they turned him into a newt!

[Everybody Wang Chung]

Daniel C. Peterson pictured here watching a healthy young man illegally park in a Handicapped Stall:




Daniel C. Peterson pictured here enjoying his new favorite show on Netflix, The Ted Bundy Tapes:

[Gadianton]

I think you guys have it all wrong. DCP is very happy and he loves doing apologetics. DCP loves life. He loves every day of it. Apologetics are part of what he enjoys most. He is a happy, committed Latter-day Saint, and he loves defending his beliefs. I think it is absolutely absurd to speculate otherwise.

I agree for the most part, I just don't think he enjoys sitting through church, and I suspect it's the same for temple sessions. When he's gospel doctrine teacher and can pontificate, then it evens out to neutral. But he would never rather be sitting in Sacrament Meeting than having dinner with friends at Seasons 52. Oddly, I speculate he prefers sitting on a plane to sitting in church. Not sure even I would go that far.

[Kishkumen]

I agree for the most part, I just don't think he enjoys sitting through church, and I suspect it's the same for temple sessions. When he's gospel doctrine teacher and can pontificate, then it evens out to neutral. But he would never rather be sitting in Sacrament Meeting than having dinner with friends at Seasons 52. Oddly, I speculate he prefers sitting on a plane to sitting in church. Not sure even I would go that far.

Sure. I don’t think anyone has to love church meetings.I would venture to say that any LDS person who digs Sunday meetings above all is doing it wrong. For the happy ones, life is the Gospel and the Gospel is life. Going to meetings is just paying dues for the better parts. I can’t say I know how DCP really feels about individual parts of Church activity. Those who stick with it find some parts they really treasure in the whole of it.I doubt he is much different in that regard.

[Gadianton]

Sure. I don’t think anyone has to love church meetings. I would venture to say that any LDS person who digs Sunday meetings above all is doing it wrong. For the happy ones, life is the Gospel and the Gospel is life. Going to meetings is just paying dues for the better parts. I can’t say I know how DCP really feels about individual parts of Church activity. Those who stick with it find some parts they really treasure in the whole of it.I doubt he is much different in that regard.

No real disagreement. The Gospel is supposed to be about life not church. However, DCP's contention was restricted to the Sunday activities of apostates, and how that compares to the Sunday activities of believing LDS. He enquired how these apostates are really any better off. Well, even with a cynical take in line with DCP's beliefs, that apostates have found their own "faith-based" and ritualistic religion or substitute thereof, then apostates are better off for themselves in their new religion because now their "worship" centers on a message they really believe in. And if it becomes a chore to log into Reddit (or here) on Sundays to take a few swings, maybe that is just "paying dues" for a new life that is more fulfilling for themselves on the whole.

The strong form of DCP's contention is that the apostates are better off than the apologists on Sundays, and it's possible that some apostates believe that their Sunday lives are not only more fulfilling for themselves personally, but more fulfilling than the lives of TBMs. That would be kind of a stretch, again the cynical view, wouldn't tools enjoy being tools?

Church has huge implied negativity. And you would expect larger organizations to spend less time complaining about smaller organizations than smaller ones do about larger ones. Of course Verizon spends less time on Twitter complaining about customers they don't like than customers do about Verizon. The Mormon Church when it was younger and more fragile most certainly spent more time actively defining itself against other religious groups. It's all still there more subtly, the implication of apostasy and everyone else being wrong but them, the implication of restoration, the more direct occasional jabs against the trinity and lots of church talks condemning the paid ministries of other churches.

[dastardly stem]

As an ex-Mormon I went to a Mormon Church meeting yesterday and....enjoyed it. My niece is heading off to her mission and she asked me to come and watch her speak. She's a lovely lady, with a great head on her shoulders. Her talk was full of lovely little notes and anecdotes wherein she emphasized forgiveness as an act of love for others and added we ought to desire to do the right thing instead of judging people as an excuse for not doing the right thing. After she sat down the meeting kinda of went south, I admit. The Stake President got up and talked annoyingly about himself focusing on a couple of his self-aggrandizing mission experiences. His contribution was so bad he almost made me wish I missed the whole meeting. Then again my niece's portion was so good it made his awful talk bearable, somehow. I also had my youngest niece clamoring for my attention. She was a nice distraction when needed.

Anyway, I suppose a reminder to DCP and others that we exes still have ties to Mormonism that is meaningful. And I hope my niece stays as lovely as she is as she heads off to preach in Denmark.