“There is no such thing…”

[Marcus]

Louis Midgley

…There is simply no such thing as a "Mormon movement consisting of the LDS main Church and the 200 or so other branches" of a movement. The reason is that there is no such thing as "the LDS Church" which is, as you wrongly have it, is "a branch" of a movement.

http://disq.us/p/2sjvnsz

There is no such thing as the lds church.

—————
This reminds me of a great sci fi short story i read long ago, titled something like “the other shoe.” The person telling the story has a father with a unique gift, whatever he says doesn’t exist…simply ceases to exist. The story starts with a humorous foray into various things disappearing, which can be recovered if the father will simply state the thing exists again, but then it takes a dark note as the father develops Alzheimer’s.

In the final scene, the son hauls the dad away from some encounter, and when they get home, the dad goes upstairs to get ready for bed, muttering under his breath about the audacity of his son feeling like he needed to rescue him. The son hears one shoe come off and drop by the bed, then hears his dad say “and who is this guy [name the son calls him]. I bet he doesn’t even exist.”

The story ends with the son in a panic, waiting for the other shoe to drop, which of course it never does.
———————-

Louis Midgley, and the lds church that never existed.

[Res Ipsa]

Louis Midgley

…There is simply no such thing as a "Mormon movement consisting of the LDS main Church and the 200 or so other branches" of a movement. The reason is that there is no such thing as "the LDS Church" which is, as you wrongly have it, is "a branch" of a movement.

http://disq.us/p/2sjvnsz

There is no such thing as the lds church.

—————
This reminds me of a great sci fi short story i read long ago, titled something like “the other shoe.” The person telling the story has a father with a unique gift, whatever he says doesn’t exist…simply ceases to exist. The story starts with a humorous foray into various things disappearing, which can be recovered if the father will simply state the thing exists again, but then it takes a dark note as the father develops Alzheimer’s.

In the final scene, the son hauls the dad away from some encounter, and when they get home, the dad goes upstairs to get ready for bed, muttering under his breath about the audacity of his son feeling like he needed to rescue him. The son hears one shoe come off and drop by the bed, then hears his dad say “and who is this guy [name the son calls him]. I bet he doesn’t even exist.”

The story ends with the son in a panic, waiting for the other shoe to drop, which of course it never does.
———————-

Louis Midgley, and the lds church that never existed.

Punctuation and grammar are important. I suspect that Midgley used "which" when he should have used "that." If he really meant to say that the LDS church doesn't exist, he should have added a comma after "which."

[Wonhyo]

Louis Midgley

…There is simply no such thing as a "Mormon movement consisting of the LDS main Church and the 200 or so other branches" of a movement. The reason is that there is no such thing as "the LDS Church" which is, as you wrongly have it, is "a branch" of a movement.

http://disq.us/p/2sjvnsz

There is no such thing as the lds church.

—————
This reminds me of a great sci fi short story i read long ago, titled something like “the other shoe.” The person telling the story has a father with a unique gift, whatever he says doesn’t exist…simply ceases to exist. The story starts with a humorous foray into various things disappearing, which can be recovered if the father will simply state the thing exists again, but then it takes a dark note as the father develops Alzheimer’s.

In the final scene, the son hauls the dad away from some encounter, and when they get home, the dad goes upstairs to get ready for bed, muttering under his breath about the audacity of his son feeling like he needed to rescue him. The son hears one shoe come off and drop by the bed, then hears his dad say “and who is this guy [name the son calls him]. I bet he doesn’t even exist.”

The story ends with the son in a panic, waiting for the other shoe to drop, which of course it never does.
———————-

Louis Midgley, and the lds church that never existed.

Marcus, the story you summarized sounds interesting, with an ending that obliquely recalls Arthur C. Clarke's short story, "The Nine Billion Names of God": https://letras.cabaladada.org/letras/ni ... _names.pdf

The defensiveness with which members currently respond when someone uses the nickname "Mormon" or "LDS" is puzzling. For example, Midgely, or the rank and file contributors to Quora...

I get that Russell M. Nelson has called the use of the adjective and nickname "Mormon" a great victory for Satan. But there have been other, always unsuccessful, attempts to point the church away from the nickname. And we know that in the near future, some other church president is going to quietly begin to use the nickname, that powerful trademark, "Mormon", anew. And then everything will go back how it was and nobody will ever mention the several year span when the adjective "Mormon" was a tool of Satan.

[Kishkumen]

Lou is such an arrogant prick.

[drumdude]

Lou is such an arrogant prick.

[Doctor Steuss]

It's rather curious just how many times "LDS" and "Mormon" are used in the FARMS Review while Midgley was editor. Even in his very first editor's introduction, he himself refers to the "LDS faith," and the "Mormon past."

Thankfully, there's a plan and path of repentance, for those who have assisted Satan in his victories.

[dastardly stem]

Lou is such an arrogant prick.

Still it makes me smile a little when I see these types of lines from him. I'm reminded of the interactions I've had with him and have witnessed where he acts the scholar, the wise and clever and tries to make a point that fails on the face of it. When you stop and try to think through what he's saying you, get his arrogance sure, but you also have to wonder what the hell his point really means or if it matters at all. What he doesn't want the SLC based Church to be associated with any other Mormon off-shoot? ok. What does that have to do with the fact that the off-shoots all came as a result of Joseph Smith's original teachings?

[Kishkumen]

Exactly, stem.

[Marcus]

Still it makes me smile a little when I see these types of lines from him. I'm reminded of the interactions I've had with him and have witnessed where he acts the scholar, the wise and clever and tries to make a point that fails on the face of it. When you stop and try to think through what he's saying you, get his arrogance sure, but you also have to wonder what the hell his point really means or if it matters at all. What he doesn't want the SLC based Church to be associated with any other Mormon off-shoot? ok. What does that have to do with the fact that the off-shoots all came as a result of Joseph Smith's original teachings?

Well said, stem.

Midgley tries to wish things into his own personal non-existence. Imposing his wishes on the world is a little tougher.

[drumdude]

Still it makes me smile a little when I see these types of lines from him. I'm reminded of the interactions I've had with him and have witnessed where he acts the scholar, the wise and clever and tries to make a point that fails on the face of it. When you stop and try to think through what he's saying you, get his arrogance sure, but you also have to wonder what the hell his point really means or if it matters at all. What he doesn't want the SLC based Church to be associated with any other Mormon off-shoot? ok. What does that have to do with the fact that the off-shoots all came as a result of Joseph Smith's original teachings?

Well said, stem.

Midgley tries to wish things into his own personal non-existence. Imposing his wishes on the world is a little tougher.

I’m just glad it’s keeping him occupied instead of stalking Gina Colvin.