Interview With Don Bradley.

[Kishkumen]

Don: “So there's an ideology that has to be embraced. So to go from, you know, growing up a devout Latter-day Saint and jettisoning that ideology and then embracing an atheistic ideology, then stepping away from that to say, “Okay, what's the next ideology am I going to embrace?”

Huh! OK. Well, I am not sure why he used that terminology, but it is not a felicitous or accurate choice of words. Maybe he has come to see his former atheism as ideological, but I would not have described it as such at the time when I knew him as an atheist.

[Shulem]

Don: “So there's an ideology that has to be embraced. So to go from, you know, growing up a devout Latter-day Saint and jettisoning that ideology and then embracing an atheistic ideology, then stepping away from that to say, “Okay, what's the next ideology am I going to embrace?”

Huh! OK. Well, I am not sure why he used that terminology, but it is not a felicitous or accurate choice of words. Maybe he has come to see his former atheism as ideological, but I would not have described it as such at the time when I knew him as an atheist.

Are you sure or not, Kishy?

How about you ask him rather than speak for him!

[huckelberry]

Shulem,

One can hear the word ideology being used to identify a group of interrelated ideas or beliefs. The word might carry a connotation of rigidly holding those ideas without being able to consider alternatives or questions.

I do not know Don but from the interview I understood him to mean more the first rather than the second.

[I Have Questions]

Don: “So there's an ideology that has to be embraced. So to go from, you know, growing up a devout Latter-day Saint and jettisoning that ideology and then embracing an atheistic ideology, then stepping away from that to say, “Okay, what's the next ideology am I going to embrace?”

Huh! OK. Well, I am not sure why he used that terminology, but it is not a felicitous or accurate choice of words. Maybe he has come to see his former atheism as ideological, but I would not have described it as such at the time when I knew him as an atheist.

I’m unsure as to why you feel qualified to assert that Don is misspeaking about his own journey, but let’s say you’re correct in your assessment. You’re basically saying Don is misleading people about his journey (maybe unwittingly), and that he was less devout and committed at each stage of that journey as he jumped from one ideology to the next, than he is trying to portray.

[msnobody]

Don has openly shared his spiritual journey as long as I’ve known him, both online and in later years speaking personally with him. I have always felt honored that he would do this for us (our online community).

I may not articulate this very well, but I’ll try. There is a difference in trying out this religion or that religion (which we do). I’d even go so far as to say we have that spiritual void inside of us that only God can fill, or else, we’d never even ponder the existence of God, or try on any religion(s)/religious practices. Yes, we try on religion, what we think are good works, probably with or without the thought of earning God’s favor. I personally think we do this to make our sin nature more palatable for ourselves, as we feel the burden of our sin. In an unregenerate state, we probably can’t even realize the burden of sin that weighs us down. Yet the Law makes us conscious of sin (thanks be to God for making bids to us to turn to Him for what we cannot do ourselves). Conviction of sin is a gift from God. It is God who leads us to Christ through the Holy Spirit, to a regenerated heart, that can surrender our being to Christ. Then, if that weren’t enough, the Holy Spirit, testifies to our spirit, that we are children of God, and is the guarantee of our eternal life with our Heavenly Father.

I think a different perspective might be considered. We aren’t chasing after God, He is chasing after us. We are preoccupied with time and space, whereas his is eternal.

How might it have been different if Joseph Smith didn’t ask Heavenly Father which religion is correct, but rather, “I don’t know if you’re for real, but if you are, I surrender my life and my being to you?”

God is working to take us back, one person at a time. Hence, what seems like a delay, or day that some insist will never come.

[I Have Questions]

There is a difference in trying out this religion or that religion (which we do).

Do we? That’s certainly not what I do. I think Don’s journey from ideology to ideology is an unusual one. A outlier. Certainly not the norm. Particularly when it comes to Mormonism.

You say there’s a difference in trying out this or that religion, but don’t seem to explain with what alternative to that there is a difference. Can you expand on what the differences are between?

[Kishkumen]

Are you sure or not, Kishy?

How about you ask him rather than speak for him!

So, I have no doubt that he said what he said for reasons that are perfectly rational, but I also know how easily it the term ideology can be misconstrued or twisted by others.

[Shulem]

Are you sure or not, Kishy?

How about you ask him rather than speak for him!

So, I have no doubt that he said what he said for reasons that are perfectly rational, but I also know how easily it the term ideology can be misconstrued or twisted by others.

Hence the problems with communicating with others...

[Kishkumen]

I’m unsure as to why you feel qualified to assert that Don is misspeaking about his own journey, but let’s say you’re correct in your assessment. You’re basically saying Don is misleading people about his journey (maybe unwittingly), and that he was less devout and committed at each stage of that journey as he jumped from one ideology to the next, than he is trying to portray.

No, what I am saying is that the word ideology is not a felicitous choice precisely because it is easily twisted and misconstrued by others. For example, it is a word that political conservatives call out as a Marxist term and use to identify the speaker as suspect. I have absolutely no doubt that Don was not deliberately misleading people about his journey. Still, I am entitled to critique his choice of words and weigh in on whether that term reflects what I experienced as his close friend of over thirty years. I was with him through that entire journey, and I have spoken with him about his spiritual life through every change along the way. I wouldn't use the word ideology to describe any of it, but, then, I may experience the usage of the word differently from the way he does.

Hence the problems with communicating with others...

One thing is certain: no one will ever please everyone when talking about this sensitive topic.

Don has openly shared his spiritual journey as long as I’ve known him, both online and in later years speaking personally with him. I have always felt honored that he would do this for us (our online community).

I may not articulate this very well, but I’ll try. There is a difference in trying out this religion or that religion (which we do). I’d even go so far as to say we have that spiritual void inside of us that only God can fill, or else, we’d never even ponder the existence of God, or try on any religion(s)/religious practices. Yes, we try on religion, what we think are good works, probably with or without the thought of earning God’s favor. I personally think we do this to make our sin nature more palatable for ourselves, as we feel the burden of our sin. In an unregenerate state, we probably can’t even realize the burden of sin that weighs us down. Yet the Law makes us conscious of sin (thanks be to God for making bids to us to turn to Him for what we cannot do ourselves). Conviction of sin is a gift from God. It is God who leads us to Christ through the Holy Spirit, to a regenerated heart, that can surrender our being to Christ. Then, if that weren’t enough, the Holy Spirit, testifies to our spirit, that we are children of God, and is the guarantee of our eternal life with our Heavenly Father.

I think a different perspective might be considered. We aren’t chasing after God, He is chasing after us. We are preoccupied with time and space, whereas his is eternal.

How might it have been different if Joseph Smith didn’t ask Heavenly Father which religion is correct, but rather, “I don’t know if you’re for real, but if you are, I surrender my life and my being to you?”

God is working to take us back, one person at a time. Hence, what seems like a delay, or day that some insist will never come.

I don't have any real disagreement with much of what you say here, but I would also point out that Joseph Smith was asking God for wisdom (inspired by James 1:5) from the position of a person who already believed God was real because he saw the orderly cosmos as evidence of God's existence.

[Shulem]

Hence the problems with communicating with others...

One thing is certain: no one will ever please everyone when talking about this sensitive topic.

I agree.