LDSToronto wrote:Ya, he was a feisty one. Though he kinda just dropped off the face of the earth or he assumed another identity on one of the boards. If I recall correctly, he was an IT guy at a university in College Station, Texas.Sure would like to duke it out with him again, or see if his views have changed.
In 2005, someone posted to alt.religion.Mormon that Kevin "Red" Davis had died in a car accident.
LDSToronto wrote:Ya, he was a feisty one. Though he kinda just dropped off the face of the earth or he assumed another identity on one of the boards. If I recall correctly, he was an IT guy at a university in College Station, Texas.Sure would like to duke it out with him again, or see if his views have changed.
In 2005, someone posted to alt.religion.Mormon that Kevin "Red" Davis had died in a car accident.
Huh, that's sad news. Well, perhaps his views have changed ;)
H.
"Others cannot endure their own littleness unless they can translate it into meaningfulness on the largest possible level." ~ Ernest Becker "Whether you think of it as heavenly or as earthly, if you love life immortality is no consolation for death." ~ Simone de Beauvoir
I ended up on a site like this, but tamer -- when I had a commitment crisis over leadership behavior that made me question motives in the Church. I went to a couple sites for support to help me feel more positive about local leaders...this exposed me to a lot of historical questions and doubting people, which fueled my doubt somewhat.
It also led to much greater compassion toward the less active, people with doubts, and made me loathe the judgmental TBM I used to be. I also learned that certain time honored "principles" I'd assimilated at Church bordered more on the side of hokus than truth.
In short, I think I'm more Christlike toward others, but less believing than I used to be. Strange thing, I can still post on TBM sites and fit in, although I tend to butt-heads with the witty hardliners who enjoy a good bash, and have to hold me tongue a lot. SMA's frustrate the heck out of me as half of them represent peopel sticking their heads in the sand to avoid the cognitive dissonance.
On the other hand, I get a lot of thanks for some of my empathetic posts, spawned by my listening to the perspectives of other people like those who post here.
So, I have crossed over inside, but still funtion rather safely in TBM circles in spite of it.
Chap, what do you mean by "in any effective sense in charge of the universe"? Do you mean your postulated deity can make the universe do anything s/he wants it to do, kind of like King Triton could make anything in the ocean do whatever he wanted in "The Little Mermaid"?
I meant precisely what I said; I worship that being that is preserving some good things into the eternities. I have not for a long time believed that being was capable of making the universe do whatever S/He wanted it to do. I have not for a long time believed in anything close to the Biblical Christian idea of absolute, literal omnipotence. I believe in a God who knows a way to forever preserve some good things. That does not mean S/He has a magic wand S/He can wave and spring light and happiness into the world out of nothing.
Preserving forever some good things doesn't necessarily involve preserving all good things, either, at least in the short term. I'm absolutely sure God doesn't enjoy the prospect "of another kid being forced to murder his parents" as you worded it, but that doesn't mean that God should abandon Her/His long term plans just so each individual resident of the planet gets her/his well-deserved basic human rights. That magic wand would come in handy if God actually did want to make sure each such individual had a pleasant life, so, Chap, maybe you should find the place where they manufacture those wands, and let God know when you find them. In the meanwhile, let God do what good He can with the limited resources at Her/His disposal.