Maybe you should just give up. Seriously. It would probably be less frustrating for everybody concerned. Don't you think it gets tiresome for us, too? We aren't trying to be difficult. I think that quite a few of us have honestly tried to give you answers that you may not necessarily agree with, but that would at least help you understand where we're coming from. No matter how hard we've tried, you respond with sarcasm. If your real purpose is to understand what we believe and why we believe it, I've got to say that I am amazed at your inability to get it. Why don't you just admit that you haven't the slightest inclination to engage in respectful dialogue and that your sole purpose in asking us questions is to cause contention and hurt feelings? Maybe I'm reading you wrong, but it really does seem like your posts are full of hostility, and I can't figure out why. We believe differently from you, that's all. Why let it eat at you?
Have you read your own posts, Katzpur?
Your ability to misrepresent and misconstrue everything I post is exceeded only by your own ability to incur hurt feelings. On more than one occasion.
As to why I pursue honest answers with the tenacity of a feral pit bull, God who created me knows.
But I was hoping that somewhere in the confusing mess is an answer, and it just seems like the more I look the worse it gets. After reading almost 6 volumes of the History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the BofM, and the Pearl, (though I gave up on the D&C) - not to mention perusing FARMS and various scripture helps on lds.org, I thought: it just can't be this bad, there has to be more to it than this. There has to be a reason so many people stay in this church for generations.
To add perspective, I expanded my search and read as many "departure" stories as I could find. My own friends thankfully did not encounter what some have gone through, though some knew of others who did. What I found almost universally was a lot of rage coming from people who felt they had been duped by the church their whole lives. Followed by feeling like a great weight had been removed, even through the pain of cultural separation. People whose own family members refused to speak to them, some (more than I would have thought possible) whose own parents had encouraged their spouses to leave them! This, from a community of faith known for its family oriented values! What surprised me was how many of them became self professed born-again Christians, and how few became atheists.
From a cultural standpoint I can understand why someone would remain with a certain church for appearances, and to keep things on an even keel with the family.
But for the life of me, with all that's been published freely available to anyone, with all the glaring contradictions from one book to another, with conflicting testimonies, shifting ordinances, secrecy, coverups, schisms and scandals, with a past tainted with violence, lies, polygamy, and lies about polygamy, lawsuits, state hearings, betrayals, threats, murders, criminal investigations, not to mention the archeological and other evidentiary problems we've talked about on other threads -- I can't, cannot understand why Mormons willingly, knowingly continue to believe what they believe. Or why they apply such tremendous pressure to anyone who questions their faith openly. Or why the word intellectual is a term of derision.
Part of me just keeps thinking there
has to be something more, something of value, some inspired truth in there that people cling to and want to share with others in spite of it all because it truly makes sense to them or inspires them to love others or to be closer to God, if only we could all see it. LDS beliefs present a fascinating mix of what appears to be faith in the unreasonable vs reasonable faith, which I will probably never really understand.
But I perceive you are probably right Katzpur, it's all been a tremendous waste of time and effort. Grandpa always said "don't be trying to make the goat sing. It's a waste of time for you, and annoys the goat".
IHS,
!Fluffy!
