tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7832594338870888537.post6119466916850125700..comments2023-06-03T03:51:09.316-07:00Comments on Facsimilogos: Why I don't believe in God (Long Answer)Facsimilogoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025274115373690229noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7832594338870888537.post-64063140379912604542011-08-04T12:14:46.253-07:002011-08-04T12:14:46.253-07:00I was linked to this blog in a Facebook group a we...I was linked to this blog in a Facebook group a week or so ago. (Maybe longer.) Anyway, I wasn't going to respond but Mary Manard's comment above has been gnawing at me. So I've decided to just post my lil' rant and move on with life.<br /><br />Mary, YOU'RE WRONG. Listen to talks given by church authorities and those who are held in esteem within the Mormon community. I recommend you find and listen to Joseph Fielding McConkie's talk at BYU "Finding Answers." (JFMcC is the son of the apostle Bruce McConkie and has worked in CES as well as at BYU for years.) He specifically says that if we are open to revelation, words will flow out of our mouths and we will be instruments of God. It is absolutely reasonable Facsimilogos to believe what he was doing was revelation from God.<br /><br />Of course, I think the whole thing (church, revelation, etc) is bullschwa. But that doesn't change the fact that you're wrong about what your own church teaches. <br /><br />(I am so sick and tired of hearing "you did religion wrong" every time a believer can't wrap their brains around the experiences of others or why an unbeliever doesn't believe.)Heatherhttp://www.mormonexpression.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7832594338870888537.post-40604375279115298612011-01-20T20:52:09.725-08:002011-01-20T20:52:09.725-08:00Wow. The first comment almost made my brain explod...Wow. The first comment almost made my brain explode. I'll refrain at commenting on that. <br /><br />Anyway, I am/was in a very similar place as you. After leaving Mormonism (clearly because I was praying the wrong way and didn't have enough faith...) I was very confused about my beliefs. People just don't get how hard it is to leave a church that you were taught was the "one true" one (after finding out that there is no chance that it is what it claims to be). Let alone reevaluate your beliefs. Initially, I continued to believe in the Christian God. Convinced He was there but that J. Smith was wrong. But then I unraveled a bit more. I then just thought, "Meh, it makes sense to me that someone's up there. Man, woman, I don't know." A few more deep thoughts later and I just said, "I don't know," and became an Agnostic. Then I teetered on the fence between Atheism and Agnosticism for a long time. <br /><br />Here are my thoughts about that. For me, there is good and bad about Atheism. The bad, the thought of dying, being forgotten, and having nothing to look forward to after this life made me sad. The good, the thought that this life is it made my experiences, relationships, passions so much deeper. If this is it, I want to live it up. Eat, drink, and be merry, if I may :) <br /><br />Agnosticism seemed like a cop out for me. I kept saying, "Well, I don't know. But I believe that there's something..." <br /><br />The moral of the story is...I now consider myself a Deist. I have no idea, but I really really really hope there's something out there. But again, the thought that there's not makes me really appreciate the things I have. <br /><br />Rant over :) <br /><br />P.S. Glad I found another fellow exmo. Good luck with your family. That definitely doesn't make an already difficult process any easier.Erinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07752730192463071047noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7832594338870888537.post-67572494039386703942011-01-20T16:36:40.973-08:002011-01-20T16:36:40.973-08:00Mary, is reading church history "anti"? ...Mary, is reading church history "anti"? Is it considered "anti" when the evidence can be factually proven? Not just believed, but proven? When the church's very own historians discovered the ugly truth that Joseph Smith's theory was just a fictional story, does their own integrity to tell the truth be considered "anti"? <br /><br />It's really heart-wrenching, painful, disappointing and frustrating learning this, so naturally we would want to study the facts very objectively. Who in their right mind would want to go against everything they've been taught and made to feel is right, knowing it would only bring pain to their families? Many of us that have gone through this have done extensive research, and it generally takes years (for me it did) because we need to know the truth, and surprisingly the truth has set us free. <br /><br />You say the church encourages members to read all good books, but really... only church approved, or at least the uplifting type. They DO NOT want us learning the real truth, the true history of what really happened because it'll shatter our testimonies. They call it "anti" to discourage us from even going there. Sometimes the truth hurts, but at least I'm not believing in a fairy tale anymore.Fannyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02071404753064511649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7832594338870888537.post-10929532358472855592011-01-16T01:27:24.049-08:002011-01-16T01:27:24.049-08:00ok, SOOOOO much to say, and not nearly enough time...ok, SOOOOO much to say, and not nearly enough time or space to reply to all of it. <br /><br />you were praying the wrong way, plain and simple filling in answers for god, is wrong and opened the door to Satan coming in. send me an email and I'll tell you of a personal experience of Satan and the need for rebuking and casting out by church authorities, involves one of my children. so I will not post it publicly.<br /><br /><br />The answer to our prayers, does not come so easily... Someone should have taught you this! when we pray and we want an answer, we must work it out in our heads, study it out in the scriptures, continue to pray about it, and then when you are not really thinking about it at all a ball of knowledge is downloaded into your mind and heart simultaneously. and you easily recognize that answer did not come from you.<br /><br />sometimes his answers are to go ahead and try it, but to be willing to allow it to fail if it wasn't Gods will, <br /><br />Sometimes if you are asking a simply is this good you will get instant feelings of right, or instant feelings of wrong. but very seldom is God going to speak to you, and never will he speak to you in your voice. <br /><br /><br />God MUST allow freedom of choice, which inlcudes the freedom for evil people to choose to do bad things to otherwise good people. There cannot be good without evil. think about it, would it be right that osama be judge for acts his wanted to do but god didn't let him? he would argue that he only thought about it, and would not have truly done it. if this time is a sorting time, where the wheat and the tares are separated. there must be a system for separation, and it isn't always pleasant for the wheat, but in that we will know that God's judgements are just, really ponder this, and expand your mind ( I don't mean that as an insult, but quite literally in a Yogi sort of way meditate on it.) If there is a God, and he is going to judge us, what would you have him judge us on, if it is not our actions. would it be fair or just? can you truly come up with a better plan in which the sinner will fill justified for his punishment? and the righteous will feel rewarded.<br /><br />your time here on earth is but a blip on the screen, not unimportant, but not lengthy. the goal is to get a body where you will get to be resurrected to live with that body forever they stillborn will not feel jipped, more likely grateful for the free pass. <br /><br />Your wife will not be given in marriage in Heaven read 132. if lets say you murder someone and void your chances for celestial kingdom, unless she remarried in this life for eternities she will not be remarried in the next, so of course she will come visit you for conjugal prison fun (j/k) <br /><br /><br /><br />You are very likely to be correct, that God & heaven is not what people like to say that it is. but he is and it is, what the scriptures say. <br /><br />The Church encourages the reading of all good books (dirty porn book don't count as good books) to gain our own testimonies, and to seek for all that is good and wise in the world. seek out truth. <br /><br />"That all truth can be circumscribed into one great whole" <br /><br />anyone who discourages you in the church from learning or studying is wrong to do so. but they are expressing their oppinions, and not that of God. you should be careful reading ANTI- anything materials. they are quite convincing, but often dishonest, and takes time to research the lies out. and usually what is left is nonsense anyways or unimportant.<br /><br />you know it might be fun and productive to visit personally sometime.Marymanardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01933732371325228977noreply@blogger.com