- This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
I’m new to the site and forum. I read about it in the paper the other day and it sounded like my kind of thing. After reading some of the posts I decide to join. I suppose you can call me a TBM, but probably with a different twist than most. I really like a lot of what I’ve learned from Mormonism and have been able to satisfy myself on many topics by digging a little deeper than most people seem to want to go. My relationship with the church is an odd one. I don’t feel like I really need the church and that it doesn’t really offer me much anymore. I used to get a lot of teaching callings in my ward, which I enjoyed very much. But then, while I was the gospel doctrine teacher in my ward several years ago, I got a new bishop who decided he didn’t like “my brand” of the gospel. Since then, it’s been pretty tough to get any kind of meaningful calling at all. Whenever I go to church I feel like I’ve got some kind of scarlet letter on my chest. (Currently I’m the SS President and the ward emergency preparedness specialist…it doesn’t get any lower than that.) Add to this the fact that I very seldom feel like I get much out of church and it becomes tough to find reasons to go anymore. I believe there are essentially only four reasons to attend church: to learn or be taught and to serve or be served. Pretty much anything of value seems to fall into one or more of those four basic categories. I’ve reached a point where I don’t feel like I’m learning or teaching. Nor am I serving or being served. So, what’s a fella to do?
That said, I’ve been an active (maybe even ultra-active) member of the church for most of my life. I served a worthy mission in Holland. Married in the temple. Still have a temple recommend. Still attend church. Pay a full tithe and all that sort of thing. My big problem has always been that I like to ask and discuss the hard questions and I enjoy trying to figure them out. As I’m sure many of you know, that’s not always very well accepted in the LDS church. (I have some great stories I may bore you with at some point.
😯 )In college I majored in philosophy with an emphasis on religious philosophy. I was even a teaching assistant for the philosophy department for a while. I also studied world religions and almost completed a second degree in near eastern studies. (I was five classes short I think.) I also studied international relations and languages (Dutch and Spanish). One thing that has been very enjoyable to me has involved applying LDS doctrine to many of the tradionally difficult philosophical problems that religion in general struggles to satisfy. LDS doctrine actually does a pretty good job of overcoming most of these issues, especially the problem of evil, but also (IMO) many others as well. I have satisfied myself that if Jospeh Smith wasn’t a true prophet, he was at least a pretty bright guy. To me, the greatest parts of LDS doctrine are those that most others would think are heretical or part of the mysteries that we’re not supposed to talk about.
I’ve spent a lot of time in my life “pondering the mysteries” of the gospel, which has been the cause of most of my problems with the church. I’ve even written many of my thoughts down in several unpublished papers (books?) that have become somewhat popular among some of the stranger crowds within Mormonism. (If you have trouble sleeping some night you can find most of them online at
http://www.curtporritt.com .) Especially during the 90’s I spent a massive amount of time trying to learn spiritual things from any source I could. I met A LOT of very strange people and have had some amazing experiences (that I may also bore you with at some point). I am convinced that real spiritual experiences exist and that some of them aren’t so easily explained away. I don’t claim to understand them very well, but I do claim to have experienced them. During the last several years I’ve seen most of my religious buddies and some family members, with whom I’ve had many great gospel discussions, fall by the wayside. Some joined fundamentalist groups. Some simply lost their testimonies and left the church. Some just kind of started doing their own thing. The end result is that I feel there are relatively few people with whom I can have meaningful, objective gospel discussions – discussions that openly deal with both the great things and the difficult aspects of Mormonism. I feel as though there is no home for someone like me. I’m not an anti-Mormon. I’m not a fundamentalist. Nor am I a “Sunday-go-to-meeting” social Mormon. I’m not real sure there is a classification for someone like me. But, for all intents and purposes, I am still a Mormon.I hope to engage in some worthwhile discussions on this site – hopefully to learn from some of you as well as to perhaps share some things with you that you might find interesting.
To that end…
What a great introduction!! Thanks for joining. I hope you find what you’re looking for. You sound like you have a lot of thought-time and study-time on lots of these subjects. Welcome. I can relate to much of what you wrote – just not the aliented Bishop and lack of calling aspect. 🙄 I share a very similar story–released from Gospel Doctrine by a bishop who didn’t like my style. Now I’m membership clerk. I’ve started bringing books to read at church, and I have my own blog so I can discuss gospel topics that are much more controversial than anything I brought up at church. It’s been a good outlet for me. (You can check it out at
http://mormonheretic.org )Oh yeah, you’re gonna fit in quite nicely! Welcome! Hi, PN. Welcome to this site. The purpose of our being here, and the aim of all our interaction, is to find and forge a new kind of positive, loving relationship with the LDS Church. We can never go backward, but we can go forward. And it is our church too. I hope we will be able to learn a lot from you as we work together toward that vision. Tom
Welcome Pappanoon, I think you are in good company here. A lot of the people in the community are here because they cared too much and studied too much. Supplementing your spiritual journey from all good sources is common among us. Asking tough questions, and feeling compelled to pick things apart to figure out how they tick, that’s us. It’s just how God made us, and we are all a part of the orchestra making divine human music.
Belated welcome, Pappanoon!! Your intro sounds like many, many great contributors here. You will definitely feel at home.
You said something in your intro that I think I will try to start as a thread: why so many “open-minded” people, like your friends, can’t “stay lds”.
swimordie wrote:Belated welcome, Pappanoon!!
Your intro sounds like many, many great contributors here. You will definitely feel at home.
You said something in your intro that I think I will try to start as a thread: why so many “open-minded” people, like your friends, can’t “stay lds”.
I’m not sure I said they were “open minded.” The reality is that some are and some aren’t – just like everyone else I know.Fwiw, I think there is a HUGE difference between being open-minded (meaning nothing stays inside and/or nothing becomes one’s own view) and being open-minded (meaning being willing to change one’s mind and/or alter one’s opinion to some degree based on new information). There are as many “open-minded” people in the first category as there are “open-minded” people in the second one. There also are as many LDS members in the second category, I believe, as there are in the “close-minded” category – it’s just that the degree of open-mindedness (or the ways in which members are willing to alter their opinions) – and the openness with which many discuss their heterodox views – vary so radically that the subtleties get lost by many who don’t know the workings of others’ minds. Iow, I believe we end up judging too often and dismissing to frequently those who keep their thoughts to themselves – for whom the concept that “in the quiet heart is hidden sorrows that the eye can’t see” applies to theological or intellectual concerns / musings as well. We need to do a MUCH better job as a community not judging each other – and those who claim to be more open-minded need to be at the forefront of that effort. We need to accept people for who they are, not just for who we wish they were.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.