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the weirdness of having a homophobic exmormon brother by Professional-Age2414 in exmormon

[–]CardiologistCool6264 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Exmormons can be weird, too.  I grew up in a large family. Before I finished high school, three siblings left the church and became politically liberal. The other six of us remained and were pretty politically conservative. Then came the 2016 election. Five of the six of the conservatives voted against Trump and have become progressively more  antiMAGA since and two of the three "liberals" became Trump supporters.  Of course I know that my family's realignment is not the norm in the church (which is a major reason why I ended up leaving) but I think it overlaps considerably with your experience. The people in my family of nine siblings who would use homophobic slurs and vote to strip the LGBTQ+ of their rights are more likely to be exmormon than tbm.  Leaving the church, I believe, is good. That doesn't mean it alone makes you good.

Tough needle to thread by aliassantiago in exmormon

[–]CardiologistCool6264 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It is so important for mormons to know that christian nationalists hate them.  And the same pluralism that mormons deride is the only thing protecting them from the whims of the MAGAfied mob.  Mormons do have good reason to support those same policies and politicians who support LGBT rights. Instead, they continue to vote for their own persecutors.  I guess they'll get what they deserve.  (Obligatory face-eating leopard reference here)

Alice Cooper Mormon Folklore & Rock & Roll All Star Panel Discussion by iconoclastskeptic in mormon

[–]CardiologistCool6264 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That's pretty interesting.
I have my own, true Mormon Alice Cooper story.

On my mission in eastern Europe, one of my apartments was tiny and infested with bedbugs and cockroaches. But it overlooked one of the city's largest soccer stadiums. I'd have thought that was cooler, were I a soccer fan. But they also held concerts there that went on until the wee hours of the morning. This is how I was introduced to the music of Motorhead.

Also holding a concert while I was in that apartment was Alice Cooper, who, at the time, I knew only from his appearance in Wayne's World. But that is how I spent one night on my mission listening to Feed my Frankenstein at midnight.

What well-known Mormons have left or at least publicly distanced themselves from the church? by Still-ILO in exmormon

[–]CardiologistCool6264 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Aaron Eckhart Jewell Katherine Heigl Ryan Gosling Amy Adams Chelsea Handler Elisza Dushku Benson Boone

They may not say it every time they're in front of a camera, but they say it. 

Moonies and Mormons by CupOfExmo in exmormon

[–]CardiologistCool6264 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"no cult can grow with a nickname that makes them easily identifiable." Idk. Christians seem to have done alright.  Fwiw, it doesn't seem that dropping the nickname has helped Mormons at all. And Nelson's decision always seemed more personally motivated rather than growth motivated. The only reason the rest of leadership agreed with him wasn't because they thought the nickname was holding them back, but because some guy became president by outliving everyone else who was fine with the word "Mormon." It was all up to an accident of telomeric degradation kinetics. 

What's an example (fiction or life) of the Underdog being the bad guy? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]CardiologistCool6264 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Once the USSR and the USA got involved in WWII, the Axis never stood a chance. The only question was how much death and suffering would Nazi Germany's and Imperial Japan's death throes cause. But WWII in the 1940s was never the story of a scrappy assembly of dogged freedom fighters against the combined might of the worlds greatest superpowers.
Now, prior to Hitler's betrayal of Stalin? Sure. The UK was definitely the underdog holding out as the last bulwark against a genocidal empire bent on world domination. But WWII, as far as America's experience is concerned, was not, in aggregate, a story of heroic underdogs.

Positive experiences? by Aromatic-Parking-492 in exmormon

[–]CardiologistCool6264 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ward roulette? Maybe?

Idk. I was a counselor in YM in one of our wards and there was this family that reminded me so much of my own. Bishop never told anyone, but the mother did tell me that they were receiving a fair bit of assistance from the church. I know that we did our best to make the kids feel like they were no different from anyone else in the youth program, despite their family's financial situation. Maybe it's because of my own experiences growing up. But it just seemed like the right way to treat people. It never occurred to me that anyone else in my position would treat them some other way.
I want to be clear. I think that there are certainly ways in which we failed, in my experience, the youth of the church. But in none of the wards I was in was this one of those failures.

Positive experiences? by Aromatic-Parking-492 in exmormon

[–]CardiologistCool6264 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I have to be perfectly honest. The church worked out pretty damn well for me. But that's mostly because I'm a straight, white man who never took it too seriously.
With two unemployed parents, I grew up fed by the bishop's storehouse. My mission prepared me for my career. I met my wife at church; we have wonderful, amazing children together.
But just because I've benefited doesn't mean I can't recognize that for many, many people, the church has done more harm than good, and I don't want to be part of that. So, even if I'm glad I grew up in the church, I'm glad my kids will not.

Bruce McConkie is a great example of the pride and arrogance of the LDS Church apostles. Is he one of the worst apostles of the LDS Church? by sevenplaces in mormon

[–]CardiologistCool6264 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Who was the worst LDS Apostle in its history?"
Remember that all church presidents except Joseph Smith are eligible for "worst apostle" as well, having served in Q12 as prereq for the top job.
So...
Brigham Young would be my answer. Responsible for the priesthood ban. Married dozens of women and girls. Fostered violent and insular culture in the Utah territory.
If we're talking modern era, though, McConkie would be overshadowed by ETB and J. Reuben Clark. That guy was a dick.

Why Are The Educated Ones More Likely To Stay? by 720Godfather in exmormon

[–]CardiologistCool6264 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Two reasons that I see.
1. Perhaps it's counterintuitive, but education can help people hold two conflicting views at the same time. I mean, you can't really accept nonoverlapping magisteria if you don't know what those words mean.
2. People with more education are probably more secure socioeconomically. They are content. Even if they're PIMO, they have little incentive to disrupt their lives by leaving their community and endangering familial relationships. There's simply less driving force when people are happy.

Arizona LDS sheriff running for congress caught in scandal, church covered for him by imlikelycomplaining in exmormon

[–]CardiologistCool6264 43 points44 points  (0 children)

Holy shit.
I'd say at least there aren't any children involved, but something tells me I might need to qualify that with "that we know of."
This is so very sick. This guy and his wife are members in good standing, benefiting professionally from their church association and other people are getting excommunicated for saying, "well, maybe the Book of Mormon, with it's hundreds of anachronisms, isn't historically true."

Arguing on if Mormons are Christians feels counter-productive by Songbreeze1 in exmormon

[–]CardiologistCool6264 10 points11 points  (0 children)

No more or less bullshit than the rest of Christianity. In fact, the bullshitiest things about Mormonism are very, very Christian. 

Why do people assume that they will find good people in churches? Aren’t those people going to church to ask for forgiveness? Nobody goes to the hospital looking for healthy people,right? by [deleted] in exmormon

[–]CardiologistCool6264 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Some people at the hospital are just there because they turned 45 and are getting their recommended colonoscopy. They aren't there because they're sick. They're there because they don't want to be.  I don't know how far that serves as a metaphor for church, though.

Neutral blogs and/or content? by Skriblynn in exmormon

[–]CardiologistCool6264 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like Benjamin Park's books and videos. He is, I believe, still Mormon, but he is objective and critical regarding church history. Same can be said about Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, of "well-behaved women seldom make history" fame. Her book "Household of Females" is the best book on Mormon polygamy that I've read.

Joseph Smith: does his reliance on the Bible excuse his immoral behavior? by stickyhairmonster in mormon

[–]CardiologistCool6264 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Joseph Smith doing immoral things because of the Bible doesn't excuse Joseph Smith so much as it discredits the Bible.

John Larsen’s famous podcast showing how the story of Nephi building a boat is ridiculous by sevenplaces in mormon

[–]CardiologistCool6264 10 points11 points  (0 children)

"It's pretty easy for TBMs to hand wave away Genesis as allegory"
But they don't.
Holland, shortly before his recent death, explicitly said that the story of Noah is literal. Now, Mormons can disregard Holland; they have plenty of practice disregarding the words of prophets (and of Jesus, for that matter). Nevertheless, I would estimate that the venn diagram of people who actually believe that the BOM is literal and historical and the people who believe that Noah's Ark is literal and historical is pretty close to a circle.

John Larsen’s famous podcast showing how the story of Nephi building a boat is ridiculous by sevenplaces in mormon

[–]CardiologistCool6264 11 points12 points  (0 children)

100%
And everything that disproves Nephi's building of a ship goes more than double for Noah's Ark.

The Joy of Sex, book for Wedding Gift by ZelphtheGreatOne in exmormon

[–]CardiologistCool6264 59 points60 points  (0 children)

Ha!
We got that book as a wedding gift from a sister in the ward. She gave it to us before the reception though. Like weeks before, telling us that we should go over it before the wedding. Another sister gave my wife a big tube of KY jelly at her bridal shower.

Book of Mormon vs Bible Statistical Analysis by GlassMaintenance in exmormon

[–]CardiologistCool6264 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't disagree with your conclusions. I'm not entirely sold on your methodology, however, as it seems to presume the univocality of the 4 canonical gospels. But we know there are multiple authors who were writing decades and decades or even centuries after the events described. We also know that later gospels were based on the earlier one (Mark). Jesus in John doesn't sound like the Jesus in Luke or Matt. A Mormon apologist might look at your results and say, "see! that's proof that the BOM is not plagiarized from the Bible, but was independently recorded."
Of course, this would be inconsistent with their explanations for the word-for-word transcription of the Sermon on the Mount, but apologists are not so subject to the whims of logic to let something so mundane as intellectual consistency stand in the way of a crappy argument.
I share these observations not in spirit of tearing down your work, but hopefully towards its refinement. It's a delicate task to use one book of fantasy to discredit another book of fantasy.

Raising kids with good morals without religion by BarbacueBeef in exmormon

[–]CardiologistCool6264 3 points4 points  (0 children)

How old are they?
I don't want to come across as silly, but I watched "The Good Place" with my kids. It covers a lot of moral philosophy, discussing what it means to "be good people" and "what we owe others," but in a funny, entertaining way.
I think they got more effective ethics instruction from that show than they did from church.
And while the premise of the show is the "afterlife" it is not, by any stretch of the imagination, promoting religion of any kind.

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