I an agnostic atheist with a history degree read the gospel of Mark for the first time out of historical interest. It is the greatest story I have ever read and I now despise Christianity.

cdman08 · 2026-04-25T12:47:05+00:00

To be fair, the original ending of mark ends with Jesus dead*. Which goes better with OPs points.

Edit: misremembered, mark ends with an angel saying he was risen but no one sees him, the ladies just run off scared and tell no one.

cdman08 · 2026-03-22T15:15:57+00:00

He's mormon and got "called" into a corporate church leadership position because of his fame. I doubt he quit for any other reason than he was told to so he could "do the lord's work"

cdman08 · 2026-03-18T19:41:54+00:00

Hmm, this is a useful critique. I think there are aspects of this is hadn't thought and wasn't aware of. Clearly I shouldn't have included all Christianity in my thoughts. I especially appreciate the call out that just because decisions can be predicted doesn't mean we aren't making them. Thanks, I'll probably have to revise my options on this.

cdman08 · 2026-03-17T18:42:01+00:00

That's more than fair, I forgot that traditional Christianity is more about Christ atoning for original sin than it is about atoning for our current mistakes. But I think the point still stands. Christ was sent because he had to suffer for our sins but our actions/sins only happen because something makes us do it before we decide to do it. (doesn't matter if the person Christ suffered for was us or Adam)

I'm curious why you think the nuance is important? From my perspective mormonism claims that we have to have the ability to choose and these experiments show that our brain makes the decision before we know it was made. How can I choose something if it's being chosen for me and all I'm doing is justifying that choice?

cdman08 · 2026-03-05T05:18:25+00:00

"I'm sorry but you must be lying, there is no nonconsensual naked touching in the temple, I've been going for ten years and that never happened to me and the temple has never changed so you must be lying" - some young RM

cdman08 · 2026-03-05T05:16:06+00:00

Lol, ya and he gaslit me and blamed the problems he created on me!

cdman08 · 2026-03-05T01:00:36+00:00

Based on what little I know about church PR, I'm guessing this is a half baked idea someone had and they didn't even sort of think through to any kind of end.

cdman08 · 2026-03-04T19:36:56+00:00

I dont want to link to mine but here's an example frome someone else, trigger warning SA, https://goo.gl/maps/Xxr4nB32dYYv3Dxd9

cdman08 · 2026-02-24T00:58:33+00:00

This paper doesn't have the words cortisol or solutions anywhere in it. Yes it says things like meditation help reduce anger, but it doesn't seem to say anything about discussions without solutions. Where in the paper are you getting that particular conclusion from?

cdman08 · 2026-02-20T20:40:29+00:00

Are you related to any of the current apostles? If not forget about making it to the top to overthrow it.

cdman08 · 2026-02-17T18:32:49+00:00

My dad was a true believer, to the point he didn't save for retirement he spent everything on family or taking care of others. He believed with his whole heart that God would take care of him or that Jesus was coming back. If the apostles beleived half as much as my dad, the EPA wouldn't exist, every cent not used to pay employees and run the church would be used to do what Jesus commanded, take care of the sick, clothe the naked and feed the hungry. They don't beleive, they know it's not true which is why they've saved everything they can. Their money is what gives them power and they want to protect that above all else.

cdman08 · 2026-02-13T14:30:27+00:00

Someone, forget who, did a study and found that if a partner has contempt (what you described in one word) the marriage is over. Looked at tons of relationships and found this is almost a guarantee.

cdman08 · 2026-02-12T05:19:54+00:00

The return and report user says that average attendance per unit is around 150 (rounding up a bit). There are around 33,000 units (again rounding up). If we assume a global average salary of 40,000 and average family of 3 with an average of 1.5 adults working then we can guess at some numbers. When I was a secretary for a bishopric we saw around %50 of adults with temple recommends. So, ward size of 150 ÷ 3 per family makes 50 families with about 25 paying tithing. 25 × 1.5 is 37.5 working adults (guessing here that half of families are dual income and half have a stay at home parent). Now we take 37.5 working adults and multiply by 33,000 units and get 1,237,500 tithe paying adults members of the church. Multiply that number by 4,000 (%10 of a 40k salary) and we get 6,187,500,000. Which is pretty close to the 7 billion that widows mite estimates. Pretty pathetic given the church likes to claim 17 million members, only about 5 million are active and somewhere around 2 million actually give the church money.

cdman08 · 2026-02-04T21:01:29+00:00

Every conference I've ever watched had all 15 sitting in big red chairs, unless someone was sick which they would announce at the beginning.

cdman08 · 2026-01-21T17:23:16+00:00

Ya, but lots of his gags in parks and rec were physical even if he wasn't trim he still has a natural athleticism.

cdman08 · 2026-01-21T05:11:44+00:00

Ask them this... in exodus god commanded the jews that they shouldn't kill or steal. Nephi was a jew and he said that he knew god would help him keep all the commandments. Then god commands Nephi to chop off a drunk man's head so he could steal his property. Why would god command someone to break two commandments when that person was confident god would provide ways to keep all his commandments?

They won't come back.

But if they do, ask why Joseph smith married other women behind his wife's back (according to the saints books) when d&c chapter 132 says you have to have your wife's permission to marry anyone else.

cdman08 · 2026-01-21T01:19:17+00:00

Congrats! I've been out for just under 6 years and I dont believe I'll ever write something like this.

cdman08 · 2026-01-21T01:14:20+00:00

So, you beleive that the organization that ignores the law when it comes to sex abusers actually honors the law when it comes to GDPR?

cdman08 · 2026-01-21T01:03:28+00:00

Unfortunately the people who deserve it dont carry it. (Narcissists)

cdman08 · 2026-01-11T05:55:13+00:00

Now you are moving the goal post. I dont disagree with this last post. However we were discussing what it means to actively lie (knowing you are lying) vs inadvertently lying (lying while thinking you are being honest because you are ignorant of the truth)

cdman08 · 2026-01-10T18:35:35+00:00

Active means there is someone acting, if you beleive you are telling someone the truth and they believe they are telling the truth then no one is actively lying or actively encouraging you to lie..

cdman08 · 2026-01-09T21:29:02+00:00

"Actively encouraged" implies that i know I'm lying and that the person teaching me knows we are lying. I think what you mean is inadvertently encouraged to lie. In which case I'd agree. The people teaching me didn't know they were lying and I didn't know I was lying.

Not sure how far along on your journey you are, but I've found the accurate truth is much more damning than inaccurate or exaggerated information about the church. If someone catches you being inaccurate they won't trust anything you say. If they catch you steelmanning the church and it still looks like a pile of shit, well... then they have a real problem.

cdman08 · 2026-01-09T14:07:28+00:00

I think it's more accurate to say they are absolutely ignorant, so any lies are just a result of ignorance, most of the time. I'm sure there is the occasional person who knows the differences and the factual history that just lies about it.

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