This looks awesome! I hope I’ll have something to contribute at one point or another.

I have not passed through fire and death to bandy crooked apologetics with a witless prophet.

Context: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2023/10/51nelson?lang=eng&id=p23#p23

Yes! I didn’t read the whole thing, but there was a ton of helpful stuff in the parts I did read. Thanks for responding and making sure I’ve heard of it. It really is an awesome book.

I dunno, I think I see a sign back there. Maybe there’s some tokens just out of sight?

I’m not sure my comment fits in this community, but I hope someone finds value in it. Another clear sign of abuse is what’s called “the missing missing reasons.”

I’ve had at least several hundred (yes, really) conversations with my parents where I explained how they were hurting me, and every single time it would just go in one ear and out the other. Once I finally moved out and consistently declined to interact with them, they started saying stuff like “why won’t you just talk to us about your concerns? We want to have a relationship with you.”

It seems like the only relationship they want to have is one where they keep doing the same shit they’ve always done and I keep putting up with it.

This is fascinating! It’s weird to think about how many times I completely ignored someone attempting to dump a bucket of wisdom about the Church’s lies, only to then think I would somehow be better at that bucket-dumping once I was the one trying to tell people the Church is false.

I lean the other way, in that I think religions have gradually gotten better over the years due to societal pressures. Not great, mind you, just less terrible.

Either way, I totally agree that Christianity (and religion in general) is a plague on humanity. I know not everyone will agree with such a harsh statement, but I struggle to see the good in convincing people to live a lie.

Instead of actually being happy, I remember this distinct culture of everyone pretending to be happier than they really were. After all, living the gospel is the greatest happiness you can have, right? You must be doing something sinful if you’re not happy!

For real. Teaching people to devalue what is likely the only life they’ll get for the sake of some dubious afterlife is the most sinister perversion of delayed gratification that I’ve ever seen. The years of my life I lost to that madness will haunt me forever.

President Nelson originally said this about that “eat, drink, and be merry” line. It’s a pretty lame thing to pick if you’re going to declare something as “one of the most absurd lies in the universe.”

Not sure why the video was unavailable, but it should be back now.

"We don’t do infant baptisms because we believe that people should have the agency to make such an eternally-important decision on their own.

“… Anyway, want to come to little Timmy’s baptism? He just turned 8 years old and has decided to promise that he will commit the entire rest of his life to the Church! I’m so glad he’s finally old enough to make that choice on his own!”

When I was a missionary, it was fairly unsettling to realize just how much information about people and their daily routines was contained in the area book app. I shudder to think about the contributions I dutifully made to that database while I served.

On the other hand, I am pretty curious to see what they wrote about me now that I’m an ex member who’s had a couple interactions with missionaries.

I don’t know if I will ever stop cringing at my past self for thinking this was a cool story lol

I was born and raised in the Church (like most of us), and I never once heard someone say they were part of the “latter-day saint movement.”

Though I actually kind of like it. It’s a more open perspective that acknowledges the existence of other churches that also claim to be the legitimate continuation of the church Joseph Smith started.

Come to think of it, that sounds a lot like what the Church calls the great apostasy. I’m sure it doesn’t count this time because… reasons.

Five years later:

“To remove Mormon’s name from the Lord’s Church is a major victory for Satan. When we discard Mormon’s name, we are subtly disregarding all that the ancient prophets did for us—even the Book of Mormon.”