|
|
You are not logged into the site. Please login or signup.
|
| Notices |
Welcome to the LDS.net forums. If you are a member of LDS.net, please login now. You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today! If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact us.
|

08-23-2008, 07:36 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: United States -
Posts: 56
Thanks: 9
Thanked 19 Times in 13 Posts
Laughs: 0
Laughs at 0 Times in 0 Posts
|
|
Hi! I'm Kevin. I'm an Apostate.
I live in Northern California. I grew up in the church, had 4 years of seminary, attended Ricks College, served as a missionary in Europe, got sealed in the temple. Got divorced. No kids. Enjoying that now. (Eternal Family isn't for everyone).
But, I'm an apostate. Now, I'm sure that alone will cause some to hate me right off the bat.
Rest assured. I have a great deal of respect and love for my heritage. I have no doubt that it was part of the grand plan of my life that I had such an intimate relationship with the Church through out the first three decades of my life.
Oh, I have my complaints and criticisms, which will no doubt be taken by some as an attack on the Church or their testimony should I express them, but by-and-large, I think I am pretty fair. I used to hate anti-mormons because they seemed to take delight in lobbing figurative grenades at the Church and its members. I found them very upsetting, not because of what they said, but because of the cruelty which they exhibited.
I certainly don't want to be accused of being one of THEM.
I am now a pagan, mystic, shaman, buddhist, wiccan, gnostic, unitarian-universalist. Yeah, it's a mouthful... but I've been studying spirituality and religion now for 20 years, looking for the common threads throughout time and space in what human beings experience as God, and I haven't found a single religion that is all-encompassing.
So anyway. Here I am.
I'm curious to see how I'll be received.
Kevin
|
|
The Following User Says Thank You to EarthyAngel For This Useful Post:
|
|

08-23-2008, 07:45 PM
|
 |
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: United States -
Posts: 16,579
Thanks: 551
Thanked 688 Times in 563 Posts
Laughs: 749
Laughs at 739 Times in 479 Posts
|
|
Welcome Kevin. I'm not LDS-so there's that.
__________________
God is God, God likes to be God & God is good at being God so let Him do it.
|

08-23-2008, 07:45 PM
|
 |
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: United States -
Posts: 2,379
Thanks: 106
Thanked 705 Times in 425 Posts
Laughs: 2
Laughs at 3 Times in 3 Posts
|
|
Kevin:
Welcome to the forums.
11 We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.
I hope you enjoy the time you spend here.
Tom
|
|
The Following User Says Thank You to tomk For This Useful Post:
|
|

08-23-2008, 07:47 PM
|
 |
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: United States -
Age: 37
Posts: 2,664
Thanks: 513
Thanked 347 Times in 281 Posts
Laughs: 370
Laughs at 283 Times in 179 Posts
|
|
welcome kevin! hope you enjoy the site!
__________________
Life is GOOD! 
|

08-23-2008, 07:51 PM
|
 |
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Georgia
Posts: 3,934
Thanks: 1,728
Thanked 686 Times in 443 Posts
Laughs: 1,131
Laughs at 358 Times in 162 Posts
|
|
Hello, Kevin...welcome to the site.
__________________
True Grits
"If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters." (~Alan Simpson~)
"If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men." (~St. Francis of Assisi~)
|

08-23-2008, 09:31 PM
|
 |
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Saint Lucia
Posts: 722
Thanks: 76
Thanked 242 Times in 163 Posts
Laughs: 2
Laughs at 13 Times in 7 Posts
|
|
You should be fine. Once you even remotely "attack" (and I use that word loosly) then the bombs might come out. usually as long as people play by the rules, they should be fine.
Have you read much of Hugh Nibley's books. I don't think I have even read one completly through. But he does have a couple of interesting books. Two I would recomend looking into.
The Worlds and the Prophets
Also, Enoch the Prophet. I actually have this book, but have only only read parts here and there. I probably should actually sit down and read it.
|

08-23-2008, 09:42 PM
|
 |
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: United States -
Posts: 6,032
Thanks: 1,855
Thanked 1,363 Times in 727 Posts
Laughs: 689
Laughs at 587 Times in 286 Posts
|
|
So, just how earthy are you? Is there effluvium?
Elphaba
__________________
We can't change the country. Let us change the subject. Stephen Dedalus, Ulysses
Last edited by Elphaba; 08-23-2008 at 09:45 PM.
|

08-23-2008, 09:48 PM
|
 |
Member
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: United States -
Posts: 77
Thanks: 32
Thanked 55 Times in 28 Posts
Laughs: 0
Laughs at 0 Times in 0 Posts
|
|
Hi Kevin,
I'm pretty new here too, and I don't know a lot of the members here yet. I'm glad to meet you, and I hope that you find what you are looking for here. Do you know what you are looking for?
I appreciate your respect and willingness to give us a chance (you said you are curious to see how you will be received here). I do sense a lot of anger in your post, and I wonder what it is that you are angry about. Everybody has more to their story than we will be able to see here. You don't have to answer that, of course, but I just wonder what has you feeling the way you do, and what brings you here. I'm just thinking out loud. And I am sorry for all the hurt that you must have felt sometime and somewhere. I guess that any of us could potentially find ourselves in the same place. If I'm misreading something, I'm sorry for that too.
I have always said that I believe there is truth to be found in all religions. I respect those who believe differently than I do, and I am interested in learning about what you have found. I might not agree with all of it, but that's okay. You don't have to agree with my beliefs either. I am particularly interested in your post because I had a friend who left the church, and she got so mad at me each time that our conversations turned to religion, because I could always find a way to fit her new beliefs alongside mine and for me it all made sense and any areas of conflict there didn't seem to me to be unsurmountable. She told me essentially that she felt I was bad for not giving up my beliefs. She doesn't talk to me anymore. I am still trying to make sense of it, as I never intended to be or thought that I was ever anything but accepting of her. You may not even have much in common with her, other than leaving the church, so maybe my perception of you is colored by my experience with my friend.
Anyway, welcome. I hope that I get the chance to learn more from you and about you.
|

08-23-2008, 10:12 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: United States -
Posts: 56
Thanks: 9
Thanked 19 Times in 13 Posts
Laughs: 0
Laughs at 0 Times in 0 Posts
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by tubaloth
You should be fine. Once you even remotely "attack" (and I use that word loosly) then the bombs might come out. usually as long as people play by the rules, they should be fine.
Have you read much of Hugh Nibley's books. I don't think I have even read one completly through. But he does have a couple of interesting books. Two I would recomend looking into.
The Worlds and the Prophets
Also, Enoch the Prophet. I actually have this book, but have only only read parts here and there. I probably should actually sit down and read it.
|
I devoured Nibley's writings in my younger days.
It is just a bit too apologetic (meaning biased in favor of what he wishes to see) for my taste, now.
Yeah, I understand how you use "attack" loosely. Many see the "to question" the same as "to attack". Or even "to disagree" as "to attack".
|

08-23-2008, 10:19 PM
|
 |
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: United States -
Age: 27
Posts: 692
Thanks: 310
Thanked 272 Times in 172 Posts
Laughs: 416
Laughs at 328 Times in 131 Posts
|
|
What area of northern Cali are you from? I grew up in the northern bay area. I'll forever miss the redwoods and vineyards. Welcome to the site!
__________________
“Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn’t handle something the way we might have hoped." Elder Marvin J. Ashton
|
| Thread Tools |
Search this Thread |
|
|
|
| Display Modes |
Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
New Posts
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 12:08 AM.
|