What would this place be without them?

Sucky.

Please excuse any unintended misrepresentations in the following words.

People like Stak help us remember that just because we aren't sure about God, it isn't proof of nonexistence. Quas has grounded this place with practical humor. Ceeboo is missed, the dear chap. JG is gone: what a damn loss- it sucks she is gone. Bond helps our political debates. Even why me has added a perspective that only a nevermo can provide. Cafe and Madeleine are calming and peaceful. MCB is the freshest long timer around. Uncle Dale is my hero and I will never be able to shake him off that pedestal. Chris - your contributions are huge - I think even the mopologists realize that.

I sort of hate these posts because I forget to mention people. Please know you are all appreciated. You bring multiple dimensions to a limited space. Thank you.

I'll add more when they come to mind. I'm in sort of a hurry. I'm like that rabbit with the watch.

Hoops is also a nevermo. He had some solid contributions as well.

They are both happy elsewhere. Ceeboo is his happy, casual self. JG is having fun.

Thanks for calling me a fresh old-timer. It takes a lot of study to keep up with the ever-evolving thinking of my friends and (said gently) enemies.

Don't forget Liz, Harmony, DarthJ, and Jesus Christ, all of whom were never really Mormon to begin with.

\m/

Thanks for the kind words Zeezrom, you have a way of lightening things up and I appreciate that. I miss Ceeboo, JG and Hoops too, glad to hear Ceeboo and JG are happy (though I never thought they wouldn't be ) even if just by proxy.

Jesus is Mormon. From the very beginning in fact.

Oh, I see wut u did thar.

Screw you, zeezrom.

Happens every time!

Hey Hoops and MsJack. I really need to stop doing these kinds of posts.

Anyway, thanks for all you contribute... FWiW.

So MsJack, how about that priesthood thread you started? Did I miss it?

For example, me.

Ehm... Errr... Um... I will break a taboo... Breaking #{Idontknowthenumber} rule is an unpardonable sin.

I have My Story - and You, Zeez, have asked me in PM about it.
It is not an exit story.
I am a nevermo, and I'd like to be a beloved one...

Something preliminary:
- I was investigator* for six years (Guinness entry?)
- I was (and is) an expert of Scriptures - compared to the Hungarian members (Yes, I am humble)
- during that six year, I've thought I can be a cultural mormon (IOW somebody who play the role)

_________________
*
investigator = one, especially a detective, who investigates
investigator in vocabulary of mormonism = average audience of six mishie lesson, baptized, then leave after one month

Thanks, zee! The whyme bit made me laugh. :)

Jack: You're one of my favorite posters. Sharp as a tack and deep as the sea.

Ludwig: You're my favorite Hun. :)

Why, that is really kind of you.

haha! Are you a nevermo, Chap? I'm not sure you've ever told us your story. In any case, I've learned a great deal from your posts, which are always both very smart and very friendly. A surprisingly rare combination of virtues.

Interestingly, most of the nevermos are antimormon. They lurk on mormon boards, not wanting to see any positives about the lds church and go to their home boards and post antimormon posts thereby contributing to the misunderstanding that others have of Mormons and mormonism. My catholic friends on this board are a case in point.

Now if we had some nevermos who are positive about the lds church, it may help the tone around here.

Zee is jealous that he never had a mormon lay when he was young and horny.

And yet, mistakenly, people called him King of the Jews.
Were Jews Mormon back then?

Gosh, thanks, same to you ... "As, ladling butter from alternate tubs, Stubbs butter'd Freeman, Freeman butter'd Stubbs".

Indeed, I have never been a member of the CoJCoLDS or any other Mormon church. For various reasons, I prefer to operate under heavy protection against the risk of any IRL disclosure - partly to avoid problems, and partly because I think it makes for more interesting and fairer discussions if posts have to stand entirely on their own merits, without anybody being able to say "But I must be right, I have a Masters in XXXX from YYYYY".

But there is nothing risky about saying that I had a fairly lengthy and intense involvement with belief in a version of Christianity that might be called Episcopalian. I was, I think, an effective amateur apologist for mainstream Christianity, and knew good answers to most objections. But the point came where I asked myself whether that was enough, and whether I could think of a good reason why I would have invested myself in this system of belief and worship if I had not been born into it. And yes, every objection can be answered, but why are there so many that need to be answered?

Why do I find Mormonism interesting? Well, I think it is a wonderful example of how it is no fatal disadvantage to a religious movement if its basic fact-claims are so implausible that any impartial and uncommitted outsider would dismiss them as at best the product of self-deception, or at worst the result of simple fraud, and if its doctrinal claims are deeply incoherent. So long as people learn the religion when they are kids, they will not see the problems unless someone forces them on their attention - and then they may well refuse to see them.

That has helped me enormously, since I now realize that my previous commitment to an at least superficially less problematic set of factual and doctrinal claims was basically an example of the same phenomenon. Re-adopting my previous form of Christian belief would be the same kind of thing as my choosing to become a Mormon. And that I am not about to do!

Wrong.

Ms. Jack, Ceeboo, and Chris Smith have all had positive things to say about the LDS Church. They also "call things as they see them" as far as the negative impressions of the Church that they have. However, they are very even-handed. I would not classify any of these folks as anti-Mormon.

I had no idea that Chap is a nevermo. Huh! Well, I obviously have not been paying close enough attention. Also, I have to say that his explanation for why Mormonism is interesting is one of the best I have read. It rings so true to me. Of course, with religion, wild claims have never been an impediment to the deepest devotion. Indeed, the wilder the claim, the deeper the devotion may become. As P.T. Barnum once said, there's a sucker born every minute. And, I add, I (insert your own name here, just like I do) am the biggest sucker of all. If everyone kept that in mind, and did not get on their high horse, the world would be a much friendlier place.

why me has always been a great barometer for kindness, fairness, and wisdom for me, so long as I remember which side of the meter he resides on. It's really not that difficult to do.

Yeah, uh... I meant to do that. :)