where did we come from, why are we here, where are we going?

Correspondence between me and my auntie ____ (9 feb. 2009).

From my auntie:

Markii, I was thinking about you over the week end.  I have 3 questions I’d like to ask you and am looking forward to hearing from you!

One.  With your new knowledge I was wondering
.  What do you believe you were doing or where were you before your sojourn on earth.

2.  What is your purpose on earth?

3.  Where do you believe or think the human race will go when we die?

Thanks  love you so much.  Auntie ____

My response…

thanks for the e-mail, ____.  i’ll do my best to answer below…

One.  With your new knowledge I was wondering
.  What do you believe you were doing or where were you before your sojourn on earth.

that’s a great question!  many people have tried to solve it, but i think it’s unsolvable.  i do not know where i was before my sojourn to earth.  i don’t know if i even “was”, or existed.  it is possible that our consciousness we now enjoy only recently matured and came to be as our minds physically developed during childhood.  i find this to sound more plausible than the idea that we are hundreds or thousands of years old human beings with that many years of learning and education behind us and yet here we only know that which we learn here.  is our older and wiser self sitting dormant in our mind while the two-year old biological self now learns to eat food and drools applesauce out of his mouth/nose?  and a middle-aged person who was mentally fine can have a car accident or disease in the brain and lose many motor and thinking skills, and many times even having a complete change in their personality and habits [click link to left, and ‘save as’, to hear mp3 on this] as a result?  a car accident or mental disease affects the tissue and neurons in the brain which then change how a thousand year-old sentient behaves/acts?  to me it seems more logical that there is a machine, but no “ghost in the machine”.

Quotes Roundup- Fall 09

Dwight D. Eisenhower:

In preparing for battle, I have found that planning is essential, but plans are useless.

Kail Nielson:

A man who says, “If God is dead, nothing matters,” is a spoilt child who has never looked at his fellow men with compassion.

Robert Green Ingersoll:

This crime called blasphemy was invented by priests for the purpose of defending doctrines not able to take care of themselves.

Dan Christiansen, BYU Student:

As a child, it seemed so simple;
Every step was clearly marked.
Priesthood, mission, sweetheart, temple;
Bright with hope I soon embarked.
But now I have become a man,
And doubt the promise of the plan.

For the path is growing steeper,
And a slip could mean my death.
Plunging upward, ever deeper,
I can barely catch my breath.
Oh, where within this untamed wild
Is the star that led me as a child?

As I crest the shadowed mountain,
I embrace the endless sky;
The expanse of heaven’s fountain
Now unfolds before my eye.
A thousand stars shine on the land,
The chart drafted by my own hand.

Sam Harris said that the timing of when young Earth creationists claim God created the Universe:

… is, incidentally, about a thousand years after the Sumerians invented glue. [Link goes to The Onion]

Robert Ingersoll:

Anger is a wind which blows out the lamp of the mind.

quotes roundup- SUMMER 09

every season i put out the best batch o’ comments that i’ve found in the last few months.  this edition may be my best yet!

Kirk Wilson

To say that the earth is only 6,000 years old is the mathematical equivalent of saying its radius is only 28 feet.

PZ Myers on an evolution-inspired school t-shirt:

Evolution is not a religion, no more than sky-is-blueism or gravityism or medicine or mathematics or their shop class. Would they shut down an auto repair class if an Amish family decried their heathen English ways? Pollitt is a pandering moron.

John Remy (from this personal, well-written post on his LDS ex-communication ritual):

Hopefully we’ll see each other as complex humans, worthy of compassion.  [there’s a lot of wisdom in these words!]

George Hrab:

Is sex with your clone gay or just extroverted masturbation?

Multi-Level Marketing

today i was doing some research on Multi-Level-Marketing companies (e.g. MonaVie, Noni, Isagenix, NutraSkin, etc.).  living in utah county, (the most MLM-dense county in the USA) we’ve all been presented with MLM pitches- and we may have even signed up for some.  last year i met an older couple who had made tons of money in Vegas through a MLM they had done in the past.  The secret, they told me, was that the company marketed them as their golden couple and stuck dozens and dozens of people below them in their “down line” so everyone could see an exemplar of success.  they were very up front when they told me that they could not recreate those same earnings when they tried to do it on their own, after the successful MLM went bankrupt (as most do).  they even knew all the tricks of the trade and had experience- but it went nowhere when their only potential down line suddenly shrunk to the small number of friends and family they personally knew.

Note:  please use caution when sharing anything with someone who is involved in a MLM.  they very much act like “true believers” in the sense that they have faith in the potential of their MLM, are motivated more by feelings/personal testimony rather than hard evidence, and may take criticism very personally.  so proceed w/ caution when sharing with others- or don’t share at all.

• from a wikipedia article (emphasis mine):

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a decision, In re Amway Corp., in 1979 in which it indicated that multi-level marketing was not illegal per se in the United States. However, Amway was found guilty of price fixing (by requiring “independent” distributors to sell at the low price) and making exaggerated income claims.^[16]

The FTC advises that multi-level marketing organizations with greater incentives for recruitment than product sales are to be viewed skeptically. The FTC also warns that the practice of getting commissions from recruiting new members is outlawed in most states as “pyramiding”.^[10] In April 2006, it proposed a Business Opportunity Rule intended to require all sellers of business opportunities—including MLMs—to provide enough information to enable prospective buyers to make an informed decision about their probability of earning money.

Another criticism of MLMs is that “MLM organizations have been described by some as cults (Butterfield, 1985), pyramid schemes (Fitzpatrick & Reynolds, 1997), or organizations rife with misleading, deceptive, and unethical behavior (Carter, 1999), such as the questionable use of evangelical discourse to promote the business (Hopfl & Maddrell, 1996), and the exploitation of personal relationships for financial gain (Fitzpatrick & Reynolds, 1997).” ^[18]

MLM’s are also criticized for being unable to fulfill their promises for the majority of participants due to basic conflicts with Western culture.^[19] There are even claims that the success rate for breaking even or even making money are far worse than other types of businesses:^[20][21][22] “The vast majority of MLM’s are recruiting MLM’s, in which participants must recruit aggressively to profit. Based on available data from the companies themselves, the loss rate for recruiting MLM’s is approximately 99.9%; i.e., 99.9% of participants lose money after subtracting all expenses, including purchases from the company.”^[20] In part, this is because encouraging recruits to further “recruit people to compete with [them]”^[23] leads to “market saturation.”^[24]

Similar claims regarding profits have been stated by The Times (“The Government investigation claims to have revealed that just 10 per cent of Amway’s agents in Britain make any profit, with less than one in ten selling a single item of the group’s products.”^[25]), high level “Emerald” Amway member Scheibeler (“UK Justice Norris found in 2008 that out of an IBO [Independent Business Owners] population of 33,000, ‘only about 90 made sufficient incomes to cover the costs of actively building their business.’ That’s a 99.7 percent loss rate for investors.” ^[26](case referred to is BERR vs Amway (Case No: 2651, 2652 and 2653 of 2007) which does list this as one of the points of objectionability: “c) because of the requirement that an IBO pay a joining and renewal fee and the likelihood that an IBO would purchase BSM there was a certainty that the Amway business would cause a loss to a large number of people (to the extent that out of an IBO population which exceeded 33,000 only building their business).”) and Newsweek (where it is stated based on MonaVie’s own 2007 income disclosure statement “fewer than 1 percent qualified for commissions and of those, only 10 percent made more than $100 a week.)” ^[27]

• Here is a short article from the Federal Trade Commission that i also recommend reading:  http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/invest/inv12.shtm
• and here is a longer article from a canadian lawyer and former mormon (“formon”) bishop:  http://mccue.cc/bob/documents/rs.multi-level%20marketing%20and%20mormonism.pdf
• my own experience in an MLM.

hope this might help in some way!

gay parenting

hurray for an obama campaign.  boo to the propositions that were passed in a few states taking away the rights of same-sex couples.  today i watched 30 Days (with Morgan Spurlock).  the episode was on same-sex parents.   it can be watched on hulu or you can google elsewhere to find the episode.  i had to write this quick post because i never cry (very rarely, at least), but tears streamed down my cheeks several times as i watched this.  i cried when i saw how loving the two fathers were with their kids.  i cried when i contemplated people wanting to take away their right to parent.  i cried when i saw one of their younger kids brushing his teeth and it made me sad to think some would have him taken away from them.  i cried when i saw this woman (who was living in their home and against gay adoption rights) as her mind was torn left and right in order to deal with the cognitive dissonance caused by seeing these great parents.  i cried when i saw two adults who were raised in foster homes, as they showed what it was like to live in that environment and how much they would have loved to have had a home, even a gay home, to call home.  i cried when i realized what a noble thing these two men were doing as they adopted special needs kids and others without a home to go to.  i cried when i contemplated the millions of people that voted in favor of taking away gay rights.  there are far too many foster kids as it is now, and if gays cannot adopt that will only increase the number of kids who may never, ever have a home.  that saddens my soul and sickens my stomach.  i also cried as i saw this woman never change her beliefs even though she wanted to. she wanted to.  but she couldn’t go against her faith as it had been taught to her that she should champion a faith-based belief over empathy, knowledge and experience.  lastly, i cried because the woman was a mormon and she represented the unshakable bigotted ignorance of the LDS church and it’s primary involvement in supporting proposition 8.  i rarely cry but this is a sad day.

ps:  please take the time to watch the episode while it’s still available.

Quotes Roundup- Spring 2008

oops!  i’m a little late on this one, but…

every three months i post a lump of good quotes i heard/read during the season (click on the category ‘quotes‘ on my sidebar to see my on-going collection). so, here are the quotes i’ve rounded up during this year’s spring season!

the first bunch came from mike‘s blog:

Bart Simpson:

Phew I’m glad we came to our senses and worship a 2.000 year old carpenter.

Bill Hicks:

If I thought the Jews killed God, I’d worship the Jews.

Woody Allen:

If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank.

Homer Simpson:

Suppose we’ve chosen the wrong god. Every time we go to church we’re just making him madder.

Homer Simpson:

I’m normally not a praying man, but if you’re up there, save me Superman!

terry at the laugh factory [NSFW]

.this is my co-worker’s son terry at the laugh factory in california. he kills it on utah, mormons, jesus, beer, etc. you’ve been warned though: gets raunchy but funny.

cool linkx

stuff i’ve found well worth the movement of a mouse, followed by a click:

• the 6 most badass stunts ever pulled in the name of science (by Cracked.com)
• How internet dating really works (comic)
• can you see the spider?  (picture)
• chick gets revenge on construction worker (funny video)
• video with Jerry Coyne:
• 
• weird animals (look at the pictures in the comments, as well).  weird what natural selection can produce.
• africa in perspective (photo).  btw, is this for real?
• 8 reasons why you’ll rejoice when we hit $8 a gallon (article)
• uncontacted tribes in the peru/brazilian border (link to article)
• Dean Kamen’s Robot Arm (article with video)
• certainty: blessing or cure?  (mormonism)
• a tiny fruit that tricks the toungue into thinking a lemon tastes sweet (for about an hour) (NY Times)
• stephen colbert on gay marriage
• man repairs flat bike tires with his feet (photos)
• lds church handbook available on the internet (mormonism)
• penn says: atheism is a solace (video)

Henry Eyring, Mormon Scientist and supporter of Evolution

there’s a new book for sale on the shelves here in Utah, called Mormon Scientist: The Life and Faith of Henry Eyring. i quickly went to the index and looked up the ever-controversial subject amongst the religious: EvilEvolution.

to quickly summarize, Eyring accepts, supports and even defends human evolution in 3 out of the four locations where the subject turns up in the book (one quote is rather ambiguous).

good for him, now on to the rest of the millions of LDS who are still unaware of their human origins.

Also:

• BYU’s (the LDS Church’s university in Provo, UT) students have slowly changed their views on issues such as:

confession time!

did you serve an LDS mission? did you break any rules? of course you did! over at MormonMatters.org there’s a discussion going on where returned missionaries are “confessing”. it’s really funny to read other people’s lists of broken rules, sins, and indulgences (it’s funny how many list “drinking cola” since that’s supposed to be so bad). my list is below, if you have comments to add, i’d like to read them here.

(mission area: Brasilia, Brazil 2000-2002)

just off the top of my head:

• listened to unapproved “EFY” music and got interviewed by my mish. pres. for it (yeah, weird, huh.)
• had pictures of a cute pop star (Sandy) under my name tag.
• was seduced by 2 different women who would nurse and not cover up after removing the baby (one told me she was seducing me, the other i may have just been reading into “the body language” a little too much).
• had a buddha statue on my desk for a while- felt weird/dark and took it down when a companion complained.
• waded my feet in water in a river in the jungle (satan could have swept me away but i was lucky)
• had sleepovers with another zl friend and we’d rent 5-6 movies and watch them all in one go. did this 2-3 times.
• semi-porn billboards and posters were everywhere in brazil, and i would “notice them” just a few seconds too long.
• lied to mish pres. about having “clean hands”. he left it unclear, so i just took it literally and said they were clean (with a “duh” look on my face- “c’mon, pres.”)
• played nintendo at a member’s house, watched the news during lunch at the bishop’s house, went to domino’s on sunday with a member who forgot to cook us a meal (i gave her a guilt trip and recommended she take us to the new domino’s that had just opened).
• towards the end of my mission i purchased whatever CD’s i felt like from the mall and listened to them while i went to sleep (it ended up being mostly enya).

and last but not least:

• tricked a greenie brazilian missionary into praying to joseph smith- complete with candles and photographs!

fun times!

another loophole in mormonism

jonathan and EricSwell posted on some quotes guaranteeing the exaltation of all descendents of temple sealed worthy parents.  i posted a comment to EpicSwell, but wasn’t allowed to comment there so here is my comment:

we’re saved!

i actually remember my dad bringing home from church an article that compiled quotes just like these.  it was nice to hear something as liberal as this coming from him.  i’m sure now that i am basically an apostate, though, that he would quickly announce the article/these quotes as just opinion now.

midnight prayer

we are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. but we can understand the universe. that makes us something very special. (Stephen Hawking)

tonight i watched into the wild on my ipod. i watched while lying in my bed, before going to sleep. my short 2-3 sentence review is this: thank you, mr. krakauer for letting me vicariously live a fantasy of going into the wild and being one w/ nature. i also learned thru the experience of christopher (the main character in the story), that “happiness is only real when shared” (he wrote these words towards the end of his lonely, soul-searching journey to alaska). there’s got to be a way to be one with the world and continue our relationships around us, too. this is a new goal for me to live by. tonight my wife shared a poem with me that said: “real tragedy is not death, but a life not lived”

Your body, my body

a couple of days ago i noticed the bumper sticker on my brother’s car. it says, “if your body’s a temple, then mine is an amusement park”. clever.

today i found a liberal mormon blog “celebrating mormon sexuality”. its theme:

Growing up Mormon, we’re often told the controlling, mean-spirited, disparaging joke that, “your body is a temple, not a visitors’ center.”

We disagree.

soft plug means no need for bakulum?

just found this post and thought it quite interesting. it’s from a liberal mormon blog “celebrating sexuality”. Doctor Jane says:

For all you Mormons out there who wonder why semen seems so sticky, there is a simple biological explanation. But you may not like it.

sympathy for the devil

there are many illogical aspects of believing in a devil.  the best take i’ve read on this so far is shermer’s the science of good and evil.  this post is on “a mormon testimony of satan”, by John Nilsson:

“I know that the Devil lives in outer darkness surrounded by concourses of ghastly minions amidst weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth”.

Why don’t we hear this from the pulpit in LDS testimony meetings? It’s just as much an article of faith as the existence of God, right? There must needs be an opposition in all things, as Lehi said.

Here’s the problem: many modern LDS leaders have told us that truth feels GOOD, and that we can recognize spiritual truth by the good feelings it engenders in us. Barring a rational way to arrive at a conviction of the existence of Satan (which I have yet to find, although both Hitler and Hannah Montana could be cited as evidence of Old Nick’s meddling in our world), the spiritual method appears to be the only method for being sure that Scratch exists. But to have GOOD feelings about the existence of our ultimate adversary, the being of pure redolent evil whose every thought and action is bent on our destruction, physically and spiritually? So I would bet a lot fewer LDS folks have firm convictions of the devil based on spiritual subjective evidence like the kind mentioned above.

John Dehlin- Humanist

John has converted! he tells me he’s a humanist now (via e-mail), and his facebook account lists his religious views as “mormon humanist”.

i’m (pretty) sure his love of mormonism continues strong. i personally think he loves the community aspect, not to mention that mormonism is his (and my) roots, and it’s difficult to turn away from that. most of us want to stay true to our culture and heritage, right?

as for me, it’s not as hard to turn my back on my family religion/heritage as i am simply doing the same as my ancestors: leaving the religion of my fathers for some higher truths.

also, bob mccue has said in a podcast interview, “i prefer to take these arrows [of dissafection] now in my life so that my children don’t have to go through it in theirs”. i find that honorable.

whatever and wherever john ends up, though, i admire him greatly. few have any idea at all how much he has reached out to dissafected LDS on a personal level. he’s the epitomy of a truly good neighbor in the community and a friend to all. his theme has been “building bridges” (between faiths, and believers/non-believers, etc.) and he’ll continue to do good wherever he goes.

please check out his large collection of work:

• on mormon studies
• OpenCourseWare, for MIT and other Universities, of which he is Consortium Director.

more on “J-Dizzle”: http://mormonmatters.org/2008/04/20/eulogy-to-john-dehlin/

links- saturday

links for 2day…

• The Craziest Thing Gary Busey Ever Snorted Cocaine Off Of (Wired)
• General Conference “Just Doesn’t Do It” For You? You’re Not Alone (Mormon Coffee)
• DNA found in Oregon rewrites the book on the first native Americans (The Independent)

Scientists discover oldest-to-date DNA of humans who lived in america 14,300 years ago! Some Mormons are scratching their heads over this one: a) that the Lamanite story is off by over 10,000 years; and b) how did people exist before God made Adam and Eve 6000 years ago? The study, published in the journal Science, went to extraordinary lengths to try to rule out the possibility that the DNA was the result of modern contamination. The DNA of nearly 70 scientists, archaeologists and students was cross-checked to make sure that it had not inadvertently contaminated the fossilised material. An analysis of the DNA showed that it contained two sets of genetic sequences which are shared with modern-day native Americans and people who are native to East Asia and Siberia – confirming that the first Americans came over the Bering land bridge from Asia during the last Ice Age.

• Hitchens (anti-theist) vs. Hitchens (theist) video. (toomanytribbles)
• Stephen Hawking: Asking big questions about the universe Filmed Feb 2008; In keeping with the theme of TED2008, professor Stephen Hawking asks some Big Questions about our universe — How did the universe begin? How did life begin?… (Atheist Media)

Political Correctness, Vulgarity, South Park, etc.

bugboy’s comment (see previous post):

If similar generalizations were made about another race here it would be considered a racist site. Imagine “Stuff Black People Like”, followed by a bunch of idiotic plaitudes and the like. Cool?

that’s true, bugboy. and yes, i think there’s so many things that are messed up in our culture. me personally, i think there’s a happy medium in being politically correct. It can actually be progressive in some senses but so many things are taken too far.

Anti-Science LDS

Statements like this illustrate why i’ll never go back to such an organization.

Quote by Thomas Monson, The Lighthouse of the Lord: A Message to the Youth of the Church, Ensign, February 2001:

Remember that faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time, for one will dispel the other.

Should doubt knock at your doorway, just say to those skeptical, disturbing, rebellious thoughts: ‘I propose to stay with my faith, with the faith of my people. I know that happiness and contentment are there, and I forbid you, agnostic, doubting thoughts, to destroy the house of my faith. I acknowledge that I do not understand the processes of creation, but I accept the fact of it. I grant that I cannot explain the miracles of the Bible, and I do not attempt to do so, but I accept God’s word. I wasn’t with Joseph, but I believe him. My faith did not come to me through science, and I will not permit so-called science to destroy it.‘

ummmm… brag, much?

Joseph Smith is quoted in the History of the Church (official church history of the LDS/Mormons) as saying:

I, like Paul, have been in perils, and oftener than anyone in this generation. As Paul boasted,* I have suffered more than Paul did. I should be like a fish out of water, if I were out of persecutions. Perhaps my brethren think it requires all this to keep me humble. The Lord has constituted me so curiously that I glory in persecution. I am not nearly so humble as if I were not persecuted…

Come on! ye prosecutors! ye false swearers! All hell, boil over! Ye burning mountains, roll down your lava! for I will come out on the top at last. I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet. You know my daily walk and conversation. I am in the bosom of a virtuous and good people. How I do love to hear the wolves howl! When they can get rid of me, the devil will also go. (History of the Church, 6:408-409)

* [Paul’s boasting, which he calls foolish and “talking like a madman,” is found in 2 Corinthians 11. Paul ends his “boasting” with these words: “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.” ]

(quote and picture from this post)

Winter (2007-08) Quotes Roundup

Happy Spring Equinox!

eis meus predileitos de recem…

Bill Maher:

you can’t be a rational person six days a week…and on one day of the week, go to a building, and think you’re drinking the blood of a two thousand year old space god. via

Prov 14:15, 18:

The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going…
The simple inherit folly: but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

What was your first cog dis?

what was your first experience with cognitive dissonance, or one of the first times that you realized something didn’t add up in your religious world-view?  for me i have a couple of really early ones (see post here, paragraphs 3 and 4- starting with the words “i think we all of us”- i know great grammar, right).  today i was thinking about the song i mentioned in my previous post by George Hrab called “Heaven Must Be Really Boring” (copy and save link to listen).  this was actually my first cog dis as a little kid.  i thought how boring it was when i absolutely obeyed all of the rules and was super perfect to my friends and family.  i thought how fun it was to be a trouble maker every now and then, doing pranks on people or just joking around and messing with people.  as a kid i didn’t think i could take it being in heaven where jokes must be strictly prohibited (unless you’re telling the latest jokes you heard from your second grader or something off of a laffy taffy wrapper).  “how boring”, i would think to myself.  so that was my first cog dis.  didn’t think the world would be interesting without good and bad, extacy and suffering.  even in the book of mormon it says that those things are necessary to exist together so how could there be a place where everything was sweet, never sour- you never broke a leg or got sick.  how could you savor food after going without for a day?  how could you appreciate the blessing goodness of health and normalcy without going through a few days of having the flu or food poisoning?  after i threw out my back last year for a day i couldn’t wait to just run around- i couldn’t believe the simple things i was taking for granted like being able to sit up and walk!  imagine if that was nothing to me anymore because i could fly anywhere i wanted or even travel by merely thinking of a location (LDS semi-doctrine).  and today i had a brother-in-law call my wife saying he would be so sad if he were a god enjoying his exaltation one day without his sister!   what?  how could you be enjoying your exaltation knowing you had family that was suffering in another place?  that wouldn’t be heaven!  …and all because your sister was a good person, good mother, good wife, good life- but she’s damned b/c she got it wrong when it came to earth’s theology exam?  i don’t believe in that god.  couldn’t imagine him separating people from their loved ones just b/c they couldn’t figure out “the most important message in the world”- that happened to be written in impossible-to-understand parables, and context of the times.  from the reason driven podcast, ep.1 Robert M. Price says:

and so this theoretically inspired book just doesn’t matter as long as it remains ambiguous.  take the part in Corinthians- if the trumpet call is not clear who’s going to come to battle, or who’s going to know what to do?

we’re right to be showing some skepticism towards this gospel that shows a cruel god in the old testament and immoral behavior in the NT.  and what if god, being a scientist himself (he created the elements and the universe, right? that makes him a scientist in my book), would he possibly applaud skeptical thought from an individual over blind faith from the same person?  would he not respect you more if you were honest to yourself and “doubted” than if you just said “shut up, brain” and insisted on believing?

my other cog dis as a kid was when i was 7 (under the age of accountability), not yet baptized and i saw a picture of a woman in a swimsuit.  i realized to myself that i could have sex with a girl if i wanted to (now that i think of it though i probably wouldn’t have been very successful picking up a girl) and it wouldn’t be a sin yet since i wasn’t baptized and didn’t have “the age of accountability” yet.  i realized i could do anything in the world and it would be okay.  i ended up deciding to just be a kid, play some pranks on people, joke around with my friends, maybe even tell some dirty jokes- in the end, i just wanted to have fun.

what was your first cog dis? comment below.

for more stories of first cog dis’s, see here.

de-conversion of a jehovah’s witness

found this on the Mormon Stories blog.  watching this i see many similarities between mormonism and the jw’s.

Part one:

this ex-jehovah’s witness talks about a typical week (including scripture study w/ the family on Mondays or Tuesdays, followed by more study throughout the week, proselyting and church meetings. she also talks about how they would never celebrate any pagan holidays like christmas and they would even knock on people’s doors on christmas day when families where preparing their xmas meals in order to tell them that they were doing something contrary to the bible.

mitt romney’s religion speech

Almost the only clever thing about Gov. Mitt Romney’s long-denied and long-delayed but obviously long-prepared “response” was its location at the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library, which allowed him to pose (prematurely, I’d say) in front of a presidential seal as well as a thicket of American flags.

here’s hitchens take on mitt’s “windy, worthless speech”.

here’s john dehlin’s take (a liberal mormon)

i liked this, though: JFK’s perfect example of a presidential candidate making it clear that he will honor the separation of church and state. (click here to listen, thanks to ffrf)

sometimes i want my “mo-ism” back…

from a quick note i wrote to a friend of mine:

[…]thanks again for keeping me posted with things.  i haven’t been keeping up with the mormon blogs/sites for quite a while now as i just got frustrated with it all.  but this week i’ve been wanting to have my mormon life back.  i want “guidance” again, i want “hope” that everything is happening for a reason and the comfort that comes with that ideology… but alas, i think it will never be.  i think there is truly no way at all. usually i’m totally fine with that and chipper but the last couple of days i’ve missed it- i’ve gotta admit.  i saw a sliver of possible supernatural inspiration a couple of days ago when i was waiting for my wife to come home and i imagined how horrible it would be if someone called me from the hospital telling me she was there from a car accident.  i took a nap and later woke up to her calling me, telling me that she had had an accident.  for some odd reason i want to believe that God was trying to speak to me through that, but i am too confident that the many-available natural explanations are better at explaining to me what happened.  how bleak.

An Agnostic Worldview

An Agnostic [1] [noun] embraces a worldview in which the existence of deity is unknown or unknowable. Derives from the Greek agnostos, a = without, gnostos = known or knowledge. “Agnostic[ism] [CE] was coined by Professor TH Huxley in 1869 to describe the mental attitude of one who regarded as futile all attempts to know the reality corresponding to our ultimate scientific, philosophic, and religious ideas.” Agnosticism asserts no knowledge of gods and therefore concludes there are no reasons to believe in them or not to believe in them. An agnostic follows this credo and differs from the atheist who has developed an active belief that there are no gods. When it comes to the question of existence of deities, an agnostic will respond: I just don’t know.

In this post I will be including a post on atheism from a blogger named John Remy. Currently I view my self as an Agnostic-Mormon (if that’s even possible). I don’t believe in or against the idea of God. I may have a “hope” in God- almost a belief even, but I have no current belief in any actual religion (although I attend the LDS Church almost regularly). My brief reasons for being agnostic are the following: