Sunday in Outer Blogness: to life edition!

“Since my religious disaffection from the Mormon Church, I have had to come to terms with the fact that I am going to die.”

That’s Steve Bloor facing his mortality — read the rest here. So Says Me told the tale of getting over the self-hatred of an eating disorder, while the Cotton Floozy offers some fatspiration. Maybe not quite as serious, but still poignant was Leia’s story of a beautiful gown (from her Mormon grandma!) that wasn’t quite modest enough — next time call Randy! Calling people back to the CoJCoL-dS from one side and the other. Smart vs. righteous. One of our friends has started a new business and another is helping gay teens with their young dating experiences. Yet another experienced a wild night of creation:

My freedom came in one night of wild midnight poetry. Words cascaded like melting wax upon the page, drawing out my anger and my pain, and I saw the church clearly for the first time – as a mother who raises a child but never really loves her; abusive, manipulative, selfish… cruel. The epiphany was heartbreaking. Breath-taking. I lost track of time. For hours, I could barely breathe. I could not see my own words through my tears, but still they kept coming; each hard, dark line cutting deep, working away at the chains that had bound my inspiration and stifled my voice. Then, as daylight was just blooming over the mountains on the eastern horizon, I looked up. I looked up.

Vibrant hues of pink and orange and violet painted the sky. I breathed in the light, and it felt as though I had been gone for a very long time and was just returning to my own body.

So many life experiences! In images, here’s visiting the Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork Utah on a cloudy day and visiting a new-born neighbor.

The discussion of women and the priesthood is still going strong — we saw a bit of it here. Note that our cousin church has embraced gay marriage and has offered some helpful advice for those making the transition from the CoJCoL-dS to the CoC. I’m pretty sure this is a joke about it, but I’m not sure which side(s) he’s making fun of — if someone can give me a one-paragraph explanation, I’d appreciate it.

In theology: lack of baggage helps kids make the obvious connections. Rethinking the Word of Wisdom as early Mormon commandment and identity marker. What’s up with overreaction in the Bible? The straight dope on skin color and questions about evil spirits.

In LDS policies: Why not re-create some jobs? And stop unfair policies against LDS students? Not to mention questionable political activism, questionable missionary tactics, and avoiding tolerance. R-rated films: yea or nay? Is plagiarism a sin? Check the YM manuals…

And in good clean fun: How is an Exmormon like a Buffyverse Vampire?

As a TBM, we can easily view the loss of a testimony and the transition of a person from a believing member of the Church to a self-identified post-Mormon along the same lines as Whedon’s vampires. It can, and does, happen to anyone.

There is no calling that will prevent someone from losing their faith within it. There is no location you can live that will better shore up the defenses of your testimony. Men and women, both old and young, can find themselves leaving their faith. Bishops, Stake Presidents, Mission Presidents, Temple Sealers, Stake Relief Society presidents, ward librarians, 2nd Quorum of the Seventy, Quorum of the Twelve, Provo, Los Angeles, Santiago, it doesn’t matter. Converts and multi-generational members born in the covenant can leave. As with Whedon’s vampires, it can happen to anyone. And once it does, it changes people in a way that they’ll never be able to return to that faith again. Even if they do recover enough of their beliefs to attend again, their beliefs are now tempered by a flexibility that most average members would find heretical.

In conclusion: What are you doing here reading the Internet with me? Get out there and live!

J/K, socializing via the Internet is a real part of life, too. 😉