I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned! So much of my frustration with organized religion is that it requires "answers that can't be questioned". To stop questioning is to stop learning, and that is the very definition of damnation.
Category: Truth
From Medium: Reasons I’d Be Atheist, But Choose to Be Religious
This is a long read, but well worth it. I wish I had written it. Everything I read in there is exactly my experience: Unlike most faith crises, I am not really struggling with historical, theological or metaphysical claims of the Restoration. I am mostly just bored at church. I am deadened by how small, … Continue reading From Medium: Reasons I’d Be Atheist, But Choose to Be Religious
These Things
There is a verse in the Book of Mormon that is horrifically proof-texted, and strained to such an interpretation as to defy reason. That verse is Alma 39:5: Know ye not, my son, that these things are an abomination in the sight of the Lord; yea, most abominable above all sins save it be the … Continue reading These Things
My Religion
I've thought for a long time about how I can describe my religion. The earliest versions where characterized by what it isn't. I'm not really a Mormon. I'm not really a Christian. I'm not really agnostic. I'm not really gnostic. As I've learned more, I've come to realize something a bit deeper: naming things is … Continue reading My Religion
Intelligence and Voices
A while ago I posed the question: if God speaks to me “after the manner of [my] language”, how do I know that it is His voice that I hear, and not my own? (Recognizing the Voice of God) I realize now this is the wrong question. It is not the voice that matters, and … Continue reading Intelligence and Voices
Experiments
On the popular TV show MythBusters, one of the hosts once said: "Remember kids, the only difference between science and screwing around is writing it down." (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSUMBBFjxrY) I've been thinking a lot recently about keeping records, and this quote jumped to mind at one point. It got me thinking: If I'm not writing down what … Continue reading Experiments
Knowledge
Sure knowledge is the enemy of learning. Once you claim to know something, you have shut yourself off to ever learning anything new about the subject. If I claim "sure knowledge", I am also claiming "sure stubbornness". I am claiming "sure ignorance", and consequently "sure damnation". "Sure knowledge" means that I have shut myself off to … Continue reading Knowledge
Ad Hominem
An ad hominem fallacy is one where, instead of attacking an argument directly, you attack a person making the argument, and use your attacks on that person as a way to discredit the argument. In short, you're ignoring the thing being debated and attacking the debater. Many of those who have become disaffected from the … Continue reading Ad Hominem
A Conversation
I had a conversation with God yesterday, and this is part of what He said to me: Just as the stone is scared of the chisel, or the wood of the knife, or the ore of the fire, all these things have purpose in the hands of the artist. If you allow me, I will … Continue reading A Conversation
Appeal to Tradition
One of the most damning things we can do is refuse to consider new ideas because they contradict "the way we've always done it." There is no more sure way to utterly cease the possibility of learning than to decry that it breaks with tradition. Reject the wicked traditions of your fathers, and consider what … Continue reading Appeal to Tradition
Pure Intelligence 