I just checked out the
ldsanarchy blog and I must say I was not prepared for what I saw. I never imagined a flavor of Mormonism like that. Where do they come from? It's like some weird twilight zone of the bloggernacle. Much more fundamentalist, with strange curiosities about the wildest things turning into long definitive posts laying down "what it is" in detail. And the comments are mostly excited agreement and further expounding upon bizarre heretofore undefined corners of doctrine. It's like a religion within a religion. The contributors wear their heterodox views and oddball theories like badges. Like regular disaffected Mormons and NOMs, they talk about how they have to keep their mouth shut in Sunday school, or how every once in a while they let out a comment about the real truth to everyone else's dismay.
I got curious when I saw a
strange comment on Irresistible (Dis)Grace stating with full confidence that it is seeing
plasma in the sky that makes humans believe in God. Just from the short perusal of stuff there I found the following ideas (stated confidently with no reservations):
- Pornography exists because of circumcision
- The Earth is hollow
- A fully fledged planetary theory about D&C 88
- And of course - anarcho-primitivism
I would love to poll all the contributors about, to name one example, whether they believe the moon landings to be a hoax.
Posts
I once heard an argument that laws against polygamy (or to establish government intervention in any sort of marriage) were the Devil's trick to frustrate righteous relationships.
ReplyDeleteor something like that.
It was imaginative, and I could at least follow that argument.
I have no idea how to respond to plasma though.
I would love to poll all the contributors about, to name one example, whether they believe the moon landings to be a hoax.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what the moon landing has anything to do with:
Pornography having such sway among Americans because of circumcision,
The data presented that demonstrates a hollow earth,
A fully fledged planetary theory about D&C 88 [You forgot D&C 101],
And of course -- anarcho-primitivism [or Tribal Anarchy]
But if you are polling, I have confidence that humans have landed on the moon.
And the comments are mostly excited agreement and further expounding upon bizarre heretofore undefined corners of doctrine.
Perhaps we are missing voices like yours. LDSA has a very open comment policy -- unlike other sites.
You also mention "NOM" -- which really is just the first stage in the break-up of the Church, albeit an internal stage. Its appearance is right on schedule, prophetically speaking because next on the horizon is the external break-up. (As in 3 Nephi 6:14)
--Justin
Hmm, I like your comment at the top of that BCC thread. I agree that BCC is a ban-happy echo chamber wasteland. I don't ever read that blog because it's like another helping of whitewashed thought in case you didn't get enough of it from Sunday school.
ReplyDeleteI like dissenting viewpoints because I think they tend to add more to the discussion. However, things like hollow earth, tribal anarchy, plasma theories etc. are so out there from my perspective that I just don't have anything to say about it. In that way it kind of feels like someone explaining an elaborate conspiracy theory to me about tomatoes. It's not like I can refute all of the facts thrown at me by this person, and it's not like I even have an opinion about tomato companies that I can throw out there.
I know that a lot of the ideas on ldsanarchy aren't technically about conspiracies, but they seem to share a lot of the same traits.
While I haven't contributed to ldsanarchy yet, I'm on the list. I don't believe the moon landing was a hoax.
ReplyDeleteBut I also don't believe everything posted by anyone on LDSA. It is a good place to toss ideas around without getting odd looks.
I base my views on my own interpretations of data, my own experiences, and my own beliefs. So reading other peoples comments isn't so much to change myown views, but to be able to look at subjects from different angles.
Hollow earth, plasma, I haven't even researched those yet.
It is easy to fall prey by the influence of other peoples comments or points of view when one does not have a perspective of life or doctrine, about right wnd wrong etc. What is evil for some today, Tomorrow. May be. All the opposite and viceversa there alot of factors playing a roll in it i mean i. How we think and act just think on your change of mood or behaviour it always obeys to certain factors . the sane thing happens to mens ideas an theories , they are not of their own they are influenced by either Good or evil always they are not independent. Never. When people start loosing the ability. To recognize or feel the holyghost. Then is the monent for the evil one to take plafe and mingle thruts with error think of korihor isa good example or the. False prophets who always fought the prophet elija. It is real . if not watch your feelings and thought from day to day and then evaluate .i have experimented with my own behaviour and tested it and it is amazing when it comes to the influence of ideas thoughts etc. So my advise is the same as. Ecclesiates "just keep the commandments of God "there is wisdom on that and security against deceiving and darkness.
ReplyDelete"They talk about how they have to keep their mouth shut in Sunday school, or how every once in a while they let out a comment about the real truth to everyone else's dismay." Your suggestion that this necessarily means they're wrong is a logical fallacy. Here's another example of that - I can't say, when around typical Latter-day Saints, that evolution is something we're free to accept, that it doesn't contradict any Church doctrines, and that the Church is neutral on the issue. Most LDS Church members have been taught that it's wrong, and that since some prophets said it's wrong, that this came from revelation. They get angry if I share official statements by the Church and some of the other Church leaders that state clearly that there has never been a revelation given on this topic, and any statements condemning evolution were the opinions of those making them and do NOT represent the official position of the Church. Basically I find that it's impossible to get through to the typical Church member on this even though they're dead wrong. So before you condemn anarchists as wrong, consider there's no revelation that's ever been given that would require rejecting anarchism, and that saying so makes YOU dead wrong.
ReplyDelete