A) This has nothing to do with Ed Snowden B) It has absolutely nothing to do with Linux.
Can you guys please take your religious screed OFF the list? ---- Original Message ---- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Did Ed Snowden do the right thing? Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2013 21:21:01 -0400 >On Mon, Jun 10, 2013 at 8:52 PM, Sasha Pachev <[email protected]> >wrote: >> All I can say is that I respectfully disagree. I have been inside >it - I >> have served a mission, have been in a number of leadership >positions, have >> sat through a lot of meetings, and have visited and got to know a >lot of >> people through church service. I have seen the difference that >faithfulness >> in the church makes in their overall qualify of life, ability to >reach >> their goals, ability to be happy, and the ability to get along with >others. >> I have seen that difference in my own life as well. I cannot help >but quote >> Alma 30:34-35 at this point: > >I'm glad that you are happy. I know a lot of Mormons who are very >happy in their religion. However, living a happy life does not mean >that the religion whose structure you have found happiness within was >founded by an honest or scrupulous man, or that it does not operate >on >self-deception. It is very fair to ask whether it matters, so long >as >you are happy. I suppose to many people it doesn't, and I don't >begrudge them their happiness. > >I personally was extremely unhappy being Mormon. It never quite felt >right to me. There were little things that didn't quite add up. I >felt like I was living in The Truman Show, and if I just scratched at >the right spot the whole facade would come away. The default Mormon >answer to this kind of existential discomfort is to search, ponder >and >pray, read the Book of Mormon, pray more, spend more time at the >temple... essentially, to try harder and harder to be Mormon. >Because >when you're Mormon, that's the answer to everything - after all, the >fruits of righteousness are joy, right? If you're not happy you must >be doing it wrong. Go see the Bishop, he'll set you on the right >path. Have you read the Book of Mormon recently? Maybe you just >need >a different calling... wait, are you sure you've paid all of your >tithing? Discouragement, despair and depression are the three D's of >the devil - why are you letting the devil into your life? You must >not be praying enough. I bet it's 'cause you missed sacrament >meeting. Is your testimony okay? Have you been to the temple >recently? That always makes me feel better! > >When you're Mormon, the only answer to problems is more Mormon. I >can >honestly say that I have never been happier since I had my name >removed from the records. Ironically, I didn't leave because I was >unhappy, and I had no expectation that leaving "the church" would >make >me happier. It was a pleasant, and unexpected, side effect. It >wasn't until I got some distance and had a chance to re-examine my >experiences as a Mormon from a different perspective that I realized >how incredibly screwed up things were. > >Ultimately, I'm glad that you're happy. I'm glad that you're not >affected by the screwed up parts of your religion. And I hope that >you will recognize that your religion really is not the ultimate >answer to everything. There are people who really can be harmed by >it, in very real ways. And I hope that if you encounter one of them >in the future, you will stop and think that maybe "more Mormon" isn't >the right answer for them. > >-Dan > >/* >PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net >Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug >Don't fear the penguin. >*/ /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
