Mad Libs

Originally posted on Baal Habos
9/23/2009
Link



Excerpt from Under the Banner of Shamayim Heaven about Skeptic Mormons.


Just replace Deloy with Moshe, Colorado City with Boro Park, etc. and see yourself in the mirror.



From a tranquil city park at the edge of Colorado City, the sheer cliffs of Canaan Mountains erupt heavenward without preamble... "My brother David and I used to sneak up here every chance we got when we were kids", says Deloy Bateman....
Deloy is perched at the edge of this mountaintop, staring down at the town where he was born and raised. It's the end of July and the temperature is 104 in the shade. Deloy- who seems oblivious to the withering heat even though he is wearing long polyester pants, a long sleeved shirt, and the religion's trademark long underwear-is an apostate from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christs of Latter Day Saints and has no respect for it's new prophet, Warren Jeffs, but he still resides in this xenophobic community, stuck in the middle of town, and doubts that he'll ever live very far away..... Unlike most who have rejected the teachings of the FLDS church... Deloy has become an atheist.

It hasn't been an easy transformation. "my whole life, I've had this need to believe in something", he says. "I've wanted answers to why we were put here, just like everybody else. The religion provided these answers.... This religion is in my blood.

"even though I don't believe anymore, I'm still wearing the garment-the long sacred underwear. I try not to wear it, but I just can't seem to leave it off, even on hot summer days like this....

In any case, it wasn't the culture's sexual customs or its lifestyle constraints that finally induced Deloy to apostatize. Rather, he says, "It just got to be where I could no longer ignore that the religion is a lie...

Although Deloy says that he was "extremely religious" throughout his youth, he also had a probing curious mind. "Even as a young boy", he says, "I remember wondering about contradictions between what the religion taught and scientific truth. But Uncle Roy told us that the way to handle that was to avoid asking certain kinds of questions. So I trained myself to ignore the contradictions. I got good at not letting myself think about them."
posted by Baal Habos @ 9/23/2009
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bankman
i never had a problem taking off my uncomfortable and silly tzitzit.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009, 2:05:24 PM

Baal Habos
> i never had a problem taking off my uncomfortable and silly tzitzit.

This is a don't ask don't tell blog!



Rabban Gamliel
Baal you say you are more of a skeptic now. While I do not know what fully motivated you into skepticism I do know that you eventually swallowed your skepticism for the sake of conformity and accepted the JEDP hypothesis as well as Evolution and do not wish to be wrong about your skepticism or more accurately your alternate belief system. If you are more skeptical you will examine each case on its own merits.

Also strictly speaking science is not self-correcting. It is scientists who when open to correction will be. There are no guarantees. They are not preprogramed robots. They deserve praise for their accomplishments.

Since being away from the skeptic blog world I have seen the real world. In the artificial bubble of the skeptic blog world arguments make sense depending on who is dominating enough. Without anyone in the real world to bounce off your ideas to make sure they're not crap you can appear to make sense to others with arguments that are nonsense to regular skeptics let alone believers. The overthrow of that TRex theory proceeded along lines that make no real sense according to your worldview. A well accepted theory should have according to you been proof enough. This was no minor TRex theory. Anyway Gmar Tov.
Maybe I will reply back and forth wth you and maybe not.
Good wishes from a tired but happy Rabban Gamliel I can't believe I am even writing. Ok click publish now before I change my mind.
Friday, September 25, 2009, 5:56:00 PM
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Baal Habos
RG! Welcome back, to what will probably be my last post for many months; except for my goodbye post, of course. You're right, there really is no sense in these debates. Have a Gmar Chasima Tova!
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Bruce
Hi guys. There's two parts to any worldview: explaining your affirmative beliefs and explaining your negative beliefs.

I think the skeptical debates are inherently more interesting, especially for those in the Orthodox world. But what about the other half. What do you affirmatively believe about Judaism. What practices do you practice, and why? How is this meaningful to you?

XGH seems to have partially shifted in this direction and seems happier. He has not deleted his blog in months. I have tried to strike a balance between the two. Little Foxling seemed to have focused exclusively on the negative side and got burned out.

Maybe try blogging this way for a while and see if it works. (And Sukkot is a good place to start.)

Shabbat shalom, v gmar tov.
Friday, September 25, 2009, 6:27:38 PM
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Baal Habos
>What do you affirmatively believe about Judaism. What practices do you practice, and why? How is this meaningful to you?

Very little. I mean there are good messages in there, but when I'm stuck in a Chareidi-like community, there is no meaning in any of it. It's truduging off to Shul numerous times (a day?), hearing ever increasing Chareidi rhetoric. Bah.

Gmar Tov, though.
Saturday, September 26, 2009, 8:41:49 PM
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Rabban Gamliel
"RG! Welcome back, to what will probably be my last post for many months; except for my goodbye post, of course. You're right, there really is no sense in these debates. Have a Gmar Chasima Tova!
Baal Habos"

It's a pleasure exchanging a few words with you! Gmar Chasima Tova!
Saturday, September 26, 2009, 10:57:23 PM
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B. Spinoza
how nice to see an exchange of a few pleasant words.
Sunday, September 27, 2009, 8:05:10 AM
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