Magus

to you, personally - i apologize for any offense i gave you. sincerely. would love to hear all about the hell you've been through. tell me about it. see? i'm being nice and understanding now. :)

Okay, I'll just try to head this off before it goes any further. I apologize to anyone who was offended by my strong tone and stance. I knew I was being confrontational - but it rubbed me the wrong way how everyone was making assumptions about my character simply for making a strong statement, and that put me on the defensive. Also, just not been in the most caring mood today. So, hope you'll accept my apology, peoples.

Hi all. I've already made a splash in the General forum as a pompous jerk who has a superiority complex and thinks he is better than everyone, so I thought I would introduce myself formally. Not gonna give my name at this time, but I'm 29, male and live in Alabama. I was born in Seattle, but moved here to the heart of the Bible Belt when I was just shy of 2 years old. I am married to a Russian girl I met while serving in the Moscow Russia mission from 2006-2008. She was also a missionary. We served in the same district, in fact I was her DL for a time. We liked each other on our missions, which was the source of a very silly, gossipy mission scandal and some unfortunate, pointless drama but kept in touch after our missions and got married in 2009. We have a 16 month old son who is a joy. I'm currently working on getting a Human Resources Management degree...still deciding on a possible minor.. I'm also employed an emergency telecommunicator, which is the fancy term for a 911 operator. I've been doing it for 5 years. I have a pretty strong testimony of a number of specific things.... Also, I apologize to anyone who was offended by my posts in the general forum in the Richard Dutcher thread. I was feeling confrontational today, that's all. I am well aware that I can come off as really arrogant sometimes, especially online where people like to shoot off what's really on their mind exactly how it comes out. But I can assure you, in real life, I'm much more considerate and careful of others' feelings.

I understand - and it's especially hard to catch tone and such on an internet forum, but.....I'm not going to take responsibility for other peoples' sensitivities. Especially when they are so quick to label me as having a superiority complex and say that I think I'm better than others. Seriously - some people need to look in the mirror when they accuse others of being judgmental on an internet forum. I came on here and just wanted to post my honest reaction and feelings to the situation and see how people took that. You're right, I don't know anything about the culture of this site. But I guess I'm finding out.

Thanks for seeing where I was coming from. And for the umpteenth time (I'm addressing everyone here), I do have love, understanding and compassion for Dutcher.

Bring it!! Nah, I'm used to posting on message boards where I'm the odd man out and people are actually very harsh to each other. Maybe that's part of why I come off as abrasive here to some.

Glad you saw the light.

I actually have a lot of compassion toward Dutcher. Much Christ-like love for him here. But I still think it's lame how things went down with him leaving the Church. I mean no derogatory thoughts toward having compassion. But I do mean derogatory thoughts toward people who are all fluff and no stuff when it comes to having compassion. It's lame that people get so offended just because I said it's lame that Dutcher left the Church. Also - I didn't join the forum and automatically "dis" everyone, people just started having issues with my strong statement, and started accusing me of having a "superiority complex" and thinking I am better than others and all of that. So I'd say the judgmentalism is really the other way around, when you look at it objectively. I just came here and posted an opinion, and people who don't even know me started judging my character.

To Wingnut: "Considering how everyone thinks x, x must be true" Mmmmhm. Or maybe we just have a lot of people here who aren't used to people like me making strong statements, and maybe have issues with that?

No hard feelings, everybody. Just don't tell me to back off like I'm somehow out of line for having a strong testimony and calling Dutcher out for giving up on his faith.

hahahaha, superiority complex! this is rich. I'm LOLing here. Yeah, well, obviously my testimony is superior to Dutcher's. What can I say. We got a really tender bunch here, don't we.

LOL, where did I say I was better than anyone else? Looks like we got quite a few people here who have security issues. For the record, I have the utmost respect for Dutcher. He's a great creative mind and a child of God. And I wished him well in his spiritual journey, did I not? BUt nooooo, if I don't act all mooshy gooshy, overly sympathetic and "understanding" for what is undeniably a very regrettable and exquisitely ironic situation, I somehow think I'm better than everyone else. Excellent conclusion there.

What is this, the LDS doubters support group? Again, I don't need to walk on eggshells for anyone. People need to not be so overly sensitive when someone comes around and expresses a strong opinion. For all you know, maybe someone DOES need to say something to him that feels like a slap in the face. For all you know, maybe someone DOES need to say to him, "hey dude, where was your head at? you claimed to have a testimony all this time and it just evaporated? What the crap kind of pathetic testimony was that? Lame!" Maybe it's time people in this Church stopped relying on weak testimonies altogether? Stopped saying "I know this" and "I know that" when they really don't, like it's some kind of therapy session. Maybe we shouldn't really say "I know" unless WE REALLY KNOW. And then go and find that knowledge for ourselves, for real. Maybe then we could say we know things with real authority, and maybe then our Church wouldn't have such a dismal retention problem.

Yeah, I don't. We are all tried every day. So what else is new. Are you trying to tell me the big testimony-shattering boogie man is out there waiting for me and I better watch out, because oh boy you found him? Just because you had a difficult experience doesn't mean that those of us who have strong testimonies and have a good grasp of Church history need to walk on eggshells so as to appear sympathetic and unoffensive to those who have had issues. For the record - I am sympathetic and understanding to whatever issues you had. I know I'm coming off as bull-headed. I just don't like being told to "be careful" and that I am " very judgmental about what I thought was "the right way" and how people should act when they had "enough faith" .when I didn't say anything that was really offensive. I don't need to be careful for anybody, k? And I don't think you know me well enough, or could even glean enough from my post, to be saying that I am "very judgmental" of people. Good grief, a person can have an opinion.

I'm not laughing at Dutcher - I'm laughing at the sad, pathetic irony of the situation.

Ah, you were like me, eh? You know me so well after one post! Thanks for the well-meaning lecture, but totally unnecessary. I have every good wish for Richard Dutcher - and I can still think it's lame that he left the Church. I think I'm in a position to make that judgment on that. You don't need to be offended by that just because you have also had a "faith crisis" before. Believe me, I am plenty "understanding" - I just also have an opinion. I sympathize with anyone who has a "faith crisis", as I've had my own in my life, but of all the things to leave the Church over (especially for someone like Dutcher) I feel any historical reasons are pretty silly. Pride, personal sins, I could accept those (though still lame, of course) but having a problem with history? Really? I just can't help but wonder if he even bothered to read both sides of history. Though I suppose if he did, he must not have had enough faith (or a testimony) to overcome any doubts. Which again, is lame, considering the faith inspiring movies he made. It's quite ironic, makes you wonder what in the world his testimony was based on to begin with. It kind of makes me feel deceived.

Utah Local News - Salt Lake City News, Sports, Archive - The Salt Lake Tribune This is likely old news to many if not most of you, but I just found this out. His page on wikipedia also talks about it. Anyway - so article puts it like this, with his quotes: I gotta admit - I LOL'd when I read this. Both in genuine laughter but also in pity. I mean, what a pathetic shame. Seriously, Richard - did you have a testimony to begin with??? You seriously just lost your testimony out of the blue when you started digging into the nitty gritty of Joseph Smith's history?? What exactly did you think a testimony was, if it was to be lost so easily?? Were you really such a woefully naive member of the Church to have yours completely shattered once you dug beneath the surface and had it challenged by things most members today either don't know about or prefer not to talk about?? I find that shocking if that's true - and also very, very disappointing. I'm just gonna say - for the record - I got no problem, zilch, with any of the so-called controversies that can be found when you dig beneath the user-friendly version of LDS Church history, particularly regarding Joseph Smith. Dabbling in astrology and the occult? Yeah - I'm cool with that. Marrying young teenage girls? Yep, I'm cool with that too. Anything else? The world Joseph Smith was aware of was so much more vast than any of us comprehend in our own little worlds of limited vision and understanding. The man was a prolific visionary touched by God, period. I've delved so much into this stuff that none of the "controversial" stuff is really shocking to me. I've done my homework pretty good on Joseph Smith, investigating both sides. And you know what? The Holy Ghost has born witness to me that he was a prophet, that the Book of Mormon is true, that the angel Moroni really did appear to the Three Witnesses, etc. I have a specific testimony of these things. It's too bad Richard Dutcher doesn't. How lame to have created such faith inspiring work, and then leave it like that. I truly wish him well in his quest for truth and hope it will bring him back into the fold. Ya know, for all the things you can criticize the Church for as an organization or a cultural community - none of it negates the core truths. People forget that!!!

so great to be able to read someone else's testimony on the net...