Most Annoying Ex-Mormons

[falafel]

I'm convinced that Bishop Earl exists so that John Dehlin is not the worst interviewer in ex-mormondom.

275(!) interviews and counting, and he's still hoooooorrrrible. Also, why do people do his show? I can't understand the appeal at this point. It can only be the thought that they've figured something out that the rest of the idiots in the church haven't, so they've got to get it out there. Or am I missing something?

[Donuthole]

I watched a couple of these last night. You take the most boring personality and the most boring speaking style you would see at church and just rebrand it for ex-mo video podcasts. That's funny.

Also, I find it interesting when people use historicity as an argument to leave the church then embrace evangelical christianity. OK...

I'm convinced that Bishop Earl exists so that John Dehlin is not the worst interviewer in ex-mormondom.

I watched parts of a couple of them as well. (Confession: I mainly went through and looked to see if we had lost any attractive sisters. Results: Of the 10-12 female thumbnail images I saw, it looks like the Mormon Church went 11-1 in the win-loss column.) The one I watched the longest (the hot lady) was a woman whose entire experience as a member of the Church was from age 8-9. She remembers wondering if the church was true at her baptism because the bishop made her dad baptize her 9 times (her dad kept saying the baptismal prayer wrong, apparently). It was really the beginning of the end for their family. A year later, her mom left the church and the family stopped going to church. She is now a practicing christian in Layton, and she loves Jesus. Bishop Earl continually reminded her how little the Mormon church talks about Jesus, and she couldn't really comment intelligently because she hadn't attended the Mormon church since she was 9. But she went to HS in Utah, so she agrees that Mormons don't talk enough about Jesus.

[wuapinmon]

and the Coke is actually Crystal Pepsi.

[Jeff Lebowski]

We had a guy from our valley go apostate and he was on Bishop Erskine's podcast. Our fellow is now setting up a curriculum for folks to transition out of mormonism and into Evangelical Christianity. I did see where Bishop Erskine read the First Presidency message in the Ensign in December. I believe the message focussed upon Christmas and the birth of Christ. Bishop Erskine added up how many references to Christ were made and how the least frequently used word was "Jesus." This was somehow irrefutable proof of the lack of intimacy in the relationship most Mormons have with Christ. Isiah and Handel really have a shitty relationship with the Savior of all mankind, I tellya!

I watched a couple of these last night. You take the most boring personality and the most boring speaking style you would see at church and just rebrand it for ex-mo video podcasts. That's funny.

Also, I find it interesting when people use historicity as an argument to leave the church then embrace evangelical christianity. OK...

[Goatnapper'96]

Does anyone know this Earl Erskine guy? His website is the www.exmormonfiles.com and he has a bunch of videos/interviews on youtube. Despite leaving the church, he still introduces himself in the videos as "Bishop Erskine."

Glanced through a few videos, including one woman who's big "issue" with the temple was "why did the men and women need to be separated by an aisle during the endowment? We're supposed to be an eternal family, why do we need to be separated?"

We had a guy from our valley go apostate and he was on Bishop Erskine's podcast. Our fellow is now setting up a curriculum for folks to transition out of mormonism and into Evangelical Christianity. I did see where Bishop Erskine read the First Presidency message in the Ensign in December. I believe the message focussed upon Christmas and the birth of Christ. Bishop Erskine added up how many references to Christ were made and how the least frequently used word was "Jesus." This was somehow irrefutable proof of the lack of intimacy in the relationship most Mormons have with Christ. Isiah and Handel really have a shitty relationship with the Savior of all mankind, I tellya!

[smokymountainrain]

I heard that's coming. But the popcorn is plain and the come is actually Crystal Pepsi.

[Topper]

I have a problem with the movie being too long... at least they could give us some popcorn and a coke.

Why would you wish to shorten your nap time?

[falafel]

I have a problem with the movie being too long... at least they could give us some popcorn and a coke.

I heard that's coming. But the popcorn is plain and the Coke is actually Crystal Pepsi.

[Uncle Ted]

Was talking to a guy the other day that was all upset to find out that part of the temple clothing is a green apron. "All of my life I have been told that people wear all white in the temple!"

I have a problem with the movie being too long... at least they could give us some popcorn and a coke.

[myboynoah]

Hmmmmm. I've never given those things too much thought, but now I may need to rethink this.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Does anyone know this Earl Erskine guy? His website is the www.exmormonfiles.com and he has a bunch of videos/interviews on youtube. Despite leaving the church, he still introduces himself in the videos as "Bishop Erskine."

Glanced through a few videos, including one woman who's big "issue" with the temple was "why did the men and women need to be separated by an aisle during the endowment? We're supposed to be an eternal family, why do we need to be separated?"

Was talking to a guy the other day that was all upset to find out that part of the temple clothing is a green apron. "All of my life I have been told that people wear all white in the temple!"

[falafel]

Does anyone know this Earl Erskine guy? His website is the www.exmormonfiles.com and he has a bunch of videos/interviews on youtube. Despite leaving the church, he still introduces himself in the videos as "Bishop Erskine."

Glanced through a few videos, including one woman who's big "issue" with the temple was "why did the men and women need to be separated by an aisle during the endowment? We're supposed to be an eternal family, why do we need to be separated?"

[Uncle Ted]

I also got asked to teach EQ on Sunday, lesson 4, Joy in Troubled Times from the Benson manual. Rather than using the lesson, which wasn't all that interesting save the WWII stuff. I explained that Benson was a product of his times, that he only ever knew the Cold War mindset as an adult, and that he'd been dead for 2 decades and the world has gone on without him. I then read an article talking about NYC's no-murder streak (the longest in its history) and then read several passages from Steven Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature, explaining that we live in the least-violent time ever in the history of mankind. Many people didn't want to believe what I was saying, with one old-timer (it was combined EQ and HP) saying that I was going against modern revelation. That was when I dropped Packer's Oct 2011 talk to the youth saying that the world wasn't ending tomorrow and that they shouldn't despair.

LOL. Maybe the ole-timer was thinking the world was getting to the point were the Lord would order up killing all the wicked (except the virgins, the spoils of war) again like in Moses' day.

a_560x375-300x200.jpg

[wuapinmon]

Kugr?

No, this guy seemed too young and preening.

[San Juan Sun]

I almost self-immolated today on the facebook Mormon Hub group. A guy was talking about how he's a flight attendant and how he came across a passenger sitting quietly with their light on reading a quad, complete with a pass-along card bookmark, and how he couldn't but think that the man was so pretentious. He later added that this was a 'trigger' for him. I've been unhappy with the generally negative piss-and-moan tone of the place of the last few months, and I volcanoed. Someone told me to contribute more substantially to the conversation rather than calling it "circlejerking," so I left the group rather than pressing home the issue.

I've got all kinds of problems with the church right now, but I had a really great time teaching the lesson about Mark 2 on Sunday in Gospel Doctrine. I felt like the point I made about members always acting like everything is perfect only quickly to declare, "I'm not perfect/OH, WRETCHED MAN THAT I AM" is comical given how quickly Mormons will judge someone for doing something like drinking alcohol or coffee, watching a rated-R movie, or even cussing, when those people likely don't consider what they're doing sinful nor even know that it is in Mormon eyes. I had overheard people in the lobby before church telling a story about how they "knew that my co-workers wouldn't even ask me if I'd seen 50 Shades of Grey because they know who, what, and how I am." I got a great discussion going about whether or not ward members are "that person" who has to make a spectacle of themselves whenever someone asks them if they want coffee or to go out for a drink after work. I asked the class, what's more important, the constant reminder of "I'm Mormon" leading to no invites, rather than a polite decline of the drink, but still going out to dinner with people and never mentioning it. Some folks would've thought I was speaking heresy, but the bishop was nodding approval the whole time.

Great stuff and real discussion rather than the canned, "We know what we're supposed to do" glossing over that we get from the regular discussions we have. I'm in a place where a lot pisses me off, but I still like going because I've feel like I'm moving past (not completely yet) the grousing about every little thing that happens stage into one wherein I only share my thoughts, on occasion, about things that really get me worked up.

I also got asked to teach EQ on Sunday, lesson 4, Joy in Troubled Times from the Benson manual. Rather than using the lesson, which wasn't all that interesting save the WWII stuff. I explained that Benson was a product of his times, that he only ever knew the Cold War mindset as an adult, and that he'd been dead for 2 decades and the world has gone on without him. I then read an article talking about NYC's no-murder streak (the longest in its history) and then read several passages from Steven Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature, explaining that we live in the least-violent time ever in the history of mankind. Many people didn't want to believe what I was saying, with one old-timer (it was combined EQ and HP) saying that I was going against modern revelation. That was when I dropped Packer's Oct 2011 talk to the youth saying that the world wasn't ending tomorrow and that they shouldn't despair.

If I could just get a calling teaching SS and EQ every Sunday, I think I'd remain active without many complaints until my dying day. I'm done with most LDS facebook groups. I think CUF's got a good mixture here and we don't get overly aggressive in our complaints (with exceptions, of course). This is the best LDS community on the web, in my opinion.

Kugr?