Children of Dune -Frank Herbert
It felt so good when I finally began challenging the church. Remarks made against Mormonism and religion in general stuck with me because they made sense. Watching self-righteous members foolishly retaliate made me grin. (Well done, liberalism, you brought the free thinker out in me.) It’s amazing how much I didn’t question things before that—things with such a high cost that I should have probed them relentlessly and constantly. For all the sacrifices church members are compelled to make, nothing should be beyond questioning.
It is impossible for one to know if a thing is unworthy of reverence if one is not willing to stop revering it unconditionally. Complete reverence is, in truth, complete surrender. Few members have an absolute reverence, but the church does not ask its members to surrender everything. The church only steals what it needs. It takes money and manpower from members and, in return, deprives them of their full potential without their consent. The church gets away with it because members aren't allowed to question its legitimacy.
The church is capable of doing many benevolent things, but daring to question such an organization is not indicative of callousness. An ideally altruistic organization would never demand veneration, and would even understand the dangerous implications of absolute loyalty. It is in everyone’s best interest to question all individuals, organizations, and societies.
Reverence gives us a means to convey deep respect and admiration, but unconditional reverence is a thing for ancient empires and cults.
7 particles of intelligence:
Nice post. I hadn't thought of what reverence actually meant in that context.
Very well done. Unthinking reverence is nothing more than the subjugation of the soul.
You have some great posts. I'm trying daily to be more and more irreverent when it comes to The Church of Cheeze and Rice and Rattlesnake Eggs.
I really like what you said here. You have a real knack for describing what I'm feeling right now.
I'm glad to here that. One of my primary reasons for creating my own exmormon blog was to have something that other exmormons could relate to. I know reading others' blogs helped me out of the initial daze I was in immediately after my disaffection.
Wow, this was great and I really enjoyed reading it. I really agree with it. Oh oops, by the way my name is Emily, I commented on another one of your blogs but I thought you might like to at least know my name! :) Anyway I really agree with you on this one. I like the way you write and I know I'll be back to your page in the future.
I like your post and I think you have some good thoughts. However you suggest seperate ideas that I took as contradictive. You fist say that the church does not take ask the member to surrender everything. That they only take what they need. Later you say that an ideally altruistic organization would never demand complete veneration. Are you suggesting that the church doesn't demand it? And if so doesn't that contradict what you say before? Or are you saying that that the church is not altruistic and there demand for complete reverence is a serious misjudgement. The latter interpretation weakens your initial argument.
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