One of my ex-Mormon friends posted this link on her Facebook wall the other day. It's from the LDS church website, and it talks honestly about polygamy in the early days of the church.
Here's the link: https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-kirtland-and-nauvoo?lang=eng
Growing up in the church here in America I heard most of these things in bits and pieces throughout my life, while some of them I hadn't heard before until I read the Emma Smith book last year. I don't want to write my thoughts or feelings about this article because reading it brings up a lot of anger that I've had for a long time regarding this subject, and writing about it will make me even angrier. But I wanted to share it here for anyone who wants to read official Church articles about it and they won't have to go searching for it.
I'm actually glad the Church put out this article. I'm glad they're being honest by including the pieces of information that makes the Church and Joseph look bad. They're showing both sides of the story, and I appreciate that.
Monday, October 27, 2014
Monday, October 13, 2014
The Cosmos
It's been over a month since I left the huge source of negativity that was the ex-Mormon Facebook group, and I've continued to feel better. But a couple of weeks ago it hit me that while I do feel better, I don't have anything I can read that gives me a deep sense of comfort the way that people in religion do.
I started searching for a book that was the agnostic's equivalent of the Bible, something that's universally uplifting and encouraging without being based on a particular religion. I wrote a Facebook post about it, and my sister suggested that if I'm looking for something uplifting then perhaps I shouldn't exclude religion. Almost no one on my Facebook friends list knows about this blog and so they don't know what I've gone through. Most of them probably don't even know I left the Church. So in response to what my sister wrote, I briefly explained where I am with religion:
One of my friends suggested the book Cosmos and its accompanying television series by Carl Sagan, and in looking at the synopsis they both looked fascinating, so I bought them both. I've started reading the book, and Mc and I are watching the TV series together.
I'm loving them so far! It shows us what we know from our scientific exploration of this world and of the cosmos. It's incredible to see where we fit in our own galaxy alone—we're on the far edge of one of the spiral arms—and where our galaxy fits in with the surrounding galaxies and the expanses of space.
I love this part of science. Cosmos is showing me what IS, what we KNOW and what we have SEEN through our telescopes on Earth and the ones we've sent out into space (albeit from the 1980's). All religion can do is make promises of a "happily ever after" if we do what scriptures and preachers tell us that some invisible man in the sky wants us to do. In watching the beginning of the TV series and reading the first few chapters of the book, I feel like I've been under a religious cloud all my life, only seeing far enough out of our atmosphere to see the sun, moon, and some of the brightest stars. But my eyes are opening to so much of what's outside our little world, and I'm left in amazement.
I haven't read a whole lot of other-world fiction, but there are a couple of books that I read a few years ago that gave me a hint of this grander view of ourselves. One of them was Red Mars which took place on recently-colonized Mars. The other was Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the entire 5-book trilogy) ;) where the main characters were on Earth for only a chapter or two and then the Earth was gone and the readers were introduced to new species and places along with the main character. You were left with the feeling that Earth was very small and insignificant (described only as "mostly harmless" in the Guide) compared to all that's out there. That's how I feel now from watching and reading Cosmos, but I like it.
And yet it also makes me sad that I won't live to see the time when the human race makes space travel a regular occurrence for average people, when we meet an extraterrestrial race, and when we perhaps find and even settle on a new world that can support our body's needs. And I hope that we as a race don't kill ourselves off before that happens!
I started searching for a book that was the agnostic's equivalent of the Bible, something that's universally uplifting and encouraging without being based on a particular religion. I wrote a Facebook post about it, and my sister suggested that if I'm looking for something uplifting then perhaps I shouldn't exclude religion. Almost no one on my Facebook friends list knows about this blog and so they don't know what I've gone through. Most of them probably don't even know I left the Church. So in response to what my sister wrote, I briefly explained where I am with religion:
"No one really knows for sure where we came from before we were born, or why we're here, or what happens to us after we die. All religions have their beliefs, but no one actually knows. The Mormon church claims that "all churches have some light and knowledge and truth, but we have the whole truth"; I left the Mormon religion a year ago, and shortly afterward I came to the conclusion that NO ONE knows these things for sure until they die.
Over the past month or so I've been thinking long and hard about if I could believe in any religion, and right now I can't, because I'd be willingly choosing to follow a religion which doesn't know big-picture stuff for sure-- and yet claims that they do-- and I'm not ready for that.
I've been reading a lot of classic books lately, and while I enjoy reading them, they remind me of the struggles that are part of human nature, and they make me sad. I need something I can read which will uplift me and help me see the good in the world but that isn't filled with religious guesses. Christians can turn to the Bible for comfort and for answers; Mormons have their Book of Mormon; Muslims have the Quran; but as an agnostic I have nothing like that, and that's what I'm searching for."
One of my friends suggested the book Cosmos and its accompanying television series by Carl Sagan, and in looking at the synopsis they both looked fascinating, so I bought them both. I've started reading the book, and Mc and I are watching the TV series together.
I'm loving them so far! It shows us what we know from our scientific exploration of this world and of the cosmos. It's incredible to see where we fit in our own galaxy alone—we're on the far edge of one of the spiral arms—and where our galaxy fits in with the surrounding galaxies and the expanses of space.
I love this part of science. Cosmos is showing me what IS, what we KNOW and what we have SEEN through our telescopes on Earth and the ones we've sent out into space (albeit from the 1980's). All religion can do is make promises of a "happily ever after" if we do what scriptures and preachers tell us that some invisible man in the sky wants us to do. In watching the beginning of the TV series and reading the first few chapters of the book, I feel like I've been under a religious cloud all my life, only seeing far enough out of our atmosphere to see the sun, moon, and some of the brightest stars. But my eyes are opening to so much of what's outside our little world, and I'm left in amazement.
I haven't read a whole lot of other-world fiction, but there are a couple of books that I read a few years ago that gave me a hint of this grander view of ourselves. One of them was Red Mars which took place on recently-colonized Mars. The other was Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the entire 5-book trilogy) ;) where the main characters were on Earth for only a chapter or two and then the Earth was gone and the readers were introduced to new species and places along with the main character. You were left with the feeling that Earth was very small and insignificant (described only as "mostly harmless" in the Guide) compared to all that's out there. That's how I feel now from watching and reading Cosmos, but I like it.
And yet it also makes me sad that I won't live to see the time when the human race makes space travel a regular occurrence for average people, when we meet an extraterrestrial race, and when we perhaps find and even settle on a new world that can support our body's needs. And I hope that we as a race don't kill ourselves off before that happens!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)