Re: My Tentative Conclusion about gospel convos with Traditional Believers
Posted: 16 Jul 2018, 05:39
Minyan Man wrote: ↑15 Jul 2018, 20:44SD, where does your friendship stand since this happened? Assuming you're still friends, how will this affect your relationship in the future?
The relationship is still good. Those interactions represented only a small portion of the 3 days we spent in the wilderness together. Much of the time was invested in logistics of meeting our needa for shelter, food, rest etcetera, finding out way in the trails, getting from point A to B and discussing neutral topics like financial planning, family situations, politics, our roots. And those times were good. Plus he makes me laugh with his approach to life, which is heavy on energy conservation.
I think the relationship has remained relatively strong for these reasons.
1. I'm comfortable in my own skin as an unorthodox Mormon.
2. I think he's blinded by what he's been taught to the point he can't see abuse or gaps in the lds narrative, although I never say that to him. So when he comes out with harsh judgments against me, I eventually take them with a grain of salt.
3. I apologize if I ever, in his view, cross a line.
4. At times he's offended me deeply with some of his harsh statements, and I just don't call him until the sting goes out of the bite. In other words, I don't hold a grudge.
5. We have a lot of common interests.
6. I don't have many other long term friends - we have been friends for 26 years in spite of living in different countries for 15 of those years. As you age, you start to realize how uncommon it is to have a friend with whom the relationship lasts decades. This tends to encourage forgiveness in me when it comes to him.
No, if anything, I'm a bit sad that brought up Fanny Alger or some of my unorthodox views with him. I do believe that if Mormonism is working for someone, you should support them in it. Not tear down their faith. Whether the LDS philosophy is correct or not, I believe happiness is the goal of being alive, and if believing in Mormonism makes a person happy, it's inconsistent with my world view to tear that down.The more I think about this, the angrier I get. I hope you're not going in this direction.