I know, I know, this blog is “Trapped by the…” Oops, almost did it. But I’m NOT saying it today. No I am not.

Mostly because I am TIRED of IT. Right now, my life is pretty quiet as far as IT goes. I am busy finishing book deadlines, revisions, and doing a new proposal for my new series, The Jenny T. Partridge Mystery series. The local, uh, ITS, are living me alone. My parents are only going to them temple TWICE a week, instead of serving yet another mission (that’s an M word I can say. That’s NOT the one I mean.)

All of this means that until next Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, when conversation at my Mom’s (another M word I can say today) house turns to IT, I can pretend IT does not affect my life.

I’ve been pretty well rooted, lately, in my new series, Jenny T. Partridge Dance Mysteries, and I have to tell you, these books are funny, cathartic, and so enjoyable to write.

In Jenny’s world, they are Mo…eh, er, ITS, Catholics, dancers, psycho dance moms, and lots of hot cops, and it’s refreshing not to have to take life so DAMNED seriously.

I hope a few other people agree.

My lovely friend Laura is still answering my emails, and yet she gets angrier, and angrier, probably because she has realized she can’t shut me up or cow me. This is a common. I see it a lot. I am aware I won. I told her to stop acting like I was harassing HER, when she came to me. This was her response. My answers are within the text.

In a message dated 11/15/2006 8:52:25 A.M. Mountain Standard Time, laurastoutenburg@xxxxxx.xxx writes:
I CAME TO YOU?!!? You posted the story on your blog. What was the purpose of that if not to get reactions and responses from people??!! Just to make you feel better for having vented? Please. Talk about a load of crap.

It seems as though the more calm my manner, and more matter-of-fact, the more riled up you become. Interesting. Yes, YOU came to me. The operative words here are MY BLOG. You know that “free agency” thing Mormons are so found of spouting off about? YOUR free agency is not to come and not to read it. If YOU choose to come to ME and read MY blog, that’s your choice. You did come to me. Sorry if you don’t like it, but it’s the truth.

Here’s the bottom line truth. I have JUST AS MUCH RIGHT to bear my testimony it is NOT true, and you do to bear your testimony that it IS true.

As for going on “feelings” YES. You are absolutely right. If we were given proof of everything here on Earth there would be no free agency, no choice for ourselves.

Huh? Sorry, but that is a silly argument and best, and ludicrous at worst. You’re spouting drivel. The difference between you and me is you think you HAVE to have all the answers, and I know that sometimes there ARE no answers. That’s all Mormonism does. It makes it easy. It makes you THINK you have all your bases covered. That works for you, FINE, but stop trying to tell me it has to work for me. It doesn’t.

We are given the opportunity to hear different points of view and different gospels and teachings and then choose for ourselves if it is true or not. There is no solid proof about all doctrine in ANY religion. It’s called FAITH. Ever heard of FAITH??

Why yes I have. I believe a group of people (about 76 of them) followed, David Koresh to their death in Waco, Texas, based entirely on faith. And then there was the 914 followers of Jim Jones who drank cyanide Koolaid and died in Guyana. Again, faith was VERY strong that day. Ever heard of actually THINKING for yourself and doing the research? Faith is fallible. Facts are not. And since you are getting more combative, I’m going to throw a few FACTS your way for you to chew on. I’m sure you will ignore them, although they will make your cyanide Koolaid a little harder to swallow.

*There is NOT ONE SHRED of archaeological proof that any of the events of the Book of Mormon EVER took place ANYWHERE in this world. This has become such a bone of contention that several Mormon “scholars” have taken to claiming it never took place here in North America at all. Despite the fact that Joseph Smith claimed it to be the history of America.

*There is SUBSTANTIAL DNA evidence proving beyond any doubt that Native Americans are NOT descendants of a lost tribe of Israelites, as the Book of Mormon states, but rather are descendants of Asia.

*The Book of Abraham, “translated” by Joseph Smith, has been determined to be a “Book of Breathings,” and totally unrelated to anything Joseph claimed it was.

*The “First Vision” story you heard when you were baptized was unknown until 1838, eighteen years after its alleged occurrence. Interesting huh? That’s also TEN YEARS after Joseph Smith began his missionary efforts. Guess he needed an effective tool. There are two other versions. One, in his own handwriting, says ONLY Jesus Christ, appeared to him. It also mentions nothing about a revival. Another version, recorded in Smith’s diary fifteen years AFTER it supposedly occurred, talks about two unidentified “Personages” accompanied by many angels. How could there be THREE significantly different VERSIONS of the CORNERSTONE of Mormonism? I can guess at that answer. Bet you can, too, if you even wanted to.

*In 1828, eight years after he supposedly had been told by God himself to join no church, Smith applied for membership in a local Methodist church. Uh, if God appeared to ME and told me not to join another church, you can damn sure bet I wouldn’t be doing it.

The list goes on and on. There simply is NOTHING substantial for Mormonism to stand up except for faith. So you go with that.

We don’t have proof about a lot of things in our lives before we choose what we’re doing to do in different situations. We have to go with our “gut” our intuition our faith.

I prefer common sense, thank you very much.

Once again, you have not provided any specific information on your “research” about the church and why it is false.

YOU didn’t ask me to. Therefore, I did not presume to send you unwanted information. But you kept going, and so now I have given you some (see above), and I can give you much, much more. Except I’m sure you won’t and don’t want it. Why think? You are complacent in your ABSOLUTE KNOWLEDGE. Not knowing is scary. Some people can’t handle that.

I cannot research the claims if you don’t say what they are! You could at least refer me to a website or a book or something that explains all of these “issues” within the LDS religion.

Laura, you did not ASK me for this, and so I did not give it to you. I suggest you start here:
http://home.teleport.com/~packham/tract.htm

Oh, and FYI, yes this is considered an “anti-Mormon” site, so go ahead and discount all you read without actually considering it. That’s common. That’s the way to do things in “faith.”

Again, you insist that I haven’t reasearched the church. I have. I just haven’t researched through the eyes of a non-believer, looking for flaws, the way that you have.

Reading Church-approved material is not research. The Church consistently censors, omits, and lies about their past. The official Brigham Young history, sanctioned by the Church, mentions only ONE wife. How odd.

I have researched it through the eyes of a believer and that is very different. I’m sure you think that is being disillusioned and brain-washed.

Yup, pretty much. Because until you actually TAKE all the facts, and weigh both sides, you are being brainwashed. Take a sheet a paper. Put all the facts against it on one side, and the facts FOR it on the other. I suspect all the “for” will end being “FAITH BASED,” or based on emotions and feelings, or community.

That is your choice and your right. You say you’re happy. I hope that’s true. If it is, why do you feel such a need to discredit and bad talk a religion that is deeply felt and believed by millions of good, hernest people, like your own parents?

I don’t discredit or bad talk anything. I TELL THE TRUTH. Mormonism is fascinating, warts and all. There are plenty of warts. Tell me, why do you talk up something so patently false and deceptive, and inherently harmful? Why do you feel the need to do that?

You say I started this. You posted the blog, you wrote the books(fictional of course).

You did start this “discourse.” You came to ME. To my blog. It’s your choice. It’s YOUR free agency. No one is holding you down and MAKING you read it. No one is asking you to come back. You are choosing to do so. As for me, I have AS MUCH RIGHT to say and write about how I think and feel as you do. And that’s the bottom line.

I am just a Mormon who is of course offended and ticked off by someone like you because your purpose with all of this is just to sling negativity on the LDS church and of course make money doing it.

Nasty little viper tongue you have there, Laura. Good try. Doesn’t work. I don’t sling negativity on the CHURCH. The only thing I do IS POINT OUT THE TRUTH. Therefore, the NEGATIVITY comes from the Church. Maybe you better look a little closer at your own desire to ATTACK ME. Where is that coming from?

Nothing more. You’re not trying to help people or bring them to light.

Well, I would, if I had the light. Or if I even THOUGHT you did. But you don’t. You just have this crazy stack of lies that you spout as truth. And you think you have EVERY right to do so, and everybody else should just shut up. Such a fascinating people, the Mormons.

You’re just venting your anger and frustration because you live among TONS of Mormons who you can’t stand and they drive you crazy.

Now you’re just being stupid. I love Mormons. I have lots of Mormon friends. I just don’t like the religion, and the atmosphere it creates.

I get that, they would probably bug me too but you choose to stay there in Utah and live amongst them. You don’t have to. I am a Mormon and even I would never want to live in Utah.

You’re right, I can stay away Natalie and SO CAN YOU……

Gee, thanks for the advice.

I’ve had several more email exchanges with my friend Laura, and quite frankly, I’m starting to see her point. No, no, don’t get worried. I won’t be building Santa Claus out of an old Clorox bottle at Relief Society anytime soon. What I mean is, she has been TAUGHT her whole life that she has the only true thing. So when I question it, OF COURSE she is going to respond with arrogance and absolute belief.

She says she knows, without any shadow of any doubt, that THIS IS THE ONLY TRUE THING. Why would she listen to me?

Of course Natalie!!! I know that I am convinced that I am right! That IS the whole point in having a testimony, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that God lives, that our church and it’s teachings are true, that I am a child of God sent to Earth to go through trials and be tested, to strive everyday to follow God’s commandments. If I wasn’t convinced that I am right, I would stop going to church, stop praying and reading my scriptures, quit doing my calling, etc. etc. What would be the point if I wasn’t sure I am right?

Hmm. Interesting point. My response to her?

“So why is it I am not allowed to be convinced I am right, also?”

Just some food for thought.

Our newest friend, Laura, who apparently FOUND my blog while looking for something else (it happens a LOT), wrote:

“GROW UP Cambre’s Mom, noone cares that you are such a great mom that you stood up to someone who didn’t respect your boundaries while trying to be kind.
I have a feeling you are quick to hate other people who are not like-minded as well. That’s too bad for you.”

Laura, Laura, Laura. I DON’T hate anyone, really. Well, I sorta dislike that one pyscho dance mom who thinks her daughter is the only good dancer on her team, and who bitches about other kids dancing NEXT to her daughter who aren’t as good. Actually, I dislike her a lot. There’s a word for no one dancing but YOUR DAUGHTER. It’s called SOLO. Take her and be gone. Solos are done alone. (It should be noted here that her daughter is SIX! No one is that good at six. Can you see her in a few years?)

Her, I don’t like much. The rest of the world, I mostly like.

That doesn’t mean I have to accept the lack of respect for MY BOUNDARIES.

Laura is taking exception to an OLD post, that received a couple other FAIRLY nasty responses from Mormons in the comments. I must have pushed some buttons with this one, which is okay, because it pushed my buttons, too.

Apparently, Laura thinks I should have just allowed the primary president to do whatever she wanted.

Can we turn the tables here?

1. I show up at Laura’s house (she doesn’t know me, has never met me or seen me, and neither has her daughter met me or seen me).

2. I do not introduce myself, but ask for her daughter.

3. When questioned about who I am, I identify myself as the BUSY BEE president. I do not, however, give my name.

4. When further questioned about my intent, I tell her that I want to invite her daughter to come to my church, because I certainly don’t want her daughter to feel left out.

5. Once she assures me that her daughter will not feel left out, and in fact, really had no idea things were going on that she was not included in, I proceed to get offended and huffy, because as the BUSY BEE PRESIDENT it is my job to make sure all the young children in the ward boundaries, whether they are MORMON OR NOT, get their dose of indoctrination.

Can you consider that, Laura? Don’t tell me to grow up. YOU GROW up, or at least look outside your window past your narrow view of life. Some Mormons believe so strongly in their “truth” that they don’t give a second thought to trampling all over someone else’s beliefs, values, or rights.

You, apparently, are one of those. You are also so narrowminded that you cannot understand that refusing to let you TRAMPLE on my beliefs does not equate itself to hate. I do not hate you. I did not just write YOU a hatemail. Nope. That was you.

Next you’ll probably tell me to “drop dead” because you cannot adequately respond to MY response without getting ugly.

That’s okay. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.

Take YOUR hate, and put it where the sun don’t shine. I have neither the time or the energy to deal with the likes of you. However, you do make for good fodder on my blog. For that, I thank you.

Just a note: You are not doing your church a favor with your defense. People like you would best serve the Mormon Church by sewing their mouths shut.

Jeff Lindsay, over at the Mormanity blog, is a pretty cool dude. He is a very faithful, believing Mormon, and he is ardent and vocal in his defense of the Church. HOWEVER, and this is a big however, he has always been able to find a balance, where he steps back and considers the other side.

His most recent post is proof of that.

I offer a weak parallel to this story in pointing out that many ex-Mormons, even some who show a lot of bitterness toward the Church, may be much more honorable people that we have realized, and may have entirely logical reasons from their perspective for leaving. In fact, it is not hard to find reasons to reject Joseph Smith or Brigham Young or any past of modern prophet, or to find doctrines and practices that one can strongly object to.

Many who leave do not do so because the moral standards were too high or because someone snubbed them at Church or because tithing was too painful or they just got sick of home teaching or were victims of gossip or had a serious moral sin that they wouldn’t quit. It is understandable, in fact, that people would get upset over polygamy or several other things in LDS history or even in the Bible that would lead them to reject the Church or organized religion in general. There are certainly powerful arguments to be made and often no simple answers.

Jeff also has a great sense of humor, as he has shown with me before, since I have a tendency to tease, and he has more than once been the object of that teasing.

After I posted on his blog, he referred his readers to my blog, but noted to them that I am anti-Bigfoot, so BE WARNED.

This tickled my funny bone, since he was referring to my post about Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum, who is an ardent supporter and believer in BOTH the Book of Mormon and Bigfoot.

Like I said, Jeff has a sense of humor. The world can use more religious folk of ALL ilk like him.

And me? I am anti-Bigfoot.