If I may ask, why do you want to spend money supporting people trying to evangelize to whales and such?
I got on my high-horse before I even asked what you were up to. Sorry about that.
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Your horse gets high? Sounds like it could use the healing power of Christ.
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I thought out of anyone working on interspecies communication, Christians would be the ones to get it done.
Also it is starting to really worry me that there might not already an organization working on this. Like maybe I’ve thought of these people all wrong.
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That part of the Mormon faith has always struck a chord, in the “any sufficiently advanced technology is indisquishable from magic” sort of way. Or the zalazney way of describing his worlds and characters.
It is a Russel’s Teapot sorta thing–why not? And I am not being demeaning, I am honestly talking about articles of faith.
When taken only semi literally, as Carl Sagan said, we are made of starstuff. So, why aren’t stars and worlds made of us?
(Four margaritas, the last was strong)
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That was for a long time a bit of a saving grace for Mormonism to me.
Yes, much of it is far-flung, but Mormon Doctrine says that God doesn’t make things from nothing, He uses materials at hand. That could explain dinosaurs in a number of ways! Also Kolob’s extended timeline compared to Earth’s (a thousand years on Earth is a day on Kolob, and there are other valid reckonings) could explain the weird six-day Earth creation story.
The LDS people believe some far-out shit, but there’s wiggle-room in the deeper stuff for the scientifically-minded. They hide this stuff in plain sight, like in the group of volumes called “History of the Church”. It’s their own publication, and anyone can read it, and that’s where much of the real dirt is.
I guess what I am drunkenly saying is I’m not gonna diss on anyone’s beliefs. Well, unless I have proof 
But I was on a plane today with 40+ ‘elders’ today, and they reaffirmed that being a kind, respectful person is still possible. (Not a single one was 21)
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I’m glad to hear they were being good ambassadors.
When the Elders knock, I invite them in, give them water and a snack, and break the bad news about what kind of apostate I am.
Sometimes they take it well. Others bugger off right quick. The smarter ones tend to want to save me, or learn more.
But I walked in those Doc Martens, and I wore that black name tag.
It’s not easy bearing Jesus’ name in all your dealings, if you take it seriously. Many of them do. I did. They deserve a cold drink.
One lovely member lady invited us in and made me a BLT. It was amazing, and I was so grateful. Those kids are a long way from home.
Whoops, rambling. Sorry.
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The amazing world of ex-Mormons.
Ex-Mormons always seem to be interesting people.
The belief and the adventures that go with it, and then the separation from it all, seems to construct a unique personality.
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Ok, everyone, important update:
The special worship service for people and their canines (on leashes) and other household pets (in carrying crates, please) runs from 5 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on the third Sunday of each month, welcoming human companions and their well-mannered, companion animals to participate.
calvaryepiscopal-danvers.org - calvaryepiscopal danvers Resources and Information.
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At least they allow barking
Well, you know what the bible says: Make a joyful noise unto the lord. Right?
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I always, always, always treat those that come to my door with the time and respect they want or need. I make it clear that a convert isn’t gonna happen, but if you want to have an ecclesiastical, moral, ethical, or even just literary conversation I have tea, lemonade, and time.
I still tease about ‘elder’ though.
######i wish all protestants in the US were as hoopy as mormons
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I always respected people who said this up-front. They were smart, and you could tell real skeptics from conspiracy-theorizing types. (But I came home in 1999, so 9/11 hadn’t happened yet.)
There was a guy in one of my areas who could barely afford his own housing…he lived in a room in one of those large houses converted to rented-out rooms. He had the missionaries to Pizza Hut once a month, no matter what. It was a standing appointment in that area, whomever the missionaries at the time were.
(Missionaries are rotated from area to area within the mission, usually after 6-12 weeks in one area. Companionships are changed roughly twice as often.)
He loved the dedication of the missionaries, but he wasn’t ready to get baptized and live it. And he knew it, but he still liked his time with the Elders once a month.
We never failed to show. At his place, a shitty one-bedroom-with-bathroom-down-the-hall place upstairs and barely enough room for a bed, let alone stuff of his own. He was poorer than us, if that was possible, but his monthly connection with God’s servants was important. Who were we to deny him?
I hope he’s ok today. I think that was Manitowoc.
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Non-religious, but definitely more promising if you want to dive deeper into communication with non-human animals:
In the 1960's, Margaret Howe had a very unusual roommate: a bottlenose dolphin named Peter. They lived and worked in a small, damp apartment on the island of St. Thomas. In her first-ever radio interview, Margaret tells the story of their time together. Historian D. Graham Burnett helps us understand what it all means (and why so many of our friends have dolphin tattoos).
It’s a great episode of RadioLab (but I’ve never heard a bad episode of that show, so I’m probably biased.)
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In case anyone would like some kind of evidence…
And that’s really my “White Bible” the name tag is clipped to, as many missionaries do with their daily tags.
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Why would someone lie about being a Formon? XD
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It looks pretty clean; did you get it replaced every now and again? I never went door to door, but my Bible looks a lot worse for wear.
It took me a while to realise just how strong the Evangelical church was in the US. It’s a bit of a shock to see what people with your beliefs act like in large groups. I was used to seeing a big Catholic church, a smaller Church of Ireland, then isolated Evangelical, Jehovah’s Witness and Mormon groups. As far as a lot of people were concerned, if you weren’t one of the first two you were basically a cult. We didn’t have much contact with Mormons, but my family had good friends who were JW. I think a number of these groups are much more likely to be nice to others if they don’t have a lot of power.
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Lol, and we’re back here again
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Have you tried infecting his dreams with tales of the horrifying ‘Qualia Zombie’?
The most common source is monozygotic twins: since the embryo is allocated a soul immediately upon conception; but later splits into two independently developing embryos, one of the twins has a soul while the other is a soulless shell; but with a fully operational human nervous system and thus the capability to emulate all the behaviors and responses of an ensouled person with chilling accuracy.
holds flashlight under face to make spooky shadows
Such accuracy that nobody can tell which of the twins is a soulless abomination. Not even the twins themselves…
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Well, obviously the soulless one is immediately infiltrated with demons, making them evil.
And we all know that the evil twin is the one with the van dyke.
But that’s an interesting question I hadn’t thought to ask him. I’ll have to do that now.
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