(June 3, 2014 at 1:37 pm)Heywood Wrote: It doesn't matter if Mormonism deserves to be ridiculed. Ridiculing your dad's beliefs and calling him names isn't an effective tactic at building a relationship with him.

And yet... Who should be the wisest? The father or its child? This is a paradigmatic example of what bullshit stories do when they call themselves religion.

As to the OP, mabe his dad can have some decency rubbed on him, contrary to his holy books supposed purpose-

OP, I don't think that anyone-- much less Heywood-- could fully comprehend what you've gone through in your lifetime so far. The fact that he isn't up in arms for you screams ignorance of Mormonism in particular, and is a clearcut example of the good ol Christian double standard.

Your father was obviously the protagonist here by responding with anything other than "how are you and wifey?"

If Heywood wants to post on Facebook that he fucking loves getting up at 7am on a Sunday to go listen to old ladies sing hyms and pastor man belching out another all too familiar speech about inner turmoil and reassurances of their religion--more power to him. This is just yet another example of the double standard where believers give allowances to one another. At least you and I go into every situation objectively. Heywood clearly took sides not based upon righteousness, but religiousness. Your religious proclivities should not affect your relationship with your family and if it does, shame on them.

It seems we all live our own little versions of hell on earth with religion and come out better for it. I'm still in the last transitioning phase .. its called Recovery. Get yourself to the point of indifference towards anything he could throw at you before you talk to your father again though. He might say something he'll regret when his newest culty reconversion tactic doesnt work. Oh! And NO one needs to know your business about you and your wife, but you and your wife. Remember that

(June 3, 2014 at 1:37 pm)Heywood Wrote: It doesn't matter if Mormonism deserves to be ridiculed. Ridiculing your dad's beliefs and calling him names isn't an effective tactic at building a relationship with him.

As much as I don't normally agree with Heywood, he is right in this regard.

Elconquistador, if your goal is to have a relationship with your dad, you can't expect to meet vitriol with vitriol and expect a kind reaction. Yes, your dad is being incredibly immature, but if one of you doesn't change the equation, it won't change. It doesn't appear your dad is going to do that on his own.

That being said, I'm not saying you have to be nice to your dad. It sounds like he's being an insufferable twat. It's just, you have to decide what you want and act accordingly.

Make a list of just the stuff the Mormon's admit they were wrong about, like their racial stuff with blacks, polygamy, their racial stuff about native Americans, polygamy*, the 100+ Mormon schisms that have occurred since 1830, and ask your dad why he is so sure about anything else they spout off about.

*I put polygamy on the list twice since it was such a royal cluster fuck!

The Mormons have a large colony in Mexico to practice the polygamy.

(June 3, 2014 at 1:18 pm)Heywood Wrote:

(June 3, 2014 at 1:01 pm)elconquistador Wrote: Precisely. I'm on a quick road to nowhere according to him.

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Thank you.

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Did you think to ask me if I had already done that? Countless times? Many many times?! Go away. Just go away. Like every theist, you'll assume the answer before you've asked the appropriate questions. Congratulations on contributing to the world's stupidity.

I hope things work out between you and your dad. They won't if you continue to call him names and ridicule his beliefs.

Where I come from parents love their children regardless of what they say about their religious beliefs.

(June 3, 2014 at 12:48 pm)Elskidor Wrote: So was he blaming the no job thing on the losing the Jesus thing?

Seems to me as if he sees it as a form of leverage. Anything he can do in the service of dragging someone back to the lord is worthwhile no matter how much pain or suffering it causes for all involved, because in some distant future they'll all be happy together in heaven (or wherever it is that mormons expect to end up).

The willingness to damage or destroy relationships today out of a belief that you can fix it all up after you are dead is just another way that religion contributes to human misery.

I get it. I'm from a Mormon background as well, and my parents and friends certainly tried to tell me that my falling away was because I wasn't faithful enough. They never really bothered to find out if I had really tried, but assumed I was simply being sinful. It's emotional and psychological abuse, and your reaction to your father's words are completely justified. Instead of reacting harshly to your anger, he should've tried to understand why you are so upset in the first place; of course, this did not happen.

Heywood is wrong; your father's beliefs deserve no respect. Perhaps you shouldn't have called him a coward or goaded him, but the beliefs being pure bullshit always need to be called out.

Sorry to hear this, buddy. I'm getting ready to go through the same thing.
We should start a band "the disowned ones".