Jewish Doctor to Attend Mormon Conference
The doc is coming to General Conference with me tomorrow! Ha! For the clueless, the Mormon church holds a semi-annual, worldwide conference via satellite television. Church leaders address the members on various topics over the course of two days. If you're interested, it's streamed live over the Internet: www.lds.org.
The conference is a two-day event, comprised of five two-hour sessions -- a total of 10 hours. Don't worry, I always manage to sleep through at least one or two of the sessions. :) I'm such a horrible Mormon.
Anyhow, I think it's funny the doc wants to come! I did not pressure him at all -- I just invited. Plus, I think it'll be good for him to see things. Funniest part: he's a Jew! hahaha! This relationship cracks me up.
The conference is a two-day event, comprised of five two-hour sessions -- a total of 10 hours. Don't worry, I always manage to sleep through at least one or two of the sessions. :) I'm such a horrible Mormon.
Anyhow, I think it's funny the doc wants to come! I did not pressure him at all -- I just invited. Plus, I think it'll be good for him to see things. Funniest part: he's a Jew! hahaha! This relationship cracks me up.
posted by Gay Mormon at 1:23 AM
11 Comments:
Dear GM, This doctor you're dating must really care for you to go to General Conference with you. I used to go and keep wishing the General Authorities would be inspired to brevity. But it never happened. The Doc will definitely get a feel for what Mormonism is all about, listening to all those long-winded talks. How come our regular Sunday church services are longer than those of other denominations? And our biggest mass-gatherings of members (the General Conferences) seem to go on forever.... it was hard enough for me to sit there in person. But my mom would relive (and relive, and relive) the pleasures of attending the General Conference by getting a tape of it.
Wow... if I had known he was a jew I would have said to go for it a long time ago. I LOVE jews.
Seriously, it should be great. Some of us can still enjoy "long winded" talks. Ever try going to Catholic mass?
Dear GM: It's very cool that your boyfriend wants to understand you better, and explore your world; it's part of his genuine desire for closeness. I like hearing about your life and wish you well. But GM, I do not for the life of me understand why your brother posts here so often, so dogmatically, so reptitiously. He says we don't get that he has a right to his religious beliefs. Of course we do. Does he expect us to debate his religious beliefs? Beliefs are simply a matter of faith, they are not decoded by rationl debate. I would no more waste my breath trying to dissuade your brother of his religious beliefs than I would try to dissauade a Moslem of HIS beliefs. But, of course, I feel no more obliged to follow the tenets of his faith than of Islam. But we KNOW his beliefs. We KNOW he personally oes not "condone" homosexuality. So what? If we do not take his bait and try to rebut the flimsy arguments he tries to present, he whines that we are refuse to engage in "scholarly debate." If someone offered "scholarly debate" worth arguing over, some of us would welcome it. If he can't find people here willing to play on his terms on take him seriously, or accept that he knows enough to be even worth arguing with, he can go elsewhere to find people to play with. I'd rather live my life and talk to you than talk to your brother. But if he is not talking to you in your blog, GM, but just wants to pontificate at length on what his opinion of homosexiality is--WHY does he expect us to listen, much less engage him in conversation. We know his position. We've heard it. Repeating it doesn't make it clearer. His obvious belief that gay people should be treated as second-class citizen, without the full legal rights and protections of others, is offensive to me. I find him simply nother common, garden-variety bigot, who opposition to gay rights is about as interesting to me as some white rascist's attempt to find Bblical grounds in support of his beliefs (as many segregationists used to do). But does your brother pln to keep repeating, indefinitely here, the fact that he does not "condone": homsexuality. To me, that is about as interestuing as knowing hether he appove of drinking or smoking (I assume he follows the Words of Wisdom and does not approve); but he seems awfully self-centered if he thinks we are all supposed to debate his personal beliefs (based on non-rational foundations); he is entitled to his beliefs. Fortunately, polls show rising support for gay rights among the younger people in America. And as times pass, acceptance will pobanly continue to grow. I won't talk with you brother, I find his way of expressing himself repulsive. But maybe when he starts his on blog he can discuss things with those who find hm worth discussing things with. People who think his predjudices are worth dignifying with responses.
Very well said Orson. Excellent post. Just run a spell check next time. You must be typing so fast that you're dropping letters now and then.
Dear Gay Mormon: The reason your brother is, for me, so tiresome, is that I just don't care if he thinks homosexuals--like you--are immoral, and his saying over and over what his belief system is doesn't do anything but exhaust my patience. So he believes the the Book of Mormon is Holy, and bases his views on homosexuality upon his acceptance of (and interpretation of) a particular religion. If I now think the Book of Mormon is simply a book of fiction writen by a 19th century writer, and I subscribe to a different belief system than your brother does (I'm an ex-mo, agnostic, if anyone cares), why does he imagine I will care to hear, over and over, what he believes? This blog isn't about him. He's shared his testimony here, quite clearly. Move on. He is one person, and he expects us all to somehow want to debate him. Why does he think he is that important? To him, based on his belief-system, homosexuality is immoral. To me, it is not; a gay person can, like a straight person, choose to act kindly, decently, ethically--or not. No one is inherently better than another because of his or her sexual orientation. Your brother likes to whine that no one hears what he is saying, or wants to talk ith him about his views. I do hear exactly what he's saying. No, I'm not interested in his views, any more than I am interested in having the Missionaries come to my door and recite the same spiel I used to recite in younger days.
Dear GM: Your brother would have us believe that he deliberately made some intellectually weak arguments against homosexuality to try to provoke people to debate with him. If he actually did that, he is a jerk; decent people don't toy with others by making arguments they don't really believe, just to see if they can get others riled up to debate them. And if he did make intellectually weak arguments out of sheer stupidity, and is now trying to cover up what he did by claiming it was an intentional debating ploy, he still seems like a jerk. Sophisticated people don't get into debates over whether they should pass judgments on other people's choice of lifestyles. G.M, you are an adult; if you are happy with the homosexual relationship you are in, I respect your choice. The issue of whether or not someone else "condones" it is only relevant to the person making such judgments. Live your life. Let your brother worry over who passes moral judgment in his eyes, and who does not. Since your brother has appointed himself judge of us all, he will probably feel a need to reply to this. But I could care less abnout who or what meets your brother's approval on matters of morals. You seem to have found a nice person to spend time with, who values and respects you. Those who have a problm with that, and aee trying to control your relationship, just might be jealous.
Dear GM: I've about had it with your brother. He wrote that he deliberately made arguments against homosexuality that he knew were intellectually weak, just to try to provoke people here into arguing with him. Doesn't he have something better to do than to toy with people? He might see himself as the great judge of us all--who among us does he judge to be moral, who among does he judge to be immoral? To me, he just seems like a jerk. I've enjoyed reading your blogs, and watching your growth. But your smug brother's trolling here is getting old. Is he actually, honestly OLDER than you? Making specious arguments because you hope you will get more people to debate you seems so immature, like he is so desperate for attention (not to mention intellectually dishonest)that he will say things he does not even believe, if he hopes others will take him seriously. Why this games-playing? Other people are simply trying to lead their lives, and help you if they can. Your brother should be ashamed of himself.
Dear GM: I'll be dying to hear what you--and maybe more importantly, the Doc--thought of the conference. Of Boyd Packer. Of Bednar. (I was surprised the Prophet did not speak, but maybe he is too ill.) Let'sd hear it!
Hi Bro.
Sorry to see that your readership are still so angry at me that, inspite of the fact that I have not blogged for several days, they continue to be offended and write paragraphs of anger and vitriol.
I wish that I could have a neutral venue from which to debate them, as I would have a lot of fun!
I'm glad to see that you took your Jewish friend to conference. Maybe he'll get baptized! Wouldn't that be cool! You know, as I have always told my Jewish friends (oh that hurts all of you that so desperately want me to be 100% bigot) as Mormons, we very much see the Jewish faith and their people as brothers in every respect.
They're good people and I have some GREAT friends that are Jewish.
See you soon!
The scene: Little Boy sitting in a canoe on a lake with an older man, his grandfather.
Little Boy: "Grandpa, Jimmy says I'm prejudiced."
Grandpa: "Well, who's Jimmy?"
Little Boy: "Jimmy's one of my Jewish friends."
Grandpa: "Well, then you *are* prejudiced; because you think of Jimmy as one of your *Jewish* friends and not just one of your friends."
So, Jews and Mormons are brothers, eh? Is that why some high-ranking jewish officials requested that the Mormon church stop performing "Baptisms for the Dead" for them? And is that why the Mormon church then agreed to stop and then turned around and continued doing those baptisms for the dead?? Sibling Rivalry?
BB, most of my friends that are Jewish are proud of it and don't hide the fact. The discuss it openly and without shame. And that is precisely the fact. There is no shame in cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
I have a friend who was a German soldier that fought us Americans and, yes, tried to kill us. Back in the 1950's he changed his last name to sound less German, but today, as a German-American, he talks openly about his WWII experiences.
It's people like you that want to neuter everybodies ethnic or religious diversity with pretentious comments lie the one that you just made in your blog.
Sorry BB buddy,
I have
gay friends,
straight friends,
protestant friends,
catholic friends,
African American friends,
Asian friends,
French friends,
Navajo-indian friends,
and yes, Jewish friends.
And surprisingly none of them are offended by their diversity.
So why should you.......
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