I’m troubled by improbable, indeed seemingly impossible, issues in the history and doctrine of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints.  My previous posts: “August 30, 2003 letter to Church President Gordon B. Hinckley,” “Swords and Spears,” “ An Apostate’s Dilemma,” “Too Big To Fai,” “ A Weighty Tome Indeed,” “Matthew 22:21” and “My Quandary,” express some concerns. 

If resolve and energy hold, I hope to post on issues such as: Joseph Smith Jr.’s seeing and speaking with angels, Jesus and God Himself, identical Book of Mormon and Bible formats and passages, genetics of pre-Columbus Western Hemisphere indigenous.   I will post these in https://wordpress.com/view/myexmormon.com under “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, History and Doctrine, Questions and Issus, Part I, II, III, IV, etc.”

My concerns regarding the LDS, religion in general, revolve around faith and fact.  Religion demands faith in things that which cannot be proven.  Science’s un-provable axioms and assumptions falls back on faith.  Still, for now I go with what seems to me “facts.”

This said, I like to point out that a father of science René Descartes conclude there are two aspects to human experience, physical or material and metaphysical or spiritual.  Science scoffed at the latter half of Descartes’s postulate as “the ghost in the machine.”  Concluding The Second Creation Makers of the Revolution in Twentieth-Century Physics, Physicists Robert P. Crease and Charles C. Mann give this rebuttal a Quantum twist.  It seems Descartes may indeed have been mistaken, not because there is no ghost, but because there is no machine!

Similarly, after studying the workings within a biological cell, J.B.H. Haldane concluded, “There are things there not only stranger than we imagine, but stranger than we can imagine!”  There is, of course, far more that I cannot imagine than I can.  Still, when faith and fact seem to disagree I’m compelled  to proceed from what is observable and verifiable.  I may have faith this PC keyboard is a ham sandwich, but however hungry I am, however fervent may my faith, I will not take a bite from this keyboard.

Likewise, The Book of Mormon is rooted in Iron Age folks inhabiting  the Western Hemisphere prior to Columbus.  Five centuries’ accumulation of Stone Age artifacts fill warehouses and museum shelves, but so much as one rusty iron pin has been unearthed.  Keyboard or a stone spear point, I have to go with the obvious.

Again, I emphasize my love and respect for Mormon People.  I hope no one will interpret my indiscretions personally.

Novice, “Master, how can gain enlightenment?”
Lama, “Did you eat you rice?”
Novice, “Yes Master.”
Lama, “Wash your bowl.”

Practicing mindfulness I can recognize what is happening in the present without grasping or aversion.  I can practice mere recognition of what is going on within me and around me without judgment or reaction.  This helps me to keep stability and freedom alive within myself.
Touching the Earth
Thich Nhat Hanh

Whatever happens I will create no more problems.  I will create no more pain for myself.
The Power Of Now
Eckart Tolle

If we don’t look into hope and fear, seeing a thought arise, seeing the chain reaction that follows, if we don’t train our self to sit with the energy without being snared by the drama, then we will always be afraid.
When Things Fall Apart
Pema Chödrön

All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.
Blasé Pascal

The only Zen you find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Robert Pirsig

Show Up,
Pay Attention,
Tell the Truth,
Don’t be Attached to Outcome.
The Fourfold Way
Angeles Arrien

Don’t take your own dear self too seriously.
Recovery, Inc.
Abraham Lowe