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Definitely 
My brother and I laughed once about writing a book titled “Dear God, One of us needs to adjust our expectations.”
Pretty much sums up my life experience – adjusting expectations… lol.
I think it’s been done, not for our church, but for others. CS Lewis has written of some of these issues, but a Mormon take would be valuable. I’m afraid even in the current climate, it might require a pseudonym.
Cool idea! I have pretty much decided not to expand the “How to Stay in the LDS Church…” article anymore. It’s already 40+ pages, printed. The next step would be to just dive into writing a book. I don’t have the time and energy right now though to spearhead a project that big. If anyone wanted to do that, or do something similar, I agree there’s an audience for it. I think it would be quite popular if it were tailored to be even a little more friendly to the believing end of the spectrum. I think this is a great idea. I agree with Brian that it would be popular (and I do a lot of good IMO) if it leaned towards people staying in the church. A big undertaking for sure – could it be a collaborative effort? 2 thoughts: 1) I don’t like the term “overcome” – as though somebody could read the book and be cured.
2) How does this compare/contrast with “Shaken Faith Syndrome?”
Do you think a TBM would read it? Mike from Milton.
ps. maybe if it were printed & distributed by Deseret.
Roy wrote:
1) I don’t like the term “overcome” – as though somebody could read the book and be cured.
Good point, Roy. I like ‘working through’ a faith transition/crisis/struggle better than ‘overcome’. I think ‘overcome’ implies a return to 100% orthodoxy, which may not be the best thing for any given individual.
It would be great to first discuss here what some of the Ch. Headings might look like – ie. A dozen or so narrowed down summations of how many of us found our way into this journey and subsequent academia citation (perhaps partially from a behaviorist perspective on the complication when diversity of life paths/search intellectual clarity and LDS Gospel collide) as well stories of others in the church from today and church history who have faced the worked through these dichotomy with success. The term success would be up for debate of course. Two chapters headings I would offer: 1) overworked and overwhelmed: attempting to juggle callings and commitment with education, career, civic, hobby, family and daily living duties. -2) Teaching Truths: When a members paradigm of all that is truth and light is shattered by contradictory faith promoting experiences beyond the chapel walls.
Just bouncing a few ideas and themes from my own extended family’s experiences. Anyone else?
Brian Johnston wrote:Cool idea! I have pretty much decided not to expand the “How to Stay in the LDS Church…” article anymore. It’s already 40+ pages, printed. The next step would be to just dive into writing a book. I don’t have the time and energy right now though to spearhead a project that big. If anyone wanted to do that, or do something similar, I agree there’s an audience for it. I think it would be quite popular if it were tailored to be even a little more friendly to the believing end of the spectrum.
I think it could be an interesting compendium of individual stories. M&G has done a good job of it, in my view. So has Ray,and yourself. Others on this site as well. Everybody writes a couple pages descrivn their Staying Story, describing briefly the Triggering Event (what led them into the need for a faith transition) , The Impact, and then their Staying Strategies, and maybe even their own Future Vision of their relationship with the Church.
Each Staying Story would need to be relatively short since people don’t like to read very much. Even a page would be long enough. Could be an interesting thread here at StayLDS at a minimum, keeping the whole thing to no more than a paragraph under each heading.
BeLikeChrist wrote:wow. i was surprised at the interest by the group here ! Brian, maybe we can examine the 40 pages of what’s already been written and come up with ideas on how we could expand or elaborate on the ideas already in it.
It’s in the Additional Resources page of our home page:
http://www.staylds.com/?page_id=29 “How to Stay in the LDS Church after a Major Challenge to your Faith”
HTML version:
http://staylds.com/docs/HowToStay.html Print / PDF Version:
http://www.staylds.com/docs/HowToStay.pdf For comparison and reference, there’s an existing book of stories by heavy hitters about why they stay in the LDS Church:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007OUYS8Y/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title “Why I Stay: The Challenges of Discipleship for Contemporary Mormons”
I’m definitely for such a book! I’ve considered writing one, but I worry about privacy.
If you were really honest about the church, you’d be excommunicated, as sad as that is.
Sometimes, when I’m particularly upset about something regarding the church, I’ve wished I could just open some type of book filled with writing to help me feel understood & encouraged, like I’m not going crazy for doubting so much of my upbringing. I have written down quotes from posts, but I haven’t collected as much as I’d like & it’s not really organized.
If anyone is doing this and would like input, I’d be glad to give my 2 cents+ worth, anonymously.
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