Bored in Vernal, of the "notapostate" blog, is attending the Sunstone Symposia in SLC and, GA's be damned, she wants to bear her testimony that the Sunstone Symposia is inspired! According to her own testimony Ms. BiV "just felt the Spirit stronger than I have in the past year" (been to Church or the Temple lately? Maybe you don't feel the Spirit there because they will not allow you give Priesthood blessings and anoint people?). Now, BiV, let me get this strait here. You felt the spirit at a presentation by a non-member who was critical of the LDS Church leadership because of trite, rehearsed jargon and failing to take ownership, who felt dissidents were the most interesting subjects and who praised Joseph Smith's ruthlessness and experimentation with his many selves. Right. Yeah. Sure. Now which spirit is it that you felt? Would any of the other Bloggernacle participants there at Sunstone like to bear their testimonies too?
With so many Bloggernacle regulars there at Sunstone, you have to wonder whether Sunstone has infected the Nacle or the Nacle has overrun Sunstone. Which is worse? Aside from that, with such overlap, what does that really say about the two groups?
20 comments
I just don't get the point of these attacks on people's experiences. What exactly are you hoping to accomplish by these mean-spirited posts?
As the tag line states "Providing Necessary Negative Feedback to the Denizens of the Bloggernacle."
Since people generally do not like negative feedback they will delete it off their own blog when you give it to them. So they get it here.
pubcom,
People like you are the reason SnarkerNacle exists.
I confess that I generally find the SnarkerNacle funny.
This, however, screams out for a response.
BiV's experience is authentic, and to toss out lines like "Right. Yeah. Sure. Now which spirit is it that you felt?" shows a wreckless disregard for another's experience.
I can't help but wonder how much another blog would be criticized if they so callously dismissed someone's experience.
Sorry, Snarker, but when you attack someone for their spiritual experience, dismissing it with the implication that a non-member does not have access to the same spirit that you do, you've stepped over the line.
You can do better.
I think the rule is if you call someone an asswipe and then misspell their name, the title asswipe immediately reflects from them and sticks to you. It's how I got my authority.
rts,
This screams for a response? And BiV's post does not? Based on what? You have Quimby who has fasted and prayed about Gay Marriage and believes the LDS Church is wrong about it, and that is OK because it is her "authentic experience"? And BiV allegedly feels the Spirit, which Spirit tells her the GAs at General Conference who counsel against participating at the Sunstone Symposium deserve a Bronx Cheer? BiV may as well make up her own set of rules, or anyone else for that matter, and say they felt the Spirit and then it is an "authentic experience" and then we cannot snark it. If that were the case, then everyone in the whole Bloggernacle would say that just to keep us off their back. I can tell you right now that I am having an "authentic experience" that the Sunstone Symposia is presently populated with a bunch of people who are full of themselves, and little else. Now hands off, that is my "authentic experience" so do not you even think about questioning it.
And, everyone, enough with the profanity, would you please? Unless you are talking about real Donkey Towelettes, cut it out. You made your point.
rts,
It is OK for BiV to give Elder Oaks and Elder Ballard the raspberries under inspiration, but Snarker cannot give BiV uninspired raspberries?
GA's counsel against sunstone? Did I miss something?
Don't worry about Sunstone taking over the bloggernacle. I've told my jihadi contacts that Sunstone symposia are a major venue for 'feeling the spirit' so they're gonna take it out.
I'm not bothered, since personally I feel the spirit more when I read apostate feminists online than in person.
I think you're right about the nacle overrunning Sunstone (check out who the new Exec Dir is). And I say it's about time.
As for what it says about the two groups, we won't know till we see what the results are.
Stay tuned for more, Snarker!
Snarkimus,
Did you attend the session? I'm thinking no. Otherwise, you would have picked up on the fact that the critical "non-member" you referred to didn't give a presentation at all. She merely introduced the four panelists and responded to a couple of questions.
So if you didn't attend the session (and please correct me if I'm wrong in that assumption), how could you possibly have any clue about what kind of "spirit" was present or not present?
Here's a wacky suggestion: How about leaving the mean-spirited commentary about a specific event to someone who actually bothered to show up?
There were probably about 800 people, at least, at Sunstone this weekend. The bloggers were perhaps thirty of them, so no, the blogs have not taken over Sunstone. Yes John is the new executive director, and that's great. I think he'll do a good job.
Square Peg,
I don't need to attend Sunstone. The fruits of the Spirit are gentleness, meekness, love unfeigned and so on. Contradicting the General Authorities and giving them the Bronx Cheer is not in that list.
Anytime you flout the counsel of the leaders of the Church, you are grieving the Spirit. The Spirit testifies of Christ and of truth pertaining to him. How is someone contradicting what the Lord has said about Joseph Smith true and what the Spirit will testify of? It isn't. Sorry, Square Peg. I don't need to go to Sunstone to know that.
Snarkimus,
Hmm, funny that. I thought I experienced plenty of gentleness, meekness, and love unfeigned at Sunstone. Must've been some clever Satanic trick. I'll initiate the repentence process immediately!
Yeah, Square Peg, I am sure you cannot find a more Spirit-filled collection of ex-mos and Church-doubters than at Sunstone.
You would be wrong about that, Snark. If you think Sunstone is the worst there is in that dept, you really need to get out more. Maybe you should also consider the possibility that Sunstone has changed somewhat since you last heard (second hand, of course) what it was all about.
Wow, Snarker, you got a lot of responses!
I won't even go anonymous in mine. I met a young man (the one I referred to at BCC as being in a "crisis of faith") at Sunstone who was there at his bishop's suggestion. And indeed (I suspect you know this), the Church has never specifically come out against Sunstone. Elder Oaks cautioned against "unofficial symposia" years ago--and yeah, he probably was referring to Sunstone, but it was never specifically stated.
When I had a GA interview before accepting a full-time job at BYU-Hawaii, I was asked if I participated in _Sunstone_. I answered that I did. The GA then made a call, and I heard only his side of the conversation, which went like this: "So academic freedom. So, should I not ask that question anymore?" Then he told me he had subscribed to _Dialogue_ and _Sunstone_ for years before deciding they were getting too edgy. It was all a very pleasant conversation. And I had no problem getting recommended to teach at BYU-H.
The truth is, the bloggernacle makes the Sunstone symposium a rather moot issue. All of the hard issues are online. I didn't attend many sessions, but those I did attend were extremely positive towards the Church. I thought many times that Sunstone could be exactly the sort of bridge my son needs to re-frame and reclaim his lost faith.
And btw, I still like you.
"The fruits of the Spirit are gentleness, meekness, love unfeigned and so on."
Good point. What does that imply about this website?
That we are uninspired snarkers. Duh. When did we claim to be anything else? We aren't the ones walking around saying we felt the Spirit at Sunstone.
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