- bhbardo on Feeding the hungry has negative ROI: “I honestly can’t tell if this is sincere or extremely well-crafted satire. I’m assuming satire, but in both views you’ve managed to avoid obvious malice. My only quibble, given that ROI is the framing, is that even a strictly-secular financier-type might recognize the positive ROI of a short-term cost (providing food or shelter) preventing a deeper cost (chronic hospitalization), as well as the nearly infinite ROI of small acts of generosity becoming lives well-lived and shared outward. And those indecipherable texts contain enlightenments of humanity that we have not yet developed the capacity to comprehend.” Feb 13, 11:41
- on Feeding the hungry has negative ROI: “I keep composing and deleting responses to this. Nothing I write seems adequate. I guess all I can say is thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.” Feb 13, 09:02
- on How Many Stakes Worth of Immigrants Are There in the Church in the US?: “Fascinating thought experiment. I would love to get data on this from around the world. I recall reading somewhere that about 25% of church membership in Europe are immigrants, but unfortunately I can’t confirm that. I would assume that’s the high water mark, but I think Australia might also have a fairly high percentage of immigrants from other parts of Oceania.” Feb 13, 06:28
- on Feeding the hungry has negative ROI: “34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” Feb 13, 06:00
- on How Many Stakes Worth of Immigrants Are There in the Church in the US?: “Wouldn’t it be crazy if there was a mutually strengthening effect from immigration. It’s almost as if we have books of scripture about various people migrating, being led by the hand of God. Sorry if I trigger any of my fellow conservatives, many of them now firming entrenched statists because #winningtrumpsprinciple And he said unto the servant: Behold, the branches of the wild tree have taken hold of the moisture of the root thereof, that the root thereof hath brought forth much strength; and because of the much strength of the root thereof the wild branches have brought forth tame fruit. Now, if we had not grafted in these branches, the tree thereof would have perished.” Feb 12, 23:53
- on Emma’s Ally: Restoring William Marks to Latter-day Saint History: “David Whitmer also felt that JS was deceived regarding polygamy but it was for the fact that JS did not use the sear stone or interpreters for the revelation. JS said he knew it (sec 132) by memory and dictated it word for word to the scribe at Hyrum’s request. Hyrum did encourage Joseph to use the stone or interpreters to validate the revelation to Emma. Emma was obviously trying to hide the fact that her husband was the founder of polygamy. JS III almost went to his grave believing his mom instead of countless testimonies of members. For sure you could argue the case that JS version and BY version of polygamy were different from each other as Emma pointed out. To make matters more confusing JS was doing the Law of Adoptions as well. (BY continued these too) Emma was a proponent for JSIII to eventually lead the church so if she was for Marks to run it, I think it was only temporary. That was what BY agreed to as well but JSMIII didn’t feel right about replacing BY. He had too many disagreements with BY version of the church. Such a difficult time for the members back them. God, I am sure, will provide the mercy they all deserve for what they went through.” Feb 11, 22:07
- on Emma’s Ally: Restoring William Marks to Latter-day Saint History: “I’m descended from Austin Cowles, who was a counselor to William Marks in the Nauvoo Stake Presidency and who, like Marks, left the church over the issue of polygamy. When Hyrum Smith told the high council (which would have included Cowles and Marks) about polygamy, Cowles was so upset he resigned his position. He wrote an affidavit regarding the church’s teaching regarding polygamy which was published in the Nauvoo Expositor, and he was excommunicated for speaking out against it. Like Marks, he affiliated with various offshoots of the church until finally joining the Reorganized Church.” Feb 11, 20:32
- on First Shall be Last and the Last Shall be First: A Didactic, Overbearing Parable: “John, My husband and I left the church a couple years ago. For me, it was a combo of lots of stuff, mainly historical. Previous to leaving, my teen sons all stopped going to church for various reasons. To your point, my husband mainly stopped going because he saw family as more important and didn’t want it to be a source of contention or a reason for spending less time together as a family. So, it definitely happens. If the church prioritizes family, for some people that might mean less church. At least in our ward with few teens few activities, no friends their ages, church really had no appeal.” Feb 11, 15:54
- on First Shall be Last and the Last Shall be First: A Didactic, Overbearing Parable: “And I’d also like to point out that this overly simplified story says nothing about *Maria’s* children, if she has any – unless her “happily ever after” ending is supposed to imply that none of her children fall away from the Church. But again, to slightly complicate a deliberately oversimplified story: there are *many* Marias in the world whose children, like those of Bill, don’t stay in their childhood faith when they grow up.” Feb 11, 11:25
- on First Shall be Last and the Last Shall be First: A Didactic, Overbearing Parable: “Not to overcomplicate what is explicitly intended to be an overly simplified story, but I’d just like to point out that *somewhere* on the internet there’s bound to be a similar post that calls out someone very similar to Maria for being “edgy” about her childhood faith (whatever it was) that she left, and that praises someone very similar to Bill for jumping ship to Maria’s childhood faith after finding that his own didn’t fit.” Feb 11, 11:15
