IN DEFENSE OF NUANCE

This story follows the events of 1 Nephi (and a portion of 2 Nephi), reimagined from Laman's perspective. While the events follow the Book of Mormon narrative, Laman's thoughts and motivations are fictional. Today Father announced that we are leaving Jerusalem. He claims he had a vision where the Lord commanded him to take his family into the wilderness. I still can’t quite believe it. We have a good life here. We have a home. We have land. We have possessions. We have family

(Note: “The church” in this post refers to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) I’m troubled by how some members of the church speak about those who have left. While many are loving and respectful--and only a few truly unkind or toxic--even well-intentioned members sometimes make comments that strike me as overly harsh or unfair. I worry that this can be isolating for those in the church struggling with their testimonies, and certainly to those who have already le

There is a common story that I see repeated a lot in the church: A dedicated church member goes through--or witnesses someone else go through--something really hard. The Bad Thing is something very brutal, something unfair, something undeserved. The church member becomes disillusioned. This wasn’t what was supposed to happen. They did all the right things, how could God let Bad Thing happen? Of course, we know the “faithful” response to this: Trials aren’t (inversely) correla