LDS II: The Mormons

[halleyscomet]

The NEED? What *need* does an all-powerful god have to hide the truth about what happened?

And how can you possibly argue the truth of your scripture while simultaneously arguing that your deity intentionally resorted to untruth in order to hide the truth of your scripture?

This signature is intended to irritate people.

Religious fundamentalism could soon be treated as mental illness

Kathleen Taylor, a neurologist at Oxford University, said that recent developments suggest that we will soon be able to treat religious fundamentalism and other forms of ideological beliefs potentially harmful to society as a form of mental illness.

 

[Billy Baxter]

My Dear Mr. Baxter:

Say, rather, that you, personally, have chosen to embrce your superstitons over against reality.

There is no reason to believe in the "blessings of eternity", unless you already believe in the "blessings of eternity".

I remain, unsuperstitiously yours &ct.

my dear ms. slowvehicle,

you misspelled "embrace" and "superstitions." do use proper spelling rules in your oh-so-snide posts.

i remain,

bb

 

[bruto]

my dear ms. slowvehicle,

you misspelled "embrace" and "superstitions." do use proper spelling rules in your oh-so-snide posts.

i remain,

bb

Slowvehicle, who is a Mr. not a Ms., almost certainly did not misspell. He mistyped. Pretty easy to do at a computer keyboard. I do not think it behooves anyone to overdo the monitoring of typing errors because it commits you to a level of perfection that might not always be possible to achieve.

 

[Nay_Sayer]

Slowvehicle, who is a Mr. not a Ms., almost certainly did not misspell. He mistyped. Pretty easy to do at a computer keyboard. I do not think it behooves anyone to overdo the monitoring of typing errors because it commits you to a level of perfection that might not always be possible to achieve.

As I always suggest: Leave all spelling and grammar errors intact for those with no other rejoinder.

 

[Beady]

I note that bb has not responded to my questions about his God's veracity.

This signature is intended to irritate people.

 

[Slowvehicle]

my dear ms. slowvehicle,

you misspelled "embrace" and "superstitions." do use proper spelling rules in your oh-so-snide posts.

i remain,

bb

My Dear Mr. Baxter:

How clever of you to focus on typographical errors, instead of substantively responding.

I wonder if you realize just how silly it is of you to embrace the apologetic that the "nephites" might have mis-identified unfamiliar fauna with familiar names, while at the same time claiming that your BoM is the work of your 'god' directing Smith to a perfect translation...

Further, you appear to be misusing the simple English adjective, "snide".

You also continue to misapprehend my nym. Please read the MA...

I remain, occasionally arthriticaly yours &ct.

 

[Slowvehicle]

I note that bb has not responded to my questions about his God's veracity.

This signature is intended to irritate people.

Nor mine, nor anyone's, really.

Completely sidestepped the morning's issue of the silliness of calling subjective experience testable...

 

[Myriad]

"God hid all the evidence?" That's what this $5 billion a year church is standing on?

Well, let's suppose we grant that God does indeed have the power to hide all the evidence.

Is it then also plausible that Satan has the power to publish a book? Specifically, a phony testament of Jesus Christ?

 

[Billy Baxter]

My Dear Mr. Baxter:

How clever of you to focus on typographical errors, instead of substantively responding.

I wonder if you realize just how silly it is of you to embrace the apologetic that the "nephites" might have mis-identified unfamiliar fauna with familiar names, while at the same time claiming that your BoM is the work of your 'god' directing Smith to a perfect translation...

Further, you appear to be misusing the simple English adjective, "snide".

You also continue to misapprehend my nym. Please read the MA...

I remain, occasionally arthriticaly yours &ct.

so you will continue to s&g my posts whilst justifying you own typos?

Edited by Agatha: 

Edited reference to ignore list. Do not discuss your ignore list or tell posters that you have them on ignore

bb

 

[Filippo Lippi]

so you will continue to s&g my posts whilst justifying you own typos?

Edited by Agatha: 

Edited moderated content

bb

The most convincing, nay powerful, argument yet put forward in this thread for the veracity of the claims of the LDS

 

[Pixel42]

Offering tortured and transparent rationalisations of obvious fakery and then, when that doesn't work, simply ignoring the questions they can't answer seems to be SOP for the LDS.

 

[Slowvehicle]

so you will continue to s&g my posts whilst justifying you own typos?

Edited by Agatha: 

Edited moderated content

bb

My Dear Mr. Baxter:

Now you are misusing the technical English word, "justify". I freely admit to my typos, and make no excuses for them.

You, OTH, seem to be willing to sidestep addressing any actual issues while pretending to score points by seizing upon the typos rather than the substantive emptiness of your unsupported assertions.

Suppose you (for once) address an issue?

It is interesting that you want to be able to locate the exciting stories of Smith's fanfic in the "submerged" areas of the Bay of Cortés ("Baja California"). The Bay of Cortés is formed by tectonic slip and divergence, and there is no "submerged" area; to say nothing of the fact that the Bay (during the period you claim the exciting stories happened) would have been geologically indistinguishable from its present shape and size.

You also appear to be overlooking the deficiencies in the apologetic to which you linked, especially the conflict between the idea that the "nephites" might have meant "tapir" when they wrote "horse"...in a volume 'god' is to be supposed to have been directly guiding Smith's transcription. Odd, that.

Edited by Agatha: 

Edited response to moderated content

Do consider addressing the actual questions put to you.

I remain, somewhat optimistically yours &ct.

 

[Slowvehicle]

Offering tortured and transparent rationalisations of obvious fakery and then, when that doesn't work, simply ignoring the questions they can't answer seems to be SOP for the LDS.

It's that whole "gnats and camels" theology...

 

[Slowvehicle]

The most convincing, nay powerful, argument yet put forward in this thread for the veracity of the claims of the LDS

Inorite?

 

[Craig4]

so you will continue to s&g my posts whilst justifying you own typos?

Edited by Agatha: 

Edited moderated content

bb

And you still can't put iron or steel swords in pre-Colombian hands.

 

[Beady]

Billy Baxter:

Before this gets lost, you neglected to address the following. Please note, I am not attempting to point out typos, spelling errors or other nonsensical issues; rather, I am attempting to ask you serious questions about a substantive issue you yourself have raised.

From #2440

"The NEED? What *need* does an all-powerful god have to hide the truth about what happened?

"And how can you possibly argue the truth of your scripture while simultaneously arguing that your deity intentionally resorted to untruth in order to hide the truth of your scripture?"

This signature is intended to irritate people.

 

[JayUtah]

And you still can't put iron or steel swords in pre-Colombian hands.

I guess God made those disappear too.

The problem with the notion that God, via natural disasters or whatever superstitious means, caused all the Book of Mormon cites and civilizations to vanish without a trace is that the LDS church set the precedent of claiming there was evidence of the Book of Mormon in the archaeological record, and for many years thereafter supported work by amateur and church-paid professional archaeologists to attempt to develop that evidence.

 

[Donn]

The problem with the skeptics' approach to the BOM's authenticity is, it focuses on the nitpicky details, while the true believer focuses on the doctrines instead. To date, I've never seen anyone disprove the Christian doctrines and teachings of the BOM. Skeptics tend to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

The law of gravity is true whether or not the horses in the scriptures were speckled, to use a highly flawed analogy.

no, my belief that the BOM is historically accurate remains intact.

well, what i'm saying is that it doesn't matter to me what the salad forks the Nephites used were made of, or whether their pajamas were of real silk or heterodoxical polyester blend. The doctrines about Christ and salvation are what's important.

i've read about many of the so-called problems of the BOM. So far none of them have disproved Jesus.

The article offers several reasons horses' remains haven't been found abundantly in mesoamerica during Nephite times.

If what you believe is important to you, then so too should be its foundations.

You ride, as it were, upon a spotted horse; refusing to tie the cinch. When you see our pained faced gurning, our extended arms gesticulating, it is not persecution but alarm.

(Truthfully, there's fail-meme lol here too. You have covered yourself in fool.)

Bottom line: if you never look down, you won't see why you are about to see your ass.

 

[Billy Baxter]

Billy Baxter:

Before this gets lost, you neglected to address the following. Please note, I am not attempting to point out typos, spelling errors or other nonsensical issues; rather, I am attempting to ask you serious questions about a substantive issue you yourself have raised.

From #2440

"The NEED? What *need* does an all-powerful god have to hide the truth about what happened?

"And how can you possibly argue the truth of your scripture while simultaneously arguing that your deity intentionally resorted to untruth in order to hide the truth of your scripture?"

This signature is intended to irritate people.

you misunderstand me. God didn't say he was "hiding the truth." He said he destroyed all those cities to "hide" the iniquities and abominations of those wicked people from his sight, so he wouldn't have to see them anymore. There was no dishonesty on his part, although there was more than a little sarcasm and irony.

bb

 

[Billy Baxter]

I guess God made those disappear too.

The problem with the notion that God, via natural disasters or whatever superstitious means, caused all the Book of Mormon cites and civilizations to vanish without a trace is that the LDS church set the precedent of claiming there was evidence of the Book of Mormon in the archaeological record, and for many years thereafter supported work by amateur and church-paid professional archaeologists to attempt to develop that evidence.

straw man

bb