The 2nd Watson Letter Revealed

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_Bond...James Bond
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Post by _Bond...James Bond »

Daniel Peterson wrote:He must have time on his hands over there at Oxford. Sheesh.


Not really...it only took 20 minutes to do that...um to recreate that. [Shifts eyes left to right...]
"Whatever appears to be against the Book of Mormon is going to be overturned at some time in the future. So we can be pretty open minded."-charity 3/7/07
_Gadianton
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Post by _Gadianton »

I agree that this is pretty funny. ha ha. You deserve a beer for that Bond.

But let's not forget the truth of the matter: Dr. Hamblin wrote some kind of letter Pressuring Watson into submission.

There is no other possibility.

Think about it:

Is it really believable Dr. Hamblin wrote a ten page letter detailing all the evidence for the hill being in South America and also for there being no "official doctrine" on the matter?

Even if Dr. Peterson or Dr. Hamblin don't remember exactly what was written, there is no way to even attempt a rational argument for the position in a short email that a busy man like Watson is going to read.

It had to have been short, to the point, and arm-twisting in some way.
Lou Midgley 08/20/2020: "...meat wad," and "cockroach" are pithy descriptions of human beings used by gemli? They were not fashioned by Professor Peterson.

LM 11/23/2018: one can explain away the soul of human beings...as...a Meat Unit, to use Professor Peterson's clever derogatory description of gemli's ideology.
_Daniel Peterson
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Post by _Daniel Peterson »

Gadianton wrote:But let's not forget the truth of the matter: Dr. Hamblin wrote some kind of letter Pressuring Watson into submission.

I'm remembering now. It included all of Michael Watson's confidential bank data, with instructions that any attempt to transfer or protect funds or to contact law enforcement would instantly result in all of Brother Watson's assets being electronically transferred to Professor Hamblin's account in the Cayman Islands. Brother Watson was told to issue a retraction within twenty-four hours or face total financial ruin.

Gadianton wrote:There is no other possibility.

That's how we saw it at the time, too. Drastic situations require drastic actions.

Gadianton wrote:Is it really believable Dr. Hamblin wrote a ten page letter detailing all the evidence for the hill being in South America and also for there being no "official doctrine" on the matter?

Not really. And he didn't.

Gadianton wrote:Even if Dr. Peterson or Dr. Hamblin don't remember exactly what was written, there is no way to even attempt a rational argument for the position in a short email that a busy man like Watson is going to read.

It had to have been short, to the point, and arm-twisting in some way.

As Scartch has explained, there is "literally no way" that this letter isn't going to be made to make us look bad "in some way." We "lose either way."
_Gadianton
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Post by _Gadianton »

Well, that's Scratch's opinion. I don't necessarily agree. Can you give us just a very broad outline of what the letter said? And I'll decide for myself if it makes Dr. Hamblin (not you) look "good" or "bad".

Can't you just ask Dr. Hamblin more or less what he wrote? It really is very telling if considering one of the paramount issues of Book of Mormon apologetics is at stake, you wrote the brethren, they responded in your favor, and you don't have the faintest idea of what you asked?

I find it hard to believe.
Lou Midgley 08/20/2020: "...meat wad," and "cockroach" are pithy descriptions of human beings used by gemli? They were not fashioned by Professor Peterson.

LM 11/23/2018: one can explain away the soul of human beings...as...a Meat Unit, to use Professor Peterson's clever derogatory description of gemli's ideology.
_Daniel Peterson
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Post by _Daniel Peterson »

Gadianton wrote:Well, that's Scratch's opinion. I don't necessarily agree. Can you give us just a very broad outline of what the letter said? And I'll decide for myself if it makes Dr. Hamblin (not you) look "good" or "bad".

It's been over fifteen years. It was, if I recall correctly, a very short letter, containing nothing very memorable.

Gadianton wrote:Can't you just ask Dr. Hamblin more or less what he wrote? It really is very telling if considering one of the paramount issues of Book of Mormon apologetics is at stake, you wrote the brethren, they responded in your favor, and you don't have the faintest idea of what you asked?

I find it hard to believe.

How many letters written by friends of yours to other people do you remember in detail from early 1993?
_Gadianton
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Post by _Gadianton »

Ahh, moving the goal posts. Again.

I didn't ask for details.

It was a SHORT letter.

On a very important topic for apologetics.

And I asked merely for a "broad outline".

I can remember the broad outline of any important letter I've ever written, going 15 years back. And I have a terrible memory. It is almost unthinkable to me that a professor of history, a occupation where memory counts for something can't tackle a "broad outline", not "details" (you understand what I'm asking?) of an important, short letter.
Lou Midgley 08/20/2020: "...meat wad," and "cockroach" are pithy descriptions of human beings used by gemli? They were not fashioned by Professor Peterson.

LM 11/23/2018: one can explain away the soul of human beings...as...a Meat Unit, to use Professor Peterson's clever derogatory description of gemli's ideology.
_Daniel Peterson
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Joined: Thu Jul 05, 2007 6:56 pm

Post by _Daniel Peterson »

Gadianton wrote:Ahh, moving the goal posts. Again.

I didn't ask for details.

It was a SHORT letter.

On a very important topic for apologetics.

And I asked merely for a "broad outline".

I scarcely remember it.

Gadianton wrote:I can remember the broad outline of any important letter I've ever written, going 15 years back.

I didn't write Bill Hamblin's letter. Oddly, a fellow named "Bill Hamblin" wrote it.

He and I are distinct individuals. (I'm not making this up. Really, it's true.)

Gadianton wrote:And I have a terrible memory. It is almost unthinkable to me that a professor of history, a occupation where memory counts for something can't tackle a "broad outline", not "details" (you understand what I'm asking?) of an important, short letter.

And I'm not a professor of history.
_Trevor
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Post by _Trevor »

Daniel Peterson wrote:He and I are distinct individuals. (I'm not making this up. Really, it's true.)


The lies, the lies. Everyone knows that the Morg is, for all intents and purposes, a single individual, consisting as it does as a hive mind directed by the president of the Church.
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