Apologists like DCP have asserted that to cede this point is death to the Mormon religion. They point to the failure of the Community of Christ as the proof of this.
I’m not sure they’re wrong. I think if you throw away the historicity, the LDS church may indeed collapse to a fraction of what it is now. I’d love to be wrong about that though.
How does one go about proving that unfounded belief in the literal historicity of the Book of Mormon is the primary reason why the LDS Church is more successful than the Community of Christ?
I don’t think it would be provable, like anything else in life we just have to go off incomplete data.
I think the argument may be that the loss of cultural identity, which came along with such drastic changes, was a primary cause.
Apologists like DCP have asserted that to cede this point is death to the Mormon religion. They point to the failure of the Community of Christ as the proof of this.
I’m not sure they’re wrong. I think if you throw away the historicity, the LDS church may indeed collapse to a fraction of what it is now. I’d love to be wrong about that though.
How does one go about proving that unfounded belief in the literal historicity of the Book of Mormon is the primary reason why the LDS Church is more successful than the Community of Christ?
First we have to define "success". If it's membership numbers, then there's no contest. But then we might say that, if we are comparing Christian denominations, the Roman Catholic church is many times more "successful" than SLC Mormonism.
But there are other potential measures of success for a religion. For example, CoC has SLC Mormonism beat when it comes to living scriptures, Scientology is clearly (pun intended) best for numbers of operating thetans, etc.
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Apologists like DCP have asserted that to cede this point is death to the Mormon religion. They point to the failure of the Community of Christ as the proof of this.
I’m not sure they’re wrong. I think if you throw away the historicity, the LDS church may indeed collapse to a fraction of what it is now. I’d love to be wrong about that though.
I think you're right. Either there were gold plates delivered by an angel sent by God or the whole 'restoration enterprise' is a giant fraud/farce. Gordon B. Hinckley taught as much.
Regards,
MG
And the plagiarised, verbatim, 17th Century content within the Book of Mormon confirms it is the latter. As you say, there needs be only a single smoking gun to bring the whole house down. That KJV. Bible plagiarism is that smoking gun. It simply cannot be explained away. The Church has to point blank ignore it and hope there’s sufficient numbers of members who will put their head in the sand and do likewise.
Premise 1. Eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable.
Premise 2. The best evidence for the Book of Mormon is eyewitness testimony.
Conclusion. Therefore, the best evidence for the Book of Mormon is notoriously unreliable.
I don’t think it would be provable, like anything else in life we just have to go off incomplete data.
I think the argument may be that the loss of cultural identity, which came along with such drastic changes, was a primary cause.
There are lots of things that make the LDS Church distinctive, though.
"He disturbs the laws of his country, he forces himself upon women, and he puts men to death without trial.” ~Otanes on the monarch, Herodotus Histories 3.80.
First we have to define "success". If it's membership numbers, then there's no contest. But then we might say that, if we are comparing Christian denominations, the Roman Catholic church is many times more "successful" than SLC Mormonism.
But there are other potential measures of success for a religion. For example, CoC has SLC Mormonism beat when it comes to living scriptures, Scientology is clearly (pun intended) best for numbers of operating thetans, etc.
Good points. The LDS Church for its size has an incredible amount of wealth. Maybe that is its success.
"He disturbs the laws of his country, he forces himself upon women, and he puts men to death without trial.” ~Otanes on the monarch, Herodotus Histories 3.80.
BYU scientists have to follow the dictates and wishes of the LDS prophet or risk getting fired. Dogma over data.
Are there some current examples you can think of? It seems as though Duane Jeffries would have been a good candidate a few years back. He went full career at BYU and also published weekly articles on various topics, including evolution, in the Provo Daily Herald.
Who are you thinking of?
By the way, Duane Jeffries was full on evolutionist.
Regards,
MG
Tell us more about Duane Jeffries. What happened with him?
First we have to define "success". If it's membership numbers, then there's no contest. But then we might say that, if we are comparing Christian denominations, the Roman Catholic church is many times more "successful" than SLC Mormonism.
But there are other potential measures of success for a religion. For example, CoC has SLC Mormonism beat when it comes to living scriptures, Scientology is clearly (pun intended) best for numbers of operating thetans, etc.
Good points. The LDS Church for its size has an incredible amount of wealth. Maybe that is its success.
If that's the case, it would seem that Jesus - according to his teachings recorded in The Bible - might not approve.
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I don’t think it would be provable, like anything else in life we just have to go off incomplete data.
I think the argument may be that the loss of cultural identity, which came along with such drastic changes, was a primary cause.
There are lots of things that make the LDS Church distinctive, though.
Does the community of Christ have enough of those things left? I am not an expert in the CoC but from what little I have seen it looks like a very gutted form of Mormonism.
Does the community of Christ have enough of those things left? I am not an expert in the CoC but from what little I have seen it looks like a very gutted form of Mormonism.
There are plenty of things about the Community of Christ that make it distinctive, but they are perhaps not emphasized in a way that makes them stand out as much as the LDS Church. Also, the Community of Christ has characteristics that bring it closer to mainstream Christianity.
"He disturbs the laws of his country, he forces himself upon women, and he puts men to death without trial.” ~Otanes on the monarch, Herodotus Histories 3.80.
If that's the case, it would seem that Jesus - according to his teachings recorded in The Bible - might not approve.
My views accord with yours on that issue.
"He disturbs the laws of his country, he forces himself upon women, and he puts men to death without trial.” ~Otanes on the monarch, Herodotus Histories 3.80.
