So, no sweetheart deals, but that is not exactly the same thing as sweetheart loans, which is what I said. In any case, I can only report what I heard, and what I heard was from someone whose honesty is absolutely unimpeachable. No matter what anyone claims that makes apologists look bad in some way, even if it is true, DCP is going to say something to contradict it or at least something that apparently contradicts it.Doctor Scratch wrote: ↑Mon May 29, 2023 11:39 pmI guess it was all the other FARMS Mopologists other than DCP?
Daniel Peterson wrote: I learned yesterday on the Peterson Obsession Board that, as an apologist, I may have been given “sweetheart deals” (by the Church or, anyway, by somebody) for my cars and my house. Do I really need to say that I never received any such “sweetheart deals”? Since, in that quarter, I’m presumed to be lying every time my lips move or my fingers type, would it do any good?
Honestly, I trust my sources a lot more than I trust him. Some of the best people I have known in my life, the most honest, full of integrity, and upright people, have reported unfavorable things about the Classic-FARMS crew. We are talking about some of the finest LDS people, finest Christians, finest people. What am I to make of the fact that they said a variety of things that were unflattering of the apologists? Do I doubt them and take what DCP says at face value? Sorry, but I trust them more than I trust him.
I am not saying that DCP is lying. I am saying he feels no obligation to level with people whom he sees as his enemies. In his view, whatever we think we know is none of our business, I would guess. And so it is. People I know and respect told me this stuff, and I trust that they were being straight with me. Maybe they were in error about the details of this issue. I doubt they were dead wrong in every respect. I suppose that there were financial issues that raised concerns or jealousies. One fellow I know who is about the most decent and upright men I know straight up said to me that the Mopologists are liars. That’s not me talking. That’s not me making things up. I was actually taken aback by his dismay about it.
There was also the time when one of my BYU associates told me that people were concerned about the honesty of John Gee’s apologetics on the Book of Abraham. Some other guys I knew said they absolutely hated working with the Classic-FARMS folk and had real concerns about them.
And we have had lots of our own bad experiences with them over the years. We have seen them in action with our own eyes.
My bottom line with all of this is that I will never see things the way the Mopologists see things. I may agree with them on some stuff, but I think there is a huge chasm between us in other areas, and I trust that the people whom I admire who had problems with the Mopologists were right on target. Even if I am a problematic judge myself in the eyes of faithful LDS, or good Christians, my sources were people of great integrity—faithful LDS, good Christians, men of integrity. I just haven’t met a Mopologist whom I thought could touch a one of them in terms of sterling character.