Daniel desperately needs money

[dastardly stem]

I desperately want to give daniel money, but each time I reach into my pocket I get an electric shock from an evil spirit or frog or salamander.

[Kishkumen]

“I want to give Interpreter money, until I remember that Interpreter timed the publication of Bradshaw’s intellectual theft from the authors of Method Infinite to deny these good scholars and their publisher book sales.”

[Everybody Wang Chung]

[Doctor Scratch]

Interpreter has always been, essentially, his “playground.” He collects these donations and then the funds get pumped into these vanity projects, like the Witnesses movie, and meanwhile, he is cutting these “back room” deals where he gets his travel expenses paid (and his wife does, too!) and the cruise company gets advertising time in exchange, apparently. And this somehow doesn’t count as “profit” in his mind?

In any case: he made similar denials about his compensation when he was at the Maxwell Institute, and these turned out to be brazen and spectacular lies, as evidenced by his infamous email to Gerald Bradford.

So, yeah: Dr. Moore is right. Don’t give money to Intrepreter because their output is trash. But also don’t give money because Interpreter’s President has a proven track record of lying about his compensation.

[drumdude]

I agreed to give a private tour to the Holy Land -- the trip that I'm currently on -- partially in the hope of interesting a PLC donor in giving to the Maxwell Institute. We're getting along well, but I'm not going to mention the Institute to him any more. Nursing and Athletics are perfectly adequate continuing recipients of his gifts. And I think I can safely predict that, even without my saying much, you will, with my dismissal, instantly lose one very specific annual donation.

I will insist that I continue to be compensated as a director in my role, which I will now have more time for, as its editor in chief. I also expect my usual fee as editor of the issue of the Mormon Studies Review that you've killed.

“iT’s Not aBouT tHE mOnEY”…

[IHAQ]

How to donate effectively
The point of charity is to help others. Donating effectively means that you’re taking steps to make sure you’re helping others the most for every dollar you give.

We think the best way to do this is to:

Identify a promising cause to support. The most promising causes are generally:
- Large in scale: they significantly impact many lives
- Neglected: they still need more funding and support
- Tractable: there are clear and practical ways of making progress
- Choose an excellent fund or charity working on the cause. Indicators of worthwhile organisations include: reliance on evidence, cost-effectiveness, transparency, room for more funding, and a strong track record. We generally recommend giving to expert-managed funds over charities, because they can allocate your donation where and when it is needed most.

https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/best-ch ... te-to-2022

How does Interpreter score against that criteria?

[dastardly stem]

How to donate effectively
The point of charity is to help others. Donating effectively means that you’re taking steps to make sure you’re helping others the most for every dollar you give.

We think the best way to do this is to:

Identify a promising cause to support. The most promising causes are generally:
- Large in scale: they significantly impact many lives
- Neglected: they still need more funding and support
- Tractable: there are clear and practical ways of making progress
- Choose an excellent fund or charity working on the cause. Indicators of worthwhile organisations include: reliance on evidence, cost-effectiveness, transparency, room for more funding, and a strong track record. We generally recommend giving to expert-managed funds over charities, because they can allocate your donation where and when it is needed most.

https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/best-ch ... te-to-2022

How does Interpreter score against that criteria?

Mormon apologetics attempts to follow its big brother traditional Christian apologetics. Traditional Christian apologetics can actually make some people rich. Mormon apologetics never will. There are just so many more Christians to continue to fleece. And money is always needed. Ultimately it’s all a terrible cause. I’d think the positive influence is impossible to measure with all the various and competing goals to attain. There are no doubt many who claim great benefit from apologetics. That’ll always prop it up. Mormonism is tough because there are too few Mormons seeking out defenses of their faith. Too few eyes and ears to be touched turning into people wanting to donate to that great cause. I think it’ll always struggle.

[drumdude]

“69 Days of September” is bound to be another box office hit. There is a large potential for them to make millions of dollars on the Interpreter Extended Cinematic Universe.

[Tom]

Incidentally, my Malevolent Stalker, who has volunteered his own labor over the past fifteen years or more to the noble cause of anonymously defaming me online, refuses to allow that I myself might be as selflessly public-spirited as he and, thus, capable of volunteering time and effort without any personal financial benefit. In response to the fundraiser mentioned immediately above, he insists that I’ve profited (enormously, he often suggests) from my connections with both the Interpreter Foundation and the Cruise Lady company (now Bountiful Travel). In fact, the connection between the two is relatively recent and only occasional — my most recent tours to Israel and Egypt, for example, had nothing at all to do with the Interpreter Foundation — and I’ve profited from neither of them.

Speaking of money, the Interpreter Foundation has raised $3,373 thus far through its Thanksgetting 2022 Facebook fundraiser.

I only recently learned of the Interpreter Foundation Study Tour to Turkey in 2023, featuring Daniel Peterson and Steve Densley as the headliners.

We are excited to announce our next Interpreter Foundation Study Tour. Based on the results of our travel survey and since we will be studying the New Testament next year in Sunday School, we have decided that our next tour will be to Turkey!

Did you know that two-thirds of the 27 books in the New Testament were either written in Turkey or were addressed to communities there? This is where Paul was born in Tarsus, where Peter is said to have started the first community of Christians in Antioch, where many think John the Beloved wrote his Gospel while he lived in Ephesus, and where the Seven Churches are located to whom the Book of Revelation was written!

For several years, the U.S State Department has said it was unsafe to travel to Turkey. This has been heartbreaking to many of us who have been wanting to travel to Turkey, “the other Holy Land.” So, we were excited to learn in the past few months that the State Department has changed its assessment and determined that it is once again safe to travel to Turkey!

Of course, in addition to the events of the Bible that took place there, this is also the land of the city of Troy, which until its ruins were discovered in 1871, was thought only to be a mythical place. And also, where the Nicean Creed was drafted, which was among the first of the Christian creeds.

We will start things off in one of the greatest cities in the world, ancient or modern: Istanbul, which was Constantinople, but now it’s Istanbul, not Constantinople. If you’ve ever wondered why Constantinople got the works, you’ll now have your chance to ask some Turks!

In the months leading up to our tour, we will also provide a list of reading material, videos, and podcasts. And like before, we will hold a live lecture series where we can start to get to know each other, followed by a photo directory of everyone who is joining us.

The main tour runs from October 9-18, 2023, with an extension running from October 18-22, 2023. We hope to see you there, but you’ll need to make your reservations soon. Everyone wants to travel now, so tours have been selling out fast. Please visit the Bountiful Travel website right away to review the full itinerary and make your reservation: https://bountifultravel.com/trips/turkey-Bible-tour/. We also have a page with information about the tour on our website at https://interpreterfoundation.org/study ... rkey-2023/.

Unfortunately, the tour is sold out.

Nevertheless, I am looking forward to joining the Interpreter Foundation's Joseph Smith's Treasure-Seeking Quests Subterranean Study Tour in 2025 (coinciding with the study of the Doctrine and Covenants and early church history in Sunday School that year). Relevant reading material is available here and relevant videos are available here and here.

[Dr Moore]

Interpreter has always been, essentially, his “playground.” He collects these donations and then the funds get pumped into these vanity projects, like the Witnesses movie, and meanwhile, he is cutting these “back room” deals where he gets his travel expenses paid (and his wife does, too!) and the cruise company gets advertising time in exchange, apparently. And this somehow doesn’t count as “profit” in his mind?

In any case: he made similar denials about his compensation when he was at the Maxwell Institute, and these turned out to be brazen and spectacular lies, as evidenced by his infamous email to Gerald Bradford.

So, yeah: Dr. Moore is right. Don’t give money to Intrepreter because their output is trash. But also don’t give money because Interpreter’s President has a proven track record of lying about his compensation.

To quote Maya Angelou, "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."

Daniel showed me who he is a couple of years ago: a bad-faith deal maker. I wanted him to be more, but he wasn't and I believe him now. Whatever his justification for pursuing life and profession with that operating model, doesn't change the fact that when it comes to money or Mormonism, it should be presumed that he's always operating in bad faith. As many people seem to have learned before me, "fool me once" and all.