John A. Tvedtnes' website links RFM to Ed Decker

[_Polygamy Porter]

The "senior resident scholar with the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at Brigham Young University", John A. Tvedtnes appears to have a website called Book of Mormon RESEARCH which among other distortions, says that RfM is one of Ed Decker's organizations:

Perhaps the most famous of these ex-Mormon, anti-Mormon groups is Ed Decker’s organization, which goes by several names – such as “Recovery from Mormonism,” “Saints Alive,” or “Ex-Mormons for Jesus.”
The Mormon Church excommunicated Decker in 1976. His attacks again Mormonism are sensationalist and have been condemned by the Anti-Defamation League. Indeed, Decker uses hyperbolic language and unsubstantiated claims to further his cause, and other ex-Mormons and critics of Mormonism have rejected his conclusions and his overblown style, but he still has some influence online.

I speculate that the above is his website as there is a major section of the site which pushes ONLY his publications


... Book of Mormon RESEARCH... that's funny... Even Dan agrees with me on that.. just see my signature.

[_Daniel Peterson]

The "senior resident scholar with the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at Brigham Young University", John A. Tvedtnes

John Tvedtnes, by the way, has retired and moved to Arkansas.

... Book of Mormon RESEARCH... that's funny... Even Dan agrees with me on that.. just see my signature.

I don't, of course.

PP knows that he's twisting what I said by taking it out of context. But it's no biggie: I can't imagine that anybody takes what PP says very seriously.

[_Sethbag]

Dr. Dan, do you suppose you could pass the word to your friend Dr. John that RfM isn't actually run by Ed Decker, or whatever connection with Ed Decker he thinks it has? It actually means something to be accurate about this, I think. Or else, if you have, or he has, some kind of evidence of a strong link between Decker and RfM, perhaps you could clue us in on it.

[_Dr. Shades]

Holy cow, what a trainwreck.

Here's what he has to say about the Mountain Meadows Massacre:

Mormons have never tried to justify the crimes committed during the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

He makes a whopper of a non-sequiter here:

There is no organized "ex-Mormon group" with all former members of the Church. Ex-Mormon, thus, usually refers to people who are former members of the Mormon Church who are actively anti-Mormon, especially on the internet.

So, according to our esteemed Mr. Tvedtness, since there is no organized ex-Marine group, then "ex-Marine" usually refers to people who are former Marines and who are actively anti-Marines, especially on the Internet. Brillant logic, Mr. Tvedtness.

Here's another fun one from the same page:

And while Mormons are encouraged to be tolerant of other people, they don’t accept things that they see as sin as not sin, which can cause further discomfort in someone leaving the Church because they want to do things the Church does not allow.

[_KimberlyAnn]

So, according to our esteemed Mr. Tvedtness, since there is no organized ex-Marine group, then "ex-Marine" usually refers to people who are former Marines and who are actively anti-Marines, especially on the Internet. Brillant logic, Mr. Tvedtness.

Good doctor, there is no such thing as an ex-Marine. There are only Marines. Once a Marine, always a Marine. Semper Fi and all...

KA

[_Doctor Steuss]

Actually, Ed Decker's "Ex-Mormons for Jesus" clan did have a "Recovery From Mormonism" moniker for a time. As to who coined it first (RfM or "Saints Alive"), me no know.

[_Polygamy Porter]

The "senior resident scholar with the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at Brigham Young University", John A. Tvedtnes

John Tvedtnes, by the way, has retired and moved to Arkansas.

I got this right from the maxwell site at BYU. Tell the webmaster to wake up.

[_harmony]

Here's another fun one from the same page:

And while Mormons are encouraged to be tolerant of other people, they don’t accept things that they see as sin as not sin, which can cause further discomfort in someone leaving the Church because they want to do things the Church does not allow.

Good grief. Now drinking coffee is a sin? Having a cup of tea is a sin? Getting an extra set of earring holes is a sin? A sin?

It's a good thing he retired.

[_Polygamy Porter]

The "senior resident scholar with the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at Brigham Young University", John A. Tvedtnes

John Tvedtnes, by the way, has retired and moved to Arkansas.

... Book of Mormon RESEARCH... that's funny... Even Dan agrees with me on that.. just see my signature.

I don't, of course.

PP knows that he's twisting what I said by taking it out of context. But it's no biggie: I can't imagine that anybody takes what PP says very seriously.

Really?

Let's examine the statement that you made on this MAAD thread(click the URL window and hit return when it gives an error..they are blocking linked articles from this site):

It's probably true that "Book of Mormon archaeology" is a joke in academia. So is belief in the resurrection of Jesus, I would judge, and, very often, belief in God altogether. So is voting for a Republican. I don't lose too much sleep over any of this. It's not as if many academics actually know much about the Book of Mormon, after all. Ignorant contempt is very uninteresting. But even informed disagreement, to the extent that it exists, is not especially troubling. Disagreement, as I've said, is the life blood of scholarship. It's what we academics live for.

I don't see how I took it out of context.

You said it, I quoted you. End of story.

Perhaps acedemia would not be so ignorant to Book of Mormon archeology if they started seeing validity in what you boys are claiming. Otherwise it is a waste of time for them, just like try to find where the Hobbit lived.

[_Mercury]

Yet another stable, accurate, BYU-related individual. This guy could only survive in academia at BYU. Him and donut boy of course.