Agent Y wrote:Although I personally don't much care about how much DCP gets for his apologetic activities, I do believe he's wordsmithing a bit to deny your claims. And that annoys me. He should just own up to it and move on. With that being said, here's a little thing he posted on MAD:
http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index. ... opic=35886
The CD he refers to is, of course, his own, available for the silly sum of $15.95: http://www.covenant-lds.com/osb2/itemde ... fm?ID=2213 . It's a bit shameless for him to plug his stuff on MAD, but nonetheless that's what he does.
I would suppose that since marketing and creating a CD in today's market (especially when it's simply a recorded lecture) would eat up maybe $2-3 bucks, leaving a large pie to be divided. Where do you s'pose it goes?
Of course, if it were truly of interest to church members, you'd think it would be made available at cost, but that's just my take on it.
Hmm, yes. Very interesting. I noted elsewhere that he does seem to be drawing a "supplemental income" from his Mopologetic activities, and this appears to help bolster that particular argument. Of course, this doesn't really prove that "The Church" is paying him to do Mopologetics. Rather, it seems that he is using his position and status within both the Church and BYU in order to promote (and thus cash in on) his apologetic works. There is something very "snake oil salesman"-esque to all of this.
By the way, the CDs in question are described thusly:
(emphasis added)For better or worse, hardly a week goes by without the Church being mentioned in the news. Along with this increased level of visibility comes an increase in the amount of criticism directed toward the Church. In this two-CD set of engaging fireside talks, gospel scholar Daniel C. Peterson addresses some of the most common criticisms and helps members know best how to respond to each. Some of the issues he discusses include:
• The DNA question
• Nature of the Godhead
• Deification
• So-called “errors” in the Book of Mormon
• Book of Mormon geography
• The claim that Latter-day Saints aren’t Christians
• Works vs. grace
Drawing on his background as a scholar and a long-time defender of the Church, Brother Peterson builds faith by showing that many of the questions can be answered. But he also reminds his listeners that “There will always be issues. We walk by faith. We don’t know everything, and we don’t have answers to everything. But the answers will come on the Lord’s schedule.” With its rich source of information, Defending the Faith will be an important resource in every LDS home.
Well, if enough people buy the CDs, I guess the "source" will get very rich indeed!