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Say you and your family of seven (wife, six kids) were eating a nice meal together at The Viilage Inn and a psychotic Evangelical with a 38 in his hand grabbed you and put a gun to your head and said "proclaim now that Joseph Smith was a false prophet or die" -- what would you do? Proclaim or not proclaim?

(Assume for purposes of this hypothetical that you would indeed be shot and killed unless you proclaimed as much.)

mms wrote:Say you and your family of seven (wife, six kids) were eating a nice meal together at The Viilage Inn and a psychotic Evangelical with a 38 in his hand grabbed you and put a gun to your head and said "proclaim now that Joseph Smith was a false prophet or die" -- what would you do? Proclaim or not proclaim?

(Assume for purposes of this hypothetical that you would indeed be shot and killed unless you proclaimed as much.)

I would say he was a false prophet. IMHO it wouldn't make any difference what one say's when they are forced to say it by gun point, it doesn't mean that person believes it. It doesn't change a persons testimony. I think a trickier question is, would one deny God while in this same situation. Joseph Smith stood for what he believed, and ultimately died for it. Would I? Would anyone else?

mms wrote:Say you and your family of seven (wife, six kids) were eating a nice meal together at The Viilage Inn and a psychotic Evangelical with a 38 in his hand grabbed you and put a gun to your head and said "proclaim now that Joseph Smith was a false prophet or die" -- what would you do? Proclaim or not proclaim?

(Assume for purposes of this hypothetical that you would indeed be shot and killed unless you proclaimed as much.)

Believers in what?

I believe in many things, but not Joseph Smith, so it would be no issue for me.

"Psychotic Evangelical" sounds like a good name for a band.

This is one of those hypotheticals that is impossible to accurately predict until you are actually in the scenario.

We all want to believe that we would be courageous in combat, but how many of us actually would be?

If I was a Mormon, I would proclaim him a false prophet until I was safe. Then I would visit my bishop and begin the repentence process.

Wasn't there a girl in Columbine that was asked with a gun to her head if she believed in God, she said yes, and was promptly shot?

mms wrote:Say you and your family of seven (wife, six kids) were eating a nice meal together at The Viilage Inn and a psychotic Evangelical with a 38 in his hand grabbed you and put a gun to your head and said "proclaim now that Joseph Smith was a false prophet or die" -- what would you do? Proclaim or not proclaim?

(Assume for purposes of this hypothetical that you would indeed be shot and killed unless you proclaimed as much.)

If I'm dead, it isn't exactly going to do G-d a whole lot of good. If I'm alive, I get to thump the guy once he turns his back after I tell him what he wants to hear.

Don't answer.

Believers in what?

Believers in Joseph Smith being a prophet of course (sorry, thought that would be obvious by the question).

This seems like a no-brainer to me, but I have had the discussion with some believing LDS and some said that under no circumstance would they make such a proclamation and if they died, they died. I thought that was rather ridiculous and was truly surprised. More than ridiculous--I thought it totally irresponsible considering the six children left without a father and the wife left without a husband.

Still would like to hear from other believers in Joseph Smith' prophetic mission. Nehor, are you saying that you would not make the demanded proclamation?

mms wrote:Say you and your family of seven (wife, six kids) were eating a nice meal together at The Viilage Inn and a psychotic Evangelical with a 38 in his hand grabbed you and put a gun to your head and said "proclaim now that Joseph Smith was a false prophet or die" -- what would you do? Proclaim or not proclaim?

(Assume for purposes of this hypothetical that you would indeed be shot and killed unless you proclaimed as much.)

I would have no trouble whatsoever in proclaiming Joseph Smith a false prophet. ;-)

But, in the same vein, and to illustrate the sense of your post, I'll say this. In order to prevent being shot by the guy with the .38 to my head, I'd proclaim the following:

Joseph Smith was a true prophet (mental note: NOT)
There is no God but God, and Muhammed was his prophet. (mental note: NOT)
Cows are sacred, and if I'm good, and lucky, I might become one someday. (mental note: whatever)
Meat is murder (mental note: NOT)
George W. Bush is the Debil. (mental note: whatever)
Nancy Pelosi is the Debil. (mental note: whatever)

Basically, I'd proclaim pretty much whatever someone demanded I proclaim, if the alternative were being shot in the head.

I like life, and am unwilling to give it up in order to "stick it" to some madman.

Now, does that mean I would do anything to live? Not at all. There are things I would die for. I'd like to think I'd jump on a grenade to save my buddies, for instance, though I could never say for sure whether I'd really do it unless it happened. I'd like to say I'd jump into freezing water to save a child. To change things up, if the Madman was going to shoot either me or my daughter, and I had to choose which one he shot, I'd choose me. You get the point.

But refuse to proclaim something and be shot instead? No thanks. Not worth it.