DiscussMormonism.com

Everything else being the same, if Mormonism did not exist until today, and some 20-something year old, with a shady background announced he dug up some gold plates with the help of an angel and he was translating them with a seer stone, yada, yada, yada, how successful do you think it would be? Do you think any of the apologists like DCP, who would be living a completely different life, maybe in mainstream Christianity, would believe the claims of some guy in upstate New York? given what we currently know about Native Americans, could someone produce a "history of the original inhabitants of this the American continent" today and have it be the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon and have anyone with an IQ above 80 believe it?

If Joseph Smith Mormonism was invented today it would be about as successful as the guy who did the sealed portion book.

And Joseph Smith and Warren Jeffs could share a cell.

Mormonism is so thoroughly of 19th century America that it's hard to see it taking off again if you don't change anything. Mound-builder myths and deciphering Egyptian writing aren't exactly hot topics anymore and a gulf has opened up between what Smith was doing and modern knowledge. I see this is simply because the religion is a 19th century construction. I suppose the believer will attribute it to God tailoring to his 19th century audience. In either case, it wouldn't have the same traction, nor would it have the chance to isolate and grow in the western frontier. But all religions sort of depend on historical happenstance to take off, don't they? So what if the question was changed to updating early Mormonism for a 21st century context? Would it succeed? Probably not. The odds are always stacked against a new religious movement. But it'd have a chance.

Regarding whether it'd have DCP, almost certainly not. He doesn't strike me as the type to leave his religion and join a cult.

True Mormonism would be just fine. It is based on really interacting with God and speaking with him. That can happen just as easily now as it did in the 19th century, and before that. The reason Mormonism isn't progressing as it should is they have moved away from that. This type of apostacy isn't unknown and the corporate monster in SLC will slowly diminish it till someone seeks the Lord and he sets it right. I have no worries about true Mormonism and even if the corporate SLC Church evaporates completely, it never will.

Tobin wrote:True Mormonism would be just fine. It is based on really interacting with God and speaking with him.

Not really. It is about believing Joseph Smith's claims. Lots of people claim to interact with God and speak with him. What sets Mormonism apart is they believe Joseph Smith's claims.

DarkHelmet wrote:

Tobin wrote:True Mormonism would be just fine. It is based on really interacting with God and speaking with him.

Not really. It is about believing Joseph Smith's claims. Lots of people claim to interact with God and speak with him. What sets Mormonism apart is they believe Joseph Smith's claims.

The only reason to believe Joseph Smith's claims is if God tells you they are true. Why should you believe his claims over anyone else's claims?

How well would Muhammed do today?

SteelHead wrote:And Joseph Smith and Warren Jeffs could share a cell.

I just finished reading Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion by Janet Reitman. Compared to L. Ron Hubbard, Brother Joseph was an amateur.

I don't think it would fly. You'd want something that didn't present any historicity problems in the information age. Joseph Smith went too far in reifying the otherness.

Go with something a little East, a little scientific, a little pop-psychology, rigorous, at least to start out so you have a good core, yet not exclusivist, have a good marketing model, and I've just described . . . ?

Unification Church has been successful too, haven't thought through their model recently, certainly East/West, rigorous to begin with.

Would you include internet tithing in your start up? Mandatory iphones at all times?