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Mormonism is the Swiss cheese of religions--full of holes.

Is Mormonism too easy of a target to be the topic of prolonged, serious discussion?

sock puppet wrote:Mormonism is the Swiss cheese of religions--full of holes.

Is Mormonism too easy of a target to be the topic of prolonged, serious discussion?

It's actually less believable than Scientology. Mormonism makes a number of falsifiable claims (Nephites and Lamanites, Book of Abraham, etc.), but Scientology's "theology" is based on Xenu and Thetans and other stuff that is unfalsifiable.

sock puppet wrote:
Is Mormonism too easy of a target to be the topic of prolonged, serious discussion?

Based on the number of people who can't seem to stop talking about it on countless message boards, my guess is the answer is "No."

Nortinski wrote:Based on the number of people who can't seem to stop talking about it on countless message boards, my guess is the answer is "No."

I think he said "serious" discussion. Haven't seen much of that unless you count Uranus Testifies of Christ.

Bob Loblaw wrote:It's actually less believable than Scientology. Mormonism makes a number of falsifiable claims (Nephites and Lamanites, Book of Abraham, etc.), but Scientology's "theology" is based on Xenu and Thetans and other stuff that is unfalsifiable.

The problem is that most Mormons have a vested interest in seeing all religions as equally crazy or sane. I think this is one of the unquestioned assumptions that most ex-Mormons continue to believe after they have left. As a believer (who is no longer Mormon) this has bothered me for a long time.

My thinking basically is that unless you start with naturalism as your default view of the world, it's actually very difficult to falsify most religious claims. There are exceptions to this, and Mormonism is one of those exceptions. I would put Jehovah's Witnesses' beliefs as more easy to falsify, but that's because the falsification doesn't involve learning about esoteric subjects like Egyptology or pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. With the JW's it's mainly a serious of specific prophecies/predictions which have clearly been falsified.

The real bind comes down to the fact that on pretty much any worldview, Mormon claims are falsifiable and have been falsified. But, believing Mormons fail to see this and unbelieving ex-Mos tend not to appreciate how unique this situation is.

Aristotle Smith wrote:The problem is that most Mormons have a vested interest in seeing all religions as equally crazy or sane. I think this is one of the unquestioned assumptions that most ex-Mormons continue to believe after they have left. As a believer (who is no longer Mormon) this has bothered me for a long time.

My thinking basically is that unless you start with naturalism as your default view of the world, it's actually very difficult to falsify most religious claims. There are exceptions to this, and Mormonism is one of those exceptions. I would put Jehovah's Witnesses' beliefs as more easy to falsify, but that's because the falsification doesn't involve learning about esoteric subjects like Egyptology or pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. With the JW's it's mainly a serious of specific prophecies/predictions which have clearly been falsified.

The real bind comes down to the fact that on pretty much any worldview, Mormon claims are falsifiable and have been falsified. But, believing Mormons fail to see this and unbelieving ex-Mos tend not to appreciate how unique this situation is.

Agreed. A lot of apologists confuse the falsifiable claims of Mormonism with spiritual beliefs. Thus it doesn't matter that the Book of Abraham facsimiles are bogus and obviously so because what matters is a testimony.

sock puppet wrote:Mormonism is the Swiss cheese of religions--full of holes.

Is Mormonism too easy of a target to be the topic of prolonged, serious discussion?

The only ones who take this seriously are those who make money from the endeavor.

If you are like Joseph Smith in his treasure hunting, and never make any money from this gig, then how can you take it seriously?

Take our good friend DCP for example..................










Wait.
What?

In my personal opinion, I think the LDS Church makes the strongest claim of all the established religions of the world. Nothing is more provocative or daunting than the words of Joseph Smith, and as history as played out, nothing is more vindicated.

Ernst Blofeld wrote:In my personal opinion, I think the LDS Church makes the strongest claim of all the established religions of the world. Nothing is more provocative or daunting than the words of Joseph Smith, and as history as played out, nothing is more vindicated.

In my personal opinion, The Lord of the Rings is the least implausible choice between itself, Star Trek, Star Wars, and Harry Potter.

Darth J wrote:In my personal opinion, The Lord of the Rings is the least implausible choice between itself, Star Trek, Star Wars, and Harry Potter.

Of course, all of those are well known fictions. The Book of Mormon and the rest of the standard works are not.