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Church Provides Context for Recent Media Coverage on Gospel Topics Pages

The newsroom offers a half-hearted response to all the media attention that occurred yestreday.

I can't imagine they are pleased with the national media attention on a topic they previously didn't even like to talk to their own membership about because it was considered "meat" or "level b" knowledge.

I see President Newsroom didn't miss the opportunity to blame the members for their previous lack of knowledge.

Much of what you'll find in the essays on polygamy has been published in diverse sources and known among long-term and well-read members, historians and Church leaders for many years. The Church has now gathered this information into a single location as a convenient means of placing these resources in the hands of all members.

As a Church, it's important for us to research and provide official, reputable, historically accurate information about our history and doctrine.

Why is it now suddenly important, and what type of information were you previously providing?

Bazooka wrote:I see President Newsroom didn't miss the opportunity to blame the members for their previous lack of knowledge.

I see you continue to blame the Church for some members' previous lack of knowledge.

Bazooka wrote:Why is it now suddenly important, and what type of information were you previously providing?

Because the internet now makes all kinds of information, both true and false, readily available, and the Church would like to provide a central and authoritative source. Also, the attention that their marginalizing of these issues has gotten in recent years has somewhat forced their hand.

On your second question, there were many ways to get accurate information on these topics from Church and non-Church material. One just had to seek it out. What they're doing now is actually highlighting it instead of just relegating it to the archives because they'd rather not talk about it. Correlation has changed a lot in the last few years. They're starting to emphasize publishing "warts and all" stuff in the interest of transparency and accuracy.

maklelan wrote:

Bazooka wrote:I see President Newsroom didn't miss the opportunity to blame the members for their previous lack of knowledge.

I see you continue to blame the Church for some members' previous lack of knowledge.

I do that because the Church taught members things that have now, through these essays, either been admitted to be untrue or have been shown to be seriously misleading. If I was taught through decades of Church programmes that the Book of Mormon was literally translated from Gold plates using a spectacle type device called a Urim & Thummim, how is it then my fault for not knowing that the Book of Mormon was produced from words that appeared on a rock that Joseph found down a well which he read from whilst it was placed in his hat without referring to the plates and for ease he also copied some stuff out of the KJV Bible?

maklelan wrote:

Bazooka wrote:I see President Newsroom didn't miss the opportunity to blame the members for their previous lack of knowledge.

I see you continue to blame the Church for some members' previous lack of knowledge.

Maklelan, when the lack of knowledge on this issue is as pervasive as it has been, the fault does not lie entirely at the feet of the members. At the very least, the church shares responsibility for not making the information more readily available resulting in so many members being misinformed.

Bazooka wrote:I do that because the Church taught members things that have now, through these essays, either been admitted to be untrue or have been shown to be seriously misleading.

I and my friends and colleagues managed to arrive at the truth of the situation. Are we magic, or is it just that the truth is there but there's a lot of rhetoric one just has to sift through?

Bazooka wrote:If I was taught through decades of Church programmes that the Book of Mormon was literally translated from Gold plates using a spectacle type device called a Urim & Thummim, how is it then my fault for not knowing that the Book of Mormon was produced from words that appeared on a rock that Joseph found down a well which he read from whilst it was placed in his hat without referring to the plates and for ease he also copied some stuff out of the KJV Bible?

I've never just accepted what people have taught arbitrarily. I was always taught to find out for myself. I guess others were not and it never occurred to them to do so.

Tim the Enchanter wrote:Maklelan, when the lack of knowledge on this issue is as pervasive as it has been, the fault does not lie entirely at the feet of the members.

I'm not saying any blame is entirely with either side. The Church has downplayed and marginalized that kind of stuff in the past, and even though it's making efforts to be more transparent right now, it still has a long way to go. To say the blame sits entirely at the Church's door is also misrepresentative, in my opinion. Members can find this stuff with little problem if they look for it.

Tim the Enchanter wrote:At the very least, the church shares responsibility for not making the information more readily available resulting in so many members being misinformed.

I agree.

maklelan wrote:I'm not saying any blame is entirely with either side. The Church has downplayed and marginalized that kind of stuff in the past, and even though it's making efforts to be more transparent right now, it still has a long way to go. To say the blame sits entirely at the Church's door is also misrepresentative, in my opinion. Members can find this stuff with little problem if they look for it.

I would totally agree with you if the 80,000 representatives of this corp. taught this in their introductory lessons and any of it was being taught in the 3 hour block of boredom on Sundays.