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Still frothing with indignant rage and hatred, Mike Parker, the “lackey supreme” of Mopologetics, is actually attacking the Heartlanders for embracing the familiar “how could he have known?” defense/explanation for Joseph Smith’s production of the Book of Mormon:

https://www.nevillenevilleland.com/2023 ... m.html?m=1

Parker objects to the Heartlanders’ preference for the idea that Joseph Smith translated the golden plates with the Urim and Thummim. Just look at this passage from his latest post:

Mike Parker wrote:The phrasing in that description sadly follows the same polemical approach to Church history that Neville has almost made a career out of. It refers to Joseph Smith’s seer stone as “a magic rock” and implies that those who believe that Joseph translated with a seer stone think he was “a near illiterate country bumpkin.”

My reaction to this is: And? The Mopologists have invested *decades* to supporting *exactly* the idea that Smith was so much of a “country bumpkin” that he couldn’t possibly have produced the Book of Mormon himself. And now Parker objects to this? I thought I had seen it all, but Parker must be the most vendetta-driven, desperate Mopologist of all time. In the same entry, he’s complaining that a Heartlander has a custom-made hat that disses the “rock in the hat translation.” You have to wonder what Parker thinks about Bill Hamblin wearing a “Beavis and Butthead” T-shirt to a FARMS meeting at BYU. If that’s what passes for “scholarship” amongst Mopologists, then why does Parker think he’s got grounds to complain?

The final lines of his blog entry are so stupid and ignorant and un-self-aware that they are worthy of Daniel Peterson himself:

All of this once again demonstrates that, if Heartlanders wish to be taken seriously, they need to act seriously and present their evidence and conclusions in a more objective manner. Perhaps Lucas and Neville’s book does this—I haven’t read it yet—but their public statements manifest that for them, this an us-versus-them battle against historical evidence that they reject wholesale because of their zeal for traditional narratives that no longer hold up.

Lol!!

Doctor Scratch wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 23, 2023 1:25 am

“Mike Parker” wrote:All of this once again demonstrates that, if Heartlanders wish to be taken seriously, they need to act seriously and present their evidence and conclusions in a more objective manner.

Lol!!

The irony is just too much. Interpreter was built specifically because no respectable academic paper would publish the trash contained within.

Excellent insight and scholarship as usual. DCP's comment is classic mope projection. Us v. Them? I thought DCP and his fellow mopes trademarked that.

If Peterson would care to actually re-read the early Christian history of the - ....... ahem............ apostasy, he would see the Us Vs Them problems that helped make the apostasy was precisely when the Us were a Christian group Vs them who was another Christian group and they ended up killing, anathemizing, exiling and deporting their own, simply for differences in understanding Jesus. DUH. How loooooooong will it take the Holy Ghost to enlighten the apologists to the depravity of their depraved erroneous judgment of others in their own beloved Gospel, but who are different?!

Doctor Scratch, quoting Parker wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 23, 2023 1:25 am

… this (is) an us-versus-them battle against historical evidence that they reject wholesale because of their zeal for traditional narratives that no longer hold up.

Are they ‘rejecting’ the evidence, or - like most everyone else - accepting that it doesn’t support what Parker wants to believe? ; )

canpakes wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 23, 2023 2:56 am

Doctor Scratch, quoting Parker wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 23, 2023 1:25 am

Are they ‘rejecting’ the evidence, or - like most everyone else - accepting that it doesn’t support what Parker wants to believe? ; )

I really can’t stop laughing at that remark. “Historical evidence they reject”?? LOL!!! Remember that Philip Jenkins *repeatedly* asked Dr. Bill Hamblin to give actual “historical evidence” for the Book of Mormon and Hamblin was reduced to a stammering mess. Parker can’t give “historical evidence” either. Nobody can.

It really is priceless to see the Mopologists undermining the Church in this way. No anti-Mormon could ever have come up with a better means of creating rifts between the Saints.

I think this classic joke sums up the post-FARMS relationship with the Heartlanders:

Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, "Don't do it!" He said, "Nobody loves me." I said, "God loves you. Do you believe in God?"

He said, "Yes." I said, "Are you a Christian or a Jew?" He said, "A Christian." I said, "Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?" He said, "Protestant." I said, "Me, too! What franchise?" He said, "Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?" He said, "Northern Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?"

He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region." I said, "Me, too!"

Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912." I said, "Die, heretic!" And I pushed him over.

drumdude wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 23, 2023 2:04 am

Doctor Scratch wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 23, 2023 1:25 am

Lol!!

The irony is just too much. Interpreter was built specifically because no respectable academic paper would publish the trash contained within.

DCP keeps saying that nobody knows enough about Mormonism to investigate it further. He uses that excuse for the Pope and other religious leaders. That army of 60,000 missionaries and the church's PR just got thrown under the bus. That group also says that the word of wisdom is just too much for the world to absorb.

The thing is: the Mopologists are basically doomed here, because they don't know how to apologize and/or make amends. I can't think of a single instance in the entire history of Mopologetics where they have ever successfully patched up a damaged relationship like this. The movement just isn't about connection or building bridges. It's about tearing others down, mockery, bullying, and inflicting hurt on other people. Parker is so fixated on hurting Jonathan Neville that he's forgotten what it means to be a disciple of Christ.

And just watch: if he sees this, the best response he'll be able to muster will be something like, "It's ironic that Dr. Scratch is saying this!" or "Neville did it first!" or any number of other replies that refuse to accept responsibility, and instead try to blame someone else for his own bad behavior.

And you know, it occurs to me that Parker sort of looks like a weasely, hedgehog-gy, even more degenerate version of Matt Lauer....

Parker wrote: ...if Heartlanders wish to be taken seriously, they need to act seriously and present their evidence and conclusions in a more objective manner. Perhaps Lucas and Neville’s book does this—I haven’t read it yet—

So in other words, Parker's entire discussion of this book -which he has not read- is actually just an attack on the character of the authors.

Midgley would be so proud.

Also, what happened to Peterson et al's argument that you can't argue about Mormonism unless you read everything Mormons write?