Shulem wrote: ↑Wed Sep 13, 2023 1:28 pm
I dare say that Don Bradley's testimony hangs on the need to formulate and justify parallels because the logical conclusion of evidence prove that Joseph Smith was perpetuating a massive pious fraud.
The parallels I was offering between Joseph Smith and Mormon are clearly not apologetic in nature. Indeed, probably the people who would most readily make use of them are critics.
Shulem wrote: ↑Wed Sep 13, 2023 1:28 pm
Oh, I don't doubt that Bradley has experienced spiritual manifestations and yet those things are common to the human race in all religions -- but spiritual experiences don't make something true when it's really fantasy in which to play out and entertain ourselves on this lovely planet which we call, "earth." Mormon spiritual experiences? Been there, done that.
Actually, I left the church in part because I thought all religious had spiritual experiences, and that these all contradicted each other, which made me think these experiences were merely subjective. I subsequently came to see that, in fact, the mystics in virtually all religions have massive agreement between their spiritual experiences, suggesting that they were perceiving something real.
Don
"People can find meaninglessness in just about anything if they convince themselves that there is no meaning in that thing." - The Rev. Dr. Lumen Kishkumen