I noticed a few weeks ago on "SeN" that someone in the comments section mentioned the "2nd Watson Letter," and Dr. Peterson responded very firmly with something along the lines of, "Do not ever mention the 2nd Watson Letter again here or you will be instantly banned." So whether his memory was faulty or not at the time, as of today, he seems to recognize that he, Hamblin, and the other Mopologists made a grievous mistake: they basically completely manufactured a statement from the First Presidency.
Never a Mormon problem that can't be solved by more censorship.
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How is he dating a source in an article, to AFTER he published an article?
I don't know that this is what happened, but journals often get published late. So the 31 January 1993 edition may not have actually been published until May or June of that year, and the reference may have been slipped in last minute.
Possibly, but i don't think that's the case here. His article shows up as an already published Jof Book of Mormon article in multiple other aggregating places as well, still with entries reading “published 1-31-93” or with a date still well prior to the fax date of april 23, 1993.
I don't know that this is what happened, but journals often get published late. So the 31 January 1993 edition may not have actually been published until May or June of that year, and the reference may have been slipped in last minute.
Possibly, but i don't think that's the case here. His article shows up as an already published Jof Book of Mormon article in multiple other aggregating places as well, still with entries dated prior to the fax date of april 23, 1993.
A few notes here, for what it's worth: Brent Metcalfe noted in 2009 that the first version of the article was circulated on March 8, 1993. Metcalfe pointed out that this version did not contain a citation to the so-called second Watson letter. The May 1993 issue of Insights announced that the journal issue in which Hamblin's article appeared was available for order.
Last edited by Tom on Mon Jun 12, 2023 5:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
“But if you are told by your leader to do a thing, do it. None of your business whether it is right or wrong.” Heber C. Kimball, 8 Nov. 1857
To refresh our memories on what Watson said about the 1993 fax:
[A]s the FAIR website says, sometime later staffer from FARMS, I suppose Brent Hall, contacted me and sought clarification. They say it was April 23, 1993, and that seems about right. They wanted me to revoke or revise the letter. Of course I wouldn't do that, but they suggested we could use the entry in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism on Cumorah and accordingly a fax was sent which they have on their website.
Watson sounds pretty unhappy about the whole thing. Note how he attributes the date to FAIR, even though the fax is dated. Odd. He must either be frustrated and tired of the whole tempest in a teapot, or he is unhappy about the way all of this was foisted on him by FARMS. It is clear from his statement in the interview that they were demanding the 1990 letter be revoked!!! Demanding that the First Presidency reverse its position on Cumorah. When this act of sheer temerity failed, they pleaded to get the office to send a fax merely quoting the Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Notice that there is no mention of the First Presidency's involvement in any of that. The October 1990 letter was reviewed by each member of the First Presidency, while the April 1993 fax was not. It was just an agreement between staff on both sides to send a fax quoting the Encyclopedia of Mormonism.
“If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about the answers.”~Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow
Possibly, but i don't think that's the case here. His article shows up as an already published Jof Book of Mormon article in multiple other aggregating places as well, still with entries dated prior to the fax date of april 23, 1993.
A few notes here, for what it's worth: Brent Metcalfe noted in 2009 that the first version of the article was circulated on March 8, 1993. Metcalfe pointed out that this version did not contain a citation to the so-called second Watson letter. The May 1993 issue of Insights announced that the journal issue in which Hamblin's article appeared was available for order.
Thank you, Tom, this is very helpful. Combined with Kishkumen's history review, this just looks worse and worse.
It sounds like they bullied someone into sending a fax that the mopologists wrote, and then Hamblin played fast and loose with the provenance and intent.
So in my opinion, Hamblin, et al, didn't forge the fax-i'll retract that, but they certainly did invent and manipulate the backstory. So dishonest.
Given the fact that the Carla Ogden fax was just a document generated by the staff of the OFP at the request of a staff person at FARMS doing nothing more or less than sending a quote from an existing church publication, it holds relatively little weight in comparison with the first Watson letter of October 1990.
“If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about the answers.”~Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow
Would it be fair, or at least reasonable, to say that but for the detective work by critics to unwind the jiggery-pokery of the apologists, the world would be left with a more-or-less established "fact" that letter from Watson in 1990 had been refuted by a later correspondence?
If so, and if we lived in Old Testament days, I suspect that a bunch or ark steadiers would have been struck dead.
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It is also pretty funny, if a little embarrassing, that the Master Timeline of Mopologetics already contained a number of the details reviewed in this thread.
Thank you for all of this valuable research, Tom. I am working on the third edition of the Master Timeline of Mopologetics right now, using this thread to add crucial information. Your work is helpful. Thanks again!
“If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about the answers.”~Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow
