Wyatt only proves Gemli's profound point.
It was religion that radicalized the pilots of the planes that flew into the buildings. One could argue the leaders who orchestrated the attacks were political zealots or not good representatives of their faith -- whatever it is the case doesn't matter, they could have been atheists, but the point is the tool of religion and its promises of an afterlife -- a near daily theme on SeN -- was what got the foot soldiers onto the planes. What would the commenters on this blog do to secure everlasting life? They've covenanted to do anything the prophet has commanded. They can say all they want that the prophet hasn't commanded anything like murder and that he never would, but if he did, then what? What I was taught at BYU by my Book of Mormon teacher, who had a Phd in theology from Harvard, was that if the prophet commands you to kill somebody then do it and you'll be blessed for it, even if the prophet was wrong. We are taught as Mormons that obedience is the first law of heaven, and to prepare ourselves for that day when the prophet tells us to "get on that plane" so to speak. My Book of Mormon teacher, of course, didn't think such a thing would ever happen but then, Abraham didn't think he'd ever be asked to slay his son, and we're taught repeatedly that we're tested in the refiners fire by "curve ball" commandments that we must comply with entirely on faith because they otherwise make no sense. Abraham was stopped at the last minute, but Nephi followed through with his killing of Laban. You don't know which way it will go down, and must be prepared for either outcome. We are to prepare ourselves to fulfill the commands of our priesthood leaders just like those students who got onto the planes. Mormonism is perhaps held back from achieving its full potential because it's situated in a democracy with a strong secular code of human rights and it is corrupted by capitalistic wealth. But we see abuse cover ups by the same faithful justifications.
The astronauts who went to the moon went to the moon either despite their faith, or their faith was irrelevant to the activity. Recall, it was DCP's own prophet, Joseph Fielding Smith who prophesied that mankind would never reach the moon because that would be the supreme human expression of idolatry. Gemli doesn't even know about that, I'm sure.
Joseph Fielding Smith: modern day prophet wrote:The moon is a superior planet to the earth and it was never intended that man should go there. You can write it down in your books that this will never happen.
