I want readers on the board to consider what others have to say, and not just your version of what they have to say. You are a pretty big dog in this pack. It seems like a lot of them roll over and expose their bellies when you enter the room to let you know they will let you dominate them. I think the reason you keep snarling at me is because I don't.
This is baseless rhetoric without a shred of evidence, and it is an insult to them more than it is for me. You don’t find people here agreeing with me simply because I speak. You don’t find people here citing me as an authority. I'm not even sure how many do agree with me. They certainly aren't in the business of providing me with accolades simply for speaking; which was standard fare at FAIR/MAD. You just assume everyone does. And no, you do not want people to hear both sides. You want people to read FARMS because that is all you read.
You have put yourself forward as an expert on this subject. I suppose you do know quite a bit about it.
No I haven’t. I have read more than most members and far more than you’ll probably ever read, but that is because I am not a lazy reader and I don’t limit myself to the LDS apologetic version of things. I just posted a new topic discussing why Nibley and Gee should not be trusted.
But you aren't objective. You have a viewpoint as biased as any apologist you care to name.
This is flat out false. You can’t seem to accept the fact that quite recently I was an apologist. I wanted the apologetic side to be true more than anyone around me; so much so that I was the only one willing to tackle Metcalfe head-on. I quickly realized why nobody wanted to do it. It was an dead-end road for the believer who opens himself up to reason.
Now when I simply reiterate what I have learned, as a means to help people make informed decisions base don all the data (not just the data provided at FARMS), you and your ilk attack me for bias as if any bias I might have is anywhere near your own? What a joke. You need the Church to be true much more than I need it to be false. Sometimes I still hold out hope that one of you guys will come up with a miracle and turn everything that I have learned, completely around. But all you do is make an embarrassment of the apologetic field. You don’t promote education on the subject. You don’t want people to see both sides. You don’t encourage prospective converts to read anything critical about the matter, and the reason is expressed in Will’s own admission that nobody who knew the whole story could ever come to any conclusion other than Joseph Smith was a fraud.
By your own admission, it isn’t the apologetics that balances the question. Apologetics only serves to retain people who already believe. They do nothing to convince non-believers because non-believers would never believe this unless they were ignorant of all the facts. This is why FROB s so necessary for you guys. It is their way of saying, “Don’t read these books, let us review them for you… you’re too stupid to understand that they are full of lies.”
But in everything I have read from you on the subject, you have not ever said "In my opinnioin"
For the same reason I never say “In my opinion, I think God exists,” or “In my opinion my wife is not a man.”
"the way I interpret this" etc.
The reason is simple: because so much of the critical evidence is not based on “interpretation.” Most of the apologetic nonsense you guys are constantly pumping out is entirely based on conjecture and interpretation, but this isn’t so for the critics. Some of it is, but the huge blocks of evidence are pretty much indisputable. For you to keep pounding this irrelevant point that scholars never speak in absolute terms, only tells us how unfamiliar you are with scholars. Where do you guys get this nonsense? Scholarship is constantly speaking in absolute terms.
You make flat out statements that this is the way it is. And you expect all the little puppies to take your word for it.
No I don’t. I say it the way it is and expect people to prove me wrong if they have a problem with it. None of you have been successful at this because you’re counter-arguments are not geared to refute reason or common sense. They are only designed to give the believer an added incentive to keep holding out hope that the Church is still true.
Your behavior toward other scholars is not "scholarly."
If my arguments refute their nonsense, and that is good enough for me. That’s what really matters to people. They don’t care if truth is demonstrated by an amateur or a degreed expert. What they care about is that truth has been demonstrated. And your so-called “scholars” have acted no better than I have when it comes to dealing with the opposition. They speak just as dogmatically in their assertions as any critic. Take for example John Gee’s ridiculous assertion that the entire Book of Abraham was completed before the fall of 1835!! He provided not a single reference or reason to believe this and he circumvented a ton of evidence that says otherwise. But if the Book of Abraham was already completed before the KEP were written, then this means he doesn’t have to deal with any of the claims that the KEP were the original translation manuscripts. So he just makes stuff up out of thin air and declares it to be factual.
If someone disagrees with you they are stupid
It has nothing to do with disagreeing with me, it has everything to do with their stupid comments. People disagree with me all the time and you don’t see me calling them stupid. How many times have I called bcspace stupid? LifeonaPlate? Bokovoy? Stop trying to lump yourself into a category for which you don’t qualify. If you don’t like being called stupid, then stop making stupid comments and actually lift your pinky and make an effort to educate yourself on the issues.
This is not the enlightened scholar leading others to truth.
So? Who ever said I was? Don’t get me confused with the aspirations of some of your cohorts.
It is an ego in search of a reputation.
And what is your evidence for this? How do you justify this vicious attack on me? There is simply no way anyone can leave your little tribe and be anything other than an egomaniac or some other unflattering title.
I merely want the other readers here to look at the material themselves.
You want them to read refuted material fro FARMS, and I have no problem with that as long as they get the full picture. You don’t want that. I’ve read it all already and know that Gee and Nibley cannot be trusted with sources and I can and have proved it. All you have proved is that you know how to sit at your computer all day and click FARMS hyperlinks. That is the extent of your “independent research.”
Ps: You did it again charity. You successfully hijacked another thread and made it personal. Drawing attention to my character when this has nothing to do with me or YOU for that matter. You exhume ignorance and foster neurosis. Do us all a favor and piss off. You never add anything of substance to any thread you are in.
Don't run Will off like you run everyone else away.