Tal Bachman wrote:I want to sincerely thank "bc space" for making me look great on here. He even went above and beyond the call of duty and mentioned the church class vote, bolstering my point. Thanks, chum! (clink)
Hey BC - can you be a sport and do it some more? Just try tackling this one, and all my dreams will come true:
Since "The Origin of Man" is an official First Presidency statement which claims to state official LDS doctrine, would you be so kind as to post links to the equally authoritative, subsequent official First Presidency statements, which state that Mormons are NOT "duty bound to regard Adam as the primal parent of the human race?"
Good luck.
Let the official Mormon Mindgame Olympics continue!
I owe you, bc. :P
T.
I think that, by and large, your argument is incontrovertible. Although one could conceivably argue that there is a tacit "permission," if you will, to disregard or even disbelieve the precepts contained in
The Origin of Man. Therefore, while perhaps we should feel "duty bound," it is apparent that that duty is not viewed as being in the top echelon of requirements for the faithful.
In any case, this thread isn't about the apparent conflict between evolution and LDS doctrine. Rather, it is a vehicle to argue your real thesis:
Strictly speaking, "Mormonism" doesn't exist; only individual versions of what people enjoy imagining is "Mormonism" exist.
Again, I believe this is a conclusion that could only be reached after being exposed to the type of LDS that seem to predominate in the bloggernacle. And, in the context of the bloggernacle, I would have to concede that your argument has merit. However, as I noted recently:
Do any of you actually participate in wards where you know someone else who frequents the bloggernacle? If so, what would you estimate is the ratio of bloggernaclists (there’s a word!) to non-bloggernaclists?
I ask because I really am not aware of anyone in my entire stake who is a bloggernaclist. So I’m wondering if my stake/area is the aberration, or if my impression is correct that bloggernaclists make up about 1/2 of 1 percent of the active LDS membership in North America (about 10,000 out of 2.5 million).
I hate to give too much credence to Jason's "Internet Mormons/Chapel Mormons" arguments -- mainly because I think he misses out on some nuances of the issue -- but the fact remains that when someone like Tal makes a statement like his original post in this thread, its relevance to "real" LDS culture and belief is almost nil.
bcspace claims a bare majority of disbelievers in organic evolution in his Sunday School class. Well, I don't know where he lives, or the specific demographics of his ward, but I can say that his experience is notably
atypical to my own. I would venture to say that fewer than 20% even appreciate the controversy, and of those, fewer than half (< 10% of the whole) would claim a belief in organic evolution. It just isn't that important to them. Their lives are lived on a different plane; a different stage. They aren't dumb. They just aren't interested.