Paraphrasing Frank Kermode, for the "true believer" there can be no such thing as "disconfirming evidence", simply because his "true belief" was never based on evidence in the first place. Mormon belief, like all fanatical, false beliefs, only maintains a veneer of rational justification; underneath, it is virtually content-free. It is, in fact, merely a psychological state, distinguishable only by the particular totems it anchors itself with (the Book of Mormon itself, a man-as-true-prophet itself, etc.).
Yes, yes, yes.
When I first left the church I was unfamiliar with the world of apologia. This was before I was online, and, living in the ‘mission field’, I had access to very little material. When I accidentally discovered the “other” church history, it immediately caused me to re-evaluate my faith. The more I learned, the more my faith eroded. I fought that erosion tooth and nail, but it was inevitable.
I was quite naïve at that time and imagined that any Mormon who learned about this “other” history would naturally lose belief. In fact, I became interested in online apologia due to the fact that its existence was startling to me, because this meant that large numbers of LDS knew this “other” history and yet still found a way to believe! I found that amazing and interesting, and began conversations with them to try and figure out how, and why, they were able to continue believing.
My first reaction, upon reading how these apologists were willing to alter what I had always viewed as basic LDS teachings, was that they were really heretics, in a way. One sneeze away from apostasy themselves. Yet, as time went on, it became apparent that many were quite firm in this version of LDS faith.
After many conversations, especially with the “post-modern” apologists, I gradually came to view these apologists as the “real” True Believers. Not the folks sitting in the chapel, firm in their testimonies, yet oblivious to these matters. And even more – they were the ones who really were following the tradition of Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith didn’t really care about content, either, did he? He was willing to change any teaching, no matter how fundamental (like the nature of god), without notice or fanfare. The content didn’t matter at all to Joseph Smith, so the apologists are the ones who are TRULY following his religion.
I had a lengthy conversation with Ben McGuire on the old ZLMB that, to me, finally and forcefully convinced me of this idea.
http://pacumenispages.yuku.com/topic/89 ... tml?page=1
In this thread, Ben admitted that ANY content in the church could change, and it would not alter the church’s “one true church” status – even if that change were to decide that the Jesus story was really a myth. Here’s one of his comments that I think confirms the truth of Tal’s statement:
But in the sense that a foundational belief is one that cannot be changed, NO SUCH THING EXISTS. But you want to find this - because I think that you don't really understand the philosophical perspective that I represent. There isn't anything partial about my adoption of the notion of the inaccessibility of absolute truth. Of course when I say this, you want me to also agree with the idea that this makes everyone else fundamentalist - including the LDS prophets, and I say no. I also continue to point out that if God represents absolute truth, then he can overturn anything that we believe, and as long as He confirms it to us, we, of necessity accept the new position as truth. But just because everything can be changed, doesn't make it likely in my view that it will be. This whole thing is about you attempting to define exactly what can or cannot be a core - or foundational belief. If you want to say that such a belief is one that cannot be changed, then in Mormonism, there is no basis for such a thing. There is no foundational beliefs, we have only the revealed will of God, filtered, interpreted, and so on. And this Trump's any tradition, any canon, everything.
(page 8 of the discussion, ben appears as “unregistered user” because the board switched to Yuku and unless people reregister under Yuku, their posts appear as “unregistered user”. It’s ruined the archives)
There are no foundational beliefs. There are no foundational beliefs. There are no foundational beliefs. Only what “God” reveals at the moment. Joseph Smith would have been totally on board with that.