The problem for you and the rest of the LDS is that what this means to a lot of readers, I think, is "the Mormon church used to do this too but stopped in 1890". The "this" being thus referred to is abhorrent to a lot of people, and so there is still an association between the Mormons and this abhorrent practice.
I don't take this track. I am not ashamed of plural marriage in the Church's past and I don't apologize for it. It is scriptural and a church practicing it or acknowledging past practice makes it more likely to be true.
It's sort of like a guy who moves into the neighborhood and everyone learns that 40 years ago he raped some children and did time in the big house for it. Come on, it was 40 years ago, and he paid his debt to society, didn't he? Um, well, yeah, but... People still won't want to live next door to him.
It's sort of like a guy who moves into the neighborhood and everyone learns that 40 years ago he raped some children and did time in the big house for it. Come on, it was 40 years ago, and he paid his debt to society, didn't he? Um, well, yeah, but... People still won't want to live next door to him.
Presentism at best and an error in correlation.
Great. Now go around and explain that to the other 300 million Americans who now see the LDS church is a church that used to do the same things as the FLDS just got busted for, but stopped in 1890.
Mormonism ceased being a compelling topic for me when I finally came to terms with its transformation from a personality cult into a combination of a real estate company, a SuperPac, and Westboro Baptist Church. - Kishkumen
Sethbag wrote:It's sort of like a guy who moves into the neighborhood and everyone learns that 40 years ago he raped some children and did time in the big house for it. Come on, it was 40 years ago, and he paid his debt to society, didn't he? Um, well, yeah, but... People still won't want to live next door to him.
Is polygamy seen as that terrible to others? I would have thought that most people see polygamy like they see adulterly or shacking-up. Polygamy doesn't imply abuse the way that rape does at least not to me.
Forced child marriages is a different matter. I didn't think the church ever said they've done that but stopped.
That's General Leo. He could be my friend if he weren't my enemy. eritis sicut dii I support NCMO
It's sort of like a guy who moves into the neighborhood and everyone learns that 40 years ago he raped some children and did time in the big house for it. Come on, it was 40 years ago, and he paid his debt to society, didn't he? Um, well, yeah, but... People still won't want to live next door to him.
Presentism at best and an error in correlation.
Presentism in what sense?
Joseph Smith's sexual escapades weren't socially acceptable back in his days either. That's in part why he was killed and why so many former followers turned against him. Note also the the Republican party's first platform referred to the twin evils (or something like that) of slavery and polygamy.
God . . . "who mouths morals to other people and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, . . . and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him ..."
Sethbag wrote:It's sort of like a guy who moves into the neighborhood and everyone learns that 40 years ago he raped some children and did time in the big house for it. Come on, it was 40 years ago, and he paid his debt to society, didn't he? Um, well, yeah, but... People still won't want to live next door to him.
Is polygamy seen as that terrible to others? I would have thought that most people see polygamy like they see adulterly or shacking-up. Polygamy doesn't imply abuse the way that rape does at least not to me.
Forced child marriages is a different matter. I didn't think the church ever said they've done that but stopped.
I don't think it is, strictly speaking, just the fake marriage of multiple women to one man. It's the perceived treatment of women as chattel, the women being portrayed as subservient to the men, mind-controlled, etc. that is adding to the harm. That and the 31 out of 54 or whatever pregnant teenaged girls at the YFZ ranch. Just watch some of the interviews where they get FLDS women to speak on camera and they look like brainwashed robots. It's really crazy just how messed up these people appear to the American people. And the bottom line message, with respect to the LDS church, in many peoples' minds, is "the Mormons used to do this too but stopped in 1890".
Mormonism ceased being a compelling topic for me when I finally came to terms with its transformation from a personality cult into a combination of a real estate company, a SuperPac, and Westboro Baptist Church. - Kishkumen
Sethbag wrote:It's sort of like a guy who moves into the neighborhood and everyone learns that 40 years ago he raped some children and did time in the big house for it. Come on, it was 40 years ago, and he paid his debt to society, didn't he? Um, well, yeah, but... People still won't want to live next door to him.
Is polygamy seen as that terrible to others? I would have thought that most people see polygamy like they see adulterly or shacking-up. Polygamy doesn't imply abuse the way that rape does at least not to me.
Forced child marriages is a different matter. I didn't think the church ever said they've done that but stopped.
Great. Now go around and explain that to the other 300 million Americans who now see the LDS church is a church that used to do the same things as the FLDS just got busted for, but stopped in 1890.