christopher
I don't think they can, because if fiction, how could Moroni be in Joseph's bedroom, or anywhere for that matter or how could we have land of Lamanites noted in the D&C?
This is kind of symbolic of the larger issue, which is that the LDS church is basically pretty conservative and literalist. Any liberalization of the LDS church is going to result in conflicts like the Book of Mormon conflict. So they would deal with it the way they currently deal with previous liberalizing movements, such as accepting evolution, by and large. Apologists or defenders of the faith come up with these bizarre conglomerations to try and justify believing both in a literal Adam and Eve and evolution. No matter how bizarre it is, no matter how much it strains credulity, there will be believers happy to adopt it if it helps them to retain belief.
TD
Hopefully the GAs will follow his lead and stop promoting the ridiculous notion that people leave the church because they sinned or were offended. (sigh).
Yes, it would be nice to see that teaching disappear. I’m sure this is a difficult dilemma for leaders who ponder it, however – scare tactics are useful in discouraging members from even thinking about these issues, which would probably be their first preference (but the internet is eroding that option). I do believe, as I’ve previously stated several times, that if the LDS church would stop teaching these insulting and, frankly, bigoted ideas about apostates, one result would be that apostates would feel less compelled to justify their loss of belief to members, in attempts to debunk this nonsense. That would, in turn, lessen the often combative atmosphere between Mormon and exmormon.
Where is God?
God, like George Bush, likes to take frequent and lengthy vacations. And, again like George Bush, we’re probably better off with him on vacation, judging from some of the things he’s done in the past. ;)
Mon
Hey, beastie, you know that I was greatly alarmed to discover that someone I loved thought anti-Mormons were the liars and he knew the truth. I was so very concerned for this young man.
Well, if the inoculation a la Bushman is going to be the future for the LDS church, then this will change. It would be nice not to have that knee-jerk “liar satan follower” reaction. Since it appears that Bushman likely has some level of approval from church leaders, it would appear that they are beginning to realize they may be setting members up for a very hard fall by encouraging that attitude.