Jersey Girl wrote:Oh stop being so dramatic.
Why? Then no one would take this thread seriously.
Killjoy!
Jersey Girl wrote:What about this from your wiki link?
Which one?
Okay, this one:
Patience also had a sharp tongue and was highly suspicious and critical of organized religion and formal education. She also was contemptuous of the various forms of academic and religious posturing. Braude argues that these were in fact personality traits of Pearl that she couldn't let out at that time.
Which means: She thought religion was a load of BS.
I can't disagree wid dat. Most NDErs think the same way. But, horses for courses, for some it's a straight run, for others, a steeplechase! I'd say the steeplechase is jumping men in conservative suits and white ties who believe America was colonised by Jews practising the Law of Moses in 600 BC and could see 2,500 years into the future, and believed that a "dark skin" was the worst affliction one could be born with. No, not polio, not AIDS, not spinabifida - but a "dark skin".
Jersey Girl wrote:Have you read this book and if so, how effective is he in explaining the above?
No, I haven't read that book. Is it online?
Jersey Girl wrote:I trapsed through various links and can't get into some of the websites I wanted to without registration. From what I did read, it's a mystery.
So far. That's why I'm still analysing it. I'm not sure how some freaks can do this sort of thing.
Jersey Girl wrote:Where are the parallels to Joseph Smith?
Retiring from "translation" only to return to take up the "translation" exactly where he left off. Using mediums that were later discarded. Revealing texts that could be authenticated in some ways, yet overall made as much historical sense as Aesop's fables. This Moroni story is so full of BS that I feel sorry for the dupes who still believe it. A man had a dream, and in that dream he saw an angel who lived in a long lost continent, where Christians lived in peace and harmony for four hundred years. These Christians first arrived in
America in 2,200 BC! (Forget about Amerigo Vespucci) Which is: 2,200 years before Christ was born. So far, so gullible. But wait, the
Christian Church was established without any interference from the natives, even though the Vikings had to flee. In fact, many of them were
converted to "Christianity". 600 years before Christ was born! Logic never got any better! History never got any better. Then, a Christian man, living in 600 BC, who claimed to be a Jew practicing Christianity and the law of Moses, saw 2,500 years into the future, without Google or Windows XP. In 600 BC he saw Columbus discovering the New World, and who knows, he may have seen Phil Donohue and Oprah Winfrey as well, or even Back To The Future.
I really can't argue against such logic.
Jersey Girl wrote:Are you leaning toward Joseph Smith produced the Book of Mormon via automatic writing?
How ever he produced it, it has as much historical meaning as Jack and the Beanstalk. Automatic writing only opens the possibility of some accuracy in some details. I'm not sure why this happens, but the evidence seems to indicate that it does. Regardless, I no longer swallow Joseph's tall tales. His forays into polygamy sicken me. And on that count alone, I'm inclined to think he was nothing but a calculating fraud. Yet, even William Law had nothing bad to say about the Book of Mormon. So whoever produced it did a fine job of "winning hearts'. The real key to Mormonism is the Book of Mormon. If that book was fradulently produced - Mormonism is screwed.
