The Mormon Apologist's Modus Operandi

[_harmony]

Instead of saying "no, I'm not interested in this subject and couldn't add anything of value to the discussion", you say, "No, I won't discuss anything with you because you exasperate me."

That's right. Because, typically, I am interested in the subject, and would be able to add value to the discussion. I just don't want to be involved with Trixiebeastie.

If that's true, then why won't you discuss that subject with anyone else?

You don't say "I know virtually nothing about Mesoamerican horses/metallurgy/religious rites/etc." You say "I don't want to discuss anything with you because you exasperate me."

Again, correct. I've probably read as much about these subjects as Trixiebeastie has. I've climbed all over Teotihuacán, explored Tikal and Palenque, spent time with archaeologists in the jungles of the Guatemalan Petén, visited Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan, and so on and so forth.

So... essentially you're saying you're taking the easy way out. My daddy used to call that chickenmanure.

I'm not going to lie just to make you happy, harmony.

A comment from out in left field, if ever there was one.

Incidentally, I'm going out this evening with my wife and some neighbors. To a play. A play that Scratch will find stuffy or stodgy or insufficiently edgy or pretentious or something. (He doesn't really need to know the title in order for his Universal Method to work. My taste will fall short and be condemned.) Anyway, you're entirely welcome to keep this going and going and going, and then to claim that I'm the one who kept it going.)

Have fun. I'm baking cookies and slow cooking a pork roast in root beer for our family reunion this week. (The secret ingredient for the meal I'm tasked with cooking is rootbeer extract.)

[_Daniel Peterson]

What about snide and mocking? I'm assuming you don't concede his point on snide and mocking, but you didn't address those descriptors.

You're right. I don't. I was just struck by the sheer extremity of his degenerate.

Of course, I'll be the first to grant that the FARMS Review has often -- but by no means only or even dominantly -- had a humorous, satirical bent to it. That was by my design, and it fits my personality. I'm happy with it. But the Review has never been the vicious thing that Scratch wants to stigmatize it as. Never.

Have there been a few things that I would possibly have done otherwise, in retrospect? Probably. We've published very near to ten thousand pages in the Review over the years, and I claim inerrancy neither for myself, nor for those who've written for me, nor for those who have helped me to edit the journal. Have there been very many, though? No. Have they been major or grievous? No. Much harsher things are said here on this board every day than have ever been published in the Review. (For instance, we've never branded an author or a book "degenerate.")

[_Daniel Peterson]

If that's true, then why won't you discuss that subject with anyone else?

When I'm in the mood to spend even more time here than I already do, and when there's somebody who really wants to spend that extra time with me on those subjects, maybe I'll think about devoting more of the rest of my life to this board. But I would prefer that somebody just shoot me.

So... essentially you're saying you're taking the easy way out.

That's right. I find non-exasperation easier than exasperation, and I prefer it.

My daddy used to call that chickenmanure.

So your daddy never said No to anybody or anything at all? Poor man.

[_cksalmon]

My personal favorite is any of a number of variations of the general allegation of boredom: "This is boring," "I'm bored," "I am growing bored," "This grows tiring," "Boring," or what-have-you.

To the very untrained, amateur, non-scholarly, eye, it appears that LDS apologetic "boredom" tends, almost exclusively, to manifest itself in relatively close proximity to, and chronologically following, any of a number of unsavory critical responses to whatever LDS-critical topic that had previously been fascinating enough to elicit perhaps numerous LDS-apologetic responses.

But, eventually, inevitably, it seems, the "boredom" sets in...

cks

[_solomarineris]

Man, this is way better than the MAD board. There's no good fights there anymore.

Are you surprised?
They, Gordittos have their semi-annual hunting fest to purge impure elements.
But now they cannot even muster any hunting party because they all but eliminated the game.

[_Calculus Crusader]

Again, correct. I've probably read as much about these subjects as Trixiebeastie has. I've climbed all over Teotihuacán, explored Tikal and Palenque, spent time with archaeologists in the jungles of the Guatemalan Petén, visited Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan, and so on and so forth.

How many Nephite coins did you discover? Will you post pics of the Nephite arms and armor you brought back?

[_harmony]

If that's true, then why won't you discuss that subject with anyone else?

When I'm in the mood to spend even more time here than I already do, and when there's somebody who really wants to spend that extra time with me on those subjects, maybe I'll think about devoting more of the rest of my life to this board. But I would prefer that somebody just shoot me.

As if. Let's see.. in the last few months, we've had Brent Metcalfe, Dale Broadhurst, Chris Smith, Dan Vogel, Mr Bagley, and assorted others stop in, but you didn't find any of them compelling enough to engage in any sort of discussion. Just who, exactly, do you want to talk to?

So... essentially you're saying you're taking the easy way out.

That's right. I find non-exasperation easier than exasperation, and I prefer it.

Personal tastes differ. I prefer the non-exasperating in my real life, but I'll take exasperating in my virtual life, if it means an interesting discussion.

My daddy used to call that chickenmanure.

So your daddy never said No to anybody or anything at all? Poor man.

I don't think he ever insulted anyone. He was a gentleman.

[_Gadianton Plumber]

[/quote]

How many Nephite coins did you discover? Will you post pics of the Nephite arms and armor you brought back?[/quote]
All they have down there are T-shirts and other tourist toys like obsidian that can rust.

[_why me]

Here is the problem: a critic attempts to disprove Mormonism's claim to truth and an apologist attempts to defend that truth. The end result is always a stalemate without a winner.

And this is only natural since the Mormon Church can not be proven false, but it can not also be proven true. Such is faith and doubt mixed together creating a rocky marriage.

[_why me]

How many Nephite coins did you discover? Will you post pics of the Nephite arms and armor you brought back?

How many independent testimonies do we have that Jesus actually performed miracles? I know that we have the Bible but do we have any other evidence from the residents at the time of Christ? No I don't think so. And so, why do people believe? Because they have faith.