How To Spot an Anti-Mormon Book

[_Themis]

So, the Book of Mormon by this standard becomes anti-Mormon then...

Oh you must think you're just so damn funny.

Har har.

I thought of it as well becuase it does fit his criteria even by apologist standards. If you are going to use another stupid Farms article then you should expect others to expose just how stupid his logic is. Now not all Farms articles are bad, but this one has to be one of the worst. It's not a surprise that SB would think it is good. If you are going to define anti-Mormon so broadly you are going to lose all meaning and even LDS publications and members end up being included as anti-Mormon.

[_Inconceivable]

Official church doctrine:

The earth is 6000 years old
Adam and Eve were created by god in the Garden of Eden
The flood happened literally and covered the whole earth
Native Americans are descended, in part (formerly wholly), from Hebrews
Stars get their power from other stars
Faith is a positive attribute

oh no, what?

Weird, I guess you're right Simon. This scientific method works fine.

[_badseed]

if they accumulate, if you find yourself saying "Oh, no" or "What?" time after time, the chances are that the book is anti-Mormon.

So the Journal of Discourses is anti-Mormon. Right. I had my suspicions.

[_Simon Belmont]

Um... just as I thought. Some apostates never understood Church doctrine.

Official church doctrine:

The earth is 6000 years old[/quote]

It is no wonder you left the Church... you didn't even understand its doctrine. This is not the position of the Church. D&C says that one day is like 10,000 years to God. so if God created the Earth in 6 days... well you do the math.

Adam and Eve were created by god in the Garden of Eden

It's like I'm talking to a 4th grader. Adam and Eve were given BODIES in the GoE. Their intelligences have existed forever, like ours.

The flood happened literally and covered the whole earth

Yeah... usually that is doctrine. Some General Authorities have suggested it was a local flood, as well as some scholars. I think it was a local flood, too.

Native Americans are descended, in part (formerly wholly), from Hebrews

Some Native Americans.

Stars get their power from other stars

Huh? Do you know what allegory is?

Faith is a positive attribute

Faith is a positive attribute.

All directly contradicted by those texts.

Those texts say faith is not a positive attribute? CFR

[_Chap]

The flood happened literally and covered the whole earth

Yeah... usually that is doctrine.

It seems that Belmont holds that certain things can only "usually" be doctrine.

Don't they have to be (at some given moment) either "doctrine" or " not doctrine"? I thought that was what Correlation was, in part, supposed to be about.

Why can one not say "Yeah, that is doctrine but I don't believe in it"?

[_Simon Belmont]

It seems that Belmont holds that certain things can only "usually" be doctrine.

Don't they have to be (at some given moment) either "doctrine" or " not doctrine"? I thought that was what Correlation was, in part, supposed to be about.

Why can one not say "Yeah, that is doctrine but I don't believe in it"?

I do not think it's official doctrine. However, more often than not it is taught this way from the pulpit. It should be noted that many LDS scholars, and some past and present GAs hold to the "local flood" theory.

[_just me]

Um... just as I thought. Some apostates never understood Church doctrine.

Official church doctrine:

The earth is 6000 years old

It is no wonder you left the Church... you didn't even understand its doctrine. This is not the position of the Church. D&C says that one day is like 10,000 years to God. so if God created the Earth in 6 days... well you do the math.

SIMON, no, no, no. One earth day is 1000 years to god. Not 10,000. I can't believe you didn't know that.
The *temporal* existance of the earth began about 6000 years ago according to the D&C. We can speculate as to how long it took to create it, but DEATH did not begin until around 6000 years ago when Adam & Eve fell.

Adam and Eve were created by god in the Garden of Eden

It's like I'm talking to a 4th grader. Adam and Eve were given BODIES in the GoE. Their intelligences have existed forever, like ours.

That doesn't really dispute his comment. God created Adam from the scratch about 6000 years ago in the GoE (Missouri).

The flood happened literally and covered the whole earth

Yeah... usually that is doctrine. Some General Authorities have suggested it was a local flood, as well as some scholars. I think it was a local flood, too.

Could you find me a quote from just ONE GA who claimed the flood was local? I've never seen one. This is a serious request.

Native Americans are descended, in part (formerly wholly), from Hebrews

Some Native Americans.

That's what he said.

Stars get their power from other stars

Huh? Do you know what allegory is?

It was never taught as allegory. Although, that would be great if it was.

Faith is a positive attribute

Faith is a positive attribute.

Then obviously those books are antiMormon.

All directly contradicted by those texts.

Those texts say faith is not a positive attribute? CFR

I'm betting that the book on critical thinking does not look upon faith favorably.

[_Doctor Scratch]

Many apologists have tried to argue repeatedly that the Church doesn't try to discourage members from reading all viewpoints pertaining to Church history, doctrine, and etc. Unfortunately for them, Simon has singlehandedly blown this argument to pieces. Indeed, the Church (and certain key apologists), absolutely do discourage the "unwashed masses" from fully educating themselves on various arguments and analyses pertaining to the LDS Church.

[_Simon Belmont]

John A. Widtsoe

The fact remains that the exact nature of the flood is not known. We set up assumptions, based upon our best knowledge, but can go no further. We should remember that when inspired writers deal with historical incidents they relate that which they have seen or that which may have been told them, unless indeed the past is opened to them by revelation. The details in the story of the flood are undoubtedly drawn from the experiences of the writer. Under a downpour of rain, likened to the opening of the heavens, a destructive torrent twenty-six feet deep or deeper would easily be formed. The writer of Genesis made a faithful report of the facts known to him concerning the flood. In other localities the depth of the water might have been more or less. In fact, the details of the flood are not known to us [Widtsoe, p. 127].

[_Joseph]

Journal of Discourses