Positive comments about anti-Mormons

[_Darth J]

Darth, I'm curious what you think about the FAIR/NAMIRS criticisms of Rod Meldrum. Do they get credit for going after someone "doing it wrong" to defend Mormonism, or do they lose that credit because their reaction to Meldrum may really just be defense of "their" turf? What say you?

Well, FAIR/NAMIRS is criticizing someone's belief in the Book of Mormon.

And they habitually gainsay the teachings of the Church.

And the prefix "anti" means "a person who is opposed to a particular practice, party, policy, action, etc."

So maybe we need to say something positive about FAIR/NAMIRS in this thread.

(Note: FAIR/NAMIRS people also disregard or contradict church teachings frequently while encouraging belief in their own ideas instead, but this is better characterized as "apostasy" than "anti-Mormonism".)

[_Darth J]

Certainly the Most Prominate Anit-Mormon of the 1990's and 2000's would be our own Gordon Bitner Hinckley.

Why without his attacks of historical Mormon Doctrine we would not know that:

Polygamy was never doctrinal so all Mormon Pioneer Polygamist were adulters and fornicators and their off-spring Bastard Children.

Working for "Godhood" is not doctrinal so any Mormon who believes in the Plan of Salvation is an Idiot.

That all former Mormon Prophets were wrong in the Curse of Cain doctrine and therefore Racist, so disqualified to be spokesmen for Mormon Jesus.

oh the list goes on.

Good for you Gordy, Greatest Anti-Mormon of the Century.

Yeah, we need to say something positive about him, too.

[_Darth J]

Here's as sweet I can get for old DJ since he's so upset and all:

His deep-seeded hostility can be somewhat assuaged every once in a while and he comes off as a somewhat functional person. Even if he goes back to his hyper-pahoran style he'll eventually calm back down at some point. With that, he can be an exciting roller coaster.

Well, that's something.

Since, as a believing Mormon, Stemelbow has been told that emotion is the great arbiter of truth value, his imputing various emotions to someone's argument should not be surprising. He feels good when things affirming his cherished beliefs are said, so such things must be true. The things I say make him feel bad, so they must not be true. Or he does not want things that I say to be true, so he needs to ascribe negative emotions to me.

For more information on the above system of epistemology, go on an LDS mission for two years.

[_Buffalo]

Here's as sweet I can get for old DJ since he's so upset and all:

His deep-seeded hostility can be somewhat assuaged every once in a while and he comes off as a somewhat functional person. Even if he goes back to his hyper-pahoran style he'll eventually calm back down at some point. With that, he can be an exciting roller coaster.

Well, that's something.

Since, as a believing Mormon, Stemelbow has been told that emotion is the great arbiter of truth value, his imputing various emotions to someone's argument should not be surprising. He feels good when things affirming his cherished beliefs are said, so such things must be true. The things I say make him feel bad, so they must not be true. Or he does not want things that I say to be true, so he needs to ascribe negative emotions to me.

For more information on the above system of epistemology, go on an LDS mission for two years.

Man, that's the truth.

Here's an embarrassing story. Soon after I was hardcore converted after a period of inactivity, I did my very best to follow the spirit. If I got any sort of feeling that I should do something, turn some direction, I did it without hesitation, as directed in so many sacrament talks. One night I went for a run and ended up running around in circles and loop de loops and figure 8s. Eventually I realized that I was going nowhere fast by trying to follow the spirit so intensely, so I backed off.

Somehow it never occurred to me that I'd feel good if I could get some family to agree with my faith position regardless of whether or not it was true.

[_Fionn]

I would say the 2 most important anti-Mormons are George F. Edmunds and John Randolph Tucker. I mean, without the Edmunds-Tucker act, Utah would not have gained statehood when it did. Perhaps it never would have.

More importantly, given how the modern LDS church loathes the practice of polygamy, both officially and individually, the institution was done a great favor by this act of Congress. It allowed the institutional church an escape hatch to dump a barbaric practice and usher in (eventually) an era of mainstreaming and Americanization.