Dr Shades - expect a mass exodus from your board!

[_Valentinus]

Valentinus says:
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August 14, 2012 at 8:23 pm

But the Mormon Discussion Board is so much fun!

[Guest]

Can anyone help me? I'm starting to feel as if I'm becoming obsessed with Dr Hamblin. I looked at his blog again today (of course, like all members of this board, I'm not welcome to post replies there.)

He has moved the goalposts a lot, in his efforts to draw a box around "Mormon". And he is still perplexed that some people (the nerve of them) refuse to fit in the box.

He now seems to be saying that there are only 2 requirements to be a Mormon: belief in God or gods, and belief in Jesus Christ. His previous *minimal* list, you might recall, had 4 requirements.

If his original point was (as he explained it) "trying to create an intellectually coherent meaning for the term Mormon", and that "to refuse to create a meaningful definition of Mormon is to intellectually abdicate" (!!!), I suspect that he is preparing to give up the crown. Surely now the definition is so wide that he would have to admit all sorts of "Mormons", including many who have never even heard the term, and he has made an almost complete retreat from the search for "coherent meaning". And *still*, many good people who consider themselves to be Mormons do not necessarily fit within this definition - depending on the details of what these 2 requirements mean.

OTOH, if his original point was to determine a set of exclusionary principles (as he has been "accused" of, and has denied), then perhaps he's getting somewhere. However, I'm not sure if it's really where he originally expected to go.

There may only be only one solution left, and I'm reluctant to even think it, much less commit it to eprint, but here goes:

All of us must stop arguing with Dr Hamblin!

Then a credible representative of those who have been arguing with him needs to approach him and tell him that it was all a big joke, and we are happy that he played along so well. Of course we have all agreed with him all along, but conspired together to yank his chain. And look, there's the hidden camera over there.

I think that he would appreciate that.

[_Drifting]

He now seems to be saying that there are only 2 requirements to be a Mormon: belief in God or gods, and belief in Jesus Christ. His previous *minimal* list, you might recall, had 4 requirements.

If true this would mean there was no great apostasy and therefore no need for a restoration.

[_malkie]

He now seems to be saying that there are only 2 requirements to be a Mormon: belief in God or gods, and belief in Jesus Christ. His previous *minimal* list, you might recall, had 4 requirements.

If true this would mean there was no great apostasy and therefore no need for a restoration.

The reason that I said he "seems" to be saying that is that on his blog he says:

Can’t we expect that a person who is a Mormon believes in God? Mormonism is, after all, a religion, and religion is about God or the gods?
Can’t we expect that a person who is a Mormon should believe in Jesus Christ? It is, after all, called “The Church of Jesus Christ.”

This seems so utterly obvious to me. Anyone can believe whatever they want, of course, but this seems really basic to me. If these two basic beliefs aren’t implied in the name Mormon, then there is nothing whatsoever one needs to believe to be a Mormon.

I think that he likely still has the same original 4 criteria in mind. Perhaps he is simply trying to fight the battle one or two steps at a time till he gets back to the original 4.

In the meantime, however, in my opinion he continues to display his total lack of imagination, lack of understanding of alternative PoVs, and a belief in his right to determine who can claim to be a "real" Mormon - in the interests of intellectual integrity and coherence.

[_Kishkumen]

One thing is clear: Bill Hamblin has been true to his word in his promise not to read this board ever again.