The Apostate Shelf

[_Darth J]

Sylvia Lyon already considered herself divorced, therefore it's not a polyandrous case.

CFR that the unilateral opinion of one spouse has ever been equated with a divorce in the United States.

While you're at it, explain why she did not participate in a marriage ceremony when she went back to her lawful husband if "she considered herself divorced."

[_Bob Loblaw]

CFR that the unilateral opinion of one spouse has ever been equated with a divorce in the United States.

CFR that Sylvia ever held that opinion. That's Hales's conclusion from the oral tradition that the marriage happened while Windsor Lyon was disaffected from the church. Nothing in anything Sylvia or her daughter ever said suggests that she believed she was divorced.

While you're at it, explain why she did not participate in a marriage ceremony when she went back to her lawful husband if "she considered herself divorced."

Because the idea that she considered herself divorced is wishful thinking unsupported by any evidence.

[_Darth J]

Bob: I am aware that "Sylvia considered herself divorced" is an ad hoc assertion by Hales.

What I am saying is in addition to this assertion being a complete invention, there has never been any such thing as "common law divorce" in the United States.

[_Bob Loblaw]

Bob: I am aware that "Sylvia considered herself divorced" is an ad hoc assertion by Hales.

What I am saying is in addition to this assertion being a complete invention, there has never been any such thing as "common law divorce" in the United States.

True. Still, even an invented assertion is a better argument than "people who don't cohabit don't ever have sex."

[_son of Ishmael]

I can't think of anything, either.

Years ago Bill Hamblin mocked me because I said it didn't matter how the Book of Mormon was produced; it's the text of the Book of Mormon that indicates it's not an ancient document. He insisted that unless I had a detailed theory for how it was produced, I had no business criticizing it.

Let me see if I understand how this works. Unless we can explain how the Book of Mormon was produced, we are not allowed to criticize its internal contents but when it comes to the Book of Abraham we are supposed to ignore the obvious production problems and examine the text.

Got it.

I don't need to the correct answer to the square root of "4,356" to know that "3" is an incorrect answer.


I will admit that “NHM” was a bit of a quandary for me as well as the possible identification of the location for Bountiful, but when I put those items on one side of the scale and everything else on the other side, the evidence is so overwhelming that Joseph Smith made this stuff up and that those two “hits” are more likely lucky guess.