LDS Referrals

[MotoEric]

Hi,

I have seen comments on other religious forums about LDS history, theology, etc. Most of these comments are VERY negative in nature. I am in NO WAY competent to answer them.* Would it be appreciated if I pointed these out or pm'd them to LDS members that are active here?

Thanks,

Eric

* Some of them are so pathetic that I actually can answer them, but not being an LDS member and not being any where near comfortable with my knowledge of your Church, I'm not comfortable addressing what they bring up expect in the most broad of terms (such as asking them to site sources or explaining that third hand apocryphal stories doesn't make for strong evidence).

 

[Katzpur]

Hi,

I have seen comments on other religious forums about LDS history, theology, etc. Most of these comments are VERY negative in nature. I am in NO WAY competent to answer them.* Would it be appreciated if I pointed these out or pm'd them to LDS members that are active here?

Please do!

* Some of them are so pathetic that I actually can answer them, but not being an LDS member and not being any where near comfortable with my knowledge of your Church, I'm not comfortable addressing what they bring up expect in the most broad of terms (such as asking them to site sources or explaining that third hand apocryphal stories doesn't make for strong evidence).

Eric, you are my kind of person. That is exactly how I feel about answering questions about Catholicism. I agree that the best source of information on ANY religion is a believing, practicing member of that faith. I can't speak for the other LDS on this site, but I would be happy for you to use any of my answers in helping people to better understand my religion's history, doctrines and culture.

Kathryn

P.S. I just noticed you're from New York. You lucky dog! That's my favorite city ever!

 

[nutshell]

I agree that the best source of information on ANY religion is a believing, practicing member of that faith.

That's hardly objective.

Eric, while asking LDS members what they believe is beneficial, it's not the "be all, end all" of gathering information about a religion. Certainly, anti-Mormon stuff has zero benefit, but there are objective sources out there. For example, the recent Frontline documentary on PBS was superb. Very fair and balanced.

 

[Katzpur]

That's hardly objective.

You appear to be suggesting that Latter-day Saints cannot be trusted to tell the truth about what they believe. As all of us here on RF know, there are some members of the Church who are not always honest in representing themselves. That's no reason for the rest of us to be judged as being deceptive.

Eric, while asking LDS members what they believe is beneficial, it's not the "be all, end all" of gathering information about a religion. Certainly, anti-Mormon stuff has zero benefit, but there are objective sources out there. For example, the recent Frontline documentary on PBS was superb. Very fair and balanced.

As Rex E. Lee, former President of BYU said in the introduction to his book, "What Do Mormons Believe?", "A great irony is that to date the efforts to explain Mormonism in a nonproselyting way have come from persons who do not share the bedrock beliefs on which the religion is based. That observation is not intended as a criticism; I am willing to assume that such efforts were undertaken in good faith. But if I want to gain an understanding of Chinese culture, I can best obtain it from someone who has not only made a thorough study of things Chinese, but, even more importantly, sees the world through Chinese eyes."

 

[MotoEric]

Would it violate rf rules is I posted the url for another forum here?

Eric

 

[jonny]

There are rules about bashing other forums. I don't know about linking to them.

I've created an LDS Search Engine that does a pretty good job of finding information from official LDS or LDS apologetics sources. You might bookmark it and check it out. Everything that people say about the LDS Church will have been researched extensively already - I can guarantee you that.

Feel free to PM me with your questions.

 

[nutshell]

You appear to be suggesting that Latter-day Saints cannot be trusted to tell the truth about what they believe. As all of us here on RF know, there are some members of the Church who are not always honest in representing themselves. That's no reason for the rest of us to be judged as being deceptive.

As Rex E. Lee, former President of BYU said in the introduction to his book, "What Do Mormons Believe?", "A great irony is that to date the efforts to explain Mormonism in a nonproselyting way have come from persons who do not share the bedrock beliefs on which the religion is based. That observation is not intended as a criticism; I am willing to assume that such efforts were undertaken in good faith. But if I want to gain an understanding of Chinese culture, I can best obtain it from someone who has not only made a thorough study of things Chinese, but, even more importantly, sees the world through Chinese eyes."

You don't see the bias? I'm not implying that you can't get the truth from a Mormon. What I'm saying is you will get the truth...according to that Mormon's POV.

As for your Chinese example, again, you'll be getting the truth...but from that Chinese's POV.

And - "bias" does not have to be a negative word. We are all bias because of our own influences.

So, what I'm saying, is if someone wants to really study something, they shouldn't rely only on the one subjective POV, but find as much objective info. as they can.

 

[SoyLeche]

You don't see the bias? I'm not implying that you can't get the truth from a Mormon. What I'm saying is you will get the truth...according to that Mormon's POV.

As for your Chinese example, again, you'll be getting the truth...but from that Chinese's POV.

And - "bias" does not have to be a negative word. We are all bias because of our own influences.

So, what I'm saying, is if someone wants to really study something, they shouldn't rely only on the one subjective POV, but find as much objective info. as they can.

That's going to depend on the type of information you are looking for. If all you are looking for is "what do Mormons believe about X", then your best bet for information is a Mormon. That's the only POV that matters.

If you want to discuss whether or not a certain belief can be backed by the Bible then you will probably want a couple of other POVs in the mix.

If you are wanting to know details about controversial topics (polygamy, mountain meadows, etc), you are probably better off looking into peer-reviewed scholarly works.

And I'm sure there are others.

 

[jonny]

I don't know if objective information on religion exists anywhere. Everyone has an agenda when it comes to religion and everyone will have a bias.

 

[jonny]

If you are wanting to know details about controversial topics (polygamy, mountain meadows, etc), you are probably better off looking into peer-reviewed scholarly works.

I'm hoping that more of this will start to come out as some of these Mormon Studies chairs are put in place at universities. I don't think that there are many peer-reviewed articles on LDS history out there.

 

[nutshell]

Looks like I've offended the Club.

Sorry.

I just don't understand the fear.

 

[jonny]

Looks like I've offended the Club.

Sorry.

I just don't understand the fear.

I don't think anyone is offended. We're realists. Besides the documentary, which covers a limited range of topics with almost no depth, give me some more sources that you consider objective.

 

[SoyLeche]

Looks like I've offended the Club.

Sorry.

I just don't understand the fear.

I'm not offended. I don't think you are as right as you may think you are, but that happens quite often (and not just you - I'm fairly certain that I am seldom as right as I think I am)

 

[Katzpur]

Would it violate rf rules is I posted the url for another forum here?

Eric

I'm pretty sure it would. You might want to PM one of the supermods (their names are listed in blue) before doing so.

 

[emmaleebee]

I don't know if objective information on religion exists anywhere. Everyone has an agenda when it comes to religion and everyone will have a bias.

:yes:
yeah! go Jonny--i wanted to frubal you for this but it wouldn't let me.

 

[Katzpur]

I just don't understand the fear.

And I don't understand the reference to fear. WIth respect to LDS history, I don't believe we need to go with the sanitized Sunday School version in order to accurately recount our history. As a matter of fact, I personalloy believe that often does more harm than good. On the other hand, there is no one in a better position to explain LDS doctrine than a practicing Latter-day Saint. An outsider, no matter how objective he or she may attempt to be, simply does not have the depth of understanding an active member of the Church has.

 

[Aqualung]

Two cases in point - I remember when I first came I wasn't actually mormon, but most people thought I was, just because of the level of knowledge I have. On the other hand, I see a lot of members disagreeing with, particularly, FFH on this forum.

 

[jonny]

Two cases in point - I remember when I first came I wasn't actually mormon, but most people thought I was, just because of the level of knowledge I have. On the other hand, I see a lot of members disagreeing with, particularly, FFH on this forum.

Members of the church have differing opinions on different subjects. I think a lot of the more conservative members of the church would agree with just about everything that FFH says...except for the Bible code stuff, of course.

 

[Comprehend]

Members of the church have differing opinions on different subjects. I think a lot of the more conservative members of the church would agree with just about everything that FFH says...except for the Bible code stuff, of course.

I would consider myself a fairly conservative member of the church and I would like to exclude myself from that group, I think most everything FFH believes is loony.

 

[SoyLeche]

I would consider myself a fairly conservative member of the church and I would like to exclude myself from that group, I think most everything FFH believes is loony.

Put me in that category too.