Seekers of truth,If you peruse the Free Republic religion forums you will notice a pattern. There's an anti-Mormon group of people here that spends a great deal of their time attacking the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They post regurgitated propaganda on an almost daily basis.
They have a misguided obsession. You can witness many different tactics employed that you might find quite interesting. The straw man argument is a big favorite and is frequently preceded by cherry-picking quotes or other material. After the "quotation" the attacker will misrepresent what has been said or what was meant and then attack their own interpretation.Later they will have the audacity to claim they were "only" quoting our own material.
They will of course insist ad nauseum that they are merely using our sources and are therefore innocent of any deceptive practice. LDS persons have no issue whatsoever having our scriptures or leaders quoted as long as it is presented fairly and accurately. This is rarely (if ever) done.
Another favorite is posting scripture or statements which on their own really present no dilemma. They make something out of nothing while never bringing up a single objection that hasn't been addressed a hundred times before.
You might note a couple of other tactics used to try to antagonize is the use of disrespectful or insulting terms or language and/or pictures. That's a Christlike thing to do right? Yeah I don't think so either. It does speak volumes about them though.
Some of them claim being some sort of special witness to you as being supposedly former Mormons. So someone who is an ex-member of any organization would never have an axe to grind or have reason to try to justify their actions by any means? Perhaps not but perhaps so. The LDS Church gains members from other denominations as well as others faiths all the time. This doesn't make them an expert on anything and you certainly won't hear them attacking their forner Church.
Frequently they cruise the headlines of the day seeking any story that might be twisted into making the Church look bad. Anything will do, just watch the progression of posts following it and see what I mean.
After reading their posts, I invite you to seek the truth about whatever "issue" they seem to be "revealing" or "exposing". I promise that if you do so with honest intent, the "ahah" moments you will have will be many and frequent. You will start to recognize the tactics employed to cleverly twist and attack and will likely chuckle the more you see. In actuality, there's nothing new here. It's all been addressed many times before.
The latest twist in the anti-Mormon propaganda machine is to actually go to the links provided, but then they cherry pick what they want, then quote and straw man attack that. Clever. It almost appears that they are helping you, the seeker of truth out by doing some footwork for you. Not so much. Don't be insulted, look for yourself. It's not the haystack they want you to think.
Here's a few links to get your started from a different viewpoint. I have found that the vast majority of the "issues" brought up can be found and addressed at http://www.fairlds.org/ but here's more:
http://scriptures.lds.org/
http://www.lds.org
http://www.fairlds.org/
http://www.mormonapologetics.org/
http://www.mormonwiki.com/Main_Page
http://www.lightplanet.com/response/index.html
http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDS_Intro.shtml
http://www.answeringantimormons.com/index.htm
http://promormon.blogspot.com/
Now you will likely notice the "you never address or answer our points" posts pop up as usual. All after providing the answers just as you have here.
Sometimes it is claimed that these sites present a needle in a haystack. Far from it. But if you give up before you try you won't know will you? They often state that these sites provide no answer. They just don't want you looking. It is as simple as that.
Will you wear blinders too? Seek truth. Find out for yourself. Want to chat with someone on any topic? A few of these sites provide just that. So do your homework sincere seeker of truth. Listen and read from both "sides". Make up your own mind.
I witness to you of these truths and wish you the best, in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Ah yes, another non-answer by PD. Lurkers will note that none of the links will actually address the issue except to offer up excuses for the lack of hebrew dna in Amerindians. Those sites that do attempt to address the issue are NOT official spokesmen for lds inc., but just represent their own opinions.
Yet the belief and doctrine of mormonism from its foundings was that ALL Amerindians were descendants of the Lamanites - even through to the 20th century and late president Hinkley. DNA is another nail in the coffin of the bom - more evidence that it is a poorly written fiction of the 1800s
Dear Mr. Paragon Defender,
Thank you for the opportunity to learn much more
about Mormonisms. It seems to be a very tricky
topic and often confusing to me.
On the FreeRepublics, I see lots of things posted
directly from the Mormonisms website. But then I
read posts from Mormons that say those things are
propaganda. How can that be? Does Mormonisms put
out propaganda about itself? This doesn’t seem
to make sense. Can you explain this? Is this to keep
the publics from understanding the real secrets of
Mormonisms?
Also, I am confused about how a person could
possibly become a god. I would very, very much like
to become a god. I would like to have powers
and have worshippers. Is there anything in writing
or do you have an interwebs links that would tell
me how I can become a god? I have cash for the
tithes. Is there a minimum tithes? [this may not
matter, but I am Canadian and our Loonie is worth
more than your US Dollar right now. It seems I
will have to do a conversion of Loonies to join
your group and I should probably get a discount
because of exchanging the Loonies]
Other than the New Age Movement (I saw Shirley
McClain on TV), I can’t find any other religion
that can tell me how to become a god. When I first
heard that Mormonisms can tell me how to become
a god, I leaped with excitement. Where is the link
I can follow to get the godhoods?
Also, if this is not one of the non-member secrets
of Mormonisms, can you tell me about “celestial s&x”.
I’ve read once I become a Mormonisms god, I will have
a Mormonisms goddess wife - or even multiple Mormonisms
goddesses - for, well, you know. Anyway, if you could
show me a link that gives some details, I would like
to read about that too! For sure! The links you give in
the post #1 do not cover becoming a Mormonisms god or
the other thing. I’m not sure why?
Thank you for posting this thread for us who are
interested in Mormonisms to learn the very
real stuff that is pretty much held secret from the
publics.
I am excited to learn more.
Very thankfully,
A More Perfect Unions
PS - Mr. PD, I had a very traumatic experience in 4th grade
of falling off a bicycle and hitting myself where it hurts.
Please tell me I do not have to ride a bicycle again, if I
become a Mormonisms.
