If you say you don't believe in the church, many TBMs fall back on the line 'I know the church is true'. Should we start asking, compared to what?

Compared to other churches? Compared to gravity? What? I'm thinking members really need to be more specific.

Don't magnets screw up compasses? I think the church is a magnet and we are all compasses getting our directions screwed up.

That Shinehah really reflects Kolobian light. Not symbolically, literally. God really recognizes the Monsoon as his prophet on earth and an angel with a flaming sword REALLY... ahhhh well. You get it.

There's nothing symbolic about it all. It really happened. HAAAAA!

"The Church is True" is a silly statement, because "church" can means many things. Is it the doctrine, the people, the leaders, the corporation sole?

I always took it to mean the doctrine, but Mormon doctrine is just a huge grab-bag of weird ideas, many of which aren't emphasized at present. A solidification and selection occurred with "Correlation," so that everyone would be on the same page. They had to do it. The TSCC would have imploded by now if not.

Anyone who says "I know the church is true" is just repeating a self-affirmation, a sort of mantra. There's no thought involved, because thinking people do not stay Mormon.

Yes there is. They sell pants down at the mall.

The thread on spiritual experiences got me to thinking about this topic as well. Because when I've had a spiritual experience, it tends to be tightly focused on one particular topic or theme, i.e. I am an eternal being, the essence of God is love, God permeats nature, or God understands that religion is a human expression, and s/he has no particular preference regarding religion.

Not, all the doctrines of one particular church are true.

If someone said that to me, I would ask, what exactly about the church do you "know" to be true? (and wonder, is the person trying to say that they know that Joseph didn't lie? Luck to them with that.)

"The Church is true" is indeed a nonsense statement. Yeah, it is shorthand for saying that the founding myths of Mormonism really happened, and the rules of Mormonism come from the grand poobah of the universe, and by following them, we get out own planet, and eternal spirit diapers, worlds without end.

But still, it is a nonsense statement. It is the Mormon equivalent of a US political candidate wearing a flag lapel pin. It is purely a tribal ID marker.