"The entire myth of dispensationalism — that time is divided into distinct ages with discrete beginnings and ends, characterized by distinct bodies of knowledge granted us by divine will — is nonsense. These fairy tales of a rapture and tribulation and world destruction are entirely the invention of crank theologians elaborating on the ravings of the 19th century Irish priest, John Nelson Darby. It's no more sourced or historical or rational than the goddamn Book of Mormon."

That's just an excerpt from a blog post by PZ Myers. The post takes all purveyors of End-Times dogma to task.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/05/_the_world_didnt_end.php

I'm wondering about a possible Darby-Smith connection, perhaps through Rigdon. Not that they ever met, but there are some Darby-ish ideas in Mormonism.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/2011 01:14PM by Stray Mutt.

Interesting. I was wondering about the Darby-to-Joseph-Smith connection myself.

One of the commenters on the Pharyngula thread (Sastra) posted some thoughts that are particularly apt when applied to mormonism:

"People of faith, on the other hand, believe that truths of faith aren't arrived at through a careful process of reasoning, but through a leap of hope and trust. They arrived at the right answer because they were the right kind of people -- humble, loving, seeking God. Atheists apparently get it wrong not because we simply reasoned incorrectly, but we reason incorrectly due to moral defects of character. In their view, the only way an atheist can change their mind is by changing their heart.

"That's a crucial distinction. It shifts mistakes from being the result of reasoning errors to arising from character defects. And that divides humanity on a moral hierarchy."

...seem to want those of us with "character defects" to acknowledge it and submit to it.

Reason *is* a character defect. (This conclusion brought to you by the last set of mormon missionaries who stopped by my door and told me that I had read the Book of Mormon with my heart closed to its truth.)

How can you truly appreciate the beauty of a rainbow if you're busy thinking about how it was formed? /Sarcasm

The idea of dispensations is far older than Darby - and Smith. Just google dispensation.

Darby developed it further, but he got it from general Protestantism, just like Smith did.

Regarding Joe Smith and millennial tendencies, Joe had 'em all right, but he also wanted to be the one-and-only when it came to revelations about the End Times.

"There was a strong millennial strain within the Mormon movement, and Smith had to restrain his followers from getting involved from Wm. Miller’s predictions in 1843." (Quoted from an Oxford lecture series.)

"Fun fact: The “rapture” doctrine was invented in the early 1800s by John Nelson Darby, right around the same time Joseph Smith invented Mormonism and Hans Christian Andersen invented the Little Mermaid." (Quoted from the Blackmoor Vituperative Society, which had, in turn, picked it up from the Boston newspaper, "The Phoenix" -- see http://thephoenix.com/boston/news/120934-god-hates-faqs/#ixzz1N69dtCdO )

From page 2 of the story linked to above:

"WHY IS THERE DISAGREEMENT OVER WHETHER WE'RE ALREADY IN THE TRIBULATION PERIOD?

"As best I can tell, it depends on how you feel about the quantity of worldwide butt-f**king. All sides agree that the prevalence of gay sex is a sign of the approaching End Times. They also agree that gay sex will then be even more rampant during the Tribulations — one popular Rapture site notes that "homosexual and lesbian relationships [will be] highly encouraged." The difference is that Camping believes that there is so much same-sex f**king in the world now, we must already be well into the Tribulations, while mainstreamers believe that this is nothing compared to the amount of gay banging we'll see later."

It was awesome. Whoever did it has my highest regards.

raptorjesus, I believe this xkcd cartoon also contains a reference to you.

http://xkcd.com/900/

PZ Myers is a favorite blogger of mine. I check out what he has to say at least once a day but usually more often. Highly recommended!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/2011 03:38PM by nebularry.

IF the BoM was the slightest shade of 'True', meaning accurate, insightful, inspired, etc. THAT could suggest that Joe was a prophet.

HOWEVER:

a) Mo 'doctrine' DOESN'T COME FROM THE BoM!
b) TSCC Isn't <anything like> what it was @ Joe's time, is it? Correlation: an Arrow thru its Heart!

Like most else in Morland, the Book of Mormon's message (?) has been watered down if not outright ignored.

Good

RIDDANCE