When we first met Jehovah he performed his acts with a lot of flair; sometimes so much flair that people died, or get lifted up to heaven. He was very hands on, very visual, very, "if this, then that..." in his actions. He allowed people to witness his activities, and left in plain view evidence of his existence. (How long was Noah's Ark revered, only to eventually become a moldering heap where teenagers hung out to smoke carp, and then finally forgotten?)

And now? Yep, he's one ticky sumbitch! He took back the gold plates, he turned off the seer stones, or won't recharge their batteries. He misled BofM readers when he said the new land was free of inhabitants, meaning that he misled the writers by not letting them see the other inhabitants!

He's hidden all the archaeological evidence of Nephite existence, and totally hidden the real Lamanites, allowing me and my people to be misidentified for over a century!! (Imagine my chagrin at learning I am not of the house of Israel...I lost the family discount at Deseret Industries!!)

He called plural marriage an everlasting covenant, when he knew darn well (what with being a ghawd) that it would be temporally limited and a real embarrassment, but yet got his rocks off watching mormons practice pre-existence performance discrimination until Kimball whined about how much it was costing, and might cost! Was that all some kind of test, or just Jehovah getting his jollies? Imagine the prestige the church would have if they'd come out with the 1979 revelation in 1951? (hahahahahahaha!)

Why can't Jehovah go back to the old ways? Why does it seem that we now have to be beguiled into believing, when our distant forefathers got displays of fire and brimstone? We're supposed to be the choice generation! At least I was back, in the 1960s. I've been aged out now, and am apparently now just part of another chump generation.

I wanted to pontificate about what people ought to be doing, but less-than-somber reflection on my part, while wearing a party hat, has resulted in my acknowledgement that that is a task each individual ought to be doing for himself.

"Let no man prepare you the road map he has drawn for himself."
- - Judic West, 8th Earl of Bollocks, Wyyvyrn Castle, Shropshire Downs, England (of which there will there will always be)

Having been a true believer for nearly 40 years, logic and critical thinking are not my strong points. Only now am I finally able to start thinking clearly about things like this.
and I think you sir Elderolddog are an amazing, brilliant sumbiotch.
Thanks for the great thoughts and points on this topic.
I would love to meet you in person some day.
I would bet 10% that contrary to morgmon belief, you still have that sparkle in your eyes and that certain glow about you.

If you fish or play golf in SoCal your wish is my command, kind sir.

elderolddog Wrote:
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> If you fish or play golf in SoCal...

And sometimes, the old dog of an elder does both at the same time (when the golf balls go in the water, you know...)!

Great writeup. You pointing that out pretty much leaves us with two main alternatives:

-- Jehovah changed how he does things from the 'old days,' and when 'old days' was can be argued about...but at any rate, that blows the 'unchanging god' claim out of the water.

-- the 'old days' stories were made up. Jehovah doesn't really do any of that stuff. That leaves open the possibility of Jehovah being never-changing (he's always been doing nothing), but opens the door to (gasp!) the strong possibility of his non-existence...

:)

. . . is that its claims are not falsifiable.

so true

(R)amen to that!

"Pre-existence performance discrimination!"

Hahahahahahahahahahah and ha. I raise a glass to Judic and Elderolddog the dynamic duo.