Looks like Fair Mormon is the best the church has. Pretty pathetic. But how can anyone defend the cluster-F known as Mormon doctrine.

A few pathetic quotes

"More needs to be done to increase awareness of, access to and confidence in trusted resources by Latter-day Saints and seekers of truth"

Gee, I wonder what those sources are?


"Independent voices are needed in reaching out to those among us who are struggling to find and sustain faith and in responding to those who unfairly criticize, misrepresent, distort and demean the history, doctrine and leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint."

Sounds like a crying baby. This guy is the ultimate church tool.

https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/elder-pearson-independent-voices-needed-sustain-faith



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/2018 07:25PM by perky.

What about responding to those who *fairly* criticize the history, doctrine, and leadership of the cult?

I notice they didn't say anything about those people...

"More needs to be done to keep people from the truth"

"The faithful need to keep the questioning from questioning and keep the truth speakers from speaking truth"

Knock yourselves out guys. But whatever you do, don't make church more interesting, relevant or meaningful.

Sure do love the Internet......it is wrecking havoc with the MormonCult because All sides are presented and then people can make a decision.....

....And over and over their side is not being chosen and they are having a screamin' fit.

Love it.

There is irony in the fact that SLC is asking "citizens" to come forward and solve the problem of inadequate apologetics and communications. Surely that is something a prophet could do from the pulpit in general conference.

"as many as 6.6 billion people of the 7.6 billion who inhabit the earth have never heard about the gospel. “Of the remaining 1.0 billion people who likely have heard of the Church, approximately half have an unfavorable impression about us.”"

And mormonism is the one and only gospel? That's quite an over the top thing to hear especially for the many who are already Christians...

And for an unfavorable impression:
1) polygamy
2) priesthood restriction
3) secret temple

These aren't just little things people just need to get over,...

I am not sure I can express this without being considered anti-Christian which I don't wish to be. This discussion I had awhile back was with a Christian minister, who is still a friend. This follows along the category of 'And for an unfavorable impression' in my opinion.

For some reason, after dinner, we got into a discussion about Christianity in India. I had mentioned that god, in promoting Christianity, has done a rather poor job if god wants everyone to be Christian. Christianity has been preached in India for over 1500 years with little to show for it. The concept of a person dying on a cross is bad Karma and not readily accepted. Should that not of been considered in the plan of salvation, using Mormon terminology, so Christianity could be succeed in other cultures? That is just one example.

As far as Mormonism goes, we were in Europe a few months ago. The political turmoil here in the US is certainly creating an unfavorable opinion of the US. Tourism to the US is down considerably from Europe. Being an American Mormon missionary must be more difficult. When I was a missionary in Finland at the tail end of the Vietnam war, Finns did not want anything to do with an American religion. Again this is a significant unfavorable impression that god, assuming Mormonism is the true church, seems ambivalent about in successful marketing.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/2018 10:47AM by Eric K.

This is what I have always thought if I am understanding your meaning. The problem Mormons and Christians have isn't the anti-Christians, but the problem is their own God who does nothing to promote himself century after century. He is at best just guilty of absenteeism or laziness and at worst just plain inept at employing his grand plan.

Wow. That was like a big bowl of "Mormon semantic comfort food" for all the saints listening. That is what they have left to stand on, to grasp at.

This is the line that evokes the soothing deception that will assuage the doubt:

“There are thoughtful, faithful answers to virtually every question, issue and concern being raised by critics and skeptics of the Church.”

Problem is:

A thoughtful answer is not necessarily a truthful answer but the wording implies that it is true.

A faithful answer is not necessarily a true answer but that word, faith, implies that it is of God and what he wants you to believe.

And then finally, he is clever enough to label those who are simply and honestly questioning or raising facts as "critics and skeptics." Puts anyone questioning right in the negative, adversarial category and no longer a "seeker of truth" which is the phrase this guy uses for himself.

That one sentence of his is the essence of the Mormon agenda, what is keeping so many trapped. Like my family.

Done & Done Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> “There are thoughtful, faithful answers to
> virtually every question, issue and concern being
> raised by critics and skeptics of the Church.”
>
Where are all those answers? In Mormondum you are more likely to be punished for asking questions about all of the historical and doctrinal problems than you are ever likely to receive answers.

That is the other thing. Dead on! They *say* there are answers. I've heard that over and over--thoughtful, faithful answers.

But like you say, "WHERE ARE THEY?"

The sister missionaries told me once that to pray on something and to ponder it means to concentrate on it being true until the Lord confirms it to you.

A person whom I once respected told me that my problem was that I was looking to the internet to justify my shock at learning that the church isn't what it says it is.


Both statements are clear evidence that the speakers knew deep inside that the church isn't really true, but they are bound by a deeply imposed moral obligation to tell people that it is true.

I would say that no kid who did his homework has ever had to make up a story about the dog eating it. And by the way Elder Pearson, every teacher knows exactly what the kid really means.

Done & Done Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And then finally, he is clever enough to label
> those who are simply and honestly questioning or
> raising facts as "critics and skeptics." Puts
> anyone questioning right in the negative,
> adversarial category and no longer a "seeker of
> truth" which is the phrase this guy uses for
> himself.

I've never considered the term "skeptic" to be negative. Quite the opposite, actually. Unless you're an unreasonable, never-bothering-to-check evidence "skeptic," like climate change deniers...:)

Yes. Drives me crazy. Neither skeptic or critic should be negatives but in Mormonlandia anything is possible. :)

Dallin Oaks gave a similar talk to FAIR a few years about the historicity of the Book of Mormon. He stated that there was a great deal of evidence supporting the Book of Mormon, but added that he was not going to rely on any of it for his talk. Instead, he wanted to on how important it was to rely on faith, revelation, and scholarship; rather than on scholarship alone.

He also noted that critics needed hard evidence to prove the Book of Mormon wrong, whereas proponents of the Book of Mormon need only settle for a draw.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/2018 01:08PM by GregS.

And the last time anyone mentioned Lamanites, Nephites or any manner of ites or native Americans in conference was ????

perky Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And the last time anyone mentioned Lamanites,
> Nephites or any manner of ites or native Americans
> in conference was ????

October 1976 when Kimball specifically addressed the challenge of converting the Lamanite people. Indirect references from the BoM show up in GC searches. This is usually in reference to King Benjamin stories that GA's love to talk about.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1976/10/a-report-and-a-challenge?lang=eng



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/2018 05:21PM by messygoop.

There's one answer that is a sure winner for the church: "Pray for the right answer and when Wholly McGhost gives it to you, be sure to mention it the next Fast Sunday!"

. . .and don't forget to choke up when you do.

Who the hell is Elder Pearson?

I feel so horribly guilty for not providing a link right now to the complete evidence that the “there are thoughtful, faithful answers to virtually every question, issue and concern being raised by critics and skeptics of the Church” statement made by Elder Pearson, this beloved holy leader of the Church. If I don't supply such a link soon then you might as well consider my credibility toast and that the adversary has won the battle for souls. Providing such a link right away is so important in order to not destroy faith and to not give the adversary an opportunity to cause people to have Doubts. Oh boy where is that link showing official answers? My precious credibility is at risk :(

Elder Pearson writes: “I have learned the importance of always looking through the lens of faith." Yes that is so important as this lens of faith is the lens of 100% honesty/transparency. It would be inconceivable to call our "lens of faith" a lens of "partial honesty and partial transparency" because then it would be a lens of manipulation, not a lense of faith.


Elder Pearson writes: "I have learned the importance of staying focused on the primary questions and avoiding the distraction of lesser issues and concerns.” He is so right about that. That's why in all the Wards of the Church, except any that would choose to be dishonest/deceitful, when questions come up about the 32 billion dollars of stock holdings in the Lord's 13 sacred LLCs its so important to stay focused on the primary questions that people have about these financial matters and avoid getting distracted with lesser issues/concerns because our most important focus needs to be on establishing credibility of being an honest/transparent, i.e. true, Church. Unless people have confidence that the Church is true, i.e. honest/transparent, then everything we try to present to them and any/all issues/concerns that come up will basically be ignored. Thus the primary questions are to answer the questions that investigators and other truth seekers have with complete honesty/transparency through official channels without any delay whatsoever.

At the beginning of this article Pearson said: "More needs to be done to increase awareness of, access to and confidence in trusted resources by Latter-day Saints and seekers of truth”. Yes indeed, where is that link I really need to find and disseminate so you don't become easy pickings for someone trying to tempt you to have a Doubt about the Church being true, i.e. honest/transparent.

"Yes indeed, where is that link I really need to find and disseminate so you don't become easy pickings for someone trying to tempt you to have a Doubt about the Church being true, i.e. honest/transparent."

LOL! Thanks.

Don’t the essays on LDS.org do that. The essays show the deception tscc. Oh I forgot the members are not supposed to trust the church website.