Posted by:
amiwhiteyet
(
)
Date: November 07, 2011 11:17AM
Mormons are extremely sensitive anytime someone like myself comes along and starts poking gaping holes in their faith. Given the obviousness of these gaping holes, they undertake certain tactics to defend themselves like:
1. Quoting Farms and Fair articles verbatim which usually isn't difficult to refute at all since most of the articles have obscured other factual information or just reserted to wordsmithing in a last-ditch effort to keep testimonies intact.
2. Crying persecution. On a FB page, someone argued that its never right to change someone's belief out of one side of their mouth while claiming the missionaries are somehow justified because even though they do ultimately change belief, they're indirect in their approach and therefore its ok. They also blatantly ignore the sharp criticism Mormonism has always laid on other churches for years and years. (Church of the Devil, Protestant Ministers being bitches for Satan, etc.)
3. Go ad-hominem extreme. You are obviously an angry, evil anti-Mormon actively engaged in a religious circle-jerk with Satan and the rest of his minions and as such nothing you say can or should be regarded as true and factual. If they know anything about you personally, they won't hesitate for a moment to try to exploit it at a moment's notice. In my case, its my brother who is in a vegative state and slowly dying which someone brought up on a FB page after I mentioned how the church only gives around 1% to charity.
4. Pull the faith card. None of these criticisms matter because they've got the blinders on and nothing absolutely nothing will change their precious testimony. A diary entry of Joseph Smith about him and Fanny getting it on in the barn? Not important to their salvation (following a false prophet never is). No evidence to substantiate the Book of Mormon, not a requirement as faith trumps all.
5. Pull stuff out of their ass. When I pointed out how GA's are paid a salary someone who uses a hidden FB identity with more than one moderator for their account first asked for absolute evidence of this (despite a complete unwillingness to show anything for the BOM). When I provided that evidence, they then argued that while its offered, most GA's don't take it. When I asked the source for his claim he said he was happy to provide it so long as I first showed them proof that most in fact accept it. Rather than letting him turn the table and weasel out of his obvious lie. I pointed out that the only person who made any claim as to the number of GA's who take a salary was him and if he had concrete proof of this, he would have easily cited it rather than trying to flip the burden of proof on me. His response: Complete silence
What I point out to them that they never can seem to grasp is they're not their beliefs and as such a criticsm of their belief is not a criticism of them. That still doesn't prevent them from taking them as such. What makes them regard their beliefs as extremely personal I've found is the fact that rather than them defining their beliefs, they've let the beliefs of Mormonism define them and since Mormonism has so many beliefs, its always easier to swallow them all verbatim than individually analyze and assess each one. Their beliefs go even more personal when they are foundational in nature. A debate as to whether beer is actually a violation of the WOW wouldn't really bother them whereas a debate as to whether or not Joseph Smith was a prophet or mere con-man really immediatley gets their G's twisted (cognitive dissonance).