The weirdest things validate the "truthfulness" of the church for Mormons, like some actor or celeb is Mormon so THE CHURCH IS TRUE!Some building, some temple is beautiful, so THE CHURCH IS TRUE!

Little people actor Billy Barty was Mormon! The church is true! (Actually he's dead now.)

But then what about Aaron Eckhart, returned LDS missionary and hardly a Mormon? Does that make the church not true? It never seems that's the case.

Divide into groups. Discuss. Give two examples.

"The church is true-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!"

:::rolls eyes:::

That means it must be.

Yeah but you don't understand. I KNOW the church is true. With every fiber of my soul. Nothing you say or do can prove otherwise as the spirit manifested it to me. So there!

I was in a car accident and I didn't die - the church is true.

I had a weird feeling and I didn't go somewhere that I might have gotten in a car accident - the church is true.

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Things are going really good - God blessed me and the church is true.

Things are going really bad - God blessed me to learn & grow and the church is true.

And from the opposite end of the spectrum...

Loved one died in car crash...or better yet...loved one suffers a lifetime of mental illness, kills self...it must have been for a good reason...the church is true

Got a weird feeling...went anyway...must have missed out on some potential blessing...the church is true

...I was in a car accident. All my non-LDS friends in the car died. I was burned over every part of my body except the parts covered by garments. Garments are true. LOL!

Hugh Nibley used the argument that Mormonism was just so ridiculous it couldn't be made up. What person would make something like that up?

That is one Nibley argument I didn't buy even as a TBM.

In the snippets I've read of his apologetics of the Book of Mormon he used exactly the same argument - it's so crazy it must be true. E.g. Joseph Smith wouldn't have written those crazy things if he was making it up - he would haven written stuff that appeared to be more realistic???

I think it was his apologetics on the Book of Mormon is where I read it--Lehi in the Deseret? It's been a very long time since I read any of that.

Yep - one section where he uses that argument is Nephi & the brass plates.

The initials "NHM" appear on a rock somewhere in the Middle East. It must have been the city of Nahom mentioned in the Book of Mormon. Therefore, the church is true.

Oh, yeah, and the Book of Mormon is the word of god, therefore, the Brighamite branch of the church is true.

Pioneers crossed the plains to get to the holy land of SLC. They left so many of their belongings behind. They lost children and spouses on the journey. No one would sacrifice so much if the church weren't true.

In fairness to your friendly neighborhood Mos, they always go back to their testimony to prove the church is true. Although there is ample physical evidence (as in "not any") to prove it all true, Mormons usually cut straight to the testimony, especially when all else fails. Unfortunately for the morg, people today are calling them out and making it clear that there is a difference between "knowing" and "feeling". If you claim to know something you'd better be able to back it up with solid, irrefutable evidence. Otherwise, go back to the ward, close the doors, and tell each other all about what you "know".

I felt like when I was a member that I had to really dig and struggle to find things to support why the church was true.

However, now that I am here, I see the landslide of bulls*** flow as freely as an elephant on laxatives.

Has anybody ever said "the church must be true because it's so strange"?

I felt the spirit - The church is true.

The idea that faith is a virtue, pounded into little brains while they're still soft. It's all BS, and it's bad for you.

How about the one where the Government refused to allow the state to be called Deseret, and instead made them name the state after the Ute indians, whose name means mountaintops which fulfills the prophecy in Isaiah that the kingdom of God would be in the tops of the mountains. Or something like that.

Lost the diamond out my ring twice:

1st time: found in two hours later upside down in the middle of the road in a crack. I was a member of the church, god answered my prayer...church must be true.

2nd time: diamond fell out on mission trip with the Methodist church. The diamond cannot be found. Punishment for leaving the true church.

OR AT LEAST THAT WOULD BE A TBM's SYNOPSIS OF THE SITUATION. Eef them!

Joseph Smith was but a simple, uneducated farm boy. He couldn't possibly have written such a perfect and truthful book, the Book of Mormon. It HAD to be revealed by GOD! So I know the church is twooo.

I took a college philosophy course (not BYU) taught by a TBM who liked to think of herself as a 'liberal' mormon - whatever that meant.

Anyway, EVERYTHING proved Mormonism was true.....

Plato's theory of forms = Mormonism is true

Kant's deontological ethics = Mormonism is true

It was just silly.