Why reading the CES Letter should be important for TBM´s

[Meilingkie]

On holiday I was reading up on the history of the reformation in these lands.
And one line, in this tome of 500+ pages struck me, really hard.

A MAN HAS TO KNOW WHAT HE CAN´T BELIEVE IN, IN ORDER TO AVOID THE STAKE, DOESN´T HE?

This question, is still as relevant today as it was in 1525, when thsi question was put to paper by a man, now long forgotten to history.

[Vlad the Emailer]

Yes, Meilingkie. It should be important.

It should be important for people that expend incredible amounts of time, talent, money, effort, and passion into any cause, organization, or even religion, to know exactly what that cause, organization, or religion is all about. It should be of extreme importance to such people that the recipient of all their devotion deserve that devotion and can demonstrate such through current behaviors and policies as well as historical ones.

And that's the insanity of it all.

Because in religion, and Mormonism in particular, the opposite is true. The devoted want nothing but to do more and feel right about their efforts. Anything that even suggests otherwise causes such cognitive dissonance (aka, that "dark feeling") their fragile psyche's can't handle it so they attribute the information to Satan and don't want to know even a hint about that which simple logic and rationality suggests they should want to know everything!

The CES Letter is a great conglomeration of facts, but it's too "in your face" for TBMs. IMO, just reading (studying) the essays and then FAIRMORMON would be enough to get the job done. I know that's all it took for me.

[Hagoth]

I just have to pop in here and comment on how delightful it was to see someone with a Vlad the Impaler avatar responding to a comment about avoiding the stake.

Also to comment that "stake" has a special double-meaning for Mormons, both of which are to be avoided to whatever degree possible.