Feeling sorry for TBM's.

[deacon blues]

In discussions with Mormons I have used D&C 77 and the idea of a 6,000 year old mortal earth as an example of illogical Mormon beliefs. When discussing this with a TBM I realized that I felt sorry for the guy who had to try to defend this world view. It's almost as easy a target as "The Flat Earth." When he said something like, "Well it's definitely the last days," I backed off, even though I was tempted to point out that people have been saying that since 30 A.D., 1844 A.D., 1861 A.D., 1890 A.D., 2000 A.D. etc. I posted another thread about this: "Let TBM's save face. Sometimes a slam dunk in an opponents face isn't productive.

[jfro18]

I totally get this... it's such a weird thing when you're on the outside and realize just how completely impossible some of the Mormon claims are.

Of course the 6,000 year earth one is fun because apologists try to say it's not a literal 6,000 years but just 6 dispensations and we're in the last one now. It's dumb but you're right there's no point in twisting the knife in someone who won't be open to the info anyway.

[glass shelf]

It's definitely not just Mormons, though. Even when I was Mormon, I remember that a friend asked me to explain Mormon theology to her, and I said, "You have to remember that most religious beliefs sound crazy to those who aren't part of that religion."

Just yesterday, I had to politely let my mind wander while someone talked about their religion. i just let it go. Sure, it makes way more sense that there is a bad angel that causes people to follow his plans than that humans are complicated and sometimes suck.

[moksha]

Wonder which prophet was in charge of the Pre-Cambrian Dispensation?

[deacon blues]

Wonder which prophet was in charge of the Pre-Cambrian Dispensation?

Multiple Choice answer:
A) Adam the First Man
B) Gort the Australopithicus
C) Tommy the T Rex.
D)Paula the plankton

[Hagoth]

I backed off, even though I was tempted to point out that people have been saying that since 30 A.D.

Worse, the first known prophecy of the end of the world comes from an Assyrian tablet dated to about 2800 BC. It claims that the earth has fallen into a state of corruption and is about to be destroyed any minute now. That's only a few centuries after the invention of writing, so doomsday prophecies have pretty much always been around. The only thing they all have in common is that they were wrong. No reason to expect one to suddenly be reliable.

[stealthbishop]

I feel bad for them too. They are stuck in such a unhealthy system and don't realize how crazy some of it is. I wonder how prevalent of a belief is it that the Earth is 6,000 years old. I had hoped that would have gotten better but maybe it's worse!!?

[A New Name]

I wrote a whole blog post at Wheat & tares on the illogical things in the church.