NOM

As far as I know, the only source for the Church Essays is online at lds.org. It would seem advantageous to print them, perhaps in a lesson format, (with study questions, or points to ponder) and I'm disappointed, but not surprised it hasn't been done yet.

I don't think the church wants to bring any more attention to the essays than they absolutely have to. Bring attention to them does two things:

1. Acknowledges that there are problems with Mormon history and theology. They can't bring themselves to do that. It tarnishes their image of perfection.
2. They put the testimonies (and therefore tithing revenue) of members at risk. A large number of people have stated that the thing that caused their faith crisis was reading the essays.

The essays are purely a stopgap measure to deflect responsibility. They can say they have something on troubling aspects, but they don't have a spotlight on them to bring unwanted attention.

Never say never, but they aren't going to be put in print anytime soon.

Those essays were designed as a prop that church leaders could point to when members said they felt betrayed about the information not being told to them, and for local leaders to discuss with doubting/leaving members of the ward that the problems have answers.

They were never meant for widespread consumption and the fact that they were never mentioned in a gen conference talk or even given a fireside type presentation like Saints has had tells you all you need to know about the church's desire to promote them.

Seems like the church has been forced to move the big chair they had placed over that corner of the rug under which they swept all the red flag issues.

But they're not going to lift the rug for you. Nor are they going to clean up the dirt. They're like little children who don't want to deal with the guilt and implications of what that red flag dirt really means or how it got there.

My take away from all of this tap dancing that the church engages in is that they operate from a position of fear. They can try to call it "defending the church" but in reality it is fear that the truth like a sword, will cut through the crap and what's left will be nothing.

No true prophets, no true revelation, no true priesthood, no true ordinances, no true church.

Exactly.

Just look at some of the areas where the church knows better but allows members to think otherwise:

1. They constantly infer that changes are direct revelation from God, but whenever you get a general authority to talk in detail they are crystal clear that these changes took years to implement and were not direct revelation.

2. They will continue to teach incorrect history/doctrines/etc even though they've (generically) signed off on essays that completely contradict their foundation, which will forever sit three clicks deep on their site without a mention unless their backs are against the wall.

3. When they are confronted (or see members leaving in large numbers) they attack the messenger and try to teach members that listening to outside sources will leave to sadness, loneliness, and eternal damnation. They do this all while telling you that they've done the research so you don't have to.

Hell - look at the Renlund talk on doubts this month. They mentioned TWO topics without any actual details. Any church that felt confident about their truth claims would encourage members to research to their heart's content, but this church continues to act like a greased pig at the county fair.

Hard print would indicate another degree of commitment to the essays and it would damage their ability to:

1- remove them and pretend they never existed

2- change them

3- keep moving them around to make them hard to find

Also, older members who may not be as comfortable with the internet will have more access and will take them more seriously.

jfro18 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 22, 2019 8:50 am but this church continues to act like a greased pig at the county fair.

I'm going to have to remember that one.

deacon blues wrote: ↑Tue Jan 22, 2019 7:41 am As far as I know, the only source for the Church Essays is online at lds.org. It would seem advantageous to print them, perhaps in a lesson format, (with study questions, or points to ponder) and I'm disappointed, but not surprised it hasn't been done yet.

The essays are aimed at people already in the early stages of a faith crisis. It's amusing to see apologists continually surprised to meet bishops and other ward members simply don't know about the essays. Apologists act like obviously people should know about them. But the church does not want to introduce giant doubts in the minds of believers if they can avoid it.

We got the "Saints" book to wide acclaim. I have several close friends and relatives who are deeply impressed with it. But I also have some older relatives who are bothered by it. It's not the church narrative they learned in their youth and depended on for decades of faithful church service (and tithing payments).

Printed text fixes words. Electronic text can easily be changed. The church wants the ability to change wording easily based on the current climate of the church and user panels.

Corsair wrote: ↑Tue Jan 22, 2019 10:25 am We got the "Saints" book to wide acclaim. I have several close friends and relatives who are deeply impressed with it. But I also have some older relatives who are bothered by it. It's not the church narrative they learned in their youth and depended on for decades of faithful church service (and tithing payments).

And as I've been noticing as I've done the chapter by chapter stuff (I really need to finish the final two chapters), they are WAY lighter on problems than the essays.

The essays have to defend what happened, while Saints will merely mention it in a faith promoting way. They tap dance around blacks and the priesthood, the mention polygamy in a few spots but it's wrapped around flowery narrative, and things like DNA are not even touched. The Book of Abraham is not much more than a footnote in the essay, and the translation process introduces the rock in a hat but doesn't bother to mention the church has taught a lie for over 170 years.

The essays are way more volatile than Saints -- and remember it took SIX YEARS for Saints to get through the writing and approvals to release!