NOM

I've been regularly (3-4 times a month) attending a Presbyterian Church for the last three years, and it's been a positive experience until today. I was going to a baby blessing out of town, so I just went to Presbyterian Sunday School. Shortly before I had to leave some misinformed comments were made by two of the discussion leaders about: 1. The LDS making changes in the Bible, and 2. changes in the BOM between the 1830 edition and today. The comments weren't offensive, just incorrect (as I understood them) and seemed to be informed by inaccurate and/or deceitful criticism of the LDS Church. (We all know some critics get carried away, just like apologists) Because I had to leave quickly I didn't really get a chance to correct the statements made, I could only make a brief comment. And I shouldn't be too surprised or upset because heaven knows I've sat through enough LDS Sunday School classes where people have said things that were obviously untrue. I'm just bummed out about the whole situation.

I think one thing that bugs me is the comments reminded me of the bad (inaccurate, embellished) anti-Mormon stuff I used to encounter in the Mission field in California. What do we do when critics of the Church use bad information, bad reason, and/or incorrect facts?

I think we have to defend what's true (at least our understanding as long as it is informed with facts), no matter which direction the arrows come from.

deacon blues wrote: ↑Sun May 05, 2019 6:20 pm I think one thing that bugs me is the comments reminded me of the bad (inaccurate, embellished) anti-Mormon stuff I used to encounter in the Mission field in California. What do we do when critics of the Church use bad information, bad reason, and/or incorrect facts?

I think we have to defend what's true, no matter which direction the arrows come from.

I agree 100% and I think you're right that we should strive to be correct and fix errors on the critical side as well.

Personally it drives me nuts that the CES Letter still uses the plagiarism section (at the beginning no less) from the Late War (I think?)... the way they weave verses together to make it look like direct copying gives apologists so much ammo to use against it when there are so many better ways to approach it.

And I know sometimes I need to be more careful when making statements as well because even though I know I'm not outright making false comments, if it can't be backed up solidly then it shouldn't be offered to anyone else.

But you'll have a hard time convincing those in another religion about Mormonism in a short duration, so not much you could do having to jet from there today.

In my opinion, if an apologist would do something, we probably shouldn’t. Our criticisms of their spin and misinformation ring hollow if we do the same. You were right to correct them.

Correcting misinformation is important. Like the time in a SS lesson someone said that JS has 55 wives. I had to correct them as it was BY who had 55 wives and JS had between 30-40.

We should sweat the small stuff- sometimes. One discussion leader had commented that the Mormon bible is a lot different than the Protestant bible, and I corrected him by saying the LDS use the exact same King James as everybody else, but they do include inserts of the Joseph Smith translation, and a lot of other stuff. Maybe that is all the guy was talking about anyway. If one opens an LDS bible , with the index, notes, etc., it does look a lot different than a typical bible that just has the scriptures.
The other discussion leader (as I recall) commented that the BOM used now had a lot of different parts than the original 1830 version. I replied that there were maybe a half dozen significant changes, but most changes were grammar corrections and changing thous to you, etc. As I reflect on it, they weren't that far off base, and my corrections may have seemed minor.

Another thing that added to my discomfort was the day before I received a letter (doctrinal exposition/call to repent) from my brother in law, who suggested (kindly I might add) if I was more assertive, especially about my questions, I would have more answers, a stronger testimony, and- (hint-would not be in apostasy.)

deacon blues wrote: ↑Tue May 07, 2019 9:15 am Another thing that added to my discomfort was the day before I received a letter (doctrinal exposition/call to repent) from my brother in law, who suggested (kindly I might add) if I was more assertive, especially about my questions, I would have more answers, a stronger testimony, and- (hint-would not be in apostasy.)

The missionaries told me that last year - if I was more in tune with the spirit I would have answers to those questions.

That was the one time I almost lost it on them, but thankfully I was forceful but polite that I was asking them questions based on material from lds.org and not from some anti-Mormon pamphlet.

But they can't possibly see how condescending and wrong it is to say that.