Discussions toward a better understanding of LDS doctrine, history, and culture. Discussion of Christianity, religion, and faith in general is welcome.
A Christian and a Mormon sat down to dialogue about one of the most important questions of faith: How do we know if a prophet is speaking the truth? They will put Biblical prophets and Mormon prophets to the test in order to find out if their predictions actually took place in history. If even one prediction fails to come true, than that prophet fails the test!
Has anyone here seen this? I did not watch it at the time. The kids were more interested in Paw Patrol.
I'm debating if it is worth the time. My first question is does anyone look at this from a purely objective standpoint? If they are trying to prove the BoM is true, do they attempt the same for the Bible?
"The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move." -- Douglas Adams
This would be interesting... on one hand I would imagine they'll focus on failed prophecies by Joseph and then probably problems with the BoM itself.
On the other hand, a way more (IMO) persuasive argument against the BoM is to use biblical scholarship against it since the BoM pulls in the literal events from Genesis that are simply not historical... but most religions don't want to go down that road.
I might give it a try but I fear that the obvious agenda of the film might stop me from getting very far. I'm very interested in how archaeology supports (and also contradicts) the reality of some people, places, and events in the Bible - in drastic contrast to the BoM - but I can already tell that these guys are taking too far in support of their own biases.
“The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also.” -Mark Twain
Jesus: "The Kingdom of God is within you." The Buddha: "Be your own light."
This is actually the crux of my faith crisis. JS revealed scripture requires a high degree of Biblical literalism. And the Bible just doesn't support that intense kind of literalism. It breaks down all over the place.
I agree. If Joseph were alive today it seems he would still be a Bible literalist. Otherwise how can many BOM texts like: Jaredites, Adam was..., flood references..., etc. be explained? Where the BOM equates Korihor and other deists/agnostics with the devil, that seems like Joseph Smith speaking. If Joseph had been born in 1905 instead of 1805 we would see a lot of evolutionist heretics, and bible critics in his 1927 BOM. Or maybe he'd have become a baseball player.
God is Love. God is Truth. The greatest problem with organized religion is that the organization becomes god, rather than a means of serving God.
This kind of thing (based on the description) all too often involves picking apart the problems with Mormonism while ignoring the same, or similar, glaring problems throughout the whole of Christianity. It would be a hard pass for me.
“Some say he’s wanted by the CIA and that he sleeps upside down like a Bat. All we know is he’s called the Stig.”
“Some say that he lives in a tree, and that his sweat can be used to clean precious metals. All we know is he’s called the Stig.”
