tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22326342.post114082406203148903..comments2023-08-08T09:04:16.905-07:00Comments on Notamormon: Joseph Smith. Lunatic or Charlatan?Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17774822085901274565noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22326342.post-5686612002033730332014-01-19T14:38:21.568-08:002014-01-19T14:38:21.568-08:00I am a 12 year old Mormon. I love it. Do you know ...I am a 12 year old Mormon. I love it. Do you know someone who is a Mormon? It is very true that it is the person not the religion. Some are bad some are good. I have a lot of non-Mormon friends. They are awesome. They know I am a Mormon and still are my friends. Joseph Smith never drank alcohol. He asked some people to stop spitting tobacco all over the temple, though. Where did you find your info? By the way, Mormons are Christians because we believe in Christ. it's as simple as that. I know he died on the cross so we can repent of our sins. which I have made a lot of mistakes. Our church is not the one that is bad. It is the people making mistakes. We all do. we are human. god does not make mistakes, and he made the church. My bishop is a very humble man. He does a ton of service. One time, all the youth got together and gathered food for the food bank. I was one of them. It was raining hard, but we all had fun and laughed really hard. I know you probably think I am bluffing. It's not right to clog drains. (What were they thinking?:) But we really did do it. How do you know Joseph Smith is a lunatic? How do you know it's not true? Thanks, but think about it.<br />Suzannehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02692281064761540435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22326342.post-42491331763751410422011-01-04T20:21:46.428-08:002011-01-04T20:21:46.428-08:00Yes, Joseph Smith was a charlatan, indeed, an outr...Yes, Joseph Smith was a charlatan, indeed, an outright liar and hoaxter. And, as you say, mormonism is untrue. However, while I agree with much of this essay, I find your post-mormon acceptance of Christianity as problematic at best. This affects your criticism of mormonism as well, for while you weild a sharp sword in slaying mormonism, you yourself are falling prey to the most obvious cognitive errors. This is not a criticism intended to hurt feelings or troll; it is only intended to call attention to the unreason present in modern-day religion.<br /><br />I myself was raised as a mormon (in Utah), abandoning the faith when I was a freshman in high school. I was also a Christian (non-mormon) for a for a couple of years after that. My faith in Christianity dropped out when I subjected christianity to the same scrutiny as I had subjected mormonism to. This is to say, I simply asked myself - honestly - what the evidence for the general story of christianity was, and subsequently what the evidence for a creator God was at all.<br /><br />Althought this is probably not the place for a huge (and likely annoying) response, I would only like to encourage that you ask yourself, straight faced, what is the evidence to vindicate the Christian account? Consider our evidence that Jesus performed miracles (a pilar of the Christian faith, you will not disagree). Well, we have one account (we have no extra-biblical account Jeuses myracles) that has been so thoroughly criticized by biblical scholars as to scarcly render the stories historically credible. I recomment the authr Bart D. Ehrman, a scholar that has ammassed a mountain of evidence against the historicity of Jesus' miracles and resurection. Just as we rightly as ourselves, 'what is the evidence that Joseph Smith was led to a set of buried golden plates by the angel Moroni?', we must also ask ourselvs, 'what is the evidence that a bronze-age carpenter walked on water or fed a whole village with a few fish?'. It is much more likely that these stories are just made up stories, having little relevance to our modern lives. This is not to say that the Bible or Torrah can't have relevance to us, indeed, there are many gems of wisdom within these books, but there are also gems of wisdom in Darwin, Einstein, and Hawking, but nobody is elevating their books as things to live by. <br /><br />Further, we know that, in the twenty first century, we are more intellegent and have better access to good ideas. Just consider that the Bible as a whole--new and old testaments--defends slavery. The old Testament is, especially leviticus and deuteronomy, are utterly grotesque books. Read thme again if you don't remember the barbarity, not only allowed by God, but mandated by God. <br /><br />Ultimatly, I think that we, in the twenty-first century, can do much better than religion has done in the past. We have science, modern democratic vaues, which attempt to give equal rites on everyone, and we have our own innate moral sense to guide us. In my opinion, we should put religion (most of it anyway) where it belongs, in the wastebin of historical stupidity and depravity.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15958123392640013695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22326342.post-16175161260979998362011-01-04T20:19:57.300-08:002011-01-04T20:19:57.300-08:00Yes, Joseph Smith was a charlatan, indeed, an outr...Yes, Joseph Smith was a charlatan, indeed, an outright liar and hoaxter. And, as you say, mormonism is untrue. However, while I agree with much of this essay, I find your post-mormon acceptance of Christianity as problematic at best. This affects your criticism of mormonism as well, for while you weild a sharp sword in slaying mormonism, you yourself are falling prey to the most obvious cognitive errors. This is not a criticism intended to hurt feelings or troll; it is only intended to call attention to the unreason present in modern-day religion.<br /><br />I myself was raised as a mormon (in Utah), abandoning the faith when I was a freshman in high school. I was also a Christian (non-mormon) for a for a couple of years after that. My faith in Christianity dropped out when I subjected christianity to the same scrutiny as I had subjected mormonism to. This is to say, I simply asked myself - honestly - what the evidence for the general story of christianity was, and subsequently what the evidence for a creator God was at all.<br /><br />Althought this is probably not the place for a huge (and likely annoying) response, I would only like to encourage that you ask yourself, straight faced, what is the evidence to vindicate the Christian account? Consider our evidence that Jesus performed miracles (a pilar of the Christian faith, you will not disagree). Well, we have one account (we have no extra-biblical account Jeuses myracles) that has been so thoroughly criticized by biblical scholars as to scarcly render the stories historically credible. I recomment the authr Bart D. Ehrman, a scholar that has ammassed a mountain of evidence against the historicity of Jesus' miracles and resurection. Just as we rightly as ourselves, 'what is the evidence that Joseph Smith was led to a set of buried golden plates by the angel Moroni?', we must also ask ourselvs, 'what is the evidence that a bronze-age carpenter walked on water or fed a whole village with a few fish?'. It is much more likely that these stories are just made up stories, having little relevance to our modern lives. This is not to say that the Bible or Torrah can't have relevance to us, indeed, there are many gems of wisdom within these books, but there are also gems of wisdom in Darwin, Einstein, and Hawking, but nobody is elevating their books as things to live by. <br /><br />Further, we know that, in the twenty first century, we are more intellegent and have better access to good ideas. Just consider that the Bible as a whole--new and old testaments--defends slavery. The old Testament is, especially leviticus and deuteronomy, are utterly grotesque books. Read thme again if you don't remember the barbarity, not only allowed by God, but mandated by God. <br /><br />Ultimatly, I think that we, in the twenty-first century, can do much better than religion has done in the past. We have science, modern democratic vaues, which attempt to give equal rites on everyone, and we have our own innate moral sense to guide us. In my opinion, we should put religion (most of it anyway) where it belongs, in the wastebin of historical stupidity and depravity.Travisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22326342.post-10105832013176458392011-01-04T20:19:12.890-08:002011-01-04T20:19:12.890-08:00Yes, Joseph Smith was a charlatan, indeed, an outr...Yes, Joseph Smith was a charlatan, indeed, an outright liar and hoaxter. And, as you say, mormonism is untrue. However, while I agree with much of this essay, I find your post-mormon acceptance of Christianity as problematic at best. This affects your criticism of mormonism as well, for while you weild a sharp sword in slaying mormonism, you yourself are falling prey to the most obvious cognitive errors. This is not a criticism intended to hurt feelings or troll; it is only intended to call attention to the unreason present in modern-day religion.<br /><br />I myself was raised as a mormon (in Utah), abandoning the faith when I was a freshman in high school. I was also a Christian (non-mormon) for a for a couple of years after that. My faith in Christianity dropped out when I subjected christianity to the same scrutiny as I had subjected mormonism to. This is to say, I simply asked myself - honestly - what the evidence for the general story of christianity was, and subsequently what the evidence for a creator God was at all.<br /><br />Althought this is probably not the place for a huge (and likely annoying) response, I would only like to encourage that you ask yourself, straight faced, what is the evidence to vindicate the Christian account? Consider our evidence that Jesus performed miracles (a pilar of the Christian faith, you will not disagree). Well, we have one account (we have no extra-biblical account Jeuses myracles) that has been so thoroughly criticized by biblical scholars as to scarcly render the stories historically credible. I recomment the authr Bart D. Ehrman, a scholar that has ammassed a mountain of evidence against the historicity of Jesus' miracles and resurection. Just as we rightly as ourselves, 'what is the evidence that Joseph Smith was led to a set of buried golden plates by the angel Moroni?', we must also ask ourselvs, 'what is the evidence that a bronze-age carpenter walked on water or fed a whole village with a few fish?'. It is much more likely that these stories are just made up stories, having little relevance to our modern lives. This is not to say that the Bible or Torrah can't have relevance to us, indeed, there are many gems of wisdom within these books, but there are also gems of wisdom in Darwin, Einstein, and Hawking, but nobody is elevating their books as things to live by. <br /><br />Further, we know that, in the twenty first century, we are more intellegent and have better access to good ideas. Just consider that the Bible as a whole--new and old testaments--defends slavery. The old Testament is, especially leviticus and deuteronomy, are utterly grotesque books. Read thme again if you don't remember the barbarity, not only allowed by God, but mandated by God. <br /><br />Ultimatly, I think that we, in the twenty-first century, can do much better than religion has done in the past. We have science, modern democratic vaues, which attempt to give equal rites on everyone, and we have our own innate moral sense to guide us. In my opinion, we should put religion (most of it anyway) where it belongs, in the wastebin of historical stupidity and depravity.Travisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22326342.post-1140870122584785502006-02-25T04:22:00.000-08:002006-02-25T04:22:00.000-08:00Yes. Nicely spotted. It is possible for someone to...Yes. Nicely spotted. It is possible for someone to be all of those and perhaps more, besides.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17774822085901274565noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22326342.post-1140847915390669012006-02-24T22:11:00.000-08:002006-02-24T22:11:00.000-08:00They both apply. But more than lunatic and charla...They both apply. But more than lunatic and charlatan, the man was a criminal. <BR/><BR/>The cause of death was not martydom at the fate of an anti-mormon crowd - it was death by imploding ego.Sideonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00563675498159890372noreply@blogger.com