Bertel Thorvaldsen's Christus
I posted the following today on Facebook & Google Plus. But because Facebook won’t allow people to reshare a post, I’ve decided to post it here, so people can reshare it, and hopefully to get the message outside of my circles of friends & followers.
I’m saddened & troubled today by ignorance.
On the one hand the ignorance and un-Christian attitudes of some members of my LDS faith troubles me deeply. If people leave our Church, are gay, or otherwise live in a way we don’t believe is right, we should still treat them with complete respect and love. It’s what Christ would want us to do.
On the other hand, I’m saddened by the ignorance that seems to surround Mormon scholarship. This recent article, written by somebody who left the Church states “While many faiths’ irrational claims are obscured by centuries of myth and rubble, the LDS church lacks the moderation and scholarship of its older peers.” This is simply untrue! When it comes to historical research, apologetics, etc, Mormons are at the very top.
In fact LDS scholars have so outstripped their peers in other Christian religions, it led to a scathing rebuke of anti-Mormon “scholars” by two Evangelical experts. The title included the words “losing the battle and not knowing it?” They basically said, “all our [Evangelical scholarly anti-Mormon] work is pond-scum by comparison to what top LDS minds are doing. They’ve proven wrong or rebutted almost all the garbage we keep regurgitating. If we don’t start coming up with some real scholarship in this area, we’re doomed to be exposed as self-possessed, hyper-critical, illogical fools.” Read it here: http://goo.gl/M3kLU
Additionally, there are Mormons who rank among the top minds in all fields of science and the arts including genetics, physics, chemistry, medicine, history of various ages, and mathematics, to name a few generalized categories. These people are faithful and see little or none of the “evidences” that supposedly prove Mormonism wrong. It’s amazing that somehow anti-Mormons are winning the public perception war. People are led away by stupid arguments proved wrong decades (and sometimes over a century) ago. I don’t know how this happens, but all the evidences are there. Things that prove these stupid, worn out, and illogical attacks to be completely false. In fact, so blatantly false, they should immediately call into question the credibility of whatever source they come from. And don’t even get me started on what science has “proven.” Conclusive proof today is often a laughed-at misconception tomorrow. Any scientist will admit this, even if they don’t act accordingly. It would be sad to lose your faith based on something that turns out to be untrue.
If you’re LDS (even a “strong” member), investigating the Church, or considering leaving it, please, please please take the time to study up on the LDS scholarship that has been done. I think you’ll be surprised to find out just how weak most supposed “evidences” that “prove” the Church untrue, are. I think you’ll find your faith strengthened, but hope you’ll end up going back to the scriptures, the words of Christ, that should be the foundation of your faith.
A few great places to get started:
http://mormonscholarstestify.org/
http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDSFAQ/index.html
http://fairlds.org/
Great article; I appreciate your thoughts and always enjoy reading them, but please… it’s “lose” and “losing” not “loose” and “loosing.” If we’re claiming the high ground in scholarship, let’s get our spelling right!
Ah, thank you Michelle. Spelling has always been one of my weaknesses. I've corrected it. Thanks again.