From: bwebster@pages.com (Bruce F. Webster)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc
Subject: True Christianity? (was: MORMONISM ?????? and others)
Date: 13 Apr 92 23:15:34 GMT
Reply-To: bwebster@pages.com
Organization: Banzai Research Institute

In article <1992Apr9.014210.6279@hellgate.utah.edu>  
jwindley%asylum.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Jay Windley) writes:
> muehlhau@en.ecn.purdue.edu (John Muehlhausen) writes:
> > [misinformation and vague allegations deleted]
> [long response, corrections and clarifications deleted]

Thank you, Jay, for a more detailed and eloquent answer than I probably would  
have given. While the rest of the conference goes on to debate ad infinitum  
(and almost ad nauseum) issues concerning the LDS temple ceremony, I'd like to  
address a more profound and fundamental issue, one which underlies that and  
other discussions about the LDS Church which crop up here and elsewhere.

While I do not come from an Latter-day Saint family (I joined the LDS Church on  
my own at age 14), I was raised in a home that taught tolerance and respect for  
others' beliefs. That education continued after my conversion, and came both  
from the LDS Church itself and from my parents (who, like the rest of my  
family, have remained non-LDS). I have always been slow to criticize and judge  
the beliefs of others, especially when it comes to religious matters, because  
those ultimately are the most profound issues we face and have to deal with.

Given all that, I remain puzzled--as I have been for the 20+ years that I have  
encountered it--by the willful propagation of misinformation, paranoia,  
outright lies about and (at times) hatred towards the LDS Church by leaders,  
ministers and members of other Christian denominations. Were the same  
statements, attitudes and distortions applied towards, say, the Jewish faith,  
then those promulgating such would be quickly labelled as neo-Nazis and shunned  
as fanatics and bigots, while those who accepted unquestioning the discourses  
and literature produced by such would be scorned and laughed at. Yet many who  
call themselves Christian readily accept misinformation of the worst sort about  
the LDS Church and its members without (it would appear) ever wondering or  
caring if what they are reading and hearing bears any resemblance to reality.  
Worse yet, many of these same people stubbornly cling to such lies and  
half-truths even when presented with significant evidence to the contrary.

If there were a lack of available accurate information about LDS doctrine,  
practices and history, this might be in part understandable (though, from those  
professing to follow the Savior, not excusable). But such is not the case.  
Well-researched and well-documented volumes, written by professional, trained  
historians in and out of the LDS Church, and from a variety of viewpoints,  
cover the entire history of the LDS Church. Published, available transcripts  
exist for almost every major public address given by LDS Church leaders for the  
last 150 years. There are compilations of the discourses and writings of each  
of the presidents of the LDS Church (Joseph Smith through Ezra Taft Benson).  
There are literally hundreds of books by LDS authors--church leaders, scholars,  
and laypersons--discussing every aspect of LDS beliefs and, again, providing a  
range of viewpoints. There are various periodicals available--not just the the  
official LDS Church magazines, but independent (and controversial) journals  
such as Dialogue and Sunstone. Macmillan has just published _The Encyclopedia  
of Mormonism_, a four-volume work covering nearly every aspect of LDS history,  
doctrine, practice and philosophy. And, of course, at the foundation of  
everything are the four volumes accepted by the LDS Church as holy scripture:   
the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of  
Great Price.

Now, to insist in the face of all this that the "true" beliefs and doctrines of  
the LDS Church are "hidden", or that the majority (or even any significant  
portion) of its 8+ million members are somehow duped, confused, misled or  
brainwashed--especially given the high average level of education among LDS  
Church members, and the disproportionate percentage of active, believing  
Mormons in scientific, technological, engineering, business and educational  
fields--is ludicrous. To persist in such an attitude in the face of evidence to  
the contrary is willful disbelief and deliberate ignorance of the worst sort.

So why does it happen at all? The only answer I can come up with is fear: fear  
of that which is not understood, fear of that which is different, and fear of  
that which is threatening (which, it would appear, the modest but steady growth  
of the LDS Church is to the leaders and members of many Christian  
congregations). But what are such people afraid of? That's what I don't  
understand. To such I would recommend the advice of Gamaliel to the Sanhedrim  
about the nascent Christian church (Acts 5:33-39).

I have no problems with those who disagree with LDS beliefs or practices and  
who choose to publish or preach those disagreements, so long as their  
understanding, representations and portrayals of such are accurate. In fact, I  
look forward to some intelligent and lively exchanges in soc.religion.mormon,  
if it does indeed start up. But I have little patience or respect for those  
who--having never read (much less studied) the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and  
Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price, having never studied (in context and as a  
body) the writings and discourses of past and current LDS church leaders,  
having never read James E. Talmidge's classic work _Jesus the Christ_ (much  
less Bruce R. McConkie's five-volume series, _The Promised Messiah_ / _The  
Mortal Messiah_ [3 vols.]/ _The Millennial Messiah_), having never listened to  
a single LDS General Conference address, having never attended LDS church  
meetings, having never read a single volume of Hugh Nibley's extensive (and  
extensively documented) writings, having never even browsed through a few of  
the standard LDS missionary pamphlets--attempt to tell me or others what the  
LDS Church, its leaders and its members actually practice, preach and believe.   
To ignore this vast assortment of primary sources in favor of anti-Mormon  
literature--whose provenance and intent is, by nature, questionable at best and  
malicious at worst--does not reflect well on one's ethics, judgment or  
intellectual honesty.

The deliberate spreading--or acceptance--of hate, prejudice and misinformation  
about *any* religion or society is antithetical to the example the Savior set  
during His ministry here on earth and the path He expects all of us who profess  
to bear His name to tread.  Religious tolerance is a fundamental principle of  
the LDS Church; our 11th Article of Faith says, "We claim the privilege of  
worshipping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and  
allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where or what they  
may." There is good counsel there for others: those who are so intent on  
proving the Mormons not to be Christians should perhaps spend less time  
worrying about that and more time worrying about their own "true" Christianity.   
..bruce..

Bruce F. Webster
Director, Research and Development, Pages Software Inc.
Contributing Editor, Macworld, NeXTWORLD
bwebster@pages.com

"The Great Parent of the Universe looks upon the whole of the human family with  
a fatherly care and paternal regard; He views them as His offspring and without  
any of those contracted feelings that influence the children of men...He is a  
wise lawgiver, and will judge all men...'according to the deeds done in the  
body, whether they be good or evil', or whether these deeds were done in  
England, America, Spain, Turkey, or India. He will judge them, 'not according  
to what they have not, but according to what they have'...We need not doubt the  
wisdom and intelligence of the Great Jehovah; He will award judgment or mercy  
to all nations according to their several desserts, their means of obtaining  
intelligence, the laws by which they are governed, the facilities afforded them  
of obtaining correct information, and His inscrutable designs in relation to  
the human family; and when the designs of God shall be made manifest, and the  
curtain of futurity be withdrawn, we shall all of us eventually have to confess  
that the Judge of all the earth has done right."  -- Joseph Smith