Aaron Shaf is at it again

[SteelBlue]

Originally Posted by Goatnapper'96

Ever read Mark E. Peterson's "Christ, Jehovah and the Witnesses?"

LDS apologists don't tear down as much as they did since the Church has come out of its shadow as a regional intermountain west religion, but we have had our own leaders engage in that type of ministering.

You bring up a good point here. As a younger man growing up in a very anti area I used to take a lot of offense to these little attacks. But in the end, you have to realize that they do it because they believe that we are wrong and that in order to be "saved" we need the truth. Their truth. What we see as tearing down they see as exposing falsehoods and teaching truths. Sound familiar?

When you ask yourself what you believe happens to them without your truth you begin to see that in their eyes we do some of the same things. There were many people I taught on my mission that found the apostacy insulting. They felt attacked when we told them that they needed to be rebaptized. They may have seen such teachings as "tearing down". There are always guys like aaron shaaf who take it to a creepy, Jim Jones cool-aid level. But these are the people that nobody listens to anyway.

[MikeWaters]

Guys like Shaf are creepy, even if they aren't anti- anything.

They are the true fanatics. I met one in medical school, and he was very creepy. Nice enough, but just so over the top and fanatical that he freaked people out.

[RockyBalboa]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

In defense of Aaron, there are always plenty of Mormons looking for reasons to not believe and to not feel guilty.

Yes, there are some on this board who're perfect examples of that.

[SteelBlue]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

Guys like Shaf are creepy, even if they aren't anti- anything.

They are the true fanatics. I met one in medical school, and he was very creepy. Nice enough, but just so over the top and fanatical that he freaked people out.

Exactly. And in the end they just aren't very successful. In fact, they often do more good for their intended target than the harm they'd hoped for.

[il Padrino Ute]

Originally Posted by SteelBlue

Exactly. And in the end they just aren't very successful. In fact, they often do more good for their intended target than the harm they'd hoped for.

I was on my mission when it happened, but my understanding is that this was the same result the film The Godmakers had when it was being used as a tool to damage the LDS Church.

Can anyone confirm this?

[MikeWaters]

There was a family in our ward, baptists originally, that attempted to witness to Mormons in our congregation, and ended up all being baptized.

Yes, it can backfire.

He was a good man (I think he has passed on). One of the more entertaining sacrament meetings was when in a talk he suddenly segued into the evils of Dungeons and Dragons and began reading verbatim from the "Demons and Demigods" handbook. The deacon on the stand later told me that the bishop started kicking him in the back of the heel.

Great times.