What makes someone an "Anti"?

[Indy Coug]

Originally Posted by non sequitur

And why DO they say what they do? Do they know the mormon church is really true, but have given their souls to Satan and simply do his bidding, or are they sincere believers in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and feel as though mormons have perverted things that they hold sacred?

Are the motivations of the "antis" really as malevolent as most in the Church would have us believe?

Well, I can tell you from personal experience with some antis that it isn't genuine Christian concern and compassion that motivates them. The tone of their voices, the words/expletives they used and so forth made that pretty clear.

http://scriptures.lds.org/en/2_cor/6

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by Indy Coug

Well, I can tell you from personal experience with some antis that it isn't genuine Christian concern and compassion that motivates them. The tone of their voices, the words/expletives they used and so forth made that pretty clear.

http://scriptures.lds.org/en/2_cor/6

The Justice Potter Stewart standard, useful for somebody with a refined eye, but not useful to the uninitiated.

[Indy Coug]

Originally Posted by Archaea

The Justice Potter Stewart standard, useful for somebody with a refined eye, but not useful to the uninitiated.

I'm unfamiliar with that reference. As the only LDS member in a school of 700 in the heart of the Bible belt (Chattanooga, TN), I got to experience plenty of truly anti-Mormon abuse.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by Indy Coug

I'm unfamiliar with that reference. As the only LDS member in a school of 700 in the heart of the Bible belt (Chattanooga, TN), I got to experience plenty of truly anti-Mormon abuse.

In a US Supreme Court, Potter Stewart wrote a snippet he later regretted writing when trying to describe pornography, stating, "I know it when I see it." Fortunately, the Supreme Court did not rely upon that standard.

[non sequitur]

Originally Posted by Archaea

The Justice Potter Stewart standard, useful for somebody with a refined eye, but not useful to the uninitiated.

Are you referring to his standard for obscenity? The one that basically says, "I can't define it, but when I see it I know it."?

[non sequitur]

Originally Posted by Indy Coug

Well, I can tell you from personal experience with some antis that it isn't genuine Christian concern and compassion that motivates them. The tone of their voices, the words/expletives they used and so forth made that pretty clear.

http://scriptures.lds.org/en/2_cor/6

Take a guy like Aaron Shaf, for example. The guy may be a nut job, and he may be a tool, but I still think he sincerely believes he is defending something that he holds sacred. I don't think he's evil, just severely deluded.

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by non sequitur

Take a guy like Aaron Shaf, for example. The guy may be a nut job, and he may be a tool, but I still think he sincerely believes he is defending something that he holds sacred. I don't think he's evil, just severely deluded.

He's not defending what he holds sacred. He's attacking what he considers profane. Big difference.

If you visit with a JW missionary, they will attack your beliefs and tell you why they are wrong.

If you talk to a Mormon missionary, they will tell you about JS and the BoM and ask you to pray about it.

Big difference.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

He's not defending what he holds sacred. He's attacking what he considers profane. Big difference.

If you visit with a JW missionary, they will attack your beliefs and tell you why they are wrong.

If you talk to a Mormon missionary, they will tell you about JS and the BoM and ask you to pray about it.

Big difference.

And if you try to convert a radical Muslim, they will kill you.

[Indy Coug]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

He's not defending what he holds sacred. He's attacking what he considers profane. Big difference.

If you visit with a JW missionary, they will attack your beliefs and tell you why they are wrong.

If you talk to a Mormon missionary, they will tell you about JS and the BoM and ask you to pray about it.

Big difference.

There were soooooo many times on my mission that I had to fight the urge to respond in kind to the nasty, hurtful and often deeply sacriligious things that were said, but I did so because I tried to remember who I was representing.

I may not have been a very good missionary overall, but I did manage to successfully do that much.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by non sequitur

Take a guy like Aaron Shaf, for example. The guy may be a nut job, and he may be a tool, but I still think he sincerely believes he is defending something that he holds sacred. I don't think he's evil, just severely deluded.

Under your analysis, everybody is simply innocently standing up for what they believe.

As Mike has pointed out, if you articulate a forward position advocating belief in something, that is advocacy.

If advocate a negative position, informing in what not to believe, I don't find that person useful, but just destructive.