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View Poll Results: If you found out that the Golden Plates never existed, would you still be a Mormon? | |||
Yes, the literalness of Joseph Smith's claims don't matter to me. | 4 | 14.29% | |
Yes, but it would change the way I view the Church. | 9 | 32.14% | |
No, I couldn't accept the Church as true in such a scenario. | 10 | 35.71% | |
I'm not a Mormon. | 5 | 17.86% | |
Voters: 28. You may not vote on this poll |
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09-14-2007, 07:35 PM | #21 | |
Formerly known as MudPhudCoug
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Land of desolation
Posts: 2,548
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09-14-2007, 07:35 PM | #22 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Clinton Township, MI
Posts: 3,126
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I guess it would depend on how they or you found out the plates were never there
__________________
Its all about the suit |
09-14-2007, 07:37 PM | #23 |
Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Chapel Hill, NC
Posts: 216
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My thoughts too. I mean, even the characters on the Kinderhook plates were pretty convincing. I mean, Joseph actually translated them after all.
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09-14-2007, 07:41 PM | #24 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Memphis freakin' Tennessee!!!!!
Posts: 4,530
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And they said . . .
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Give 'em Hell, Cougars!!! Religion rises inevitably from our apprehension of our own death. To give meaning to meaninglessness is the endless quest of all religion. When death becomes the center of our consciousness, then religion authentically begins. Of all religions that I know, the one that most vehemently and persuasively defies and denies the reality of death is the original Mormonism of the Prophet, Seer and Revelator, Joseph Smith. |
09-14-2007, 07:42 PM | #25 | |
Formerly known as MudPhudCoug
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Land of desolation
Posts: 2,548
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Quote:
Regarding the Pearl of Great Price: 1) We have the document from which the Pearl of Great Price was translated. 2) The document from which the Pearl of Great Price was translated is a funerary scroll. Therefore, we know that Joseph Smith's translation of the scrolls was not literal. This does not exclude the possibility that the Pearl of Great Price is an inspired text. Regarding the Book of Mormon: 1) We don't have the Golden Plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated, but there were 11 witnesses who claim to have seen the plates. 2) The Book of Mormon mentions all kinds of things that are literal impossibilities. (e.g. horses and elephants in the Americas, etc.) So, we have the word of 11 men who saw some plates. However, we can't exclude the possibility that these people saw the plates in a vision, nor can we exclude the possibility that plates were generated and then shown to these witnesses. We have the words of the Book of Mormon, which are tremendously inspiring to me personally (and I believe the book to be inspired by God). Unfortunately, the Book of Mormon makes certain claims which are historically impossible. Therefore, what is the likelihood that the Book of Mormon was a literal translation from Golden Plates which we do not have, given what we know about the translation of the Pearl of Great Price? |
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09-14-2007, 07:44 PM | #26 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Between Iraq and a hard place
Posts: 7,569
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So what basis do you have to believe that this was some wild, sustained hallucination rather than some physical reality? Especially when you have at least 11 others signing off on it, including several disaffected members that despite their differences with Joseph Smith never recanted their testimony.
Occam's Razor? |
09-14-2007, 07:44 PM | #27 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Valencia CA
Posts: 1,384
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If the plates didn't exist
how could you belong to a religion that has consistently lied to you about the nature and origin of the scriptures that we call the Keystone of our religion.
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09-14-2007, 07:45 PM | #28 |
Demiurge
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 36,365
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09-14-2007, 07:46 PM | #29 |
Formerly known as MudPhudCoug
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Land of desolation
Posts: 2,548
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09-14-2007, 07:46 PM | #30 | |
Demiurge
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 36,365
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Quote:
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