I made a general statement. I believe that is true for everyone, DavidH. It's a human trait. I am sure that we all have error in our understanding of Chrisdtianity, and many of us hold onto that error because we believe it to be right, not because it is right. I believe the key to growing in understanding llies in two areas...one, being able to discern truth and, two, being willing to change our view when truth is revealed. Both are difficult tasks (hey, maybe that is just true for me, but I believe it extends to the whole human race).
I have been watching the arguments between you and some others and, although I have been tempted to jump into the fray, until now have resisted. I am trying to look at the discussions from a macroscopic view, and it is quite amazing to see how tightly people hold onto their beliefs, even when faced with seemingly excellent evidence to the contrary. Believe it or not, David, you have an advantage in the argument in that all of your material is already organized in the LDS works and stem from the writings and musings of one source, JS. You also can appeal to the Bible when necessary, too. Your whole system lives or dies on the back of JS. If he can be shown to have been wrong, LDS falls, if he can be shown to be right, LDS lives.
What is absolutely amazing to me is the extent to which LDS will go to ignore excellent testimony that is contrary to JS's position, as well as the extent to which they will make the scripture mean something other than what is written in order to further "prove" a JS point of view. Every discerning Christian on this forum sees it for what it is.
The bottom line is that when we, as Christians, look at the LDS system of beliefs, we are appalled at the nature of what the LDS really believe. And it is true, as Kevin is in the process of pointing out, that the LDS do not reveal the more appalling parts of the faith, holding it as "sacred" to protect it, and revealing it to LDS members ONLY in small degrees as they become more deeply involved in the religion. You may not understand how cults and secret societies indoctrinate members, but the LDS use EXACTLY the same model! Christianity has no such model, everything being revealed in scripture. No secrets. "If it were not so I wouild have told you"(Jn 14:2), says Christ. "...in secret have I said nothing" (Jn 18:20), he also says. The LDS model fails at this simplest of Christian principles, and this is a red flag to discerning believers.
You can argue all you want that Christians do the same thing with respect to possibly misinterpreting scripture; we all are in danger of doing that. But, we do not have to hide any unapalatable "inner truths" until our members are slowly indoctrinated into the system before we can really tell them what is going on lest they run away in repulsion to the tenets of the faith. It is all laid out in the Bible. Anyone who wants to know can pick up the Bible and see what it is about. None of the cultic structure of the LDS ever existed in the history of the Church before JS wrote it down. And he was not the author of it. Cults and secret societies have used if for centuries to slowly indoctrinate members into their inner circles, revealing the inner truths only to those who have proven their worthiness through secret oaths, grips, tokens, and penalties.
Perry
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