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Seekers of truth,

If you peruse the Free Republic religion forums you will notice a pattern. There's an anti-Mormon group of people here that spends a great deal of their time attacking the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They post regurgitated propaganda on an almost daily basis.

They have a misguided obsession. You can witness many different tactics employed that you might find quite interesting. The straw man argument is a big favorite and is frequently preceded by cherry-picking quotes or other material. After the "quotation" the attacker will misrepresent what has been said or what was meant and then attack their own interpretation.Later they will have the audacity to claim they were "only" quoting our own material.

They will of course insist ad nauseum that they are merely using our sources and are therefore innocent of any deceptive practice. LDS persons have no issue whatsoever having our scriptures or leaders quoted as long as it is presented fairly and accurately. This is rarely (if ever) done.

Another favorite is posting scripture or statements which on their own really present no dilemma. They make something out of nothing while never bringing up a single objection that hasn't been addressed a hundred times before.

You might note a couple of other tactics used to try to antagonize is the use of disrespectful or insulting terms or language and/or pictures. That's a Christlike thing to do right? Yeah I don't think so either. It does speak volumes about them though.

Some of them claim being some sort of special witness to you as being supposedly former Mormons. So someone who is an ex-member of any organization would never have an axe to grind or have reason to try to justify their actions by any means? Perhaps not but perhaps so. The LDS Church gains members from other denominations as well as others faiths all the time. This doesn't make them an expert on anything and you certainly won't hear them attacking their forner Church.

Frequently they cruise the headlines of the day seeking any story that might be twisted into making the Church look bad. Anything will do, just watch the progression of posts following it and see what I mean.

After reading their posts, I invite you to seek the truth about whatever "issue" they seem to be "revealing" or "exposing". I promise that if you do so with honest intent, the "ahah" moments you will have will be many and frequent. You will start to recognize the tactics employed to cleverly twist and attack and will likely chuckle the more you see. In actuality, there's nothing new here. It's all been addressed many times before.

The latest twist in the anti-Mormon propaganda machine is to actually go to the links provided, but then they cherry pick what they want, then quote and straw man attack that. Clever. It almost appears that they are helping you, the seeker of truth out by doing some footwork for you. Not so much. Don't be insulted, look for yourself. It's not the haystack they want you to think.

Here's a few links to get your started from a different viewpoint. I have found that the vast majority of the "issues" brought up can be found and addressed at http://www.fairlds.org/ but here's more:

http://scriptures.lds.org/
http://www.lds.org
http://www.fairlds.org/
http://www.mormonapologetics.org/
http://www.mormonwiki.com/Main_Page
http://www.lightplanet.com/response/index.html
http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDS_Intro.shtml
http://www.answeringantimormons.com/index.htm
http://promormon.blogspot.com/

Now you will likely notice the "you never address or answer our points" posts pop up as usual. All after providing the answers just as you have here.

Sometimes it is claimed that these sites present a needle in a haystack. Far from it. But if you give up before you try you won't know will you? They often state that these sites provide no answer. They just don't want you looking. It is as simple as that.

Will you wear blinders too? Seek truth. Find out for yourself. Want to chat with someone on any topic? A few of these sites provide just that. So do your homework sincere seeker of truth. Listen and read from both "sides". Make up your own mind.

I witness to you of these truths and wish you the best, in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

An OFFICIAL lds magazine with questions and answers from lds and yet you still post links from unofficial lds sites. Strange.

From Time magazine's article "Kingdom Come"

The first divergence between Mormon economics and that of other denominations is the tithe. Most churches take in the greater part of their income through donations. Very few, however, impose a compulsory 10% income tax on their members. Tithes are collected locally, with much of the money passed on informally to local lay leaders at Sunday services. "By Monday," says Elbert Peck, editor of Sunstone, an independent Mormon magazine, the church authorities in Salt Lake City "know every cent that's been collected and have made sure the money is deposited in banks." There is a lot to deposit. Last year $5.2 billion in tithes flowed into Salt Lake City, $4.9 billion of which came from American Mormons. (1997)

Link

Click on the kitty

Oh what are you objecting to this time, for the love of Mike? Nothing but sympathy and kind words have been offered for the poor people struggling with this.

What would your advice be PD? Be like you? Never falter, never fail?

An Open Letter to Mormons who are
sincere about their faith...

(and are embarrassed! by the posts of self-styled
"defender-mormons" who can't or won't defend)

If you peruse the Free Republic religion forums
you will notice a pattern. There’s a group of
Christians who spend a great deal of time posting
from Official Mormon Sources - both the Book of
Mormon as well as Mormon Prophets and Church
materials - real quotes from real mormon materials.

You will also notice that many of these Christians
are former Mormons who left Mormonism and come to
know the Biblical Jesus Christ and His Gospel of Grace.

They have a passion to reach Mormons to share what
they learned about Salvation by grace and apart
from the never ending treadmill of human works...

Of course, they are attacked regularly by a very,
small group of Mormons who have zeal, but no real
knowledge beyond what the Mormon Church has told
them. You've seen this with your own eyes on this
thread and others, so I'm not telling you anything

you don't already know.

Why can't these so-called "defenders" provide any:

… Objective Facts
… Objective Evidence
… Or Logical support

Anything OBJECTIVE that any reasonable person would
see and agree that it lends support the claims of
Mormonism.

Why can't they do this?

If Mormonism is true, why is it based only on

subjective feelings and why doesn't it have the

same kind of objective support the Bible does?

Has God changed?

Is He no longer able to weave His story into history,

into the fabric of human DNA, into the findings of

archeology, and into geography? Do you believe He has

become powerless?

I bet you do not believe that.

So why would God provide every kind of objective support
for the Bible's rich history and none for the Book of
Mormon? Why?

These "defenders" post links over and over again that
“address” things yet never provide an answer that is
buttressed by the ring of truth, echoed by history,
archeology, genetics, geography, etc.

If they could support the claims of Mormonism with facts,
you know they would. But it never happens here. You may

be new to these threads, but I've read almost every one

for the past 6 years. I can tell you that it is always

the same as this thread. No facts, no evidence, no logical

argument.

People deserve more than subjective feelings and useless
links to non-answers.

You deserve more than feelings and hollow links.

After reading both sides on this thread and others,
you may very well be wondering about what you were
taught when you joined the LDS church. You also may
be wondering how to resolve the lack of facts, evidence
and logical suport for Mormonism's claims.

You are not alone in wondering this.

Many have approached those of us who are Christians
asking where to find out more and some, even, to ask
how to come to know the Biblical Christ and some even how
to gracefully leave Mormonism and start a new life with
Christ.

Many here have already set out to finally and joyfully know
the true God and Savior. They understand the terrible choice
of being totally sincere about your faith, but increasingly
concerned that it isn't everything you once believed and hoped

for.

After coming to know the truth, they are on a path that gives

them the rest God promised to His children and the certainty

of His ultimate plan for them. Nothing brings them greater joy

than helping a friend who has the same questions.

There are places online that you can visit to learn more about

Mormonism.

If something is true, it can withstand any question, no matter

how tough. If it is false, it is better to know while your life

is in front of you. You can read these resources without fear.

http://www.irr.org/mit/default.html
http://www.exmormonsforjesus.org/
http://4mormon.org/ex-mormon.php
http://www.exmormon.org/
http://www.mormoncurtain.com/

Links may raise more questions and concerns and sometimes it
helps to have someone who has already wrestled through these
issues.

I invite you to private FReep-mail any of the Christians
on this thread to ask questions about the concerns you have.

We always do our best to directly answer your questions with
facts, evidence and logical support.

Take a step.

Roll the dice.

What do you have to lose at this point? And you have much to

gain.

There is peace and rest waiting for you.

All the Best,
ampu