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David Smith has essentially described the entire Bible by which all our knowledge of God has come. Through prayer, though, I can know what is and isn’t true. Faith is the key, not facts. Feelings, not logic are what converts one to Christ. Has anyone ever been logicked to the Gospel?

TenTen, please read David Smith's quote again -- here this part: ...you again might speak God has revealed himself. But here again is an absurdity our fellow man brings us a revelation, and we are only guided by our faith IN HIM. We do not know he has had this revelation and eternal salvation depends upon our faith in our fellow man and his revelation. Unjust and absurd.

Don't you notice that David Smith realized that the real "mousetrap filter" in Mormonism isn't Jesus Christ -- since Mormons now believe that all will be raised to immortality & a future resurrection...but it's actually a "prophet" that is their "mousetrap"...do you accept Joseph Smith or not? Therefore, David Smith recognized it's all about "faith in HIM" -- the "Him" is not Jesus Christ or God -- but Joseph Smith!

Let me toss together a parable for you to both further address this -- plus your comment of facts vs. feelings: Let's say the Tibetan govt wanted a base camp higher up on Mt. Everest than what they have; plus they want it accessible via a modern highway. But they don't have the resources to pull it off expense-wise and to navigate the rough terrain, etc. So they take offers from foreign companies -- that if a company can build it, the company can make it a high-$ toll road (in the thousands of dollars per usage).

Three companies come in with offers. They all use distinct routes. And the Tibetan government can't decide which offer to accept, so it simply says, the first one done is the one they will sanction.

And off to the races these three companies go. As it turns out, only one of the three companies built a safe highway. The other two had unreliable bridges.

So the discussion within the Tibetan government is, "Do we stick to our word that the first one done would be sanctioned; or should we consider safety?"

Well, the Tibetan government had a Mormon advisor. They asked him, "What do you think?"

His response wasn't to recommend the safest route. His response was: "Through prayer, though, I can know what is and isn’t true. Faith is the key, not facts. Feelings, not logic are what we need to consider."

And so, the Tibetans immediately began to pray. But as they did, he stopped them. The Mormon advisor said, "No, I wasn't talking about YOU praying. Your praying can result in personal revelation which is good for your personal lives; but since this is a matter that will effect a lot of other lives, you need a prayer of revelation from only one source -- our 'living prophet' back in Salt Lake City. We don't need to give him any 'facts' re: this matter, since faith is the key. I'll tell him to pray about it, and he'll give us the answer."

TenTen, when Mormon missionary enterprises set up operations in foreign countries, they could take two approaches:

One could be to have the natives simply pray about the Book of Mormon minus reading/hearing about its content. (That would be the "blind faith" angle you are apparently now advocating; and you're right, if all you want is to proselyte converts, I suppose the Muslims should start having people pray about the Quran w/out having anybody ever read it..and yup, they'll get "converts.")

Or, they could translate the book into the native language, have them read it first so that they don't 100% try to bypass the mind.

You see, the Gospel literally means "Good News." People needed to hear (and/or read) the Good News before receiving Christ. It's not warm, fuzzy feelings. Even in Luke with the "burning bosom" account where the newly resurrected Jesus was talking to the men, what did Jesus do that prompted that? He recounted the Old Testament scriptures to them! They heard God's revelation spoken to them before they responded! And the faith-source was both the reliability of those Scriptures, and the One they pointed to -- the Messiah -- as well as the One recounting to them that in their very presence!

Had the Jerusalem Gazette been in existence, the death & empty tomb & (alleged) resurrection would have been front-page NEWS. News is simply logically presented facts of actual accounts!

Our faith comes through the filter of history -- Good News in real space & time. It doesn't bypass it. And even in Mormonism, it doesn't. Mormonism simply runs it thru a distinct small "mousetrap" juncture of history: The First Vision.

The real problem in Mormonism is that when missionaries come & ask people to pray about the Book of Mormon is that except for things like works-righteousness, the Book of Mormon is simply the plagiarized Bible in a lot of places with pre-Doctrine & Covenants theology. Prospects see a lot of Bible in it & lifted Biblical phrases. What Mormons really should be doing -- if they were accurate to the foundation of their faith -- is to have people pray about the "First Vision" and tell them, "if you get warm, fuzzy feelings, that must mean the First Vision was so."

And now, let me cap this by returning to my Mt. Everest parable: The Tibetan government took the "revelation" from the Mormon "prophet" upon which highway to go with. Since the Mormon "prophet" was wrong -- and the highway they sanctioned had a few bridges collapse on drivers, the Tibetan government then decided to allow all three highways to be open to the public...and they took the next advice from their Mormon advisor, who said the Tibetan government should issue highway drivers the following advisory:

"While faith in the Mormon prophet's revelation on which route is the best route is needed, not facts; And feelings, not logic are what gets you to the boot camp. We also recognize that you might be taking your life into your own hands if you choose the wrong highway route. Therefore, since we also recognize that personal revelation is important for your own personal decisions, we advise that you take the bridges one at a time. If you come across a bridge that appears to be rickety, pray about it before crossing."

The problem, tenten, is that the Mormon church has replaced the Bridge -- Jesus Christ ("I am the Way..." John 14:6) -- with the Mormon church and its prophet...

Even First President Marion G. Romney, cousin to Mitt's dad, highlighted this for us:

"This Church is the ensign on the mountain spoken of by the Old Testament prophets. It is the way, the truth, and the life" (Conference Report, April, 1961, p. 119)]

Utter idolatry! Jesus Christ alone qualifies as the object of faith -- the Way. Not a given church! Not a given "prophet!" But Jesus Christ alone!

We don't blindly place our faith in Jesus. Even in the burning bosom experience in Luke, Jesus utilized the Old Testament thoroughly! Experientially, somebody in our lives FIRST came and gave us a revelation about Him...verbally...and the Bible has served as the key testifier -- ALONG with the Holy Spirit.

Tenten, a person could have the weakest faith in Tibet -- and if their faith was in that "safe bridge" -- they'll get to their destination! Or, if a traveler "prayed for revelation" as to whether to cross a certain bridge or not...and they had the accompanying "Feelings" to move forward -- and they felt they had the strongest faith in Tibet...if the bridge collapses on him, 'twas a misdirected faith!

It's NOT the AMOUNT of faith that's key; or the accompanying attached feelings. But it's the object of that faith!