davidprisco
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Hey everyone,

Encase you missed my introduction, my name is David Prisco and I'm a life insurance agent in Philadelphia, Pa. I found this board after a friend of mine were out one night talking about the old South Park episode that poked fun at Scientology and the one about LDS. We were trying to figure out what was true and what was created for comic appeal. I felt it best to ask you all rather than assume what I find on a google search to be accurate or what I watch in a TV show to be true.

A little bit of my background, I was born and raised Catholic and went to a Catholic H.S. as well as University. Even with that up bringing, I never studied the spirituality of Catholicism or any other religion. So I'm hoping that I'm posting the the correct board to gain some insight on LDS and clear up any misconceptions that South Park/the media have thrown out there. Sorry for not having a more general question and this is more of open ended start to a thread. Hopefully it will gain some positive traction!

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Hi David,

 

Good for you for being willing to explore what we believe legitimately. That's awesome.

 

You will find that many of the South Park claims are somewhat true, but that they are twisted with agenda in order to make fun and marginalize. They are simplified and distorted. Of course, there are other things that are just false. (And, of course, decried as "dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb".)

 

So ask away. We'll happily explain.

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Like Folk Prophet said most of the south park stuff that I have seen is true. They poke fun at it of course and in that light it looks weird but the same can be said of any religion. 

 

If you can point to any specifics I'm sure it will lead toward a spirited discussion.

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Thanks for the warm welcome! To start things off, would you all mind explaining the accurate story between Joseph Smith and the plates that he found and translated? For me, that was one of the more confusing parts to the episode and I feel that South Park purposefully left out larger chunks of the story to add to the humor. From my understand, he found one set of plates and he was able to translate them with the help of the lord. I find that this draws a lot of similarities with Moses finding the commandments. But where things get a bit mucky for me is the second set of plates that he finds and translates. 

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But where things get a bit mucky for me is the second set of plates that he finds and translates. 

 

I was thinking about it and I think the answer is the following:

 

Joseph only got one set of plates. However, those plates were combined writings of different authors (mostly abridged by the prophet Mormon, but some directly from the original authors.) Joseph translated 116 pages from the writings of Lehi. These pages were then lost and the Lord told him not to re-translate that portion again, but to instead move on and translated the rest. so that is probably what is being alluded to. There were no other plates found however.

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I was thinking about it and I think the answer is the following:

 

Joseph only got one set of plates. However, those plates were combined writings of different authors (mostly abridged by the prophet Mormon, but some directly from the original authors.) Joseph translated 116 pages from the writings of Lehi. These pages were then lost and the Lord told him not to re-translate that portion again, but to instead move on and translated the rest. so that is probably what is being alluded to. There were no other plates found however.

 

It can also be the Book of Abraham?  Although that's not in plates...

 

Sorry, I have not seen a single Southpark Episode except for some clips on youtube or some such...

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Finished the episode. My response about the 116 pages was accurate. No 2nd set of plates. They were all part of the same plates.

 

Another falsehood: The Book of Mormon does not say that Adam and Eve lived in Jackson County Missouri. That comes from direct revelation to Joseph Smith. 

 

Beyond that there's all sorts of half truths. Sort of true, but not entirely accurate.

 

I always forgot how offensive South Park is. Not just to Mormons (though, explicitly to them). It's just offensive.

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Davidprisco, while you are reading may I suggest you start reading the Book of Mormon as well.

 

The Book of Mormon starts with a brief introduction and contains the statements of 11 witnesses of the Book of Mormon and an account from Joseph Smith.

 

If you do not have a copy of the Book of Mormon you can read it online at https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm?lang=eng or we can help you get a free Book of Mormon delivered to you.

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Davidprisco, while you are reading may I suggest you start reading the Book of Mormon as well.

 

The Book of Mormon starts with a brief introduction and contains the statements of 11 witnesses of the Book of Mormon and an account from Joseph Smith.

 

If you do not have a copy of the Book of Mormon you can read it online at https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm?lang=eng or we can help you get a free Book of Mormon delivered to you.

 

Just FYI, David, the account from Joseph at the beginning of the Book of Mormon is taken from Joseph Smith History, which is the link I provided.

 

I absolutely concur with Daybreak79 though. If you want to know about the Book of Mormon, read it! :)

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David - former 'Fluffian' here and former Catholic. You might want to look at ' Catholic Roots Mormon Harvest' by Eric Shuster, a Catholic convert whose wife has a masters in Catholic theology. They do a good description and explanation of where Catholics and Mormons are similar and where they differ.

 

As a Catholic (12 yrs Catholic school, but not in Philly) I was never encouraged to read the Bible. I knew Bible stories, and took a college course in the Bible as literature, but never knew the detail of the Bible itself. I have found that every time I had doubts about where Mormons were getting their theology and 'facts' from, they could point to the Bible and there it was! It's been an amazing trip.

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Just FYI, David, the account from Joseph at the beginning of the Book of Mormon is taken from Joseph Smith History, which is the link I provided.

 

I absolutely concur with Daybreak79 though. If you want to know about the Book of Mormon, read it! :)

 

 

Davidprisco, while you are reading may I suggest you start reading the Book of Mormon as well.

 

The Book of Mormon starts with a brief introduction and contains the statements of 11 witnesses of the Book of Mormon and an account from Joseph Smith.

 

If you do not have a copy of the Book of Mormon you can read it online at https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm?lang=eng or we can help you get a free Book of Mormon delivered to you.

Hello All,

Since you were so friendly last week, I thought I should update you all and let you know I started reading the Book of Mormon on my way into work today. Don't worry, I take the train so I wasn't reading and driving! Ha. 

Again, thank you all for taking the time to answer and respond to my post; I do greatly appreciate it. 

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Hello All,

Since you were so friendly last week, I thought I should update you all and let you know I started reading the Book of Mormon on my way into work today. Don't worry, I take the train so I wasn't reading and driving! Ha. 

Again, thank you all for taking the time to answer and respond to my post; I do greatly appreciate it. 

 

What do you think?

 

My favorite chapter in the entire book is 2 Nephi 2.  Have you gotten to that part yet?

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