Recent discussion with on anti-Mormon website...and painful comments.


Pa Pa
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This refers to what we commonly call "bearing your testimony". It does not encourage Bible-bashing.

 

of course not. as it reads, "do this with gentleness and respect" -- antithetical to the connotation of "bashing" as you say. 

i think it also plainly encourages boldness and openness in discussion, and study, and seeking after knowledge and understanding. this is to "be prepared to given an answer" -- like another apostle wrote, "study to show yourself approved." it does neither ourselves nor others any good if when challenged over faith and we have no satisfying answer, whether in personal doubt or in argumentation, we don't seek an answer out. 

like the OP - here is a point that is troublesome to resolve - and here is a thread looking for a resolution :) 

 

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I avoid anti-Mormon material like the plague.  The best way to combat that material online is to bear your testimony on your social networking sites or your website and blog.  If someone starts bashing you, don't argue back; simply ignore them or bear your testimony in love and patience.  That's what Jesus did.  Arguing with people doesn't normally get anyone anywhere. (And personally, arguments are one of my anxiety triggers  <_< )

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I studied anti-Mormon activity for about four years, cataloged their activities, documented the networks of relationships between anti-Mormon ministries, and categorized their tactics.  I can say with a great deal of experience, that anti-Mormon web sites are dangerous, dishonest, and ill-intended.  There isn't an original thought on any of them.  All of them are using doctrinal, logical, or historical arguments which have long been discredited.  They prey on the ignorant and the uninformed.  They present their arguments in such a way that it is impossible to have a reasonable discussion.  When you begin to answer one argument, they will pivot to a different topic.  They are not interested in truth at all.  If they can damage a person's faith or implant the seeds of doubt with a 140-character tweet, they believe that is worth more than a 10,000-word study of the topic using scripture and reason.

 

Let me relate a couple of findings I encountered in my research. Although I did write some "defense of the faith" articles, my primary interest was understanding how anti-Mormonism works as a phenomenon.  I found that there is no integrity among them.  For example, I discovered one anti-Mormon ministry supposedly based in Africa was actually run by a well-known anti-Mormon "ministry" in Arizona.  They registered the address of the site to an Internet service provider in Canada to try to hide the connection.  This supposed African ex-Mormon ministry was run by a couple of white guys in America.  They were pretty hostile when I exposed that. 

 

One of my studies of another anti-Mormon web site revealed that it was run by a woman who claimed to have a Master's degree in theology.  I researched her educational credentials and proved they were from a degree mill without accreditation. (That is the case with many anti-Mormons.)  When I exposed the facts about her education, she linked up with a vicious ex-Mormon-turned-atheist on another anti-Mormon forum I monitored to share notes on how to best attack the Church.  Imagine that: an evangelical teaming up with a person who denies God's very existence to figure out the best way to attack Mormonism!  What fellowship does light have with darkness?

 

Another of the newer anti-Mormon ministries online was revealed to be soliciting donations, but it was in fact a for-profit business.  It did not have a current business licence.  It was not a legal non-profit or charity.  It was operating off an expired incorporation application with its home state.  In essence, it was an unlicensed business selling books for a profit and soliciting donations without meeting the proper state and federal tax requirements.

 

There are over 800 such ministries and parachurches that publish and re-publish the anti-Mormon lies.  Many of them are for-profit companies.  When you get to see the links between them and how they operate, you come to see that they are intentionally deceptive and insidious.  They intentionally misguide people who are uneducated in the tenets of their own faith and incite prejudice against our faith.  It's a shame they have the influence they do.

 

Stay away from these web sites.  They are nothing but cut-and-paste factories for lies and misrepresentations.  There is nothing honest, praiseworthy, or of good report in any of them.

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To finalize what was said above, since I also did years worth of research in this area, 95% (roughly) of all the points of argument used against the church were formulated while Joseph Smith was still alive, and they were easily defended and countered at that time as well. The only 'recent' matter would be the straw-man search for 'Nephite DNA' among the native people of the Americas, and it was just as easily and quickly taken apart and explained as soon as it came out.

 

Thus the lies have not changed, nor have the answers to them. There are far better ways to build one's testimony and/or serve as a missionary for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

As long as one can maintain a civil discussion, I have no problem talking with anti-Mormons about their questions. As soon as the contention begins, I try to graciously thank them for their time, testify, and get out. Anything beyond that destroys any chance of them hearing you out.

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