Elder David Bednar recently completed a landmark address in two parts, seeking to defend the LDS Church against its critics.
RFM is joined by the Backyard Professor in breaking down the first part of Elder Bednar’s talk titled, “That Ye May Believe.”
After deconstructing Elder Bednar’s talk, a better title might be, “That Ye May NOT Believe.”
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Bednar’s tactic here seems to be throwing out a bunch of incomprehensible word salad that you can’t argue with because you can’t understand it. I suspect he’s hoping that people will just assume he knows what he’s talking about because he uses a bunch of big words that sound smart.
Bednar should read Terry Givens, “Wrestling The Angel”, in which he connects nearly every formative concept within Mormon faith to the various original source, from which they were derived (books, religions, preachers…)
He refers to Joseph as an aggregator able to gather the many pieces of truth that had been “lost” and restore once again to fullness. 🤦♀️ Looking back now, that book marked the beginning of the end for my proverbial shelf.
Bednar and the rest of the 15 clowns leading the Mormon Church carry on the tradition of Joseph Smith extremely well. Like Joseph, they are con men who are willing to lie, deceive and mislead not for the Lord but to benefit the church and themselves. Bednar’s arguments are pathetically absurd and nobody but believing Mormons take the arguments seriously. For Bednar to try to present himself as an intellectual is like calling a woodpecker a carpenter. If you read the Book of Mormon critically and believe that it is a real history or that any God had anything to do with it, you don’t even deserve a place at the table in any serious debate or discussion concerning religion or reality. The BOM is one of the most silly and boring books ever written. Joseph’s claim to have translated it word for word from God with a rock in his hat is bunkum and balderdash and the church will eventually have to back away from its defense and then will deny it has changed its position. The only “eternal truth” of the Mormon Church is that in its defense of absurd lies it is forced to sell absurd lies.
J Smitty, when it comes to breaking down bednar’s arguments and analyzing the present state of affairs in the Mormon Church, you just won the gold medal.
So how did Lucy Mack Smith know what Joseph Smith jr was reading when he was 18, when he was 19, when he was 20, when he was 21 and married to Emma, when he was 22, when he was 23, when he was 24? Joseph was 24 when the Book of Mormon was published. What about when he was going to school with Josiah Stowell’s grandson, what was he reading then? What was Hyrum telling Joseph about the things that he was learning and reading at Dartmouth? Do you think that Bednar could enlighten us?
So was Alvin eventually baptized for the dead? The majority of temple work for the dead is in violation of Mormon theology.