You proclaim with certainty that if I use my mind, I can see, with clarity, the truth of the Bible. That with intuition from my heart, and the soundness of my brain, the word will be revealed as truth, because truth is clear and illuminating. You insist the existence of God is clear to any person who, logically, thinks it through.
You tell me that the world around us evidences a creator. That without a cause, there can be no effect. That entropy demands the complexity of life proves its own impossibility, therefore necessitating a transcendent God. You plead with me to use human reason to "see" that the precision of the Universe demands that there must be God. That it is the only, "scientifically" plausible conclusion. You base your arguments in logic, and arrive at conclusions with linguistic ingenuity worthy of the finest debate . You explain the inner workings of cells and other precise scientifically derived mechanics which evidence profound design. You stand confident on the shoulders of great scientific giants whose works form the basis of your arguments. You understand that to convince, it is pristine facts, logic, and reason which must form the basis of human communication as otherwise we would be lost in an ocean of falsehood and uncertainty.
But when 15,000 innocent men women and children die in a Tsunami, you tell me that God works in mysterious ways. When I ask about babies who were not fortunate to receive the "word" being "saved" or "damned" you explain that we shouldn't expect to understand with our limited minds things in the heavenly realm. Things, like - God. You tell me that God doesn't have to be logical. You assure me there is no problem since the great mystery of God is his beauty.
You use "logic" when it suits you.
You use "mystery" when it suits you.
This, Christian, is called duplicity and according to you, it is a trait of the devil.
I do find it quite foolish that members don't seem to worry about financial transparency regarding church funds. This especially since an important teaching spouted by the door to door salesmen is regarding "the great apostacy", where the church after Christ, led by prophets and "righteous" priesthood holders fell into sin and wickedness, eventually losing its divine authority.
Modern members seem not to realize that early apostles of the LDS were excommunicated, or if they do, they do not make the connection that this clearly means the GAs of today can be corrupt.
Why have members now seemed to accept so blindly that their leaders are infallible? It is ridiculous and evidence of a personality cult.
I note in particular the nature of Pres. Hinckley's "black and white" argument, which is an oft- repeated Mormon leadership theme. This is nothing more than a false dichotomy that performs the function of a debating trick, except he uses it on people who are willing to accept almost anything he says. How can anyone who has experienced the good side of Mormons conclude that Mormonism is 100% fraud? Therefore, if it is either all truth or all fraud, it must be all truth. This is the conclusion toward which Pres. Hinckley directs as many people as possible. ... I cannot think of anything in life that is as simple as Pres. Hinckley represents this particularly complex issue to be, and my review of Mormon history and theology has brought me the almost certain conclusion that there are serious inaccuracies in the story the Church tells, and pervasive pockets of error within the LDS tradition that continue to influence it today. In short, Mormonism is a mixture of good and bad, truth and error. It is grey. But nonetheless, Pres. Hinckley attempts to win the debate by the manner in which he frames it, and due to how he is trusted, he will be effective in this regard with respect to many people, and was effective until recently in my case.
