Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

Whoa, dudes. I really don't know how to make myself much clearer that I started the discussion in an attempt to gain understanding (not to try to deconvert anyone). Sorry if my questions were hard. And Portia, your response made me chuckle but for reasons I unfortunately can't relate. Whistler, I th...

Marduk, I agree entirely about your definition of cognitive dissonance. However, I still see quite a bit of this in the church. If you refer to the list I put above, #'s 2-4 call for some level of cognitive dissonance. In fact Sister Kimball said the following: I’ve always had an inquiring mind. I’m...

When I was trying to be TBM, I knew some of the history and decided that none of it mattered as long as God wanted me to be part of the one true church. Hell, if the LDS church provides the one way to eternal salvation, nothing else should matter. I'll admit that I underwent some serious cognitive d...

Oh, sorry, I forgot the main point! Would it be true to say that one cannot have a firm testimony of the truthfulness without a divine confirmation? Does anyone think that Mormonism could be proved without the Spirit? Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way. Does anyone feel that Mormonism need not...

Would anyone agree with this? There is so much evidence both attempting to prove and disprove certain claims (for example, the book quoted in Jessop's answer was not written by an Egyptologist. Here's an LDS Egyptologist's perspective on the book: http://www.irr.org/mit/thompson.html) that one inevi...

Book of Abraham?

Okay, I'll admit, I think it's turning into a heated debate partially because of me. I obviously don't believe Joseph Smith to be a prophet but I'll refrain from offering my other opinions about the man. I'm trying very very hard not to harbor bitterness against the Church but sometimes the inconsis...

As far as the Thomas Jefferson parallel, he did not start a church were having a mistress was a sin so grave it would be called, "the most serious sin after murder and denying the holy spirit."

Okay, so you don't like my semantics, I know they are blunt. Here is what I would like to know. Joseph Smith slept with married men's wives. Historical fact. I call this adultery. What do TBM's say? Joseph Smith was arrested for fraud. This isn't even my word...that was his charge. Mistakes...well, ...

Marduk, you underestimate me. Most of my research is in actual records and I've gathered the majority of my info from LDS church history scholars. Sure, the internet has some inaccuracies but that does not detract from the fact that early church history is consistently swept under the rug. But, I do...

SMP! That's so cool that you are NOM! I did the NOM thing for a while and it got me thinking about how society chooses its moral code. I am planning on writing a book questioning the necessity of religion in today's world. I feel like the NOM's especially show how religion is good despite theologica...

It seemed like Hypatia tried to show how those things didn't matter now that the Church runs very differently than how it ran back in the days of Joseph Smith but since believing Joseph Smith is a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God are key pinnacles to ones testimony, having a fi...

Also, anyone who likes to read, mormonthink.com usually presents all sides very well. Here's their section on JS and his wives:

http://www.mormonthink.com/joseph-smith ... my.htm#sex

So, just some thoughts. Since leaving the LDS church, I've been quite surprised at the level of cognitive dissonance required by TBM's to accept the history of the church. It seems that, even when presented with clear evidence that some not-so-kosher things happened, they brush it aside as "ant...