I think it's worth pointing out that the Church also sometimes teaches that dinosaur bones are some kind of cosmic "trick" intended to test our faith.
I didn't think it was possible for Scratch to tell a whopping flat footed lie like this publically that would outdo some of the other stuff I've seen him try to foist, but this did it.
"The Church", of course, has never taught any such thing, and it has, officially, always been neutral on the subject.
I was taught that God used materials from other worlds to make ours, and that's how we happen to have stuff over 6,000 years old.
Yes BY and other early GAs made comments to this effect.
Mister Scratch wrote:I think it's worth pointing out that the Church also sometimes teaches that dinosaur bones are some kind of cosmic "trick" intended to test our faith.
Really? I have never heard such a thing. Any sources for this?
Anecdotal source: Both seminary teachers I had in Jr. High and High School made the point that fossils/dinosaur bones etc., were "put there" to confuse us. Each had a different agent for the putting: one followed the "they're part of other planets god mashed together" scenario, the other opined that they were a wily ruse of Satan. But either way, the intent was some sort of test of faith.
Of course, whether this is "doctrinal" or no, I have no idea (the shifting boundaries of doctrine don't help much either). But my teachers sincerely thought they were imparting "the church's" point of view. Of course, maybe they were speaking as men and not seminary teachers...
From the Ernest L. Wilkinson Diaries: "ELW dreams he's spattered w/ grease. Hundreds steal his greasy pants."
The answer is, of course, no. I and silentkid have already posted lengthy replies, using the official statements of the Brethren and various First Presidencies on this, and so really, the case should be closed. Lucretia posted the entirety of the evidence your going to get from anyone: an anecdote in which a Sunday School teacher or whatnot made such claims.
To be frank, when I was a teenager, a youth Sunday School teacher made a comment to the effect that the earth may have been created out of, I guess the idea is, chunks of other planets, and that the Dinosaur bones and other fossils were a part of those other materials.
However intellectually shoddy this is (and I think it is), this individual did state it as a speculation; he didn't try to pass it off as settled doctrine (as one of our Gospel Doctrine teachers here tried to pass off her belief that Jesus absolutely was not married)
This really isn't an issue. The only issue is the various beliefs of different GAs. However, unless one holds to a fundamentalist interpretation of the nature of the prophetic calling, this really isn't an issue either.
Last edited by Dr. Sunstoned on Tue May 22, 2007 6:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Mister Scratch wrote:I think it's worth pointing out that the Church also sometimes teaches that dinosaur bones are some kind of cosmic "trick" intended to test our faith.
Really? I have never heard such a thing. Any sources for this?
My anecdotal encounter with this doctrine was from my mission president. We were told that fossil bearing rock were remnants of other worlds used to build earth by elohim, Jesus and adam. Effing ludicrous.
And crawling on the planet's face Some insects called the human race Lost in time And lost in space...and meaning
"This kind of personal evidence or witness will send the secularists and materialists into full smarm mode, however, as none of it measures up to the specific kind of empirical evidence verifiable to independent observers required by science." - A douche
Can you see this individual? Well into their twenties or thirties but with the mental and emotional maturity of a sixteen year old? See the baggy pants? See the reversed baseball cap? See the little strings and bead bracelets around the wrist? See the poster of Kurt Cobain on the wall? See the unlaced high top track shoes? Smell the Cannabis?
I can really, really, really see why the MAD boards have banned so many here and similar individuals from other far flung regions. You can still actually have a civil, critical, and stimulating discussion over there even when debating contentious subjects. The key is eliminating the dead wood.
Mister Scratch wrote:I think it's worth pointing out that the Church also sometimes teaches that dinosaur bones are some kind of cosmic "trick" intended to test our faith.
Really? I have never heard such a thing. Any sources for this?
I heard it from my seminary teacher, within the context of explaining why extremely-old dinosaur bones exist on a planet created 6,000 years ago. I never took it seriously, though.
"Moving beyond apologist persuasion, LDS polemicists furiously (and often fraudulently) attack any non-traditional view of Mormonism. They don't mince words -- they mince the truth."
-- Mike Quinn, writing of the FARMSboys, in "Early Mormonism and the Magic World View," p. x (Rev. ed. 1998)
Coggins7 wrote:I can really, really, really see why the MAD boards have banned so many here and similar individuals from other far flung regions. You can still actually have a civil, critical, and stimulating discussion over there even when debating contentious subjects. The key is eliminating the dead wood.
And yet, you aren't there, Loran. You're here. And if Mercury (or anyone else here) wanted to be there, they would be. Heck, there's no wall that will keep out anyone who really wants to be there. The only ones who aren't are those like me, who simply don't care.
I think it's clear from this thread, and all the other "what is doctrine?" threads, that the Mormon experience can be summed up as the philosophies of man mingled with scripture. Is that a fair assessment?
"We of this Church do not rely on any man-made statement concerning the nature of Deity. Our knowledge comes directly from the personal experience of Joseph Smith." - Gordon B. Hinckley
"It's wrong to criticize leaders of the Mormon Church even if the criticism is true." - Dallin H. Oaks
SatanWasSetUp wrote:I think it's clear from this thread and all the other "what is doctrine?" threads that the Mormon experience can be summed up as the philosophies of man mingled with scripture. Is that a fair assessment?
It cannot be anything else, as long as men functioning as prophets head the church.
And yet, you aren't there, Loran. You're here. And if Mercury (or anyone else here) wanted to be there, they would be. Heck, there's no wall that will keep out anyone who really wants to be there. The only ones who aren't are those like me, who simply don't care.
Actually Harmony, I am there and I've been there for a while.