Epic Mormonism Live on Rosebud Accusations

[jpatterson]

When John Dehlin starts a cult with 12 million members, I think a discussion board with a few dozen active members investigating everything about John Dehlin might be warranted.

See, this is exactly what I'm talking about. Nowhere have I suggested we start a message board about John Dehlin. But I keep getting told on a message board where people spend their free time discussing stuff they have zero influence over that I'm wasting my time obsessing over something I have zero influence over.

[Meadowchik]

Yeah, because obsessively trying destroy a person’s life over a 10-year old incident involving someone else is exactly like chatting on a message board.

Is that the only possible interpretation?

What about people who want Dehlin's following to be aware of his problematic behaviours?

[Kishkumen]

Sorry, but this is really, really tone-deaf in reference to anything about John Dehlin. I've seen his "minions" in action.

That's a pretty high standard you've got there, MC. No one said that JD had no minions. I have zero doubt he does. But that doesn't mean others don't have their own minions to use against JD and LDS critics more generally.

[jpatterson]

Well. Not really. It’s one thing to deconstruct a *fake story

Yeah, there's zero point in having any back-and-forth with you when you're entrenched in this black-and-white position.

[Fence Sitter]

I realize such a mindset opens me up to criticism and ridicule. But then I also observe here a board that spends inordinate amounts of time obsessing over peculiarities of Mormonism that will never, ever change.

The "peculiarities of Mormonism" are changing all the time and some directly as a result of what is going on online in places such as this. Your comment about obsessing is risible in how much it lacks self awareness.

So I guess I would ask many of you the same question: If everyone concedes that the church isn't going anywhere, what's the point of this board?

This place isn't some monolith of opinion and I am not even sure what you mean by "not going anywhere." As to the point of the board, it has existed for over 15 years at this point, long before reddit, and was created as a place that people could openly express views and ask questions without being censured. When it was created, such a place did not exist. Most of the controversial historical information regarding the church was still largely unknown to the majority of members. This site was instrumental in providing an open location where arguments about Mormon history could be discussed and was frequented by apologist and critics alike actively engaging in those discussions. Today most of the apologist have fled to the safe havens of their own personally controlled blogs or given up trying to defend the faithful narratives that have long been shown to be false. This board continues to serve as a place where Mormon history and current events are freely discussed. Not all arguments are settled, new information is still being discovered and the church is constantly changing. See for example Shulem's work on the Book of Abraham or the epic historical post by the recently deceased Grindial for just two historical examples and consider the ever evolving approach to GLBT issues on the part of the church, a topic frequently discussed here.

If the church actually was founded by a sophisticated con man in the mid 1800s, what can possibly come from arguing about it now? Are you all just wanting to smear the church's name because you don't like what they're doing? Do the church's followers deserve to know or something?

A question that illustrates a complete lack of understanding regarding this site and how completely obsessed you are with just one issue.

[Dr Exiled]

Yeah, because obsessively trying destroy a person’s life over a 10-year old incident involving someone else is exactly like chatting on a message board.

Is that the only possible interpretation?

What about people who want Dehlin's following to be aware of his problematic behaviours?

I know you have alluded to Dehlin's "problematic behaviours" before. What are they?

[jpatterson]

As to the point of the board, it has existed for over 15 years at this point, long before reddit, and was created as a place that people could openly express views and ask questions without being censured. When it was created, such a place did not exist. Most of the controversial historical information regarding the church was still largely unknown to the majority of members. This site was instrumental in providing an open location where arguments about Mormon history could be discussed and was frequented by apologist and critics alike actively engaging in those discussions.

You excellently explained what the point of this board was. You didn't explain what the point of this board is now.

What's the point?

[Meadowchik]

Sorry, but this is really, really tone-deaf in reference to anything about John Dehlin. I've seen his "minions" in action.

That's a pretty high standard you've got there, MC. No one said that JD had no minions. I have zero doubt he does. But that doesn't mean others don't have their own minions to use against JD and LDS critics more generally.

The point being is Dehlin has tens of thousands of social media followers. He is therefore going to have an automatic advantage of popularity in almost any exmo space.

[Fence Sitter]

As to the point of the board, it has existed for over 15 years at this point, long before reddit, and was created as a place that people could openly express views and ask questions without being censured. When it was created, such a place did not exist. Most of the controversial historical information regarding the church was still largely unknown to the majority of members. This site was instrumental in providing an open location where arguments about Mormon history could be discussed and was frequented by apologist and critics alike actively engaging in those discussions.

You excellently explained what the point of this board was. You didn't explain what the point of this board is now.

What's the point?

Did you even bother to read all I wrote?
/boggle

[consiglieri]

Sorry, but odds are that the latter is disproportionately built into your audience.

I’ll take that as a compliment.