Latest Interpreter article: "An Analysis of the Financial Incentives in Attacking the Restoration"

[malkie]

And no other person was available to peer at the article?

According to Dan they have a very strict and thorough review process. I think the results speak for themselves.

I somehow imagined the reviewer sort of screwing up their eyes - perhaps squinting over the top of horn-rimmed glasses - to peer at the text.

[Moksha]

Spoiler alert: Brother Rhodes identifies Mormon Stories and Mormon Discussion(s), Inc. as "the primary critics of the Church."

This is certainly cheering news for a Friday afternoon.

So there is proof that Bill, RFM, and Dehlin are trying to muscle their way into Ensign Peaks Investments and interfere with the sacred Perpetual Interpreter Travel Endowment Fund?!!!

Malkie should be aware that the Interpreter peer review process is sacred and secret. Only 33rd degree Masters are allowed that kind of information and only if they vow to receive 20 swats from the Paddle of Maxwell if they reveal what they learned. In Sic et Non.

[Philo Sofee]

Just started reading the article, and got to this:

Assuming those who contribute money to these critics hold negative feelings toward the Church, increasing the overall number of people who feel contempt against the Church and capturing that audience as listeners has the potential of increasing their total donations. Again, this does not refute the validity of their arguments, but it raises reasonable questions about their behavior and reliability.

Interesting logic. Let's see if the author really means it. Here is the same argument applied the other way.

Assuming those who contribute money to [the LDS church] hold negative feelings toward the [critics of the LDS]Church, increasing the overall number of people who feel contempt against the [critics of the LDS] Church and capturing that audience as listeners has the potential of increasing [the LDS church's] total donations. Again, this does not refute the validity of the [LDS church] arguments, but it raises reasonable questions about [LDS church leaders'] behavior and reliability.

I predict we won't see the author applying his logic evenly. It sounds like mentalgymnast's argument that Jenkins was biased, therefore Jenkin's arguments in his debate with Hamblin can be dismissed.

When it was pointed out that by using mentalgymnast's own logic everyone is biased, he doubled down and said yes, but Jenkins' bias means he is debating dishonestly, while Hamblin's bias doesn't affect his arguments. He knows this because Jenkins was disagreeing with Hamblin's LDS positions. Which he knows are right.

The logic in this article uses better grammar, but it's no different than mentalgymnast's flawed argument.

How do we know if the author is NOT Mental Gymnast?

[Bond]

Spoiler alert: Brother Rhodes identifies Mormon Stories and Mormon Discussion(s), Inc. as "the primary critics of the Church."

This is certainly cheering news for a Friday afternoon.

It's interesting that the "primary critics of the Church" aren't Christianity ministries anymore but are secular podcasters. The LDS Church is going to be spooning with mainstream evangelicalism in another 30 years.

[Philo Sofee]

Interpreter is powerless to refute the critics, so they turn to this kind of ridiculous hypocrisy. They don't have the facts on their side. They don't have the archaeological bullseyes they have wet dreams about. They don't increase baptisms when they talk about the scriptures, whichever one they choose, which turns into unmitigated disasters. They are powerless to the exposure that the church is an organized tax exempt cult, so they have to attempt to make others making money on their own inanity their main weapon, all the while utterly oblivious to the backfire this will cause, because... you now, they Holy Ghost guides their every process and move, so they are safe to take this stupid approach with innuendo that making money harms the reputations of the critics. Oh when that lens turns home onto their own front yards!

[Tom]

I’m pleased to report the posting of the first peer-reviewed comment on the article from an Interpreter acolyte (I have not changed anything in the following):

Satan pays in cash, and this is probably just the beginning of the return of the persecutions against the Church and the Latter-day Saints. Mormon, who wrote the book for us, held up Captain Moroni as the greatest defender of the faith. That seems a little ominous.

I trust I’m not alone in thinking this comment has the makings of a solid, faith-promoting Interpreter essay.

Posted from Turkey Neck, Utah

[Everybody Wang Chung]

It's hard to believe this is not a parody. Bond was right. The Interpreter died a long time ago.

From the article:

Both Mormon Stories and Mormon Discussions have invested extensive time and resources to generate thousands of videos. Even a cursory review of their YouTube channels and websites reveals aggressive solicitation tactics and fundraisers.

Aggressive solicitation tactics and aggressive fundraisers? What?!

According to IRS records, the leading organization critical of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mormon Stories, reported earnings in donations of $751,928 in 2021 and $738,478 in 2022.9 This organization experienced an average annual revenue growth rate of 23.9 percent over the previous eight years. Using this average growth rate, its estimated revenue for 2023 is $907,589. Mormon Discussions reported revenue to the IRS of $327,345 in 2022.11 Its growth rate since 2019 was 60.2 percent, and in fact, its revenue more than doubled from 2020 to 2021.

Revenue is increasing? Oh the horror!

Mormon Stories has 90,500,000 views

According to YouTube, Mormon Stories has 101,518,808 views.

[Marcus]

I’m pleased to report the posting of the first peer-reviewed comment on the article from an Interpreter acolyte (I have not changed anything in the following):

Satan pays in cash, and this is probably just the beginning of the return of the persecutions against the Church and the Latter-day Saints. Mormon, who wrote the book for us, held up Captain Moroni as the greatest defender of the faith. That seems a little ominous.

I trust I’m not alone in thinking this comment has the makings of a solid, faith-promoting Interpreter essay.

Posted from Turkey Neck, Utah

"Ominous," indeed. That comment sounds just the slightest bit,.. oh I don't know, threatening, maybe?

If so, he did not read the essay very well. See the paragraph just after ftnote 32, It specifically states that making threats is one of those bad behaviors that makes one want to ignore the message and focus on the financial machinations of the threatener's institution, as well as raising "questions about their behavior and reliability."

[Everybody Wang Chung]

It seems like the author is obsessed with Mormon Discussions. He has a whole section on his website devoted to Mormon Discussions. From the author's personal blog:

It is crystal clear Mormon Discussions, Inc. is set up for the sole purpose of flooding the internet with negative videos to cause doubt and push you toward a faith crisis, atheism, and contempt for the church....so they can exploit you for money. There is no excuse for the products they sell. This fact alone should be enough to give pause to anyone considering buying into the information they provide on their videos. Their version of Church history and Church doctrine is dishonest, unethical, and at its root pure evil. If you are a member of the Church who has been impacted by LDS critics' negative information, please remember: You have fallen victim to their strategy of getting wealthy off the backs of people in a faith crisis, which they helped cause.

https://www.answeringldscritics.com/mor ... ussion-inc

[Doctor Scratch]

This is epic. I’m going to go out on a limb and declare that this is the most important blog post that Interpreter has ever published. Frankly, I’m shocked that the President would allow something like this to be published: it invites exactly the kind of scrutiny that he has been assiduously trying to avoid for decades. As I recall, he actually *threatened to sue* on more than one occasion over the simple reporting of the fact that, per the FARMS tax records from the late 1990s, he was paid more than $20,000 to serve as Chair of FARMS.

Meanwhile, as Tom has already pointed out, the comparative analysis in this latest article *does not exist*! If finances need to be looked at more closely, then what are we to say about Book of Mormon Central, which has an enormous budget? And where is the “transparent” reporting on the funding for the Interpreter film projects?

As for Rhodes’s complaints about the “multiple buttons” for submitting donations, did he not bother to look at Interpreter’s main page?? lol!

Finally: the timing of this, coming on the heels of Boylan to sell old Tvedtnes .pdfs, could not be more perfect.