I think you have something there, Dean Robbers. Meldrum essentially gives LDS folk what they want—an uncomplicated affirmation that it’s all true. They are told that the reason apologetics are in trouble is very simple: the worldly eggheads at BYU with their PC, overly convoluted explanations that contradict the Book of Mormon text itself are on the wrong track.Gadianton wrote: ↑Mon Aug 16, 2021 5:59 amIt was a vanity project, and in response to perceived slights. At my last family reunion I heard about Rod meldrum not farms. A witnesses film by Rod would do much better with Mormons. Even Kish's relatives didn't want to go. All the alleged good I've heard about it makes me want to see it less, because it sounds forced. A serious inquiry into why tbms weren't excited about it is in order but it won't be done, because the creators don't do criticism.
That is the kind of “making the Book of Mormon true again” message the average suburban Mormon can latch onto. It’s an easy sell. In comparison with that, the more churlish, abrasive, and frankly unintelligible (to the average person) “apologetics” of the Interpreter crowd only attract enough people to replicate a highly self-selective group of Uber-nerds. You know, Young Smoot, essentially.
Interpreter is a branding nightmare, in short. And Witnesses is in some ways the result of all of that meandering noodle abuse. At the end, most people just turn to each other and ask, “What was that about?”
But I tend to think that the first and more serious problem was that the target audience simply was never interested. What does *that* tell you?
