- Mar 18, 2003
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Will you renounce it as error?
It's not official because no one can agree on what the official transcript should be.
JS' own notes on the matter are missing, and the people who did try to transcribe as he was speaking each recorded slightly different versions. The best anyone can do is reconcile these versions, and that's just a best guess.
Can you show me the various copies to see what differences they reflect. Does it impact this section?
OK Tell me about Heavenly Mother.
Couldn't the same thing be done depicting two "Pastors"?
Two "Priests"?
Two "Sommeliers"?
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OK Tell me about Heavenly Mother.
If you guys want to pick one topic and stick with it, then I'm game for chatting.
If you want to spam three random horribly misunderstood topics a post, then I'm out of here.
I'm with you, why can't they just start a new thread for each question. I think there are several questions which have gotten over looked or lost.
Let's say you looked around and 70% of the population sucked their thumbs. As a result, these people could use only one hand at a time - effectively they were missing an arm - self-handicapped. Should you politely tolerate their thumb-sucking or should you ridicule their behavior in hopes that they might break that habit and have an extra arm to use? Should you insist as a society that all children be discouraged from sucking their thumbs and if necessary place the most at-risk children in foster homes away from their thumb-sucking parents?
This is how I see religion. I look at all the intelligent, well-adjusted, well-educated religious people on this forum, and I realize that I am their inferior in every way except for one - I have begun to free my mind from religion. I think what as shame it is that all these religious people are mentally handicapped by their religious thinking. They are so much better than me in every other way, but that one handicap makes them behave so foolishly. I think about that with my own family members. Should I tolerate their religion or should I challenge it in hopes that they might free themselves?
That becomes less true as people become more tightly connected where the behavior of one affects the welfare of another. For example, in a nation where there is a social safety net, it is reasonable for the people who are supporting the government to somewhat resent the people who are being supported by the government. Let's say I am content to live in a housing project and I have 12 children with 12 different women that I do not help to support. I'm not infringing on anybody's lawful rights, but I'm costing society a lot of money by being a moocher. It is similar with theists. They are mooching off society with all their tax exemptions and less obvious forms of support. (BTW I don't mind helping people that need help. I think it is good for government to watch-out for people that otherwise might be swept aside. This shouldn't be left to chance through relying on charity IMO.)As long as people aren't infringing on the lawful rights of others, whatever they do to come to terms with what only humankind seems to be aware of: their eventual death, should be OK with anyone. In this way, atheists and believers have a lot in common. Face it, all of us self delude on one level or another. We're the way we are because our collective experiences have taught us that that's how to survive, to deal with existential angst. It's only when we restrict our basic human rights (as in the Bill of Rights) that problems occur.
That is interesting. There is nothing to feel embarrassed about. We have no freewill, so it is silly to judge ourselves. Society judges people, but we of all people should cut ourselves some slack, because we know the full story of our lives.By the way, if 70% of the adult population sucked their thumb I'd be happy as can be since...(overcoming embarrassment), I still do, even though it's affected my occlusion. Some habits are hard to break, some impossible to.
It is similar with theists. They are mooching off society with all their tax exemptions and less obvious forms of support.
If you google "mormon tax exemption" or "mormon tax evasion" there are quite a few articles. I don't know if these articles are accurate or not. (Lots of articles on the internet are biased and inaccurate - especially against Mormons.) ... The simplest solution is to eliminate all tax exemptions. Everybody from the Red Cross to the LDS to the Catholic Church to the Wahhabi should pay their taxes and follow the rules just like any other organization. This will be simpler and eliminate any opportunity for abuse. BTW, I don't have any reason to believe that the LDS is abusing their privileges, but there is no reason for them to have any special privileges. There is no reason for charitable contributions to be tax deductible and there is no reason for charities and religious groups to be tax exempt....
The LDS church has never taken a dime of tax payers money to provided the services which it gives back to the community.
I think this is an extremely flawed comparison. The essentialness of your argument (as least as I'm seeing it-- PLEASE correct me if I'm misunderstanding) is that you personally find zero benefit from the existence of religious venues, and view their lack of paying taxes as drain on your wallet, and hence resent it.Let's say I am content to live in a housing project and I have 12 children with 12 different women that I do not help to support. I'm not infringing on anybody's lawful rights, but I'm costing society a lot of money by being a moocher. It is similar with theists. They are mooching off society with all their tax exemptions and less obvious forms of support. (BTW I don't mind helping people that need help. I think it is good for government to watch-out for people that otherwise might be swept aside. This shouldn't be left to chance through relying on charity IMO.)
That becomes less true as people become more tightly connected where the behavior of one affects the welfare of another. For example, in a nation where there is a social safety net, it is reasonable for the people who are supporting the government to somewhat resent the people who are being supported by the government. Let's say I am content to live in a housing project and I have 12 children with 12 different women that I do not help to support. I'm not infringing on anybody's lawful rights, but I'm costing society a lot of money by being a moocher. It is similar with theists. They are mooching off society with all their tax exemptions and less obvious forms of support. (BTW I don't mind helping people that need help. I think it is good for government to watch-out for people that otherwise might be swept aside. This shouldn't be left to chance through relying on charity IMO.)
That is interesting. There is nothing to feel embarrassed about. We have no freewill, so it is silly to judge ourselves. Society judges people, but we of all people should cut ourselves some slack, because we know the full story of our lives.