Well if the apologists would actually make a verifiable claim I would rebut it. The problem is that Jefflindsay and FARMS and FAIR just deal in “plausibilities”. They claim that it “could have happened” so it must be true. how about michael coe and thomas stuart ferguson. those are good references. BYU’s own Ray matheny. and this:
So, you want us to try to prove the BoM true? It can’t be done, just as you can’t prove Catholicism true, and you’re a fool if you think you can.
This is the kind of thing I’ve seen among antis and in their arguments. We don’t try to prove anything to them, yet they feel it’s their mission to prove us wrong. So, we show them how their logic is flawed. We don’t try to create one mental picture of the world as it may have been in the past and stick with it, because we simply don’t have enough information yet, but we refute what they say, and that’s more than enough. I’m not sure why you think these plausibilities are bad.
If I accused your friend of stealing something and you wished to defend him, yet didn’t know where he had been at the time, that wouldn’t stop you. You would say all you could about his good character and how you trusted him; so if I continued demanding to know his alibi would that be reasonable of me? You could say, “Well, he may have been at the movies, or with his family at the time, but I’m not exactly sure.” Would your lack of knowledge about that make your friend any more guilty, especially if I wouldn’t believe you even if you gave me his alibi? I really doubt it. It’s logic reasoning, not shifty story-changing and wild guesses to protect someone you really don’t know of being guilty or innocent. So while I might accuse, my accusations are phony, having no base. This is the same thinking involved in Mormon apologetics, and just about any apologetics, and it’s certainly not faulty or wrong.
I’m still waiting for someone to make a verifiable claim that is recognized by a non-LDS scholar. The big point in all of this is wher’s your GA proof? you wish to claim that there isn’t enough evidence to PROVE that the BoM is false so it must be true. On the other hand you accept the GA just because JS said so.
I wish what-now? I never said that not being able to prove the BoM false means it’s true, neither do I believe that. I never claimed that I could prove the apostasy either. Neither do I blindly accept that apostasy because the Prophet said so. True that he did, and his testimony is vital, but I also believe in it because it makes logical sense to me, because of my study of the Bible and because of the moral and philosophical concepts it presents, and because it makes a lot of other stuff fit. Many intelligent and informed people I know share my beliefs. It makes sense to me. If you think I’m throwing all reason out the window when I believe in it, think again. I don’t intent to try to prove it to you, but I do intend to help you and the other Catholics here understand what bases the doctrine has in the LDS faith. Feel free to join in the discussion me and Ben are having, but behave.
I can’t get to answer the other posts right now, but I’ll try to later tonight.