Comments for Mormon Origins http://mormonorigins.wordpress.com Just another WordPress.com weblog Wed, 14 Feb 2007 16:06:59 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 Comment on “Either on the One Hand or on the Other”: Why the Book of Mormon is Either True or Fraudulent by Don Bradley http://mormonorigins.wordpress.com/2007/02/13/%e2%80%9ceither-on-the-one-hand-or-on-the-other%e2%80%9d-why-the-book-of-mormon-is-either-true-or-fraudulent/#comment-3 Don Bradley Wed, 14 Feb 2007 16:06:59 +0000 http://mormonorigins.wordpress.com/2007/02/13/%e2%80%9ceither-on-the-one-hand-or-on-the-other%e2%80%9d-why-the-book-of-mormon-is-either-true-or-fraudulent/#comment-3 Thanks, Tzusuki. I find yours a refreshingly open-minded and very cool approach. And I think, ironically, that it's one I'm coming back to. As a believer, I found great inspiration in Joseph Smith. Now, as an atheist who thinks Joseph Smith was a fraud, and probably not even a pious one, I'm finding nonetheless that he proferred ideas, symbols, and a vision of world unity with which I can deeply connect and that inform my own worldview. Whatever his motives, he was a man of remarkable ability, whose legacy has yet to be fully wrestled. Thanks, Tzusuki. I find yours a refreshingly open-minded and very cool approach. And I think, ironically, that it’s one I’m coming back to.

As a believer, I found great inspiration in Joseph Smith. Now, as an atheist who thinks Joseph Smith was a fraud, and probably not even a pious one, I’m finding nonetheless that he proferred ideas, symbols, and a vision of world unity with which I can deeply connect and that inform my own worldview.

Whatever his motives, he was a man of remarkable ability, whose legacy has yet to be fully wrestled.

]]> Comment on “Either on the One Hand or on the Other”: Why the Book of Mormon is Either True or Fraudulent by Tsuzuki http://mormonorigins.wordpress.com/2007/02/13/%e2%80%9ceither-on-the-one-hand-or-on-the-other%e2%80%9d-why-the-book-of-mormon-is-either-true-or-fraudulent/#comment-2 Tsuzuki Wed, 14 Feb 2007 08:51:48 +0000 http://mormonorigins.wordpress.com/2007/02/13/%e2%80%9ceither-on-the-one-hand-or-on-the-other%e2%80%9d-why-the-book-of-mormon-is-either-true-or-fraudulent/#comment-2 In my paradigm piracy I've torn down and rebuilt my own belief in the literal claims of the Book of Mormon and its translation many times over. I forget which stage I'm at now. Are the accounts of its origins factual? I haven't the foggiest idea. Nor do I think it matters much to me personally. Though I sometimes like to think that some of my own experiences now might parallel Joseph Smith's early years, I'll leave the details to the historians. What I do know is that the spiritual power of the Book of Mormon and its ideas, just as everything else, come from the dance of belief and rapport. And if Brother Joseph was a fraud, then I raise a glass to him and the powerhouse of symbolism he bequeathed me. In my paradigm piracy I’ve torn down and rebuilt my own belief in the literal claims of the Book of Mormon and its translation many times over. I forget which stage I’m at now. Are the accounts of its origins factual? I haven’t the foggiest idea. Nor do I think it matters much to me personally. Though I sometimes like to think that some of my own experiences now might parallel Joseph Smith’s early years, I’ll leave the details to the historians.

What I do know is that the spiritual power of the Book of Mormon and its ideas, just as everything else, come from the dance of belief and rapport. And if Brother Joseph was a fraud, then I raise a glass to him and the powerhouse of symbolism he bequeathed me.

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