NOM

jfro18 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2020 2:44 pm 2. Egyptology: Obviously if Joseph Smith got it right, then the Egyptian language has been translated wrong by the rest of the world. This is a problem, of course.

• The Freemasons got it all wrong: Their creepy ceremony was really invented so Joe and his buddies could "marry" teenagers and keep it secret via "Celestial Freemasonry" vows.
• Even today: The vast majority of believing MORmONs believe that pretending to be a Polygamist Freemason is the pinnacle of MORmONism and MORmON worship, yet they have no idea what any of the Polygamist Freemason ceremony really means.

moksha wrote: ↑Tue Jan 21, 2020 12:37 am Additionally, the artist could have benefited from a live model for correct anatomical placement.

• Medical science is wrong - All church member healings are the result of priesthood blessings and/or prayers from faithful members. All healings outside of church membership are due to either dumb luck, or the cursings of satan who is playing the long-con by making priesthood blessings seem no more effective than throwing a penny in a fountain at the strip-mall. When priesthood blessings and prayers fail, it is because it really was their time to lose a limb, or die.
• Financial planners are wrong - Living the law of tithing by not feeding your kids in order to give more money to the church is why church leaders are all so wealthy. The rest of us who (despite paying 10% gross for continuous decades) can't seem to make any financial progress are guilty of worrying too much about money and not keeping an eye single to His glory(tm)(r). Most of the US population have no meaningful savings because they never learned to properly budget by throwing 10% of their gross into a black-hole called Ensign Peak. Africans are living in poverty for the same reason.
• Automobile and Weapons manufacturers are wrong - No one told them that their cars and bullets aren't supposed to hurt people wearing garments.

græy wrote: ↑Tue Jan 21, 2020 10:32 am Back to jfro's OP...

• Medical science is wrong. - All church member healings are the result of priesthood blessings and/or prayers from faithful members. All healings outside of church membership are due to either dumb luck, or the cursings of satan who is playing the long-con by making priesthood blessings seem no more effective than throwing a penny in a fountain at the strip-mall. When priesthood blessings and prayers fail, it is because it really was their time to lose a limb, or die.

jfro18 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 21, 2020 10:35 am Add to that about medical science that we now know coffee and tea have great health benefits although they are banned from members, while boiling water (which would've saved a lot of lives in Joseph's time) was never mentioned.

deacon blues wrote: ↑Tue Jan 21, 2020 12:20 pm Oddly enough, I still find it a fascinating field of study because it reveals so much about human nature. People exploit others so easily in this field too. In the USA it is a great way to build a family fortune.

Reuben wrote: ↑Sat Jan 25, 2020 8:23 pm jfro18, what you're getting at here is the probability of the evidence given "it's all true." Specifically, that this probability is ridiculously close to 0.

To do a proper Bayesian analysis, to estimate the probability of "Joseph Smith made it up" given the evidence, we would need two more things. One is the probability of the evidence given "Joseph Smith made it up." The other is the prior probability of "Joseph Smith made it up" (i.e regardless of the evidence).

It's interesting to me that most disaffected members seem to focus on the last two probabilities. Maybe assuming "it's all true" for a short time is distasteful. Maybe it's just confirmation bias. But without evaluating the evidence given "it's all true," any analysis is necessarily incomplete.