Here’s another observation about consensus:
“Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled.”– Michael Crichton, “‘Aliens Cause Global Warming.’” Wall Street Journal. 7 Nov. 2008.
Crichton died before Book of Mormon Central began, and probably didn’t know much (or care) about the Cumorah issues, but he aptly described the approach of the M2C citation cartel, part of the De-correlation Department.
Source: Book of Mormon Concensus
6 thoughts on “How to avoid debate”
When I hear about Global Warming or M2C, I file it under “M” for Mythology.
I just read about curriculum development for Come Follow Me at https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2019-08-28/what-you-probably-didnt-know-about-the-development-of-the-come-follow-me-curriculum-157138? It seems like a lot of people were involved. Who selected the artwork for the 2020 Book of Mormon? It contains about 30-40% artwork promoting the Mesoamerican Model.
You can contact Sarah Jane Weaver, Editor at https://www.thechurchnews.com/contact-us How do you contact the decision makers on the 2020 Book of Mormon Curriculum and the artwork that was selected?
The Come Follow Me curriculum focuses on the teachings of the scriptures, especially about Christ, and not so much on the context (and certainly not on the geography/historicity issues). As in the Saints book, the word “Cumorah” does not appear in the Come Follow Me lesson manual for 2020.
To the extent Church history and geography are mentioned, though, we can expect to see the revisionist history and M2C. Here’s a good example from the lesson for Dec 20 – Jan 5:
The Book of Mormon was translated “by the gift and power of God.” We don’t know many details about the miraculous translation process, but we do know that Joseph Smith was a seer, aided by instruments that God had prepared: two transparent stones called the Urim and Thummim and another stone called a seer stone. Joseph saw in these stones the English interpretation of the characters on the plates, and he read the translation aloud while a scribe recorded it.
The reference given is the Gospel Topics Essay, which quotes lots of references but not what Joseph and Oliver consistently said about the process.
The artwork in the manuals reflects M2C because M2C advocates were involved with the development of the curriculum. Brother Callister, for example, relied on the M2C organization Book of Mormon Central when writing his new book about the Book of Mormon, and is donating the proceeds of the book to Book of Mormon Central. We shouldn’t expect anything but M2C for the next few months and maybe years.
So I am wondering, as much as I disagree with the ‘stone in a hat’ theory and could hardly believe a lecturer at BYU Ed Week could say with a straight face that they were accepting a 2nd hand witnesses version of the translation over first hand witnesses, one of which is THE prophet of the restoration! But still, does calling our fellow Church members a cartel (I’m thinking drug cartel) because they have a different viewpoint, help change the situation? Is there a chance they could be labeled with a more friendly label such as ‘proponent of…’ or ‘those who favor…’. I believe that our Father in Heaven does not want us squabbling over differing opinions especially since I’m not sure what it accomplishes since ‘those who favor’ a different version are the ones with the backing of the Brethren to produce what they are ‘proponents’ of through the Church sanctioned Gospel Essays. This is what I’ve learned from sharing information about the SITH translation. People have been told to TRUST the GEs and they do, even when they agree there are discrepancies. I hope the name calling and pointing fingers will stop and you can just figure out how to show the differences in what the GEs say compared to what is actually in the JS Papers?
You make a good point. I’ve always been in favor of multiple operating hypotheses, which is why I encourage people to read what the M2C intellectuals say and write. But they take the opposite view; they think censorship is the way to go.
A cartel is a group formed to promote specific objectives by controlling the marketplace, which can be political, economic, or ideological. The M2C citation cartel does exactly that by citing one another to create an illusion of legitimate peer review and by carefully screening out any ideas that contradict M2C. If there’s a better term to describe what they’re doing, I’d be happy to adopt it.
In 2016, this 70 testified of Cumorah and Palmyra and the Constitution of the United States and why the restoration was in the United States and not in Brazil. See April 2016 general conference, The Sacred Place of the Restoration by Elder Jairo Mazzagardi of the 70. Sorry, I can’t paste the url.
We are seeing fullfillment of 2 Nephi 9:28, O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailites, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishment and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish.
It certainly fits some of the intellectuals and scholars who are censoring and rewriting church history.
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