- Dieter Uchtdorf
I'm just going to start by apologizing in advance. I have this rule: I normally try not to write posts when I'm upset, and today I'm breaking my own rule. Right now I'm angry. And I tried to convince myself to give it a day or two before writing about it, but, well... obviously I was unsuccessful. So if this turns out a bit more ranty than my usual posts, I'm sorry. (Sort of.)
So, what is it I'm so angry about? It's an article in the April 2014 New Era called "True or False?" The one thing that it said that I agree with is that "while it is extremely important to be able to tell the difference between what's true and what isn't, it's not always easy." I think this is an great topic for youth to be reading about. Finding truth is an important part of life. Unfortunately, the article isn't so much about finding truth as it is about finding truth-as-defined-by-the-church. It has a hidden agenda. It is misleading and deceptive and manipulative. It is indoctrination at its finest.
In this article, four different types of lies are presented, and each of them are deconstructed. While it is tempting, I will resist the urge to respond directly to the four points made and I'll leave it to others to respond to those. My point is that these four kinds of lies are REGULARLY used by the church to deceive its members. This kind of stuff makes me crazy!! I wish I could find humor in the irony: an article about truth is actually intended to further obfuscate it. But it's not funny to me. It's sickening. Of all the many things that I hate about the church, indoctrination of the children and youth is probably the highest. I have no tolerance for this kind of crap.
The article in the New Era is just like the quote from Dieter Uchtdorf included above. Both are intended to cast outside information in shadow, to imply that it is not to be trusted. Both are intended to make the reader or listener trust the source even more, to reaffirm that all truth comes from the church. And both can be turned completely upside down and used against the church. For example, the church prints a wide variety of publications, has a very large web presence, and has members numbering in the millions. And just like the quote says, that doesn't make it true.
Since the church seems intent on educating our youth about the various types of lies, I thought I'd follow the pattern used in the article, filled it with some slightly different examples than the ones they chose.
Lie Method #1: Simple Untruth
(a blatant error)
- False Idea: The Book of Abraham was "written by his own hand, upon papyrus." (from the introduction to the Book of Abraham)
- Where it Leads (Big Lie): The Book of Abraham is divine scripture, and its existence is additional evidence of Joseph Smith's ability to translate ancient scripture.
- The Truth: Large portions of the papyri used to "translate" the Book of Abraham have been recovered, and they have nothing to do with Abraham whatsoever. They have been proven to be ancient Egyptian funerary texts. There is an abundance of information available about this, including details about studies conducted by Egyptologists.
Lie Method #2: Partial Truth
(pairs one or more truths with a falsehood)
- False Idea: "In theology and practice, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints embraces the universal human family. Latter-day Saint scripture and teachings affirm that God loves all of His children and makes salvation available to all. God created the many diverse races and ethnicities and esteems them all equally. As the Book of Mormon puts it, “all are alike unto God." (from the new essay, Race and the Priesthood)
- Where it Leads (Big Lie): God is not racist, nor has racism ever been a part of the church.
- The Truth: It is true that most Mormons are not racist today, however the church has a very racist history that church leaders are only too eager to hide away. Many members remain largely unaware of the blatantly racist teachings that used to be a part of the doctrine. Additionally, the Book of Mormon does not teach that "all are alike unto God," but rather, reaffirms over and over again that dark skin is a curse from God. (Read some examples here: Doctrine supported by LDS Scriptures)
Lie Method #3: False Dichotomy
(where only two options are presented that aren't really the only options)
- False Idea: "Faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time, for one will dispel the other." (Thomas Monson)
- Where it Leads (Big Lie): If you are having doubts you aren't having faith; doubts are a sign of weakness or sin.
- The Truth: This kind of rhetoric really gets to me. Can we just revisit the definition of faith for a second? It's to hope for things which are not seen, right? Faith, by definition, is different than knowledge. I have no problem with the argument that you can't know something and doubt it at the same time. Because if you have knowledge of a thing, how could you doubt it? But faith and doubt are actually partners; they work together. Without doubt there would be no need for faith. It is a logical fallacy to imply that they can't coexist, and it is one that is used to manipulate members into having blind faith.
Lie Method #4: "Logical" Argument
(piles on reasonable-sounding but often faulty evidence in order to lead to a specific mistaken conclusion)
- False Idea: "For 179 years this book has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other book in modern religious history—perhaps like no other book in any religious history. And still it stands. Failed theories about its origins have been born and parroted and have died—from Ethan Smith to Solomon Spaulding to deranged paranoid to cunning genius. None of these frankly pathetic answers for this book has ever withstood examination..." (From Jeffrey Holland's famous "Safety for the Soul" talk, which is actually full of all four of these types of lies.)
- Where it Leads (Big Lie): No one can prove it wrong, so the Book of Mormon must be true, and therefore so is the church.
- The Truth: This statement is an appeal to logic, but the logic quickly falls apart. First of all, the idea that something must be true if it hasn't been proven false is actually a false dichotomy. Second of all, just because Holland likes to throw out examples and assert that none of these theories has "withstood examination" doesn't actually make that true. In fact, many theories about the origins of the Book of Mormon are full of very compelling evidence. Holland isn't concerned with evidence though; he just wants to sound convincing, and so he appeals to people's sense of logic. Unfortunately, the evidence doesn't back up his statements but, rather, contradicts them.
Here are four simple examples of ways in which you can use the information in the New Era article to actually discover lies within the church. There are countless others, of course, but don't take my word for it. Even on the information I've presented here. Go and find out for yourself. (Seriously.)
Of course, before you go do that, let me caution you against taking the church's advice. The New Era article ends with suggestions about how we find truth, and it's all about things like prayer and scripture study and listening to the church leaders. Here's the problem with that: If I were a member of a different religion, I could use that exact same set of truth-finding tools and discover entirely different truths, which means that they are unreliable ways of discovering real truth.
It comes down to this: The church wrote this article to inoculate youth against the dangers of outside information. The underlying message is that only information from the church can be trusted. The church leaders want people to trust everything they say without question, and question everything from outside sources. But if the church has nothing to hide, and is what it claims to be, then there can be no harm in applying the same questioning principles to the things taught by the church. If it is true, then the questioning will only confirm that. And if it is not, well, then... maybe not everything they say should be taken at face value.
I think the search for truth is never ending. We spend our lives trying to figure out what to believe. Every day we are presented with new ideas, new perspectives. Sometimes truth will remain elusive, and sometimes it will emerge slowly. But truth is never found by denying logic and reason. Truth fears no questions. Why would it?
Dan Pearce (of the fantastic blog Single Dad Laughing) said, "Just because you were born into something doesn't mean that it's right and it doesn't mean that it's true. The world's greatest men and women have always been those who questioned everything that was ever presented to them as truth."
So you have a choice: You can follow the guidance from the church, and use their methods of finding truth. (Of course, they've already told you what all the right answers are, and if you don't get those answers it's not because they're not true, it's because you're doing something wrong.) Or you can decide to empower yourself. You can learn about how to recognize lies and deception - not only outside of the church, but also inside it. And you can go on your own journey seeking for truth, on your own terms. It will be scary, I promise you that. And truth will absolutely, without a doubt, piss you off sometimes. But it will also set you free.
