Yes. But, religions depend on these "shock and awe" stories to persuade feeble minds. When these spooked people meet each other, they feel at home, and become happy as a congregation.
My devil story usually makes proselytizers feel uncomfortable. So, they leave and I don't have to listen to their non-sense.
The origins of Mormonism are pretty interesting, and it's clear to anyone with a shred of objectivity that Joseph Smith was a con-artist. Before he settled on the long-con of starting a religion, he was in business as a treasure-hunter. He had a egg-sized rock supposedly imbued with magical powers (a "seer stone") which he put in his hat, and he then stuck his face into the hat so he could see "visions" in the darkness which the stone revealed to him. This was also how he supposedly translated the text on the mythical gold plates.
A good question to ask Mormons is about their Temple Garments (known to more rational people as their "magic underwear"). These have symbols on them which match the compass and square which you'll see on the front of every Masonic lodge. Since the Freemasons (yet another group with a BS backstory) predate the Mormons by at least a century, it's clear that Smith stole the symbols from the Masons, not the other way around.
In fact, Mormonism is based on a mishmash of extracts from the King James version of the Bible, mid-nineteenth Century esoteric thought, Freemasonry and totally bogus history. Smith's motivation obviously was personal power, a more secure life than what was possible by working as a con-man treasure hunter, and the freedom to screw multiple women.
Thanks for the interesting back story on the con-artist group psychology of cult religions. As an Agnostic, I usually focus on the post-religious German philosophers Kant, Schopenhauer, Hegel, Nietzsche, Liebnitz, et all. I've never been satisfied with any explanation, nor denial of the supernatural. I lean to the theist side of the spectrum for reasons apparent in the mathematics of cosmology.
Culture certainly behaves as a behavioral analogy to Natural Selection. The idea of Resurrection has sold itself over the centuries like nothing else.
Is it normal to follow restorational faiths?
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Joseph Smith never got gold plates from anyone or anything. They were as much a fiction as all the miracles attributed to saints.
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McBean
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Yes. But, religions depend on these "shock and awe" stories to persuade feeble minds. When these spooked people meet each other, they feel at home, and become happy as a congregation.
My devil story usually makes proselytizers feel uncomfortable. So, they leave and I don't have to listen to their non-sense.
--
Boojum
5 years ago
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Valid points.
The origins of Mormonism are pretty interesting, and it's clear to anyone with a shred of objectivity that Joseph Smith was a con-artist. Before he settled on the long-con of starting a religion, he was in business as a treasure-hunter. He had a egg-sized rock supposedly imbued with magical powers (a "seer stone") which he put in his hat, and he then stuck his face into the hat so he could see "visions" in the darkness which the stone revealed to him. This was also how he supposedly translated the text on the mythical gold plates.
http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=2807310&itype=CMSID
A good question to ask Mormons is about their Temple Garments (known to more rational people as their "magic underwear"). These have symbols on them which match the compass and square which you'll see on the front of every Masonic lodge. Since the Freemasons (yet another group with a BS backstory) predate the Mormons by at least a century, it's clear that Smith stole the symbols from the Masons, not the other way around.
In fact, Mormonism is based on a mishmash of extracts from the King James version of the Bible, mid-nineteenth Century esoteric thought, Freemasonry and totally bogus history. Smith's motivation obviously was personal power, a more secure life than what was possible by working as a con-man treasure hunter, and the freedom to screw multiple women.
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McBean
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Thanks for the interesting back story on the con-artist group psychology of cult religions. As an Agnostic, I usually focus on the post-religious German philosophers Kant, Schopenhauer, Hegel, Nietzsche, Liebnitz, et all. I've never been satisfied with any explanation, nor denial of the supernatural. I lean to the theist side of the spectrum for reasons apparent in the mathematics of cosmology.
Culture certainly behaves as a behavioral analogy to Natural Selection. The idea of Resurrection has sold itself over the centuries like nothing else.