"Don't judge unless you want to be judged, because the standard you use to judge others is going to be used to judge you." - Jesus of Nazareth
While being Mormon is more socially acceptable than it was a decade or two ago, Mormon beliefs are still looked down upon by Christians and non-Christians alike. As an example, the Broadway show, The Book of Mormon, made fun of the religion in a way that would not have been acceptable if the show had been about Jews or most other religious minorities.
There are several reasons why both Christians and non-Christians have significant issues with the Latter Day Saints. Christians have trouble accepting additions to their scriptures, Mormons have several additional books that they consider equal or superior to the Bible. Religious skeptics are hard on Mormonism because Joseph Smith was a known huckster before he became the prophet of Mormonism. Other people are annoyed at their door-to-door evangelism. There are any number of other issues that people tend to make fun of the Latter Day Saints - it all goes together hand-in-hand. My biggest criticism of Mormonism is the poorly written scriptures that are supposed to have originally been written by different authors, but aside from those taken directly from Isaiah, all look to be written by the same author. #LiteraryCriticism
Whatever the criticism, the level of ridicule hurled at Latter Day Saints seems unfair to me. Are their beliefs so much stranger than those of others? Never mind whatever beliefs comes to mind. When discussing faith all ideas become relative. It is just as impossible to prove a virgin birth as it is to prove golden plates. And neither idea is more plausible than the other. It only seems so because one is more familiar to us.
Growing up, I heard Church of Christ apologists bash the Latter Day Saints by stating that archaeology questioned their claims concerning Jews on the North American continent. Those same apologists cast doubt on any archaeology, geology or any other form of science that questioned their own faith sometimes saying, "absence of evidence doesn't equal evidence of absence" or something like that. The irony of this was completely lost on them.
If we are honest people, we have two choices, we can resort to faith or not. If we do it is dishonest to judge others who do the same. Once we believe in a Virgin Birth, we have no right to ridicule those who believe impossible things with no evidence.
There are several reasons why both Christians and non-Christians have significant issues with the Latter Day Saints. Christians have trouble accepting additions to their scriptures, Mormons have several additional books that they consider equal or superior to the Bible. Religious skeptics are hard on Mormonism because Joseph Smith was a known huckster before he became the prophet of Mormonism. Other people are annoyed at their door-to-door evangelism. There are any number of other issues that people tend to make fun of the Latter Day Saints - it all goes together hand-in-hand. My biggest criticism of Mormonism is the poorly written scriptures that are supposed to have originally been written by different authors, but aside from those taken directly from Isaiah, all look to be written by the same author. #LiteraryCriticism
Growing up, I heard Church of Christ apologists bash the Latter Day Saints by stating that archaeology questioned their claims concerning Jews on the North American continent. Those same apologists cast doubt on any archaeology, geology or any other form of science that questioned their own faith sometimes saying, "absence of evidence doesn't equal evidence of absence" or something like that. The irony of this was completely lost on them.
If we are honest people, we have two choices, we can resort to faith or not. If we do it is dishonest to judge others who do the same. Once we believe in a Virgin Birth, we have no right to ridicule those who believe impossible things with no evidence.
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