Puzzle

Now that was a great and clear exposition of your position. In what I shared, I guess I wanted to present clearly what the Book of Mormon teaches on the subject.

Quora has cleared up a lot of the questions I have had since 1974 when I joined the Church. You have been a big part of that, so thank you.

The first glimmer came in priesthood where the ol’ “next to Living Oracles, the scriptures are nothing to” you. Ever since I joined the Church, I struggled to reconcile what was clearly taught in the Book of Mormon to Church doctrine. That Priesthood lesson shed sunlight. Church Doctrine will always trump the plain teachings of that Book. If at conference President Nelson tells us that Astoreth is Mother in Heaven and we are now to include her when we address our prayers upward, LDSaints would rejoice in the new revelation because, despite the scriptures to the contrary, the Living Oracle will have spoken! If Elder Bednar reveals that the Old testament had it wrong and Astoreth is male and the Gods are a same gender relationship, LDSaints will rejoice in the greater things revealed to the Living Oracles. I finally got that. That was a great relief. It became clear.

But then I struggled with how the LDS doctrine could be so different from the doctrine in the Book of Mormon. Instead of referring to the Book of Mormon, you refer to early apostate fathers, I wondered as I beheld faithful members claiming to read the Book of Mormon yet dismissing the plain and precious parts. Then I realized that there are many who think that they are not understanding the Book because it seems to not fit the doctrine. Actually, they are understanding it but they just can’t reconcile what it says to current Church doctrine so their minds slide over the P&P things or they add it to their “shelf”. That way they can testify that the Book of Mormon is true while closed but are mystified by mysteries when open. Study helps like “Come Follow Me” helps them navigate around thorny issues to the point they don’t even know they are there.

After all that was evident, I still struggled about how that could have happened, the parallel development of two separate and distinct “plans”. I followed a link you shared where there were references on how little the Book of Mormon was used from the early Church to the 1980’s. That completed my Quora education! It turns out that it is similar to when I tried to assemble a plastic model helicopter without regarding the instructions. The final product and the instructions were different accept in superficial aspects. It is obvious to me now that at some point, probably 8 days after the Book of Mormon went on sale, that the Church’s doctrinal development and the Book of Mormon parted company when J.S.jr. was made the Living Oracle. Just as he set aside the Seer Stone, he also set aside the Book of Mormon and went on his way with Sidney as his guide. After 150 years of doctrinal development apart from the Book of Mormon, the Church and the Book of Mormon reconnect. But the two cannot be reconciled, being two different gospels. Therefore, you see Quormons testifying of the Book of Mormon but at the same time resisting the plain and precious parts.

So, what is a LDSaint to do? I discovered here on tools to handle this square peg and round hole.

Tool One: Block, Down Vote, report, ignore, attack messenger, disable comments. This was introduced when Stephen was attacked by people screaming and plugging their ears. Nothing new.

Tool Two: Attack the Book of Mormon. We have all read that we believe the Book of Mormon as far as it is translated correctly. Or that the inspired authors thereof warned us that there would be errors of man. Again, if you do not know the culture or linguistics of the Nephites, the message is incomprehensible unless you are the Pope, that is, the Living Oracle. Lastly, that the Book of Mormon is incomplete, that the real good and important stuff was left out to be revealed by the sealed portion—-no wait, a Living Oracle as the restoration proceeds. Even Living Oracles, past and present, can be wrong, but the restoration is not complete, so that’s okay. Living Oracles, once dead, can be cast in the same trash heap as the Book of Mormon! I finally understood!

Tool Three: Ignore any conundrum presented and just regurgitate the doctrine as it is in the day of the regurgitation and follow it with passionate testimony. Or pick one word or clause in the comment and run with that, despite the fact that that clause had nothing to do with the main thrust of the argument. One can fill a page using this tool, giving the impression that the answer was given in great detail. If enough words are pasted, no one will read it. That’s the best.

An example of this is how you answered my initial comment about post-mormon agnosticism. You didn’t! You dismissed my comment as not relevant and ran with Degrees of Glory! You crack me up.

I really have learned much from Quora and you, specifically. All the pieces that were missing have been made clear. What I learned here I also observe at church every Sunday. I am full of gratitude. I have been enlightened.