I was frankly surprised Meridian saw fit to publish his articles. I don't see them as the gateway to deeper subjects. But I do think it is significant that the former chief editor of the Interpreter Journal didn't target this journal for his articles.mudflap wrote: ↑October 29th, 2024, 8:14 pmok, I read the first one - I'll peruse the others tomorrow.larsenb wrote: ↑October 29th, 2024, 12:48 pmYou should be happy that in these articles you have push-back from a common, but very well established member, to the opinion you've just posted. For me, seeing this type of information promulgated in a fairly prominent LDS-related publication, illustrates to me that you can't realistically put the body of the Church into a black and white box.mudflap wrote: ↑October 29th, 2024, 12:34 pm I like how he "almost goes there" :
Members might not neglect conspiracy theories if the church wasn't adamantly against researching and seeking the truth about them:
here they are basically telling us "avoid stuff that doesn't edify". that's actually not Mormon's point in telling us about CT's / CT's, as Mormon's point was that we should seek out and learn about the secrets so they wouldn't get above us. Well, Benson is dead now, and no one has filled his shoes, so we're on our own.
IMO, there's no such thing as "a baseless conspiracy theory", simply because every conspiracy theory "has a base" - something that's true that caused folks to question official narratives. I wish Q15 could get back to the point where they were suspicious of all "the government narratives", rather than the current wearing of UN pins to show their support for the child molesters.
Leaders come and go. They may represent a singular viewpoint held by a segment of the Church, but that just ain't all there is regarding the variety of opinion and outlooks held by many Church members.
Jeff has said in one of the articles, indicating what he believes, something like: the Church would make itself a target in a way detrimental to its main purpose, if it waxed prolific in going after the political machinations of the powers that be.
I would be more interested in your opinion of the articles once your actually read them . . . being careful to weigh the good as well as what you might think where they fail.
My initial thoughts are -
- why the pre-school-type intro? Shouldn't Mormons be *the most* informed when it comes to "secret combinations"? And if we're not, why aren't we?
But I agree with almost everything he says, even if it does appear to be geared toward "the weak and the weakest of all saints, who are or can be called saints".
I appreciate your thoughtful thread (we need more of this, so kudos to you!) - Just wanted to say:
1. If anyone needs Jeff Lindsay to inform you about secret combinations, I have to assume you've strictly limited your scripture study in the past 10+ years to the "Come Follow Me" manual, along with their "how does it make you feel.....?" questions. And nothing else. Maybe Meridian magazine is the wasatch front's gateway to deeper subjects? Anyway, at least it's being said. finally. after a decade of near silence.*
2. Weird (or...?) that Bednar waits till Nelson is 100+ to talk about CT's / SC's in conference? Here's the frequency of "secret combinations" mentioned in conference lately:
The one reference in 2010's is Nelson - and he mentions it at the end of his talk, but provides no commentary on it - just states that the Book of mormon informs us about SC's.
In my opinion, a major reason (in the top 5) Mormon wrote the BOM was as a warning to the future inhabitants of the Promised Land. Why else include the reason for the downfalls of both previous civilizations here?
* I just don't know what they do with it now that Bednar talked about it - I mean, if you're all in on the jab, the UN, voting for Soros picks for President, Ukraine good/Russia bad - then who are the bad guys?
And he undoubtedly used a " pre-school-type intro" precisely because of the neglect of this topic in the last few decades. I think that our current and awful political scene, even the COVID fiasco, is waking many people up, and probably a significant portion of active LDS have wondered about the neglect of this topic, and are fully aware of its importance in our day.
For me, it will be interesting to see how far he might go in using the Secret Combination template he outlined to describe current events in his next installment, Part 4. Whatever he says, my guess is he will probably hold back in outlining everything he may discern about our current, high-level secret combinations.