BLAGUE - BOM - PERCEPTIONS

"Blague" is the French word for "joke."

Amazing the things I think of here and there.

Last night, I did a hypnosis for tantric gay sex.  Well, it was only $.89, so I thought it was worthwhile.

But I'm currently 'distracted' by MormonLeaks.com - Episode 6.  It's going on "forever" and I can't stop analyzing it.

My one overriding thought thus far:  HOW COULD THOSE GUYS OF 1825-35 have been so deceptive??  If the Utah LD$ version of how the church came to be is INCORRECT (i.e., a big lie), then these guys went to GREAT LENGTHS to deceive the people of their time.  To defraud them of their money.

It's the same bewilderment I feel when I think of all the "great men" (suits) of Mormonism who are decieved and/or lying today.

I don't get it.

But I did have an insight into how DIFFERENT my own perceptions & my own reception of the Book of Mormon was in my life in the 1960s (roughly when I consciously accepted it)...... when compared to how Pratt received it (or at least how the records show that he received it), and how the people of the Reformed Baptist group (of which Rigdon was a member) received it.

I accepted the BOM as a solid source of truth.  I didn't question it's veracity, since I found myself to be a 3-4-5th generation Mormon, and all my significant elders accepted it.  Those who did not were a minority.  But I accepted it  because of my older siblings and parents.  I don't ever recall having any sort of personal revelation about the BOM itself, in which I perceived that God was telling me that it was, in fact, true, and was, in fact, what it claimed to be.

But now, I'm projecting myself back to 1830s time, where people were likely constantly discussing religious ideas, along with settling America.  Apparently, the Reformed Baptists heard Rigdon speak about two major topics:  1)  Community holdings & essentially the "United Order" and 2) The need for a restoration of Christianity as it was during the life of Christ.  So..... along comes ______ (I've already forgotten who) with the BOM, and he (they) give it to the Reformed Baptists to read.  By this time, the BOM has been translated, edited, typeset, and printed, so it's long and tedious and without chapters & verses.

And people read it.

Some get converted by reading it (supposedly).

Some get suspicious by reading it.  For example, the Reformed Baptists read it (they'd have to have spent days reading it & studying it)... and guess what - they recognize the teaching of Rigdon in it!!!!

That's amazing to me.  They began to doubt its truth since they'd heard Rigdon preaching the "same things" already.

HUH???

Here I have to interject the thought that I'm wrongfully projecting MY OWN experience in reading the BOM, onto the people of the Reformed Baptist group.  They were reading it as adults, as experienced thinkers, as theologians.  Books at that time were seen (were they?) as delightful experiences, and not as I usually perceived them:  burdens to sludge through.  (NOTE:  I STILL think of many books like that today.)

So, it very well could be that those Ref. Baptists DID delight in reading the BOM, but when they got to the 1) Community holdings and 2) Restoration of Christianity parts, they recognized Rigdon, and put the BOM down (in perhaps both ways).

Another idea:  "Reformed Baptist" --- and "Reformed Egyptian" - I wonder if the adjective came from Rigdon.

WHY, oh WHY is finding the truth so difficult????

*sigh*