Ask the Missionaries

So many times, I'm told, "ask your bishop" or "Ask the missionaries" about my objections to the Mormon religion. Completely aside from the facts that I no longer have a bishop and can school most missionaries in knowledge of their own religion, this is ridiculous.

If I"m trying to decide whether to buy a certain model and year of Chevy, I'm not going to get an honest and straight answer about the car from the dealership because they're going to talk it up and make it look as enticing as they can to make the sale. Nor do I want a for dealership, as they'll bash Chevy no matter how good or bad the car may actually be. I want something like Kelly Bluebook or an unassociated car buff or a friendly, non-associated mechanic.

The bishop or missionaries are like the Chevy dealership. Although in this case, they often won't even know something might be wrong with the car, more or less what exactly it is and whether its true. Unfortunately, Mormon leadership has gotten around that difficulty by labeling everything else as Ford, even if it not, which leaves the seeker with only the misrepresenting or more probably the ignorant Chevy salesman to go to.

We live in the information age. Its as easy to access knowledgeable and correct information about the Mormon religion as Kelly Bluebook. There's some very simple ways to figure out what you're looking at:

1) Is it spiteful, obscene, and angry towards Mormons, especially without reasonable foundation? That's probably Ford. There is probably truth in at least some of it, but its not the best source of information. I personally encounter these fairly rarely.

2) Is it written by Mormons? Glowingly approving of the religion or beliefs with little or no objectivity? Its probably Chevy. There are a couple website that claim to be Christian but sound overwhelmingly Mormon, because its made by Mormons, so that's still Chevy--Chevy pretending to be Kelly Bluebook, no less.

3) Are sources carefully cited or available? Are many sources historical, or from sources that are currently or were originally published by the LDS church and/or its upper leadership? Is it firm with truth, but not full of either anger and railing or glowing reports that may gloss over unpleasant facts? This is Kelly Bluebook, or your friendly mechanic.

I don't listen much to Ford. I have listened to Chevy, but have generally found it is biased and unreliable. I like Kelly Bluebook. Its not the Bluebook's fault if the model is bad.


(Note: This is not any indication of whether I prefer Chevy or Ford. I drive a Mazda.)