and here we go again...

I read the other day that some ridiculous group has released a anti-Mormon DVD US-wide. I'd like to ask, "why do they bother?" but the sad truth is that some people will actually believe the tripe on the DVD without ever once checking it for accuracy with an actual Mormon. Or rather I should say with an actual member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And that refutes claim no.1: that 'Mormons' are not Christians. Notice the words 'Jesus Christ' in the name of the church? They're relevant.

An excellent point-by-point response to the DVD has been put together by the FAIR group. I'm sure it didn't take them long, because the misrepresentations and inaccuracies on the DVD are the same old chestnuts that have been misquoted, half-quoted and taken out of context a bazillion times already. And answered as many times as well. I won't reproduce the whole thing here obviously, but I will paste in a couple of paragraphs from the response to the introduction that identifies the flaws in the main premise of the DVD. Personally I think that gives enough information that anyone would see that the best place for the DVD is in the trash, but if you want to go on and look at specifics, feel free to check out the link above to the whole response.

This video begins with an ambitious declaration put forth by Patrick Powell, "Today we're going to investigate two of the world's most prominent and influential men to determine once and for all which one holds the truth." There are several problems involved in such a task.

First, Mr. Powell sets up a false dichotomy—he proposes to compare Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ. But Mormons do not equate Joseph Smith with Jesus Christ. Mormons proclaim Jesus Christ to be the divine Son of God, the only perfect and sinless person to ever be born on earth. Mormons believe that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, subject to the same imperfections as other men; he did not live a sinless life. Indeed, in the LDS view it would be more accurate to compare Joseph Smith with Peter, Abraham, Moses, or any other biblical prophet. To state otherwise is a false comparison that serves no other purpose than to mislead the viewer.

Second, the statement attempts to set Jesus Christ in competition with Joseph Smith and presupposes that if one is right, the other is wrong. Joseph Smith, in acting as a prophet, was a witness for the divinity of Jesus Christ, bearing strong testimony for the efficacy of Christ's atoning sacrifice and the reality of Christ's resurrection.

You might wonder why I'm bothering to even post on this crap, but sometimes it does get on your nerves. I've actually been told occasionally by people on internet discussion boards that I don't know what my own religion teaches. Yes, I do. Because I'm there, every Sunday. And it's the height of arrogance to suggest that people who've read some flimsy, unsubstantiated anti-LDS pamphlet (or in the current example, watched a deliberately deceptive, flimsy, unsubstantiated DVD) know more about the beliefs of a religion than the people who live that religion every day.