It boils down to this one question: can fasting override God's will?
If it does, then fasting is more powerful than God.
If it doesn't, then it is unnecessary, and God being petty.
No, Reddit, I don't think they'll enjoy me pointing out Korihor is a bad strawman of an atheist
Arrested for the crime of claiming a god doesn't exist (of which it wasn't even a crime) (also, the only actually accurate part)
Botches common atheist arguments (showing JS didn't understand them)
Says "actually, I believed a god was real the whole time, Satan convinced me to lie" (implying all atheists lie about being atheists)
Hilarious in hindsight; you'd think that the information age would have caused God to realize people would give away their tokens for free
"I'm, uh, also casting spells to your behalf"
Like, seriously. Why is public prayer socially acceptable, but public divination isn't?
ETA: just for clarification, this was intended for unwarranted to insufferable comments about prayer offers. If somebody meant no harm with it, and they weren't being insufferable, preachy, or anything like that, that would be one thing. That being said, I'm loving everybody's responses to when people are being insufferable to preachy.
What they're saying is that freedom from religion is part of freedom of religion. You can choose to believe how, where, and what you may, but that does not include requiring other people, including those in your religion, to believe a certain way.
First, America really isn't that exceptional.
Second, I've seen plenty of denominations claim other denominations were heretical.
Third, I've yet to see anything Mormonism actually "restored".
(Well, except maybe most jobs preventing one from being able to do so, but that's not the point.) Assuming you have the income to do so, I have no inherent qualms with a "traditional" family.
What I have qualms with is when you mock non-traditional families, and then claim persecution when non-traditional exist, let alone when they clap back at your mockery
And yet, when a cis woman and a trans woman have a kid, you \*still* complain about "lesbian making a mockery of the family" even though you'd still call her "a man" in literally every other context. Trans rights are human rights, and there can never be gay rights without trans rights.
Well, when you rebrand delusion as "faith", then yeah, I lost my delusions
So, about those Egyptian-Hebrew Nephites and Lamanites...
While some of it doesn't directly apply to the Book of Mormon and Mormonism, a lot of it very much still applies.
It's extremely unsanitary and wasteful; that alone should be enough to discredit it.
It's supposedly "a renewal of baptismal covenants", but during the ceremony, neither baptisms nor covenants are mentioned.
If the bread and water are necessary for forgiveness? Then it is extremely petty. If it is not? Then it is wasteful
Setting aside that Adam's transgression's punishment was effectively "being required to work in the fields (and not only was death not given as a punishment to _anyone_ for eating the fruit - an entirely different can of worms - but even then, people today are still being "punished" for that, granting the story as true), women's punishment is painful childbirth - and I don't know anybody who has had a painless birth (without anesthetics)
So much mental gymnastics involved
Book of Mormon claims. The polygamy of many of the leaders. The change of behavior over the pulpit.
They went from bold claims and a simple narrative to (mostly) curated claims a careful narrative.
Apparently modern temple prep class is "better" but
I wasn't taught about what wearing the garments would mean; heck, I was barely taught I'd even be wearing garments!
I wasn't taught what covenants I'd be making
I wasn't taught that my "new name", which I was taught would have been "actually the name of my spirit", would've been from a pool of 31 based on the day of the month
If you're a good person and bad things happen? God is testing your faith.
If you're a good person and good things happen? You're being blessed.
If you're a bad person and bad things happen? You're being punished.
If you're a bad person and good things happen? God is biding his time.
"It is wrong to criticize the leadership of the church, even if the criticism is true.
What utter nonsensical, unscientific, brainwashing tripe