Welcome to My Continuing Online Journey!

Perhaps you've read my book by now, or maybe you've only heard of it and were curious about me, or maybe you're even just surfing the web and happened on one of my posts, but please take your time and wander around. I've got enough to say, I'll be posting for some years yet! Lots of resources, personal entries, and discussion to be had; please contribute (respectfully) to it without fear of being lambasted. (Read: all comments will be moderated for relevance and basic appropriateness.) Finally, if you are here because you have heard my story or one like it and are willing to lend your support to us indoctrinated folk entering the real world, Thank You. With love, Regina

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Bless the Ex-Mormon Community!

A former-LDS friend found some notes on apologist tactics and shared it with me, and I just HAD to pass it along. Enjoy!

1. Apologists start with the end in mind, and sift through available evidences, picking and choosing what they will use to construct an argument to support their previously determined conclusion.

2. Ad hominem attacks - when frustrated, apologists will typically attack the character or credentials of a critic, trying in some way to minimize the perceived credibility of the arguments of the critic.

3. Straw man construction - destruction. Apologists will take several of the weakest aspects of the critics argument, glue them together as if they are the entire argument, then proceed to attack the straw man characterization of the argument. This approach is used to discredit the entire argument and is fallacious. It relies on a logic that says, if this little part may be refuted, the rest of the argument is null and void.

4. Improper usage of sources, often using secondary sources as primary sources - also using sources out of context.

5. The lynchpin - invalid epistemology. If all else fails, the "spiritual witness" card is pulled, saying that it all relies on faith, or "once you have a spiritual witness, nothing can take that away." They fail to address the inherent circular logic or infinite regress that that causes. Why would a burning in the bosom, or feeling of peace be an indication of truth? Because the scriptures tell us so. How do we know the scriptures are telling us the correct way to find the truth? Because they are from God and God wouldn't lie to us. How do we know the scriptures are from God? Because the scriptures tell us so. Thus starts the endless loop.


Indeed. Better put on the armor of God if you're going up against a Hugh Nibley-type from FAIR! Good luck!

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