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Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director
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| A FAIR Analysis of:
Letter to a CES Director |
| High Level Summary | |
|---|---|
| Title | Letter to a CES Director |
| Type | Online document |
| Author(s) | The author uses his real name in the actual letter (withheld here at his request); he posts on the ex-Mormon subreddit as "kolobot". |
| Affiliation | According to the author, he is "a disaffected member who lost his testimony." |
| Accuracy | The letter presents a host of troubling issues in the form of questions. The author states that "I’m hoping you’re going to have better answers than many of the ones given by unofficial apologists such as FAIR and Neal Maxwell Institute (formerly FARMS)." |
| Temple content | |
A FAIR Analysis of "A Letter to a CES Director: Why I Lost My Testimony"
I didn't write this for the CES guy. I'm not under any illusion that I'm going to change his mind. It's not going to happen. I wrote this for my kids who one day are going to ask their dad why he left the faith. (The author of "A Letter to a CES Director" April 23, 2013) [1]
Dear Elder Cook. . . .You get the picture. I used to believe a lot of vicious lies, all of which are found in LDS or LDS-friendly sources I read about on the evil internetz. I guess these LDS and LDS-friendly sources are anti-Mormon too. But thanks to your talk, I repented. And now I know the truth: official LDS and LDS-friendly sources on the evil internetz tell lots and lots of lies about Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, the First Vision, the Book of Mormon and everything else you can think of about the Lord's church. Thanks for encouraging me to repent of my disillusionment and bringing me back to the fold. We should ban Rough Stone Rolling, edit Joseph's journals, delete part of the History of the Church, delete part of the Journal of Discourses, revise FamilySearch.org, correct Elder Nelson's 1993 talk and distance ourselves from FARMS publications. We must remove and stop these absurd and outrageous lies that led me astray in the first place. (The author of "A Letter to a CES Director" in his October 9, 2012 "open letter" to Elder Quentin Cook.) [2]
Overview
The "Letter to a CES Director" is a new online document which has become popular among ex-Mormons. This document is hosted on a number of critical websites. The PDF version of the letter may be downloaded here: http://cesletter.com/
The letter contains many of the typical elements of the ex-Mormon "exit story." The author starts out with a reasonable tone: "I’m interested in your thoughts and answers as I have been unable to find official answers from the Church for most of these issues," but then immediately gives an indication that the writer doesn't actually expect any new information, "I’m hoping you’re going to have better answers than many of the ones given by unofficial apologists such as FAIR and Neal Maxwell Institute (formerly FARMS)." A common theme on ex-Mormon boards is that the answers to these questions must come from "official" Church sources and not "unofficial" sources such as FAIR or the Maxwell Institute.
To the writer's credit, he gives his real name. He continues, "Obviously I’m a disaffected member who lost his testimony so it’s no secret which side I’m on at the moment. All this information is a result of over a year of intense research and an absolute rabid obsession with Joseph Smith and Church history. With this said, I’d be pretty arrogant and ignorant to say that I have all the information and that you don’t have answers."
The author claims that his "triggering event" was a statement by Church Historian Marlin Jensen: "In February of 2012, I was reading the news online when I came across the following news article: Mormons Besieged by the Modern Age. In the article was information about a Q&A meeting at Utah State University that LDS Church Historian and General Authority, Elder Marlin Jensen gave in late 2011. He was asked his thoughts regarding the effects of Google on membership and people who are “leaving in droves” over Church history. Elder Marlin’s response: 'Maybe since Kirtland, we’ve never had a period of – I’ll call it apostasy, like we’re having now; largely over these issues…'"
The author then states that he "started doing research and reading books like LDS historian and scholar Richard Bushman’s “Rough Stone Rolling” and many others to try to better understand what was happening." However, when one looks at the list of issues that follows, it is evident that much of this research actually came from a variety of critical websites. The author actually acknowledges this online: "I stand on the shoulders of giants and all I've done was compiled many of their work[s] and put it in my own style and narrative." [3]
A long list of issues follows, with the author beginning to adopt an increasingly sarcastic tone. "The problem with this is that the crazy god of the Old Testament was Jehovah. Who’s Jehovah? The premortal Jesus Christ. So, Christ is the crazy god of the Old Testament. The Christ of the Old Testament and the Christ of the New Testament are light years different. Again, I’m asked to believe in not only a part-time racist god and a part-time polygamous god but a part-time psychopathic schizophrenic one as well."
The author ultimately concludes that "There are just way too many problems. We’re not just talking about one issue here. We’re talking about dozens of serious issues that undermine the very foundation of the LDS Church and its truth claims."
The author has promised a response to FAIR's analysis. We will update when that information becomes available.