2. e Journey
— Courage required to stand for
the truth and live according to
the truth
— Courage required to follow your
heart
— Courage to do what is right
— Trials lead to our growth and an
eventual better understanding
2
3. “I don’t know anything.
I never did know anything,
but now I know I don’t know anything!”
Ebenezer Scrooge, in A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
3
4. “If someone is able to show me
that what I think or do is not right,
I will happily change, for I seek the truth,
by which no one was ever truly harmed.
It is the person who continues in his
self-deception and ignorance who is harmed.”
Marcus Aurelius
4
5. “For having lived long,
I have experienced many instances of being obliged,
by better information or fuller consideration,
to change opinions, even on important subjects,
which I once thought right
but found to be otherwise.”
Benjamin Franklin, Constitutional Convention of 1787
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6. 6
“I believe that it is better to tell
the truth than a lie.
I believe it is better to be free
than to be a slave.
And I believe it is better to
know than to be ignorant.”
H. L. Mencken
10. Spiritual Experiences
— Elder and Sister Mattson (Area Authority Seventy) were told
by jogger: “God loves you.”
— It is important for all people to have spiritual experiences, but
these experiences are not exclusive to Latter-day Saints, and
in fact happen throughout the world for people of every land
and belief
10
11. Religious Feeling and Truth
— Religious feeling is a poor
measure of truth
— Feeling the Spirit is perhaps a
measure of spirituality or
sensitivity, but not of truthfulness
— If religious feeling (knowing in
your heart or by the Spirit) was an
accurate measure of truth, then
almost every church on the earth
would have to be the one true
church
— Examples:
— Bob Chauza (Methodist) has
prayers answered
— Baptist woman knows she is born
again
— Catholics know they have been
helped by Mother Mary
— FLDS know Warren Jeffs is a
prophet
— Terrorists on September 11
11
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but
try the spirits whether they are of God:
because many false prophets are gone
out into the world.”
1 John 4:1
12. Trade Up
— Replace error with truth
— Replace “service” to the dead with real
service to the living
— Spend your tithes on something
meaningful and charitable (the church
was only donating 0.7%)
— Make the world a better place
— Show love, kindness, and compassion
to all
— Exclude no one
— Christ said: “Ye must be more
righteous than they” (paraphrasing
Matthew 5:20)
— In other words, demonstrate the good
that comes from having built your life
on truth rather than error
12
14. 14
“And ye shall know the truth,
and the truth
shall make you free.”
Jesus Christ
(John 8:32)
15. A Note Regarding Apologist Tactics
— Denial: denying the information
at first until it is proven to be true
— Distraction: not addressing the
actual issue but going to side-
topics
— Confusion: using confusing
scholarly explanations that don’t
make sense to thinking persons
but satisfy non-thinking persons
— Ad Hominem Attacks: discussing
the presenter rather than the
issues being presented
— Retrospective Modification:
changing the Church’s position or
interpretation to fit the facts once
they have been established
— Dishonesty: giving untrue
information to back up claims
being made
— Omission: failing to give
important information
— Deferral: using credentials or
degrees to back up claims rather
than truth
— Blame: blaming the person asking
the question of having doubts
— Deflection: saying that the
questioning person does not have
faith or does not rely on spiritual
promptings, or has been deceived
by a devil
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