[Mormon Red Death]

Originally Posted by Solon

Interesting thoughts. I sense the beginnings of a shift away from literalness with the BoM as well, especially with regard to the claims about ancient American civilizations. There are no longer photographs of ancient Mesoamerican sites in the book's prefatory pages that suggest a close connection with actual sites and cultures.

I wonder if there's a larger-scale problem at work here. I, for one, feel an intense disconnect between various levels of authority and practice. There's a scriptural level, a GA level, and then a local-institution level that sometimes don't match up. So, we have scriptures/original revelation that tell us one thing, GA's who give modernized versions of the scripture, and local leaders or cultures who implement their own versions. So, we end up with local practices with no scriptural base (white shirts necessary to pass sacrament), or scriptural teachings that are modified for the sake of cultural correctness (such as the roles of women). It's all very confusing.

make this its own thread and explain more...