Are these sufficient answers?
They have just been given a megaphone. Why the lack of passion? It looks like the sly calculating of business men over what they should answer.
Where is the apostle Paul when you need him?
Do the apostles disagree among themselves, thus preventing greater detail? Do they distrust Fox News? Do they think that America just can not handle fuller information?
I have got to go. Our church is having a Christmas music recital, tonight. But I will be back.
I am disappointed by this. The apostles need to speak up.
They were given a megaphone to talk to people with limited interest and a short attention span. Thus, they have to keep it pithy, as Bill O’Reilly would say (it was a link to FoxNews after all).
By the way, I do think the repeated answers come across very poorly. For example:
I don’t know how this was all put together (so maybe there is a good reason for the repeated answer), but if I were answering the second question, I would change it to something like:
That way, it wouldn’t sound like someone just repeating their stock answer. However, I do suspect the reason for the terse answers is as I mentioned in my first comment.
Todd, why do you assume that these answers do not represent what the Church really believes?
Because I just talked to 35 people on the street yesterday.
Quite frankly, I don’t know what the Church believes in detail about God anymore.
If I was a living apostle of God Almighty, I would speak up frankly and clearly about God.
God deserves more than this in America.
Jacob, if the Church needs better pithy answers; they need to call on bloggernacle. 🙂
I liked the answers given. They were clear and they were concise. I don’t see why people are upset by them.
It seemed like a nice concise and simple series of explanations. If one was looking for deep complex answers that link nuanced associations together, then it wouldn’t be your cup of tea. That seems just to be the result of audience focus though.
Of course whether the intertwining of complex issues is something that would even be tackled seems questionable. Authoritarian answers seem at odds with flexibility inherit in mormon theology. Speculations are fine, and probably an integral part of revelation – personal and otherwise, but once speculations start to solidify I think some sort of counterbalance is wise. If not, there is a good chance of solidifying around a sandy base.
I tend to think of it as trying to balance on a unstable equilibrium.
Todd, I suggest to you that the answers given in the link you posted are what the Church believes. It is true that there is a wide range of speculation that rises from the core doctrines and that the 35 people on the street likely latch on to certain of those enthusiastic speculations and have certainly created some of their own in their minds, but the answers given are the core doctrines. I’m not sure why you’re looking for the Church to say something more on the questions given. Take a closer look at the questions if you want to ponder why the particular answer was given.