It bothers me. With all the fanfic and hype about people addicted to a series of books or a particular author's characters, I think as a child I was one of these people unwittingly.

That really bothers me. Instead of getting excited about actual history or what passes for it, I was caught up in faith promoting fiction.

What would Nephi do? I want to serve a mission like Alma The Younger and The Sons of Mosiah. Etc. Etc.

I was sold crazy in Elizabethan English prose and not even good prose at that. Whoever wrote The Book of Mormon, they were no Shakespeare.

Don't beat yourself up over it!

Actually, there are plenty of people who were inspired by works of fiction to do/act in a different manner...Some people get inspired by characters in books and pursue education and employment like the protagonists in their favorite novel. Sometimes books like 1984, Fahrenheit 451, and the like serve as warnings to society as well...Literature is quite an effective tool on influencing both societal and individual thought processes, IMHO.

I just noticed a guy I work with has a book of mormon reference written on his white board (Jacob 5:73).

I'm tempted to put something up on my white board:

Alice In Wonderland 17:22

(I made that up, by the way. Don't know if it means anything or not.)

I'm more annoyed that I was duped by *bad* fiction. I feel like one of those idiot Scientologists.

Speaking of people thinking fictional characters are real . . . Back when I was a home teacher, my neighbor and home-teaching companion thought "The Blair Witch Project" was an actual documentary.

Wait, What? It isn't? But, but what about paranormal activity?

My daughter is convinced the paranormal activity movies are real documentaries. God and stan are in a codependent relationship.

God and Stan were playing with and betting on Job for their amusement, so yeah, it is entirely possible.

I'm not sure I ever believed in them anyway--

What irritates me is that I wasted so much time READING it.

you mean like jesus ?

... Reagan.

Timothy

Yes it makes me mad. I spent brain cells feeling guilty about reading Lord of the rings so many times while neglecting 'the most correct book on earth".

What a load of crap. Nephi and sam don't hold a candle to Frodo and Sam.

That was something that was always hard for me, to imagine these BoM characters as real people. I tried, but it never quite clicked. Characters in actual literature always seemed more real to me.

Yes, they always seemed to 'good'(in every way) to be true.

Or too 'bad'. Laban is just as unbelievable as Nephi. Oh you pissed me off again so I'm going to try to kill you again. Oh I just saw an angel but I'm still murmuring.

I've gotta admit that who-ever came up with the Amalekiah story/character did a good job of inventing a really awesomely nasty villain.

ronas Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Oh you pissed me off again so I'm going to
> try to kill you again. Oh I just saw an angel but
> I'm still murmuring.

LOL! I know. I saw and angel but I hate you and all my children's children's children' children will hate you and your posterity and God will make sure of this by magically making us a different color.

Funny, I seem to be no darker than most of you.

By the time I realized BoM people were fictional (as were some of the biblical people) I had already come to the realization that the world is filled with fiction trying to pass as reality, and that people I trusted might lie to me. C'est la f-ing vie.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/03/2012 02:00PM by Stray Mutt.

No, because it was so filled with BS that I couldn't subscribe to it as being scripture.

It was nonsensical in parts, the names of the cities were copycats from other countries, and I didn't feel spiritual when I read it.

Thank God that I didn't read it more than once in the entire three decades that I was a MO.

Coincidence or BS

Lemuel Dufree

http://olivercowdery.com/history/Cdychrn1.htm

Dec. 20 The Joseph Smith, Sr. family lose the the title to their farm in Manchester. Lemuel Durfee, Sr., the new owner allows the Smiths to remain on the property as tenant farmers.



Laman(luman) Walter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luman_Walter
Since Laman is not uncommon as a spelling variation for Luman, this person is likely Luman Walter

"In 1822 and 1823, Luman Walter served as a seer for a treasure dig on the property of Abner Cole in Palmyra, Wayne County, New York. Joseph Smith, Sr., Alvin Smith, and Joseph Smith, Jr. reportedly participated in this dig. Walter possessed a magical book and a seerstone, which he used to locate buried treasure. Walter is said to have conducted three unsuccessful digs on the hill Cumorah, but later suggests that only Smith might be able to find the treasure there."

That's one of those saddest and most infuriating things about LDS doctrine; while even some evangelicals now will admit that much of the bible is allegory and/or based on older legends and myths from thousands of years ago, TSCC is stuck with "history revealed live and direct from God" less than 200 years ago, based on those same myths and legends, that is supposed to be factual, so they're stuck with it.

Are you sure it was not Jacob 5:13? I mean a King James-hater, could be indicating the letter by Jesus' brother that way.

"Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray, Is any merry? Let him sing psalms."

If it makes you feel better, Adam, Eve, Noah, Jesus, Moses, and most of the guys in the bible were fictional people made into "history."

What would Bilbo do? Lol