I haven’t “been Mormon” in decades, and the internet was likely a game changer, but there is a reason they get called a cult from time to time.
There is a powerful taboo against even reading, much less investigating, secular sources of history about the early church. If your friends seem to be true believing, then they likely do believe that Josiah Smith was a prophet, the same way mainstream Christians (and Mormons too, lol) believe a Judean rabble rouser came back to life after he got executed because he was divine.
If they’re intellectually honest, they would probably acknowledge that the “facts” exist but would say they’re incomplete or intentionally shaded, and that their faith is not dependent on contemporary non-Mormon accounts. They will roll out quotes from the leadership among the lines of “doubt your doubts” or that faith does not require perfect knowledge.
Then, factor in that the social aspects of church life are pretty all encompassing and that church discipline is very real within the top-down organization they have, and there are powerful psychological motivations not to dig too deeply.
I haven’t “been Mormon” in decades, and the internet was likely a game changer, but there is a reason they get called a cult from time to time.
There is a powerful taboo against even reading, much less investigating, secular sources of history about the early church. If your friends seem to be true believing, then they likely do believe that Josiah Smith was a prophet, the same way mainstream Christians (and Mormons too, lol) believe a Judean rabble rouser came back to life after he got executed because he was divine.
If they’re intellectually honest, they would probably acknowledge that the “facts” exist but would say they’re incomplete or intentionally shaded, and that their faith is not dependent on contemporary non-Mormon accounts. They will roll out quotes from the leadership among the lines of “doubt your doubts” or that faith does not require perfect knowledge.
Then, factor in that the social aspects of church life are pretty all encompassing and that church discipline is very real within the top-down organization they have, and there are powerful psychological motivations not to dig too deeply.