CARM Double Standards.

CARM Rules and their duplicitous and hypocritical double standards.

CARM Posts the following RULE regarding links to non-Carm sites on their discussion forum

RULE 29:
Links:
(a) No links permitted in the chatroom but to CARM articles or forum discussions. Must ask mod permission to post links in chatroom. 

(b) Forums, do not post links to offensive material--porno or websites, no blogs (with discussion content no FB pages or articles with comments/discussion), no discussion forums, no websites that are discussing the CARM board participants by user name in a negative manner, etc. Do not post links to graphic pictures. You may post a link only if it is pertaining to the topic as reference to quotes in the topic discussed but not for advertisement or promotional purposes. Can only make two links to other websites per discussion thread, again, no blogs/articles/links (with discussion content), no discussion forums, (no anti-Christian links), no attacks on board posters, no promoting of sin or attacks on Christianity and Bible); may link only to official religion websites--that includes signature/profile links. Super members may link to their "G" rated businesses but not to unofficial religious websites or anti-Christian websites. Links to LDS, RCC, JW are permitted if they are links to their official teaching websites only. Users may post unlimited number of links to CARM papers or CARM forum posts for reference.

Now you would expect that if CARM was a true Christian website, it would Take care be even handed in its application of it's rules, and enforce them evenly without bias.

In a recent dialog with a Anti-Mormon poster who proceeded to make links to Other Anti-Mormon websites..  I challenged them on the Rule 29(b) where it asserts links may be only to Official Religion sites, and the following post of guidance came down from CARM admin Diane S

Christian websites permitted or Christians may post links that are not anti-christian. It is RC or LDS, JW that must only post links to official websites....Diane S (Carm Admin)

Now to say this is duplicitous and double standard is an understatement.  For what CARM Admin is telling us here is that if you are an Anti-Mormon poster you may make post links to any sort of web sites even belligerent Anti-Mormon propaganda sites so long as they are not Anti-Christian, with Christian being that which conforms to the CARM Admin point of view.. (Which is very narrow Calvinist view) .

  

Meanwhile other posters such as Roman Catholics, Jehovah Witnesses or Latter Day Saints are forbidden from being allowed the same privilege.

So take note.. CARM Forums are a heavily BIASED Anti-Mormon, Anti-Catholic and Anti-Anything that doesn't fit the narrow minded imagination of Matt Slick's over the top Calvinist ideology.

No other gods?

A common charge made by Anti-Mormon critics on CARM and elsewhere is the claim that Mormonism is polytheistic and the Bible teaches there is only ONE God..   This is simply false on both accounts.

First of all Mormonism is not Polytheistic. Critics toss that term out with disingenuous and pejorative intent to elicit an emotional aversion to "stop think".    The opposite of Polytheism is Monotheism.  Now there is a matter of definition of what is Monotheism. Monotheism has differing definitions.  In it's narrow and strictest sense, Monotheism is the belief and worship in one God period, no others exist.  And this is the definition which our critics use when attacking LDS beliefs.. And if you apply that definition, LDS are not monotheists.. and neither are Christians, and the Bible is polytheistic.   Perhaps the only true Monotheists are Muslims.   Now we know our critics do not view themselves as polytheists.. so there must be a broader definition to Monotheism and there is.

Monotheism in a broader sense is divided into subcategories.. One of these subcategories is Henotheism.

Henotheism (Greek εἷς θεός heis theos "one god") is the belief in and worship of a single God while accepting the existence or possible existence of other deities that may also be worshipped.

This would be a more accurate description of LDS beliefs.. it also happens to be an accurate description of the beliefs taught in the Bible text.   Although not all Bible translations have been updated to modern standards to include textual readings found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, some have, such as the NRSV, or the ESV.   Here a but a few of the highlights found in the Biblical text that are clear indication of Henotheism.

When the Most High apportioned the nations,when he divided humankind,he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the gods;-     Deut 32:8

“Rejoice with him, O heavens; bow down to him, all gods, for he avenges the blood of his children and takes vengeance on his adversaries. -  Deut 32:43

God has taken his place in the divine council;in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:...I say, “You are gods, children of the Most High, all of you;    Psalm 82

There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,nor are there any works like yours. All the nations you have made shall come and bow down before you, O Lord,    - Psalm 86

Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness;   - Gen 1:26

I think we have a good sampling here to make the point.. The ancient Israelites who gave us the OT texts were henotheistic.  They believed as it is articulated in Deut 32:8.. that the Most High God.. divided up humanity by a number of 'gods'.. each nation had their sovereign god.

  Israels god, was YHWH.. the 'I am" that spoke from the burning bush to Moses and led the Hebrews out of captivity and to the promised land and they were to worship him only.. no other gods as the first of the ten commandments state.

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me -- Exodus 20:2-3

. This is not an assertion that no other gods exist, but to the contrary, they just must not worship them, for they are only to worship YHWH (Jehovah).

This is very critical context to keep in mind when reading Biblical texts like those which critics use to shore up the Trinity dogma.. Namely the Duetro-Isaiah book of comfort...

Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. - Isaiah 44:6

I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides me there is no god. I arm you, though you do not know me,so that they may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is no one besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. - Isaiah 45:5-6

These are some of the proof text's Trinitarians use to refute the LDS doctrine of the Godhead, which differs from the Trinity in that it avoids the paradox of three in one, and rather asserts it three unified as one in purpose.

So we see if you take these Duetro-Isaiah passages out of their historical context, they have a strong monotheistic bent, which at the same time contradict the passages cited earlier in this post which clearly acknowledges the presence of other gods.. So what gives here?   It's the historical context that Trinitarians obfuscate.   That context is to whom and when these duetro-Isaiah texts were written.  So here's the back story to help understand.

At the time the these duetro-Isaiah texts were produced, the audience was a captive Israel or Judah to be more precise.  These Jews held as we have pointed out earlier a henotheistic world view.. That every nation had it's own sovereign god as the world was divided by the Most High.   Now Israels God was YHWH, who defeated Pharoh and protected led the Isaelites into Caanan and protected them,  but now the status quo of the day seems to be they are captives in a land of Babylonians.. Jerusalem and the their YHWH's temple has been laid waist.. It would seem to the average Jew, YHWH had been defeated by Marduk, the god of the Babylonians, and they were now living in the land of Babylonia.. thus the inclination that YHWH was no more and that it's time to worship Marduk would seem to be the order of the day.. So here comes the words of comfort from Isaiah.. Asserting that YHWH is not gone, for Israel there is no other besides YHWH.. despite how it looks.   There is none like YHWH and YHWH will prevail.

So we see that these so-called proof texts of a ONE god of the universe are nothing of the sort when placed in their historical setting.. The text wasn't written to the Babylonians, or to the world.. But to the Jews captive specifically, and that is the context in which they need to be understood.

Joseph Smith a Pedophile?

This has got to be one of the more outlandish and desperate claims made by Anti-Mormons on CARM and elsewhere.

As a medical diagnosis, pedophilia is a psychiatric disorder in persons 16 years of age or older typically characterized by a primary or exclusive sexual interest toward prepubescent children (generally age 11 years or younger, though specific diagnostic criteria for the disorder extends the cut-off point for prepubescence to age 13).

References: Wikipedia

"Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition". American Psychiatric Publishing. 2013. Retrieved July 25, 2013.

"The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioral Disorders Diagnostic criteria for research World . World Health Organization/ICD-10. 1993.

 "Pedophilia". Encyclopedia Britannica.

Seto MC.(2009) Pedophili. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology 5:391–407.

Making a charge that someone is a pedophile is a serious claim, and one that demands serious evidence and proof for such a claim is slanderous and libelous to say the least unless it's PROVEN true.  Since not only individuals, but corporations and religious groups can be subjects of libel, there maybe legal consequences to those who make the claim. That claim requires proof rising to the level of BEYOND a reasonable doubt. So what has been our critics evidence?  None whatsoever.

Keep in mind that this charge they make is about pedophilia, not polygamy or adultery.  Those are topics of discussion in their own right but and whether or not you believe in the LDS faith or whether or not you believe Joseph Smith was married to multiple women an/or was intimate with them is irrelevant to the question of pedophilia.

Let us examine some of the claims of proof.

It has been asserted by the Anti-Mormon crew that Joseph Smith married women who were much his junior in age.. The youngest was Hellen Mar Kimball.  Age 14.   Now when we say married, there is no official marriage licence for anyone but Joseph and Emma.   These other marriages were by LDS tradition religious spiritual sealing that does not involve any consummation.  And thus far the critics have been unable to present ANY proof there was intimacy with anyone but Emma.   DNA tests have been done in many cases of claims, but all have turned up negative.

Yet even if consummation was involved note the age of said young women is not within the age deemed to be a 'Pre-pubescent'.. furthermore the fact that Joseph and Emma bore several children, coupled with the fact that ALL of his alleged consummated plural marriages were NOT to women of pre-pubescent age.  Therefore the charge of pedophilia fall flat on it's face is nothing but a desperate attempt of Anti-Mormons resorting to deliberate libel in order to defame the LDS faith.

And update to this post.. Today, my calling attention to this libelous claim by CARM poster has resulted in my suspension from CARM.. As one can see CARM forums and it's proprietor are bigoted hypocrites with an modus operandi of shooting the messenger if CARM doesn't like the message.

Anti-Mormon rules for Christian Apologetics

When one spends much time on CARM, it becomes very much apparent that the purveyors and supporters proclaim to be Christian, but behave in ways that are anything but Christian.   They have strict rules at CARM regarding making forum Posts which they believe attack Christianity.. such as:

"This is a Christian website and you may not post words in mockery of Christian beliefs, or terms offensive in descriptions of our Lord God. You may certainly challenge Christian teaching, but do so respectfully."

 And yet they do not restrict themselves or their proponents form making outlandish attacks on all other beliefs even those which are Christian beliefs, but just not Christian according to CARMs own self appointed definition of Christianity, and thus they label them as 'cults' and 'heresies' 

The rules also state :

"This is a Christian website, if you want to promote liberal propaganda, take it elsewhere. Christians on the forums permitted their free ideas and opinions on social issues and will not have to tolerate insults, divisive comments from the more liberal posters."

Did you catch that?  Christian (only those whom CARM deems Christian) are permitted for express their ideas 'freely'.. even those ideas mean demeaning the beliefs of others. Recently  my calling attention to a libelous claim by CARM poster has resulted in my suspension from CARM.. As one can see CARM forums and it's proprietor are bigoted hypocrites with an modus operandi of shooting the messenger if CARM doesn't like the message.