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.

Who is Matt Slick

Matt Slick is the proprietor of CARM.  Christian Apologetics Research Ministry.   Matt is also a TULIP Calvinist and hosts another Website called "Calvinist's corner"

Matt Slick is one of the more prominent Anti-Mormons on the web these days.. He hosts a radio program, and although his site and radio program are not exclusively against Mormonism.. Anti-Mormonism seems to be prevalent in the majority of it.  His testimony which he publishes also bears this out as for one of the very reasons for starting CARM was based upon his encounter with other Anti-Mormons, namely Jerry and Marian Bodine.

He states

Then, one night at one of the many Bible studies I was attending, someone read something to me that would have a profound impact on my life. 

"God is in the still small voice. In all these affidavits, indictments, it is all of the devil--all corruption. Come on! ye prosecutors! ye false swearers! All hell, boil over! Ye burning mountains, roll down your lava! for I will come out on the top at last. I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet..." (Joseph Smith from the Mormon book, History of the Church Vol. 6, pp. 408-409) 

This quote angered me terribly. I couldn't believe that anyone would be so arrogant as to boast he had done more to keep a church together than even Jesus had. To me, this was unfathomable and blasphemous. When I found out that the founder of Mormonism had uttered that boast, I had to find out who this person was and what he stood for. After all, I erringly thought, Mormons were Christians and that quote from its founder just didn't make sense. That is when I began attending a Bible study taught by Jerry and Marian Bodine who were then working with Walter Martin, the original Bible Answerman on the Radio. The Bodines and I became friends and I studied with them for years and my interest in cults, apologetics, and doctrine exploded. 

Later, a friend of mine and I began a swap-meet ministry. Every Saturday, for 2 1/2 years, we would set up a booth and pass out gospel literature as well as information that exposed the cults, evolution, the New Age, etc. Needless to say, we had lots of interesting discussions with people and I can honestly declare that it was there at the swap-meet that I learned the most about defending God's word. 

Next came a year-long phone ministry where my new roommate and I put an ad in a local publication. It said, "Learn the truth about Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science, and Unity. Call (phone number). We received a great many calls and were able to help many people find the truth in Jesus. This was followed by a year of beach evangelism and door-to-door canvassing passing out Christian tracts. Soon afterwards I began to teach Bible studies and various classes on evangelism, Christian doctrine, and the cults at local churches. I have been studying and defending the truth ever since.  So far, it has been for more than 20 years now.

Now I too took a class taught by Marian Bodine.  She epitomizes the typical Anti-Mormon.  It was in and after her class that I met with her personally and had her tell me her story as to what caused her to begin her ministry.. I will attempt to relay that story.. It's been a few years, but the story was quite profound and has left an impression that last to this very day.. Understand also, this story is comming from the POV of Marian Bodine.

Marian told me she and her husband lived in Southern California,  Mission Viejo I recall, they were your typical non-denominational Christians and were not strong church goers.. They had a daughter who according to Marian, fell in love with a return LDS missionary.. Her daughter joined the LDS faith, married this return missionary and moved to Salt Lake City.    Then after couple of years, according to Marian, the marriage went on the rocks and allegedly her daughter divorced because her husband was a spouse abuser.. (Now this is from the point of view of the Mother in law, no independent collaboration of such accusation has ever been presented).

Her daughter remained in the LDS Church and despite Marian asking her daughter to come back to California after the divorce but she refused..  And then here's where the story get's interesting.   Marian then tells me he daughter married her ex-husbands father, who she said ultimately proved to be just like his son and the daughter divorced again.    It was during this second Marriage and divorce that Jerry and Marian moved to Salt Lake city and set up an Anti-Mormon ministry.

It was these people who it appears by Matt Slicks testimony directly influenced his form of Apologetic, which demonstratively has pronounced Anti-Mormon bent.

Sexual Predator?

Sexual Predator?  Maybe not, but a predator for sure, and much more than just a Spiritual one.   Have you ever listened to his radio show?   I happened to listen to it a few times.. And in one instance it was a gentleman caller who is non-LDS married to an LDS lady and they have a son.   The Caller was inquiring about the best ways to discuss his faith with his wife and child.. Since his wife was the more active religiously in the family and his son was going to Primary etc.

The phone dialog proceeds with Matt Slick being very sympathetic to the callers concerns etc.. Telling him how important families are etc.. and as soon as he had gotten the confidence of the caller, so it seemed from the dialog, Matt did a SLICKerooo on the man.. He proceeds to advise the caller to start reading only from the Bible with his Son.. And to stay away from the Book of Mormon..  Then while his wife was gone, he should have a pastor from his church come and go through the house blessing it to remove Satan’s influence.  (This had to be done while the callers wife was away). Also, behind his wife's back he should have his son taught by his pastor or someone about the real Jesus..   Then lastly he told the caller that he should be on his guard that the LDS church would tell his wife to leave him if he didn't become LDS, and therefore he should prepare himself for divorce.   And that the LDS church does this all the time.

Now all religious differences aside for a moment.  Anyone who has been married and has gone through a divorce knows just how fragile trust in a marriage can be and how horrible divorces are especially when there are children involved.   So lets examine the insidiousness of Matt Slicks advice..  He plants seeds of distrust all over the place with this caller.  Ideas like “His wife is going to leave him because he is not LDS”.   “He needs to sneak behind his wife’s back to purge his home from the influence of Satan”.  Now if this man has any emotional connection with his wife she is certainly going to be sensitive to him sneaking behind her back about something… This will most likely raise fears concerning trust in her perception of the marriage.. She may then take precautions… (The seed of distrust now being planted in her mind)  The caller already has the seed of distrust planted in his mind that the church is going to tell his wife to divorce him because he isn't LDS..   And then as soon as she senses he is doing something behind her back and takes some precautions or calls him on what’s going on,  He is likely to perceive that her actions are being driven by the Church telling her she needs to divorce him and so he shores up his own emotional and legal defenses and so you can see how the relationship can quickly disintegrate and spiral into a divorce..  All because of insidious little Satanic lies of Matt  Slick .

One must ask themselves, what kind of person would do such a thing to a family?  Matt Slick is not concerned with the well being of that Family or that young boy, who’s innocent and who’s life will be ripped apart by a divorce.  No not at all …Is Matt Slick a  Predator?   ABSOLUTELY!