I am starting to settle into a routine that does not include intensive reseach into the truth behind Mormonism. After almost five years of full time research and writing, it is gratifying to feel my work is done and that the truth is firmly established. To turn my mind to other things is both refreshing and of course healthy. There is much more that could be said and more books that could be written. However, all the major issues are included in the four volumes that comprise ‘The Mormon Delusion’ and if anyone studies them, along with all the references, it will be absolutely impossible (for any sane person) to then conclude that the Mormon Church is true – unless that is, they read with a deliberately closed mind and preconceived notion that they already ‘know’ the Church is true and regardless of any evidence, common sense and all reason, that stand will not be compromised. Then the delusion is in complete control of the brain, objectivity has been suppressed and black will be called white, regardless of the absurdity. Such people should not even be reading my work. All the evidence will be rejected out of hand without conscious consideration. Conclusive proof of a point will lead to pathetic excuses followed by the retort that it doesn’t matter, the Church is still true.
I honestly don’t know how someones ‘testimony’ could survive the journey through my work, as all testimony is demonstrably based on a provably false premise and no God could or would ever proclaim to any individual through supposed ethereal means (feelings) that such lies are in fact the truth. That would be impossible, leaving only wishful thinking and delusion as the basis of any so-called testimony. Such a thing is very hard to admit to and face and rather than do so, some people will deny the truth in favour of what has then become proven fiction. Nevertheless, those of us who have trodden the unwelcome path and discovered, faced, accepted and dealt with the truth can ‘testify’ that Joseph Smith provably created no more than a cruel hoax. That new ‘testimony’ is not based on feelings. It is not a result of sin nor of being influenced by the adversary. It is based on solid and irrefutable evidence of the facts alone, much of which is provided by Joseph Smith himself in his own contradictory personal writings in his journals, claimed revelations and so-called scripture. My work must be read objectively, and with a mind open to the evidence which must then be weighed against prior held belief in the cold light of day. If conclusive evidence establishes the truth and if that truth offends a prior held belief, then it is the belief that is wrong. Cognitive dissonance must be overcome in favour of the evidence, and belief must be reconsidered in light of proof of the truth. Conclusive evidence trumps faith in provable fiction. Faith may go beyond reason – but not beyond evidence. Case closed.
For those who, like me, are atheistic in their thinking, the following obscure thought came to me recently:
One reason why the probability of God is close to zero
may be that humans simply do not deserve such a thing.
Just a thought.
Jim Whitefield 