Like Journey, I don’t intend to continue this debate as I have said all I wish to say. Birds of a feather flock together and I wish DW and Magic all the best in their new-found friendship and purpose, but I know which flock I would rather be part of – and that’s the people that I have discovered, like Chris, Steve and Journey who leave their judgemental hats hanging on a peg.

God Bless.

In those two brief sentences you have helpfully disclosed to everyone the measuring rod you use to deal with uncomfortable realities. It is revealing and useful to see you illuminated in this light of your own choosing. But please try to understand that the entire cosmos cannot and never will revolve around “unlikely… but good enough for Ronnie”.

Personally, I have moved beyond LDS Apologetics. It began to corrode my integrity and proved a futile and thankless pursuit. Even that arch-apologist of many years, Kerry Shirts, recently posted in another forum: “Apologetics does it all backwards… I didn’t use or read or see any other side. I worked with blinders on and found just exactly what I wanted to come to the conclusion that I wanted it to… It’s all fluff and phony man. I can go back through those exact same sources I used, and select parts and pieces I left out originally and come up with an entirely different paper showing how vastly wrong it all is!”

Enjoy your LDS apologist belief if you feel it gives your life additional purpose and direction, and makes you a better, more moral and compassionate man. I would not try to force change on anyone, especially the already self-satisfied. It is clear to me that those who are genuine truth seekers will keep on seeking at any cost, and one day will discover the purity they have always sought.

Meanwhile, the doctrines and dogmas you or I might allow to shape our respective worldviews, are perhaps secondary. It is our relationship with God, and our commitment to truth, which will always define each of us.

May you fare well on your onward journey.

Please let’s clear up something though: no criticism whatsoever is being directed at those LDS followers who whole-heartedly consume whatever their leaders feed them. My letter holds the shepherds to account, not the sheep. In fathoming my purposes, you need only understand this much: When Mormonism supports truth then I support Mormonism. When Mormonism attempts to subvert truth, then I question it.

That is meaningful loyalty, involving some courage but no hypocrisy. Ultimately, Truth is what matters, not any –ism.

So, what do we see when we look objectively at what has taken place down the years within LDS congregations? If we are prepared to acknowledge it, we notice the deliberate, hierarchy-led cultivation of ignorance, concerning our spiritual heritage.

Now, it is fairly widely accepted that the rewriting of history to suit current political agendas, has been a cheap trick employed by many imperfect systems of government throughout time, but it is regrettable indeed to discover undeniable evidence of this practice also in an organisation which claims to be the Lord’s own true and living church. By definition, will you not agree, an organisation which relies upon deliberate misrepresentation cannot be wholly acceptable to God?

However, this apparently is the type of system you wish to support. How might that ever be reconciled with conscience? Where is the honour and the enduring value in such a system? Surely it is better to lobby for reform than to be poisoned in our pews by such fatal delusions. Or would you perhaps join the throng in attempting to shoot down Samuel the Lamanite if he preached reform on your city walls?

Make no mistake, large-scale coercion and misdirection of the people by historical deception is no small error of judgment to be easily overlooked. It is a veritable camel which you seem so eager to swallow. Yet you strain at a gnat in berating those whose questions might, perchance, prove instrumental in bringing hidden secrets of Mormonism’s fragility to the attention of the unwary.

How, we might ask, will these delicate and faithful souls you seem to think I am intent upon destroying, even come to know of the concerns I have raised with their leaders, unless they are already searching for something on sites such as this?

As for your decree directing us in how we should respond to the inner workings of belief, you presume to know what God alone knows, and accordingly I consider you presume far too much. Real history, and real historical reform is not so smooth a process, and God well knows it even if you don’t.

Had all followed your example throughout the last 2,000 years, forsooth, would we not all by now be Pharisees? Has it ever occurred to you, Magic Fingers, that perhaps that is what you have inadvertently become?

You accused me of being childish, back-biting, fault-finding and of mocking and ridiculing you – would you like to provide me with a quote where I have done that? If I was guilty of any of those things I will be happy to apologise and in turn I hope that you will offer more respect and understanding for those of us who are on an HONEST quest for the truth from the church that we have loved and served.