M2C and SITH continue to be cited as among the top reasons why people lose their faith in the Restoration. This is obvious when leading LDS scholars teach that Joseph and Oliver deliberately misled everyone about the origin and setting of the Book of Mormon.
Few if any people join the Church and remain active because of the theories of scholars, but when the scholars repudiate the teachings of the prophets, they cause people to question their faith.
People often ask how and why so many LDS scholars and their followers continue to promote M2C and SITH.
It's an easy answer: just follow the money.
It's basically the same reason why Americans spend more on health care than any other country, with the worst medical outcomes of any developed country, as we'll see below. The solution for the health care outcomes is relatively easy, except that the solution impinges on big corporate interests who fund the politicians.
Likewise, the tragedy is that Scripture Central could easily solve this problem by simply
(i) acknowledging the teachings of the prophets and
(ii) acknowledging the evidence that corroborates those teachings and
(iii) encouraging Latter-day Saints and their friends to make informed decisions.
But so far, Scripture Central continues to refuse to do these three things.
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Scripture Central raises and spends millions of dollars annually. No other LDS academic organization comes close.
To participate with Scripture Central as management, as an employee, as a volunteer, as a content creator, or in any other way, you must comply with the Scripture Central's position on the origin and setting of the Book of Mormon.
This means you must agree to repudiate the teachings of the prophets about the origin and setting of the Book of Mormon; i.e., you must believe, or at least promote,
(i) the Mesoamerican/two-Cumorahs theory (M2C) of the setting of the Book of Mormon, and
(ii) the stone-in-the-hat (SITH) explanation for the origin of the Book of Mormon.
In fact, to participate with Scripture Central, you can't even teach what the prophets have taught about the origin and setting of the Book of Mormon because both M2C and SITH expressly and explicitly repudiate the teachings of the prophets about Cumorah/Ramah and the Urim and Thummim.
We've documented numerous examples of this from Tyler Griffin and others, but in coming days we'll document even more.
Because Scripture Central controls the money, if you want to be an LDS scholar in the present world, you have to comply with--and promote--SITH and M2C.
Scripture Central hosts and coordinates and promotes specific social media influencers, on the condition that they in turn promote M2C and SITH.
Scripture Central funds independent researchers, on the condition that they in turn promote M2C and SITH.
Although much of their content is published anonymously, this list of their "content creators" consists exclusively of people who promote M2C and SITH.
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Think about this: for all of 2024, when Come Follow Me focused on the Book of Mormon, these "content creators" generated numerous articles, podcasts, videos, and other content, but not one of them ever once quoted what Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery taught about the origin and setting of the Book of Mormon.
Instead, they promoted their own theories and quoted and cited one another. It's amazing, but not surprising if you follow the money.
(In case I missed an example, let me know so I can correct this post. Email me at lostzarahemla@gmail.com).
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Now, here's the analogy to the US health care system:
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| RFK Jr. explaining the US health care system |
@newstart_2024
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: "Today, over 100 members of Congress support a bill to fund Ozempic with Medicare at $1,500 a month. Most of these members have taken money from the manufacturer of that product, a European company called Novo Nordisk. As everyone knows, once a drug is approved for Medicare, it goes to Medicaid."
"And there is a push to recommend Ozempic for Americans as young as six over a condition, obesity, that is completely preventable and barely even existed 100 years ago. Since 74% of Americans are obese, the cost of all of them, if they take their Ozempic prescriptions, will be $3 trillion a year. This is a drug that has made Novo Nordisk the biggest company in Europe."
"It's a Danish company, but the Danish government does not recommend it. It recommends a change in diet to treat obesity and exercise. Virtually Novo Nordisk's entire value is based upon its projections of what Ozempic is going to sell to Americans. For half the price of Ozempic, we could purchase regeneratively raised organic agriculture, organic food for every American three meals a day and gym membership for every obese American."
"Why are members of Congress doing the bidding of this Danish company instead of standing up for American farmers and children? Because Novo Nordisk is one of the largest funders of medical research, the media and politicians and the medical schools all go along with them."
