I am very disappointed that there are several fundamentalist Christian members of GameSpot that absolutely overrun the unions. Every day I encounter someone telling me what I believe, how evil, heretical, unBiblical, and unChristian I am, and they don't know the first thing about my beliefs. Indeed, they think they know, but all they know comes from anti-Mormon propaganda and the mouths of such people as Ed Decker, and the Tanners.

There is a desire in me to be accepted by my Christian brothers and sisters, but to them I am more of a half- or step-sibling. Rather, I'm not a sibling at all. I don't want to create a divide between Christianity and Mormonism. To me, of course, Mormonism is a subsidiary of Christianity, because I recognize there are other denominations.

Yet there are others who will simply not have the two groups be associated. I am a Latter-day Saint Christian, but to them I am a Mormon heretic. It sorely vexes me that this theoretical divide is presented to me every day. I want it to end, but I don't think there is a way for it to until the Millenium of Christ's reign.

I've been considering creating a Mormon Union of some sort so that there is a peaceful and friendly atmosphere to discuss issues related to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I'll need a few officers, however, and more people interested. I could also consider it a union for all minority Christian denominations, and perhaps all the Abrahamic religions. I think it would be really interesting.

Please let me know if you'd like to help me out with this endeavor. I would really appreciate it.

Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris, and David Whitmer are known in LDS history as the Three Witnesses. These three were the three major witnesses of the gold plates and the angel, and at times assisted Joseph Smith. From what I have experienced thus far in defending the testimony of these three are attacks primarily on their motives. The other eight witnesses don't really come into the picture, as the Three Witnesses are the bigger target.

These three never denied their testimonies throughout their entire lives. Even David Whitmer, who never rejoined the Church after his excommunication, testified of what he saw at his deathbed to his family. While being honest about what they saw doesn't really sit comfortably with anti-Mormons, the idea that they had ulterior motives does. Let's take a look at a few of these motives and see if they are valid or not.

The first one is, of course, wealth. Some suggest that there was a lucrative quality to their testimony. However, if they were any good at being con artists, they would have instantly realized that there were ten thousand easier ways to dupe the population than professing to have seen an angel and gold plates. Joseph Smith's claims of a "golden bible" were ridiculed by his townsfolk even before he received the plates. It wasn't exactly appealing as an investment.

The Book of Mormon never sold well, and the majority of the population thought it was a "gross imposition, and a grosser superstition." All signs pointed away from the possibility that they would get rich from it. And after the Three Witnesses left the Church after their own manner, wouldn't they have ratted out Joseph Smith if they were looking to get money out of it?

Instead, what they got was scorn and ridicule. David Whitmer was once threatened with this life concerning the validity of the Book of Mormon. Perhaps some people would like to think so, but I do not think that David Whitmer would have stuck to his testimony for the possibility of a check at the end, as opposed to the possibility that he would be killed.

Another possibility would be fame, but what fame would they have gathered other than notoriety? They were threatened with their lives.

And then there's power. When the Church was founded, the Three Witnesses were given hardly any power, and it was taken away after they left the Church. The "power", or authority, that they had prior to excommunication was not given back to them after two of them returned. Yet they still returned.

A quote from Michael R. Ash from his FAIR Brochure concerning the Book of Mormon witnesses and their motives:

"David Whitmer- like the other witnesses- had been charged with being deluded into thinking he had seen an angel and the plates. One observer remembers when David was such accused, and said:

"How well and distinctly I remember the manner in which Elder Whitmer arose and drew himself up to his full height- a little over six feet- and said, in solemn and impressive tones: 'No sir! I was not under any hallucination, nor was I deceived! I saw with these eyes, and I heard with these ears! I know whereof I speak!'

"Could the Three Witnesses have been so caught up in the excitement that they imagined they saw an angel, or lied about seeing an angel to heighten the stimulation? An affirmative answer may suffice for testifying 'in the heat of the moment,' but this explanation is not satisfactory when we look at the testimony that they continued to proclaim throughout their lives- through prosecution, financial ruin, excommunication, embarrassment, and bitter feelings. A testimony born in the excitement of the moment would die quickly under such adverse conditions."

That sums up nicely what I've been saying.

In my experience thus far in defending my faith as a Latter-day Saint, I have already encountered several types of arguments that I've seen before on anti-Mormon websites. Perhaps the only difference is that the non-professional anti-Mormons on these forums don't get paid for their distortion of fact. There are a few that I would like to address, and I hope I can find a motive other than greed or pride for these mistakes so obvious to even lay members of the Church.

What I would like to tackle first are the opinions of Church authorities. Not the opinions themselves, but their use in the hands of those who don't know how to use them: anti-Mormons. Statements taken out of context and distorted are dangerous in the hands of these anti-Mormons, and only when a Latter-day Saint comes and shows the anti-Mormon how to use them is a cure even possible. Old habits are hard to break, however, and you will find that these anti-Mormons who have been taught otherwise will continue to wield these words improperly.

An example would be the popular Journal of Discourses. Not as popular among Mormons as anti-Mormons. They love to use the Journal of Discourses to tell us what we believe. There are a few courses that a knowledgeable Mormon could take. For instance, one could state that the Journal of Discourses is not at the same level asScripture, and that it is mere speculation and opinion. One could quote Joseph Smith who said, "A prophet is only a prophet when acting as such."

If one wanted to know where they got such an idea one might look at the Bible. As a Mormon, I consider the Bible an inspired work of God along with the Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, and Doctrine and Covenants. Unlike many fundamentalist and conservative Christians, however, I do not claim that it is inerrant. It should be noted while Mormons do not consider opinion to be doctrine, many Christians do. For instance, Paul once said in Corinthians that his opinion on the matter of marrying one who does not profess the faith was not from God. He made it known that it was merely his own opinion.

So perhaps there is already an unconscious acceptance among these Christians that it is like this in other religious groups as well. It is not true, of course. Even if the Journal of Discourses were to be considered Scripture, we would recognize opinion when we see it as well as the influence of the science and tradition of the day. I don't know of any Christian church that follows what Paul says about women speaking in church.

In any case, it seems that anti-Mormons want to catch us in a trap that they subconsciously think will work because they unknowingly have accepted opinion as Scripture themselves. I'm sorry, but that isn't the way things work. Doctrine isn't written willy-nilly in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Doctrine isn't written from impromptu sermons. Anti-Mormons will have to look at a better source in order to hold their own on a sure foundation.