“Alone” Trailer
The first video from MormonChallenges.org was shown at the LDS film festival on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013. The filmmakers were there for a question and answer period following the screening. This is the trailer.
The first video from MormonChallenges.org was shown at the LDS film festival on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013. The filmmakers were there for a question and answer period following the screening. This is the trailer.
I watched the entire “Alone” video and was left with this impression: You seem to be saying that even though there is overwhelming facts and evidence that Joseph Smith did not have anything to translate pertaining to or written by Abraham, we are to just “Choose to Believe” and go off and live happily ever after. Um…ok. Got it.
The point of the video is that he was faced with challenges, but rather that abandon what had been a foundation in his life for so long he chose to investigate. As he investigated he came to the conclusion that there are facts that favor both sides and there is no definitive proof. Instead God gives us a situation in which we need to turn to Him for answers. The answers weren’t given in the video but are being released in short video clips.
This video does an excellent job at capturing the various emotions that committed LDS feel when encountering intellectual challenges with their faith. I very much love Dennis Packard’s attitude of sharing at the end.
People who end up caring about this stuff seem fit a rather unique profile: strong LDS traditions, educated, and truth-seeking in general. Not everyone in the church (in fact, I think a small minority in North America…maybe less than 5%), even care about this stuff. However, for those that do care, this is huge. I thought that the sincerity of the three main characters does a good job at dignifying the “search” for many educated troubled Mormons, who feel alone.
The message at the end, that maybe faith can only be exercised when you find yourselves in a place where there are both good reasons to doubt and good reasons to believe, is not going to resonate with everyone. However, it really resonates with me. I liked the suggestion there at the end that we can believe in a god who deliberately situates us in that place, and then invites us to believe, to exercise faith.
I realize that having that kind of approach to belief makes it intellectually possible for many people to reconcile troubling issues like the Book of Abraham. And Terryl Givens’s approach is useful for that reason. But in order to extract that utility, you are also left searching how this understanding of a God (who apparently wants to leave his children in a place filled with intellectual ambiguity about the origins of His scripture) helps one become a more moral person, a better human being.
How can we support your efforts? This is great and i would hate to see it fall by the wayside. How do we add more videos and series of the quality that the BoA series? They are outstanding. A series on dna and polygamy/polyandry would also be a real need.