The Church has changed through being challenged
In essence, the Church has been changed in several ways by the process of Tom Phillips challenging the Truth Claims of the Church.
1. Beliefs should no longer be considered facts
2. Priesthood Leaders not needed to represent the Lord’s Church, instead lawyers who make pronouncements on behalf of the Church.
3. One more step to having true freedom of, & from, religion
4. Tithing is voluntary and optional
5. Catalyst For Change
Beliefs Not Facts, & Lawyers Not Priesthood Leaders Speak For The Church
Many members now know of the ten recent essays which the Church Historical Department has produced to clarify certain controversial issues. (Responses To LDS.org Essays)
Issues which have become more significant as an ever-increasing number of committed members leave the Church every year on discovering the ‘truth behind the curtain’. It could be said that the Church has been forced into producing these essays as an attempt to quell the losses from the ever-decreasing tithing receipts because the majority of those leaving are tithing worthy members.
It is because of the work of many diligent, truth-seeking historians and due to the excellent websites like MormonThink.com that these issues are being brought to light and the Church leadership are being forced to come clean about them, admitting they were in error. (President Uchtdorf, “To be perfectly frank, there have been times when members or leaders in the church have simply made mistakes,” – http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/mormon-leader-dieter-uchtdorf-says-church-has-made-mistakes-8862663.html)
These essays can be seen as admissions of guilt by the Church that many erroneous historical and doctrinal ideas were taught in the past as facts. Often those prophets and apostles of the recent past who taught these now disavowed ideas etc. are seemingly blamed as speaking as men, and of inflicting their own opinions on the Church as a whole. (“if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God” – Book of Mormon Introduction. Book of Mormon Title Page)
Just the examples of some of the fundamental teachings of the Church which have changed include:
Blacks & the Priesthood
Throwing The Prophets Of The Past Under The Bus
Disavowing Past Teachings On Race & The Priesthood
Can Mormonism Hold Onto Faith & Science?
Indigenous Americans are not descendents of Lamanites
There Really Is Nowhere To Lose Or Hide The Lamanites
The Shifting Sands Of A Shaky Foundation
Joseph Smith used a stone in a hat to translate the Book of Mormon
Difficult Aspects Of Mormon History
It is believed that more essays are in the pipeline.
We can take heart for our loved ones still in the Mormon Church that more openness, and transparency is coming when we hear Elder Steven Snow commenting on this subject:
“My view is that being open about our history solves a whole lot more problems than it creates. We might not have all the answers, but if we are open (and we now have pretty remarkable transparency), then I think in the long run that will serve us well. I think in the past there was a tendency to keep a lot of the records closed or at least not give access to information. But the world has changed in the last generation—with the access to information on the Internet, we can’t continue that pattern; I think we need to continue to be more open…. Fortunately Seminaries and Institutes and Curriculum have really stepped up and said in essence, ‘You know we really want to take this on, we would like to talk about these sensitive issues in our seminaries and institutes.’ It’s one thing to tell a fourteen-year-old some of these sensitive things and they say, ‘OK, that’s great.’ But sometimes when you are twenty-something, it comes across a little differently. I think we can build faith and better prepare people if we weave some of the unusual threads in history into the curriculum…. We have an obligation to provide our members with reliable information on some of these more difficult questions from our history. We are committed to do[ing] that.” (“Start with Faith: A Conversation with Elder Steven E. Snow,” Religious Educator 14, no. 3 [2013]: 4–5)
The question surely arises in the enquiring minds of those who seek the truth, how do we know that today’s leaders are speaking as the Lord or as men when they teach us of anything in the Church? Or is it all ‘of Man’ with no influence from God?
Beyond this, because of the Tom Phillips’ Court Case, the Church has now been forced to admit there is no factual truth in the Church teachings.
The Church leadership sent lawyers to defend President Monson against accusations that tithing was being obtained, or sought to be obtained, from its members by the making of untrue statements of fact.
In defending the Church from the accusations of fraud those lawyers admitted on behalf of the Church in a Court of Law that there is no factual basis to the claims for Mormon beliefs.
The Church lawyers said, “the question of beliefs is not allowed in law.”
“Statements made by the Church are not facts, they are beliefs. Nothing is ever said as fact, it’s just belief!!!!”
Every General Authority’s testimony and all the members too will now be seen in a different light. Not as truth, but merely belief.
So from now on we know that there are no facts in Mormonism, only beliefs!
One more step to having true freedom of, & from, religion
The act of challenging the Church in this way has eroded the legal and political systems’ reluctance to consider religious fraud.
At first sight it looks like Tom Phillips’ evidence in the case wasn’t tested in court, but actually it was. Not by a jury as we wanted, but by the very experienced District Court Judge, Elizabeth Roscoe.
Tom’s evidence for the fraud being carried on by the Church was tested by Judge Roscoe. She tested the evidence very thoroughly in Court for nearly four months, putting every conceivable defense to Tom’s legal team until in the end she had to accept 90% of the evidence and issue the Summons. She did not do this lightly, her own reputation was on the line.
Now it seems another Judge, or the legal/political system in the UK, has decided it is not time to attack religion in this way. Maybe they are thinking there are bigger repercussions for religion generally?
Nevertheless, for this case to get this far in a Court of Law is unprecedented in legal history.
Just as with gaining votes for women with the suffragette movement, or overcoming people’s attitude to slavery, social change takes time and effort. It takes losing a few battles to gain the greater victory eventually. The time in which religion can commit crime with impunity is coming to an end.
Religion cannot get a free pass to do what it likes. It cannot be allowed to break the law without consequences.
At the moment there is still far too much respect for religion generally in our societies. Yes we should respect people’s rights to hold ideas or beliefs which are different than our own, but those ideas don’t deserve to be respected just because they are religious ideas. If that was the case we’d still be living in the Dark Ages with Catholic beliefs determining our daily lives and behaviour. Thank goodness for people of courage through the centuries like Galileo who challenged the thinking of his day to become “the father of modern science.”
One day in the future, people may look back in time to thank Tom Phillips for his actions in challenging the ability of religions to commit fraud without fear of legal redress.
Tithing is Voluntary & Optional
I was taught that tithing is a commandment of God with consequences for disobedience including being burned at Christ’s Second Coming and losing my Eternal Life.
https://www.lds.org/new-era/1982/01/the-blessings-of-an-honest-tithe?lang=eng
Children as young as four are taught that tithing is necessary to obey God.
Primary Children’s Lesson on Tithing
Notice question 6 states that it is wrong to say, “It doesn’t matter if we pay tithing”, strongly inferring in the vulnerable minds of very young children that tithing is not optional.
People cannot even join the Church without agreeing to pay tithing for the rest of their lives in a Baptismal Interview.
Since the Tom Phillips Fraud Case we now also realise, through the lawyers acting on behalf of the Church, that tithing is no longer required, but is optional.
Several times throughout the Initial Hearing in the Fraud Case the Church lawyers stated categorically that “tithing is a voluntary donation” made by members of the Church.
This being the case, maybe members being asked to serve in a Calling in the Church, attend an LDS Temple, or as a priesthood holder baptising their own child, could ask their Bishop if they are okay with them choosing not to pay tithing, because it is optional!???
The Voluntary Nature of Tithing & Misinformed Consent
Your Money Or Your Eternal Life: Conned Out Of £60,000
The Tom Phillips fraud case against Thomas S Monson should be seen as a catalyst in growing support for change in the Church
The court case has raised awareness of the controversial issues to vastly more people than ever before. More members are now reconsidering their own testimonies.
This means many more people are talking about the controversial issues this case has raised than ever before. Many previously unmentionable subjects (the ‘elephants in the room’ we all know of) within in Mormon/Ex-Mormon relationships have been noticed and spoken of since this case became world news. Many of those relationships have improved as new levels of understanding have been achieved, whilst it’s sadly true that some have worsened, I am heartened to hear of many situations where relationships have been strengthened because of this action.
I celebrate the fact that many new avenues of communication have opened. I believe in authenticity for ourselves & with others. For ourselves as we live lives of honesty & integrity, and with others as we can be open and honest in our communications with friends and relatives, rather than living with the unspoken differences of opinion.
With the courage which Tom Phillips’ has shown in bringing this case against the Church for fraud, many more disenfranchised members and former members have felt emboldened to come forward and plead for change. Tom Phillips bravery has acted as a catalyst for other action to gather pace. Because of this case we now have the wonderful Mormon Open Letter which in only a few weeks has been signed by several thousand members and former members, with every growing support across the world. The aims of the Mormon Open Letter of encouraging the Church to be honest, open & transparent regarding the controversial issues in its doctrinal beliefs and history I believe will bring about more positive change in the Church. Another aim of the Mormon Open Letter is to encourage more acceptance of those who question or change their beliefs, which I think will happen at an accelerated rate because of the issues raised by this case.
My own view of the Church is that it was built from a rotten core of lies from its inception. That doesn’t mean I don’t accept there has been some good achieved by the Church. However, I mainly think that any good that has been achieved has been because of the members and in spite of the Church.
Just because I think the Church has done some good things in the past, I don’t think it should necessarily continue.
Much like I agree that the First World War helped emancipate women.
Both of the vehicles of change were tragically flawed, but there were some good outcomes.
From a personal context I do wonder if it hadn’t been for the Church and my eventual epiphany from it that I may not have had such a curious interest in psychology of belief etc. Which again I see as a good thing.
However, I tend to think of Mormonism a bit like hitting one’s head against a wall. It’s only a good thing when you stop it!
Music which became very poignant for me during my transition out of Mormonism was the stirring musical piece ‘Now We Are Free’ from the movie Gladiator by Ridley Scott.
Moving forward
We will continue the campaign for Honesty, Openness, Transparency and Acceptance.
We will find other ways to challenge the Church to be obedient to the laws of the land and be honest with its members and investigators about its history and doctrines. The Church will eventually be forced to give full and frank disclosure instead of ensnaring members in a web of deception, half-truths and lies.
History is on our side. This is what happens to all religions – eventually.
“Dr. Martin Luther King said, “We must not drink from the cup of bitterness and hatred.” We can be angry about the injustice, but we can’t let it get us down. We have to remain happy, joyful, fun-loving people. We can be the more fun people. We can have the most fun! We don’t have to be repressed by their morality. Let’s live happy, joyful lives. Yet, we can never compromise on our critique of dogma. We need to increase the understanding of who we are by coming out and living openly.
“We need to be humanitarians. We need to do charity work. We need to choose to be good because it feels good, it is the right thing to do, and it will lead to the salvation of humanity, not in the next world, but in this one!
“No longer will we let discrimination stand. No longer will we hide what we believe. We believe in truth, integrity, love and honesty. We believe in freedom. We will gain respect as we gain the love of our friends, our family, and our neighbors. We love and we deserve to be loved like anyone else.”
~ Delivered March 24, 2012 by Todd Stiefel at the Reason Rally on the National Mall in Washington D.C.
Steve Bloor's Blog 
For another brilliant insight into Tom Phillips’ Fraud Case Against Monson I highly recommend reading David Twede’s excellent blog post – http://mormondisclosures.blogspot.com/2014/03/god-or-fraud-chromo-chronistic-spectral.html?m=1
Reblogged this on Reasonable Atheist.
Pingback: Updates on the court case. | Mormonism Investigated UK
I think that you overreached and that you should have only included doctrines that are strictly mormon. I think you would have fared much better. As it was you would have in my opinion and the judge’s created a slippery slope against all religions. The particularly mormon doctrines can be disproved because they make statements of fact: DNA & American Indians, various assertions of fact in the BOM, etc.etc. fipr example. There are many more.
Congratulations Steve, you now sound like every other anti-mormon I’ve ever read about, your transformation is complete.
Boyd K. Packer’s “The mantle is far, far greater than the intellect” laid bare the philosophy that people can’t be trusted to take wise decisions based on complete information. General Authorities must then, having all information themselves, decide for us and give us only the information they think is “useful” (useful for them).
That runs against their own “plan of salvation” and the need of agency. The capacity to decide and choose for ourselves is taken when history and facts are manipulated.
According to Packer, Machiavelli was right after all, the end do justifies the means.
Nothing worked as much to destroy my confidence in the “prophets, seers and revelators” as realizing they were deliberadly dishonest with me.
“The end justifies the means” has been a staple of Church policies for a very long time. Also, The Plan of Salvation was scrapped several years ago and has been officially changed to The Plan of Happiness. Nice, huh?
The “principle” the Church teaches which gives me the most chills is “obedience is the first law of heaven”, not love. Now, that’s really scary. Criminal organizations like the Mafia operate on that basis, but a religion??
Great points Camille
Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and render unto GOD what is GODs. What in the world does that have to do with the tithe? Remember this one fact! The Lord speaks specific! He is the true truth! so when it comes down to it, let EVERY MAN be a LIE! and let GOD BE TRUE! So let’s only speak about things that we know (studied) and not with what we’ve heard lest we lie and lead others astray. back up everything with scripture and prove all things. I also believe that: Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and render unto GOD what is GODs. What in the world does that have to do with the tithe? Remember this one fact! The Lord speaks specific! He is the true truth! so when it comes down to it, let EVERY MAN be a LIE! and let GOD BE TRUE! I also believe that: Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s was referring to a literal tax imposed by Caesar. But render unto GOD what is GODs” is something that I believe Him to be saying: render the all of you to GOD, mind, body and soul in full service, day and night. The body of Christ is suffering because we are willingly ignorant. We will not study/read for ourselves. We rather be lazy and depend on a man/pastor/preacher instead of Jesus the one that saved us. Remember! Christ is the Head! everyone else is the body and that includes your pastors and bishops. They are merely your fellow servants. Everything that you want to know concerning TRUTH is all found in the WORD. If you want to know about the tithes, take time out and commune with the Lord in His Word and He with show you The Truth about the tithe, if you really want to know! The tenth/tithe is simply of a food source and has been given to a specific tribe of Israel, the Levites! Numbers 18. The tenths/tithes is not on a filthy buck but on FOOD! and I challenge anyone to find in scripture where the tenths have been changed from food to money by the Lord Himself or where is it written any where in the scriptures that the tenths/tithes have been transferred from the Levitical priesthood and given to a gentile minister/preacher/pastor/prophet/bishop. We are all priest in the body of Christ. Please don’t believe that lie that they did not have money back then because that is a huge lie, study it for yourself. This false tithe that men take today and it’s frequency is not found written anywhere in my Bible according to my 4 years of research. Can anyone tell me if they have received a poor tithe or did you even know that it existed? What about the festival tithe? this tithe was eaten before the Lord in the place that he would prescribe. We were all duped by following man/pastors with the book of Malachi, and it’s our own fault! All we had to do was to read the book of Malachi starting with chapter 1. The Lord clearly say’s who He is speaking to, and it is not us. He tells you plainly who is robbing him and what nation he is talking to, the scripture did not say the ENTIRE WORLD. He is speaking to a specific people in a specific nation, and if I may say the windows of Heaven is simply rain, and meat in MY house is simply food and the devourer is literary insects/bugs eating up the crops. So the question is! why are these ministers telling us this falsehood, it isn’t but two reasons why. They are unlearned and are following the traditions of men or they are doing this intentionally, either way they are wrong. If by tradition of men! then why are you telling people things that you know not about, or on the other hand, if done intentionally! it is our job to confront these wicked ministers and to expose them, or continue to sin with them. Remember! there is no mediator between GOD and man but JESUS alone, NOT any PASTOR or any man, they are just your fellow servant. Also why do we give to one man/pastor? The scripture says that he is to get his living from the Gospel NOT TO MAKE his living off the Gospel. Have we lost our minds! Why do we continue to give to one man and neglect our brother or sister sitting right next to us? Have you ever realized that you have to wait mystically, in faith, on your financial blessing! but the pastor gets his right off the top which takes no faith at all. So either the Lord loves a certain part of the body more than the other, or we have this thing all wrong. Listen, if I have anywhere from 3000-30,000 people that I have convinced to give me money every Sunday and Wednesday plus twice in one day! and some Monday’s! then guess what? I’m paid, and this does not include the unscriptural 10% tithe that they take/demmand, that does not belong to them. Sorry, but for the most part the gathering should be for those that have a need, that the needs of the people might be met. We are all guilty of making one brother/pastor/fellow servant wealthy and left all others in the same body lacking, and then we actually believed that this foolishness was from the Lord, to boot! Why would we keep giving to one person that is obviously well supplied and fed. We knew to stop in our hearts when we seen the Mansions and Rolls Royce’s plus the benze’s. What part of this resembles Jesus, john the baptist, or any of the Apostles. We have over paid these pastors/members in the body of Christ and don’t even realize that we have done evil. This is not what took place in the early Church as per the book of Acts. They at least tried to meet the needs of the brethren that there would be no lack, and I don’t mean making one rich or excusing anyone from working a job. Let’s get one thing straight, these pastors, preachers, bishops, and alleged prophets are NOT Apostles. You all know full well that you can’t find any of the apostles or Christ himself asking for or receiving a tithe. How could they? When all of the tithes were given to the tribe of Levi, the Levitical priesthood by GOD for the work they do for serving at the meeting tent, and that’s within the boundaries of Israel. So let’s stop equating these gentile pastors and bishops to the tribe of Levite or The High Priest, in which JESUS CHRIST himself alone is now our High Priest and not any man. By the way, who told you as a gentile to pay a tithe? was it a man or the Lord? Before you answer, back up your answer with scripture and not with what a man told you. That would be putting man before God. To really know the truth about the tithe and any other partial or snippet of scripture that you think that you were taught by these alleged pastors, you would have to step away from the visible Church house and go directly to your source, The Word of God and ask the One that created you, saved you and The one that you plan on spending all of eternity with, and see if He will help you. Also the visible Church is not the Church nor the Temple, the people that make up the body of Christ is the true Church and our bodies are the temple, in fact any body in the body of Christ is the Church. Be not deceived! quite a bit of these ministers may have started off well, but have become overtaken by money or fame (egged on by the people) and their own ego. Remember! you cannot serve mammon and God. If you think that this can be accomplished by the majority of ministers, just see if they will sell all and give to the poor. OK, lets try this, how many people do you know personally that have been healed? 1 person 2 people? half of the people or all of the people? how many delivered? how many raised from the dead? or how many made wealthy among you? as if the gospel was delivered to us to make us wealthy. The scriptures say that the poor you have with you all way, so you see that we have a conflict! lot of these ministers say that you are suppose to be rich. So who’s lying here? We know it’s not The Word of God. We have fallen into all of this false teaching and twisting of scripture because we will not study! or in better words: commune with GOD through JESUS in His Word, The Bible. We have substituted getting to know our Husband The LORD by not studying, and have looked instead for brownie points by going out to a building that we call the Church every Sunday and Wednesday and saying within ourselves that this should be a credit to my account for getting into Heaven, knowing full well that we have not learned anything, but you can say that the Choir was nice! or things like! he sure did preach! He preached what? Do you mean that he was entertaining? because for the most part the saint that has been saved for any period of time have already heard this same message. We’ve heard the gospel preached, received the Gospel and are now saved. So why do you keep listening to the Gospel message again and again after you have believed and received. Shouldn’t we ought to be spreading the gospel after we have received it? Congregating is nice, but how is this developing your relationship to get closer and closer to the Lord? For the most part these ministers/pastors are not going to encourage you to move on in the Lord by insisting that you study to further prepare yourself for your own work in the Lord, because we are all in the body for a reason to do something. But why wouldn’t they tell you this? First you might learn and know more than they do, and second, they may have a fear of you leaving thus losing headcount, funds/money. We were never saved/called to follow a man to this degree. I have personally never met a true pastor. I’ve met a lot of preachers. A true pastor is a somewhat overseer and warns the people in hopes of not losing any brother or sister in Christ. So what is a mega Church? by the way this place we call the Church is actually a meeting place and it does not take a million dollar building, tents and folding chairs will do. But if you say you go to a “mega Church” then who is overseeing you properly? or if you have a “mega Church” how are you overseeing thousands? Also as a large side note, or pretty much a question, Please show me in scripture this message that these ministers are preaching about health wealth and prosperity or any of these raising-money a-thons. Where and when did Jesus or any of the Apostles carry this message? We fall into many hurtful things by not knowing the scriptures. Do you people realize how many times these pastors have sent their children to college on your money while you can’t send your own kids? and buy these huge homes with the people money while you can barely afford pay your rent and bills? or do you even care? Do you think that these people are more loved or special than you in the sight of THE LORD? really? Interestingly the Apostle Paul worked a job and provided for himself and if I’m correct I believe he said that he helped those around him. Although Paul received some help here and there, he also said that he rejected the people’s gold(money) and fine raiment. So are we saying that these pastors are above the Apostle Paul? Absolutely NOT! unless we have lost our minds completely. Have we? People! we are bordering on Idolatry by placing a man above Christ or on the same level as Christ. The is a grave error and should be stopped immediately! I believe that we have lost perspective. This way of thinking did not come from above. As for the entire body of Christ, let no man deceive you. Let no man take you crown nor give it to him. Let no man/pastor/bishop or alleged prophet tell you that you have nothing to say as a member in the body of Christ. Please remember that you were personally invited to the wedding feast by The One who saved you and not by man. You are very important in the body of Christ and let no man tell you otherwise. We should be willing to give all to GOD through JESUS. That is our heart, mind, and body. Please do not be afraid to point this out, speak up and expose any and everything that is not like GOD in accordance to the scriptures, no matter if they be a bishop or a pastor. Do these things internally. Keep JESUS first and endure till the end. Remember! in the world you will have trouble but in him you will have peace, but the Scripture did not say: in the world you will have trouble but in him you’ll be made wealthy. I found out the truth about the tithe and that there is no tithe under The New Covenant about 19 years after being saved and I did not receive it from a man directly. Also, lets not fall for the Abraham argument. Let’s not revert back! The last information that we were given concerning the tithe before the Old Covenant was closed off, is that! whatever the tithe was that supposed to have preceded the Law, be it the Abraham or Jacob tithe. The latest and the last update that we have is that The Lord gave all of the tenths/tithe to that particular tribe of Israel, Levi, and there is no known scripture that reverts us back to pre-law and even if there were to whom would we give them to? We would have to find Melchizedek, drum up some spoils of war, give the tenth part, and then give the 90th part back or 90% back, which would leave the tither with zero. None of these ministers/preachers/pastors/bishops/alleged prophets are Melchizedek nor a High Priest. As a side note: I have heard some of the Melchizedek Shem debate. Please read! Please read! Please study for yourselves and repent.
Your fellow servant in Christ
Steve
It is interesting that Mormons are encouraged to seek examples from the BoM on how to conduct their lives. Did Alma hide behind lawyers when confronted by Korihor? No he did not.
Thanks Brian Ogborn
Sent from my iPhone
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In the grand scheme of things all Tom and the other parties involved have achieved is wasting their time (and money) and generating some fruitless excitement in the ex mormon community.
All of the anticipated outcomes that Tom sprouted on about all over the ex / post/ questioning mormon internet were never going to and indeed did not occur,
This post is desperate searching for a silver lining to save face after a comprehensive legal defeat. .
Hi Renee,
The truth of the matter is that the evidence was not tried before a jury so the case is only pending. It was withdrawn for problems with legal technicalities. No case was won or got kicked out. Only withdrawn for the time being.
The fact that a very experienced District Court Judge tested the evidence for nearly four months, agreeing to allow 90% of the evidence and issue the summons for fraud against Thomas S Monson is very telling in itself. Unprecedented even.
There was no comprehensive legal defeat. The trial never happened…. yet!
The fact that the Church had to pay all its own Court fees, whilst Tom Philips, the plaintiff, had all his Court fees paid by the Court is also very significant.
Hello Steve
I feel you are being a bit disingenuous in your latest posting,
Having read the judgement (now freely available) these statements almost jump out of the page;
“I do not accept that the essential elements of the offence are present in the information presented.”
“I am satisfied that the process of the court is being manipulated to provide a high profile forum to attack the religious beliefs of others, it is an abuse of the process of the court”
“It is non-justicable.”
The trial never happened yet, Steve, you must know the trial wont ever happen yet you leave that statement up in the air. Like there is another criminal law case you or Tom can pursue.
As I’ve said before, I wish you well and you are free to keep company with who ever you want and believe what you want, but really is this how you thought it would be and you revoked your church membership? Tom does not have your best interests at heart.
PeterW
Sooner or later someone will call a halt to this Mormon Ponzi scheme.
Freedom of religion does not mean freedom of religion to commit fraud.
What Tom Philips has done has brought the day closer when the world will no longer tolerate this and will regulate to protect the victims of this crime.
Truth Will Prevail!
Tom Phillips was my Stake President, my boss at the church offices and his son was a witness at my temple wedding. Whether or not you agree with Toms points of view, he is a man of complete integrity. Never has anybody committed themselves more to the gospel, it’s doctrines and it’s members. Nothing was ever too much trouble for him or his family, who emanated the pure love of Christ. If Tom has pursued this course of action it would not be in his own interest, it will be something that he will be willing to sacrifice his own reputation for in order to help others and have what he truly believes is the truth brought to light. Whether a TBM or an ex-Mormon, non of us are in a position to judge another man, certainly not a man who is not known to them on a personal level. It has taken his level of commitment, his integrity and his concern for others to tread this very path in the first place. We need many more people like this in and out of the church to finally sort out what is truth and what is myth.
Thank you for you sincere and heartfelt remarks about Tom Phillips.
I too stand in awe at his integrity and sacrifice for truth.