Recently I expressed some hope that Dan and the other "Interpreters" might be moving toward a different mode of apologetics that accommodates a variety of faithful Latter-day Saint interpretations. Maybe, I hoped, he would even begin to support and corroborate the teachings of the prophets instead of repudiating them.
Apparently that's not the case. Sigh.
A few days ago, Dan did a fireside at which he rehashed a bunch of his decades-old apologetics, including his M2C theory.
Dan the Interpreter spelled out his approach to these topics: "I used to say, 'I'm the one with the mic and you're not, so tough luck.'"
He says he "used to say" this. Except he's still saying it.
After all, that's the message of the Interpreter Foundation: "tough luck" if you don't agree with our interpretations. And don't forget, we're taking donations, too.
Sad.
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In the clip below, Dan discusses M2C. It's incredible that he is still teaching people that Joseph Smith was an ignorant speculator who learned about the Book of Mormon from a popular travel book.
Watch the clip below and see for yourself.
https://youtu.be/rodeGihInBA?t=2854
BTW, apparently it's fine to discuss Book of Mormon geography in Church buildings so long as you promote M2C.
Dan jokes that the geography isn't essential to salvation, which everyone knows. It's a typical straw-man argument. M2C is problematic not because it jeopardizes anyone's salvation, but because its premise--that Joseph and Oliver misled everyone about the Hill Cumorah--undermines the credibility and reliability of Joseph and Oliver.
Joseph and Oliver were the only two witnesses to the restoration of the Priesthood, the only two witnesses to the restoration of temple blessings, and the only two who were authorized to translate the plates. They were the principal witnesses of the actual translation, and they both testified repeatedly that Joseph translated the record with the Urim and Thummim that came with the plates.
When Dan and the other M2C/SITH "interpreters" teach that Joseph and Oliver were wrong about Cumorah and the translation, they cast doubt on everything Joseph and Oliver said.
Dan related his belief that "Joseph was delighted when he read a book called incidents of travel in central america chiapas and yukatan written by John Lloyd Stevens which was published about a decade after one appeared and he discovered that there were cities in central America were fortified with ditches and walls and palisades logs and houses and cities of cement this is exactly what the Book of Mormon had described and he was delighted to see it it's an area by the way where we know there was writing and that isn't true in all areas of the of the uh ancient mesoamerican or even pre-pre-columbian-american world. I won't go into that but we do know there was writing and we do know there are writing systems that use timekeeping systems one of them is really interesting."
Rarely do we see so much spin and misinformation packed into a single presentation.
Of course, Dan doesn't tell his audience what Joseph, Oliver, their contemporaries and successors said about the New York Cumorah because Dan advocates for M2C.
Just like Dan doesn't tell his audience what Joseph and Oliver said about the translation because he advocates for SITH.
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People who follow Dan and the other "Interpreters" instead of doing their own studying and thinking might believe what Dan says. But even the critics know that Dan's approach directly repudiates what Joseph and Oliver taught.
[Notice how the critic in this case goes on to point out how the Heartland approach is at least consistent with what Joseph taught. Unfortunately, he digresses into his objection about millions of people dying at Cumorah, a common misreading of the Book of Mormon that M2Cers also claim.]
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A far more effective apologetic approach would inform people about the scriptures, the teachings of the prophets, and the actual historical sources, and then offer multiple working hypotheses--including some that corroborate those teachings instead of repudiating them the way Dan does.
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