Please Don’t Ask Me to Bear My Testimony!

My critics are much exercised because they believe I am trying to force someone to publicly bear their testimony.  This is a mere obfuscation.  I am criticizing his published position on an intellectual issue of interest to the Latter-day Saints.  If he want’s to further explain his position, he’s welcome to post on my blog, or elsewhere.

I am not asking him to bear his testimony.  I am asking him to clarify and explain the cogency and coherence of his ideas as expressed in a published essay.  It is purely an academic issue.  I have not insulted him (like his supporters have done to me), I have not accused him of being unchristian (as his supporters have done to me), I have not vilified him (as his supporters have done to me).

If someone asks me if I believe in evolution, I tell them I do indeed, and I defend my views.  If someone asks me if I believe in a universal flood, I tell them I don’t, and I defend my position.  If someone asks me if I believe in Mesoamerican geography of the Book of Mormon, I tell them I do, and defend my position.  And there are many Latter-day Saints who believe that my position on those three issues is heresy.  Yet I don’t whine that people are calling me a heretic or forcing me to bear my testimony.