Mormons generally are good people, like most Christians...folks just trying to deal with life the best they can. It is not like there are these arch-villain type of teachers teaching the folks what to say. Mormons all the way from the top down simply do not have the answers, nor are they equipped to deal with question that are beyond the "talking point theology" we were instructed in. There is nothing deep or exhaustive about LDS theology. I have a few LDS commentary and they are a joke...there is no inductive reasoning within them.
if anything they are instructed more o walk away from a debate than to engage. Back in the day , about 10-15 years ago there was a forum one could debate the top LDS apologist...folks like Daniel Peterson, Ben McGuire, Lou Midgely, and others. These men and women had no better answers than the folks we engage with here. Like those here, most often it came down to ad hom remarks to avoid a direct objective conversation. My current request for a conversation about the BoM standing alone, would be dodged just as it is here.
Of all the Mormons I have debated with, which are many over the years, including those I mentioned above and more...the most open and honest apologist was, and you know him, Daniel MaClellan. At least he makes you dig in and think out your arguments in many cases, and he in one of few that actually know what the Christian faith teaches and what be basically believe.
those days are gone, some fired from their position at the NMI at BYU. The church's "try" at apologetic's failed miserably, the GA reeled them in and there is no longer a discussion with these folks.
My point is that LDS theology is "shallow"...it is based on bits and pieces of truth mixed with JS home made theology that has absolutely no roots in reality making it impossible to dig deep. It is like digging deep into a fiction novel; at some point it dead ends with the mind of the author.
They avoid discussions here about their theology not because they don't want to have conversation, but because they can't ...once the surface is scratched...they are lost.
Think about this...have you ever, and I mean ever seen OC, or DB or any other members here present a LDS position, lay out a premise, and follow it through? No, and you never will, their prophets and apostles couldn't do it either simply because their theology is nothing more than repeated talking points.
This is why theology is not important inside the church walls. It is why members sleep in class, in church, or google and shop in sacrament. (a common discussion on LDS forums.)
As Christians we cannot prove there is a God, yet we can present evidence based on our faith and interpretation of scripture. Technically so can a Mormon's. The difference is theirs is built on evidence of the imagination of JS. There is no natural proof that the BoM was real...every piece of it is up for debate in regards of it generating from real people in real places.
In other words, one can deny the existence of God, but they cannot deny the existence of Jews and Christians in an ancient world that believed what they did. You cannot deny Jerusalem, or the Nile, or Egypt, or Camels and Chariots complementing the narrative.
Mormonism has none of that...there are roadblock and dead end at every doctrine or narrative that strays from the Bible.
And yes I suppose it is wide--great analogy...but again very shallow...putting together a defense for LDS theology demands tearing down the question asker and starting endless rabbit trails, which in the end fall.
