Human Tales

1. Sorry the recording quality is not perfect. 2. A Mormon prophet is chosen not by who is the oldest at the time of death of the previous prophet, but by who has served the longest in the quorum of the 12 apostles at the time of the previous prophet’s death.

I didn’t get a chance to see this talk when you gave it, though I remember wanting to. Your delivery was great, with what I thought was a good mixture of humor, information, and humanity toward the subject at hand. After listening to this, I know a lot more about Mormonism than before, and the mindset you outline throughout the talk explains a lot about the family and social dynamics of the several Mormons I knew back home. Keep up the good work!

Fantastic talk - you’re inspiring me to do something similar where I am in Canada.

You mention holding a priesthood - can you put that in writing here. It sounded like Malkizidic, which the great Google tells me is part of the Dungeons and Dragons world. Is that right?

Thanks again for the great talk. Scott

I enjoyed your presentation, Mark. I have a question. I’ve known three families of Mormons, and every single one has been amazingly nice. *Way* past nice. What accounts for that? For example, Scientology was started by a crook, and his followers are either dolts or crooks, no surprise. But Joseph Smith was also a crook. So how could all my Mormon friends be so, I don’t know, saintly?

To answer Scott: In Mormonism, the “higher priesthood” is called the Melchizedek priesthood, named after a high priest in the Old Testament; a man to whom Abraham paid tithes.

To answer Tom: Mormon culture encourages a lot of niceness. Especially to others when Mormons might be seen as an example of what Mormons ought to be. It’s good advertising. Not all Mormons are super nice, but many are. If you are really into Mormon culture, like any culture, you’ll tend to adopt the values of that culture. Niceness is one of those values.

Been through this whole thing myself.

I can only imagine how good it must feel for xpalmer to teach with full confidence he is at last teaching the truth.