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There's certainly a difference. But most chocolate isn't actually made in America. The best chocolatiers all use chocolate sourced from other parts of the world, so you will still find plenty of delicious options here - so long as you know where to look.

Whether I use an acorn and an oak tree, a horse zygote and a 1,200-pound stallion, or a human and God, the point remains identical. Developmental distance or physical appearance does not alter their species kind.

I agree with all of this, of course. Real-world scholars generally have too much dignity and tool little time to seriously engage with all this and "substitute facts for appearances and demonstrations for impressions." Is AI now powerful enough to systematically go through all of the data and weigh it correctly? A year ago I think the answer was clearly no--it didn't have enough persistent memory to keep track of all of the details and could be easily manipulated by prompts, how the evidence was framed, and what it was considering in the moment. With GPT 6 Astra, that might be changing--maybe now, it can keep the big picture in mind and consider all of the evidence properly, including making sure the evidence is internally consistent and that nothing isn't double-counted, and that the proper bayesian a prioris are properly accounted for. That is what I want to test.

Brainstorming about this, in theory we could create some sort of digital signature system where the only people who are given digital signatures are people who have proven they are real (e.g. a real-world notary public could issue these digital signatures to real-world people). If we did that and limited participation to only people with digital signatures, that would prove we're all human. Or would it? I could "verify I'm a human" by getting a digital signature from a real-world notary public, but then give my credentials to an AI assistant and tell it to post under my name. Perhaps the moral of the story is that internet forums are in AI's world, not ours. I we want a guarantee we are talking to real people we need to get off the screen, go outside, and talk to people the old-fashioned way.

Sorry here's the link. Chapter 16: The Church of Jesus Christ in Former Times https://share.google/crr086laJhZPiZdLP

Your own manuals teach that because of wickedness and apostasy, authority and priesthood keys were removed from the earth. The link below spells it out, says the organization that Jesus established here on earth no longer existed after his death and confusion resulted. Error crept into church doctrine and soon dissolution of the church was complete. It goes on to explain that the period of time that the church NO LONGER EXISTED on earth is called the great apostasy. It goes on to explain pagan beliefs dominated the thinking of those called Christians. Explains that the Roman emperor adopted FALSE CHRISTIANITY. Then says that the church the emperor adopted was very different from the church Christ organized. Finally, if you read the link to the end, the article explains that traditional Christianity was the church of Christ NO LONGER; it became a church of men. Why are you trying to say Christianity has two distinct histories?

I have a question. How do you go about learning to do that? It seems like a situation where the mother bird pushes her chicks out of the nest and wishes the best for them as they fall to the ground Is there a way to train for the falling with wings part of the dive without killing yourself?

I did see this, but I'm kind of waiting for the other shoe to fall, like the promotion of a documentary that has to do with the church focused on our lifestyles and in that sense positive and our good will goes a long way. The real lifestyles of the ideal Latter-day Saint would do well. I can see he remaining impressed but otherwise he may not stick with it if there isn't more to it. Dan McClellan is at the very least a lifestyle Latter-day Saint, and I'd imagine could have laid down positive facts of the church and made a secular case for being a member. I don't know if that includes faith in the spiritual truth claims, because those seem to be things Dan seems to keep private from the public, but who truly knows one on one. I've seen many popular podcasters promote the Christian lifestyle and wants society to be more Christian despite personally not even believing in God, like Asmongold.

It is when God the Father (the God of gods) appoints you to rule and reign with him, correlating with what it says in Revelation 3:21 and others.

Maybe it was struggling to be pro, or maybe it was playing at a different level. In this exercise, the problem with tying down the BoM to a specific location is that it constrains further evidence. For example, if we say the big Mayan cities were Book of Mormon cities, then that means for the Book of Mormon to fit, the language clues should match Mayan, not Hebrew. But I agree with you. The model should be doing its very best to sound like a real apologist and be something that apologists would embrace. And the critical response should be pretty blunt, also: if the BoM were an authentic historical record, is this what we'd anticipate seeing? At this point, I'm not going to edit the prompts--I'm going to see how it responds to your comment and to what people post here. I really appreciate your feedback in this experiment.

When is the moment you are first considered a god and/or have a divine nature?

What about a horse just born?

Mormon doctrine separates Christians from Mormons. It seems you want to have two separate Christian histories. On one hand you want to claim nearly 2000 years of Christianity as part of your own Christian history. But on the other hand you want to claim Christ's church was removed from the earth and then had to be restored. That claim is two distinct and separate histories. One here on earth and one somewhere else, wherever the priesthood was taken back to. Restoration means according to Mormon doctrine, necessary power and authority were removed from earth. That means Christianity was removed from the earth according to Mormon doctrine. Let's remember, the gospel you follow is taught on other planets, so God apparently has the ability to remove the "true" gospel from a planet whenever he seems it necessary. If that's true, then traditional Christianity isn't part of your gospel. Your gospel was removed from the earth apparently to protect it? So my question is, during the 1800 year apostasy, was Christ's authorized church here on earth? If not, was his authorized gospel being taught on other earths during the 1800 year apostasy? Because if Christ gospel is taught on other earths and Christ has the authority to remove his gospel from an earth as Mormon doctrine teaches, then Christianity wasn't on earth during the 1800 years Catholicism and Protestantism was established.

Faith and charity are not enough for entrance into the Spirit Paradise. Faith and charity alone is a path to Spirit Prison/Hell. We discussed to his a few weeks ago and with all my studying I haven't found any doctrine that says Spirit Prison has a "subsection" I think you called it, that is considered to be hell. Everything I find says Spirit Prison is hell.

If there were any serious and convincing evidence, academic non-Mormons would treat the subject seriously. But there just isn't. I mean just the fact that New Testament books are quoted hundreds of years before they were written is obviously disqualifying from the perspective of historicity. There are hundreds of such problems, and each on its own is completely disqualifying. One can of course always retreat to the idea that God is intentionally trying to obscure the evidence so we have to ignore the use of our critical faculties, but you could use that kind of reasoning to argue for literally anything, up to and including flat earth and a 6,000 year old universe. But of course it's not the case that "the evidence isn't strong either way." There is no serious case to be made for BOM historicity. It's one of the most one-sided historical questions I know of.

A worthwhile experiment IMO AI is increasingly capable and if apologetics continue to ignore those capabilities, responding reasonably will become overwhelming soon. If not already too late

And how long will that last once some human decides it wants to use it to influence by directing discussions? (Insert pensive sigh) “My roll will be limited to clicking on the box that asks to verify that I'm human whenever the site asks for that verification. ” I hope we come up with better ways to determine AI soon besides box clicking.

A couple of weeks ago I saw this video posted by Dan McClellan: In the video Dan Beecher and Rainn Wilson said they would join the LDS church if they could "be in the Tabernacle Choir". This doesn't quite count as being "in" the Tabernacle Choir, but yesterday KSL news had the following article headline: 'My dream has come true': Rainn Wilson sings with the Tabernacle Choir Rainn Wilson is working on a documentary exploring what God means in the modern world and is meeting with people from different faiths as part of the project. He joined the choir and orchestra for a practice last week and watched their Music and the Spoken Word performance on Sunday. The KSL article mention's Dan McClellan's video and posts a link to it: I presume the video mentioned in the last paragraph of the quote above is this one, posted in July of 2025: There may be a different original source to this video, as this one is framed with a Book of Mormon quote from Enos 1:3. But I thought it was interesting that Dan McClellan got mentioned in a KSL news article as well.

I read the pro version and it is really struggling to be pro. It really doesn't like the idea of the Book of Mormon being a specific location. You can see it being very cautious and not wanting to tie itself to Sorenson's map. It isn't advocating its position very strongly, unlike the previous versions you had done.

It's easy enough. Sort of. The English word "sacrament" comes from church Latin sacramentum, which ultimately derives from the Latin sacer, meaning 'sacred' or 'holy'. In Ancient Rome it was the term for a soldier's oath of allegiance. 3rd-century Christian writer Tertullian suggested that the word was also a sign of initiation into the Christian community, through baptism and the Eucharist. Seems reasonable to me.

Two additional articles with added details: How the woman in the alleged Cornell gang rape case realized she was a victim and launched a push for justice CBS News obtains alleged victim’s sworn statement to Cornell University Police A very troubling story. Thanks, -Smac

The "incantation"? You're equating priesthood ordinances to magic rituals now? And who is this weird cosmic reality you speak of?

If one applies it to the use of meth or bath salts…. Perfect. Mj, opiates etc not so much. prescriptions?? I can’t recall what my wife was given but I had to take a leave of absence from work as it made her certifiably … out there

It still pops into my head frequently whenever dealing with prescriptions, even taking my meds. A very smart ad, but a bit imprecise.

Well-intended hyperbole, but hyperbole nonetheless. And ironically, this is a sort of self-flattering hyperbole, of the "Man, my humility is awesome" variety. Frankly, I think very few of us will ever reach a point where becoming a Son of Perdition is possible: In the Doctrine and Covenants, sons of perdition are described as inhabiting "a kingdom which is not a kingdom of glory."[7] However, it is commonly believed that since most persons lack a "perfect knowledge" of Jesus, they cannot commit the eternal sin, and are therefore incapable of becoming sons of perdition.[8] I have known a lot of Latter-day Saints. Some very few have made claims to remarkable spiritual experiences, but people who go around advertising that they have had "the heavens opened unto him" are more likely to be advancing wish fulfillment than actual experience. Again, well-intended perhaps, but still substantively misguided. Yeah, that sounds more likely. Thanks, -Smac