Why ask a question only to reject the answer you receive?

Question

For arguements sake? Stubbornness? You think the person is lying to you?
I have noticed that when some people ask questions about a faith/religion, and others who are members of that faith/religion answer, the questioner basically responds with "oh that's not what you really believe" or others on the forum repsond with "well they won't tell you what they really believe"...is this odd and a bit annoying to anyone else???
I am Mormon and this happens to me all the time. Anyone else?

Blondie - I appreciate your concern...but I have a very stong testimony of the gospel. I know my Heavenly Father loves me and that the gospel is true. thanks though

Askmrreligion - and what "doctrine" would that be? seriously, I am curious...what do you think I "don't know"

MistyAnn - Ever hear of line upon line, precept upon precept? Why would an 8 year old be expected to learn the same things as a 40 year old? I've been to the temple and no, there is nothing being hidden...

Answer 1

First, I apologize for the cumbersome length of this response.

You make a good point, Pinkadot. I think that some ask questions (or give answers) with the intent to provoke others, they sometimes aren't really soliciting opinions but simply want others to tell them what they want to hear, some (especially with religion) want to defend their own beliefs or convert others, and clearly some simply believe anything they don't agree with is foolish. It is a disappointment that the majority, or at least a significant portion of answers fall within this area and are not thoughtful responses.

I must address AskMrReligion. He clearly has missed the point of your question. He states that "I think your underlying premise is that you believe that what you know about your faith is all that is necessary to defend it to others." It seems that he believes that others simply don't have a complete understanding of their religion's doctrines. He later appears to assert, ironically, that, unlike the rest of us, he does have a complete understanding of his own religious doctrines because he "search[es] the scriptures daily to find the truth of what I may hear or read." He expresses precisely the attitude he criticizes, a belief that it is only "what [he] know[s] about [his] faith [(and yours) that] is all that is necessary to defend [his faith] to others" and to criticize everyone else's.

Of course, in his second paragraph he makes particular emphasis of mormons as being unaware of their own doctrines, asserting by implication that he has greater understanding than even mormons of mormon doctrines.

His self-aggrandizing rant fails to note that most catholics do not subscribe to, read, or even know about the various official publications of the Vatican, much less their content. Of course, many practicing Catholics don't subscribe to Church doctrines that they are aware of (e.g. prohibitions of pre-marital sex, contraception, etc).

It appears to me that AskMrReligion, as his name implies, simply wished to use your question to assert to us all that he simply knows more about religion (including your own) than the rest of us do.

I think his answer falls into the category of responses that you asked about in this very question.

Finally, I must note that if AskMrReligion truly believes that one should not discuss religion unless they are a theological expert, this would quickly become a very secular world.

And here I thought discussion was good.

Answer 2

I agree with your analysis 100%. It is especially frustrating when they specifically direct a question to "Mormons", but the pick as the best answer a response from a non-Mormon. That doesn't make any sense. If they really wanted to know what Mormons believe then they would have picked a response from a Mormon. Based on this behavior I can only conclude they aren't sincere in their questioning and/or are just trying to make their point, support their bias, find adequacy in their insecurity, or just be hateful. Whatever it is it is interesting. Religion is faith based and will therefore always be disputable, but it is personal. If someone or some people believe the way they do, then we should respect them and look for respect in return.

Misty Ann, it's "milk before meat" because you can't understand the complex without a foundation. A better analogy is that you probably wouldn't want to study algebra before first learning simple addition or your times tables. If you jumped straight to algebra you would not only not understand, but you would probably give up math entirely. The Mormon faith doesn't want to lure people in and then give them the hard to chew stuff later, but they want to follow logical progression.

Answer 3

I think your underlying premise is that you believe that what you know about your faith is all that is necessary to defend it to others. Hence you become defensive when someone points out to you more than you might know.

I have found that many Mormons have not read all the doctrine of their faith that has been published over the years by its church leaders. When confronted with the literature of these persons, and its content, Mormons become defensive because the content of this literature is clearly not theologically sound. Many Mormons turn to their stake for support, receive the party line, and go no further. Rather you should seek out knowledge on your own and test what you have been told against the scriptures.

I don't mind it when I am confronted with critical and cogent analyses of the Christian doctrine. I welcome this because I search the scriptures daily to find the truth of what I may hear or read. Far better to know and understand what I have staked my eternal soul upon than to be ignorant of the doctrines.

Answer 4

Pink, I'm former LDS. You know as well as I do that they don't tell you everything up front, when you convert to the church. It's only after you've been in awhile and gone to the temple that you start learning and hearing things. I'm not sure who said this, but the LDS church as a "milk before meat" way of teaching converts the church doctrine. They are concerned that if they tell them everything the church believes, the converts will leave or not join the church. They should be concerned. I've left the church after 13 years. I started really studying the Bible and reading, not non-LDS stuff, but LDS stuff. I've discovered that the church is not what it claims to be. That's just my experience.

Answer 5

Almost. I am Roman Catholic. What I see a lot is some Protestants telling us and others what we believe. The two most frequent misconceptions are that we worship statues and that we believe Mary is equal to or greater than God. We teach no such thing. Unfortunately people frequently use this forum more for conflict than for learning.

Answer 6

I have noticed that trend. It seems like people just hope to get offended on this forum so they can have something to whine about. By the way, I'm a Christian (Baptist denomination), but that's a moot point.

Somehow I wandered into this section of Answers today, but usually this is exactly why I stay away from "Religion and Spirituality" questions. No one is here to get converted or find real answers to their spiritual questions. They just want to be mad! Let them! : -)

Good observation.

Answer 7

I forget approximately those questions and flow directly to the subsequent. there are quite some us who positioned a lot of concept & attention for others in our solutions. it incredibly is not an internet site to argue and dismiss human beings. it is for others evaluations. I could trust Frizzer, Kat, Professor X & Kim. the region has replaced so I basically seek for the exciting clever questions that are no longer meant to argue. there are quite some those that do basically that yet we would desire to constantly post with the nonsense. Have a large day to all.....:)>-

Answer 8

From my experience with other sites
I think some people use these sites to
promote their belief and so they are not asking
for others in put but merely to see who is of like mind
and who they can sway to seeing things their way
Sorta like they are using the board for their own
little bible studies board and they are giving the lessons

Answer 9

I think some people ask questions on this forum either to proselytize, or to get justification from like-minded persons about their own opinions.

Answer 10

Yup! I even get people sending me personal emails asking me deep questions about my beliefs, and then when I take the time to give them a lengthly response, they just say, "well I don't believe it; NICE TRY!" Or "Typical Christian response".