Mike McDonald

A bit of a deep cut, but real ones will get it.

@AiG Three things seem to always be certain: Life, death, and AIG misrepresenting Dr. John Lennox

These brilliant Christian thinkers have made a HUGE mistake. Today, Dr. Terry Mortenson raises eight objections to Dr. John Lennox’s and Dr. Jack Collins’ claims about the age of the universe and the Genesis account of creation.

@AuronMacintyre @Cash_Nicholson Why not mute then? Blocking is so lame

I answered Joel’s questions about Fuentes and then he turned around and lied about the answers I didn’t even block him for that I blocked him so I don’t waste my time responding to every insane thing he posts That said, I still agreed to debate him and offered to debate him again He stopped responding

Joel has a very difficult time reading something that he doesn't fully agree with, so like a leftist, he simply plays guilt by association smear games because we can never be adults and entertain an idea before rejecting it, we must ban any and all disagreement and only read Sean Hannity books If you watch my series on Dugan you will see that I regularly stop and warn that he hates the West and wants us dead I have tweeted regularly about his use of progressive tropes and woke langauge I have been very clear that he is a Russian propagandist and all of his work must be read in that light I talked about it on my show again today in response to Dugan's crashout But Joel is confused how anyone could read Plato's Republic and not immediately become a Platonic fascist He doesn't under philosophy, which is fine, he doesn't have to, but it would be nice if he spent his time being funny instead of lying about people and acting like Anita Sarkeesian

@JoelWBerry @Commiesgetded x.com/AuronMacintyre…

@Commiesgetded He blocked me years ago when I asked him to clarify his position on Nick Fuentes

I think Auron MacIntyre should explain why he has spent the last few years acting as an American evangelist for Dugin. No doubt Auron disagrees with him here, but he’s only upset because Dugin is doing reputational damage to the creepy philosophy Auron has been lovingly laundering for Western audiences since he mysteriously popped on the scene with a fake name.

@AuronMacintyre @Cash_Nicholson x.com/JoelWBerry/sta…

@Cash_Nicholson I offered repeatedly but he ghosted me

I don't recall citing what you have here. I have only cited the scan of Clayton's journal. It appears you are citing commentary on the journal rather than the original source material. To my knowledge, there is no mention of a "single character" from the original sources. It appears this is merely a modern hypothesis. It also doesn't take into account, "Descendant of Ham" or "the history of the person" taken from Clayton's Journal.

@christiancoms @HansFiene If you are just lazy and haven’t researched this very well, then maybe spend the time next time to become informed. If you are intentionally leaving out details and being dishonest, then now is the time to make a change. You guys are all like this.

The verses in the Book of Mormon about not baptizing babies are so hilariously anachronistic. It reads like "and lo the angel declareth The Spy Who Shaggethed Me, though be it PG13, be it far too bawdy; Renteth it not from thine Blockbuster!"

This still ignores the firsthand contemporary account from William Clayton, Joseph’s own scribe and clerk. He recorded in real time that Joseph translated a portion of the plates and gave specific details: the person was a descendant of Ham through Pharaoh, received his kingdom from heaven, etc. Clayton had zero incentive to fabricate this against Joseph. It’s not secondhand rumor. It’s a direct record from inside the circle. On Fugate: The hoaxers didn’t need to shout it from the rooftops immediately if Joseph’s translation didn’t go public or cause major embarrassment at the time. Their later admissions (including Fugate’s) still confirm the plates were a modern fake with no ancient history. The point stands: Joseph confidently produced wrong content about a fake artifact. Powers of retribution matter here too. By 1843, Joseph was mayor of Nauvoo, had his own militia, was running for president, and had a track record of harsh action against critics (press destruction, excommunications, and more). If the hoaxers had been exposed or mocked him publicly right after, they risked real consequences in that environment, not just social snubbing. The fact that they admitted it later when it was safer doesn’t erase Clayton’s record of what Joseph actually said and did at the time. You’re still treating this as if no real translation happened, despite the eyewitness scribe saying otherwise. Speculation vs revelation doesn’t rescue it. Joseph presented it as translation using the same claimed gift and method tied to the Book of Abraham papyri (which Egyptologists universally say are standard funerary texts, not Abraham’s writings). The empirical failure on a testable fake is the problem. I'm not cherry-picking here. I merely responded to a funny tweet with two things I find amusing. The Clayton journal is a contemporary firsthand record from Joseph's own trusted scribe who was right there with him. It's not some random later critic or enemy source. Apologists only question it now because the plates turned out to be fake. For over 130 years the church treated this account as reliable enough to publish it in the official History of the Church as Joseph's own words. I'm using the strongest, most direct evidence available: what Joseph's inner circle recorded at the time. If that's cherry-picking, then what exactly are the better, contemporaneous sources you're relying on that show Joseph didn't translate any of it or correctly identified the plates as a hoax? Point me to them. The full context still hurts the case for Joseph. He didn't say "this looks suspicious" or refuse to engage. He examined them, claimed to translate a portion, and gave specific details about the ancient owner being a descendant of Ham through Pharaoh. That's the same method he used for the Book of Abraham. When tested on something we can actually verify as modern fake brass plates, it failed completely. That's not speculation on my part. That's what the record shows.

@christiancoms @HansFiene Without Joseph’s own commentary or an actual ‘translation’ it’s not definitive whether Joseph was just using his secular skills to make a guess or generally speculating, etc. There are plenty of actual claims of revelation from Joseph Smith but you ignore those 🤔

@BMcGrewvy He kept on saying to himself, “A dem fine woman, sir, a dem fine woman. A superb creature.” ... “Andrew, my boy,” he said to himself as he looked in the glass, “you’re a devilish well preserved fellow for your age. A distinguished-looking man, sir.”

Apropos of Dawkins's Claude Delusion it occurs to me that Uncle Andrew from Magician's Nephew would have been one-shotted by AI.

This post doesn't deal with the critique. - It ignores Clayton's journal who isn't incentivized to change any history: Joseph did translate a portion on the spot and gave specific details (descendant of Ham through Pharaoh). - The Fugate quote is years later, secondhand, and self-serving. . Fugate wrote it years later (after admitting it was a hoax). It's not from Joseph or a neutral source. Even if true, it doesn't erase the fact that Joseph still produced a wrong "translation" of a fake artifact right away.

@christiancoms @HansFiene Fascinating that you cite this website but avoid some critical details. Turns out you’re the charlatan, not Joseph Smith. Congrats!

For the LDS responses in denial: Joseph Smith’s scribe and clerk (William Clayton) wrote “I have seen 6 brass plates which were found in Adams County… Prest. J[oseph] has translated a portion and says they contain the history of the person with whom they were found & he was a descendant of Ham through the loins of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the ruler of heaven & earth.” - The "not a real translation" defense fails: Clayton’s journal is a direct contemporary record from Joseph’s own scribe. Joseph did claim to translate a portion of the plates and gave specific content. Calling it “non-revelatory” or just “linguistic guesswork” does not erase that he presented it as an actual translation. - Lack of follow through is irrelevant: He produced a confident “translation” of a document that was completely fake and meaningless. The fact that he didn’t publish a full book doesn’t excuse getting it wrong (it still shows the process produced false results). - Using the GAEL to explain the Kinderhook translation proves Joseph relied on the same flawed system he created for the Book of Abraham. It doesn’t separate the two issues. It connects them. - Misses the point that Joseph could not actually translate Egyptian. The papyri are standard funerary texts (per all Egyptologists), yet he produced an entire scripture from them using the same GAEL that led him to mistranslate a modern hoax. This demonstrates the failure of his claimed translation gift on testable material. - Special pleading on “kinds of translation”: Distinguishing between revelatory vs. non-revelatory doesnt resolve the empirical evidence that the method produced incorrect results on both real and fake artifacts. bhroberts.org/records/0yAxfr…

The Kinderhook plates definitely contains some of the best LDS anachronisms (with the book of Abraham being a close second). There are so many in Islam, but this one makes me laugh: “Pharaoh declared, ‘O chiefs! I know of no god for you other than myself. So kindle for me, O Haman, [a fire] upon the clay and make for me a tower that I may look at the God of Moses. Indeed, I think he is among the liars.’” He's trying to remember the story of Pharaoh and Moses but introduces Haman (from the story of Esther) because he was an illiterate caravan robber.

@Primary_Pianist @HansFiene I see you have your location listed in Bentonville on your x account. If that's accurate, we can meet up and talk in real life if you want. Shoot me a DM.

@christiancoms @HansFiene Sounds like you havnt really done much research in any of it…

@JeffreyHarmon @LetsFindOut16 @AngelStudiosInc @andyserkis It turns out they did know what they were talking about.

@LetsFindOut16 @AngelStudiosInc @andyserkis They don’t have a clue what they are talking about.

From the mind of @andyserkis, based on George Orwell’s best seller, Animal Farm tells the story of farm animals working to establish equality among each other. In Theaters this May. Pre-order your tickets at angel.com/animalfarm

@paleochristcon Papua New Guinea is one of the few countries to recognize the Trinity in their constitution (Greece and Ireland are others).

Lmfao

To be fair, Angel Studios is Mormon and Mormons (traditionally) think they are Jews (literally, by blood) so the shekels checks out. See references below: “The Book of Mormon came to Ephraim, for Joseph Smith was a pure Ephraimite, and the Book of Mormon was revealed to him” — Journal of Discourses, vol. 2, pp. 268–69 (April 1855) "Every person who embraces the gospel becomes of the house of Israel. In other words, they become members of the chosen lineage, or Abraham’s children through Isaac and Jacob unto whom the promises were made. The great majority of those who become members of the Church are literal descendants of Abraham through Ephraim, son of Joseph. Those who are not literal descendants of Abraham and Israel must become such, and when they are baptized and confirmed they are grafted into the tree and are entitled to all the rights and privileges as heirs.” — Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 3:245–46 (compiled by Bruce R. McConkie)

@teameffujoe @AngelStudiosInc Another one that sold his soul for a few shekels

Not surprising, but @AngelStudiosInc has put out another banger of a movie! #AnimalFarmPartner #PaidPartnership

Pragmatically, I struggle to feel strongly about this debate since I watch three or fewer films a year. It started during grad school when I had little to no spare time. Once I stopped watching them, I found it hard to get back into watching movies (independent of any shifts in industry quality, Christian or otherwise). That isn't to say that, a present, my life is completely void of entertainment as I will watch occasional YouTube videos and I have three young children (which I try to keep off screens as much as possible.) In reference to Nick's post, I understand objecting to point one, but I don't think point two is out-of-this-world insane. Disagreeable to some, perhaps, but not necessarily deserving of the hyperbole as it is not requisite for a good story. I realize I'm probably in the minority here and may even be perceived as part of the problem. However, I don't feel cooked about my relationship (or lack thereof) with film/good storytelling. A bit past medium-rare or even lukewarm perhaps, but not completely cooked. At least not yet.

We are so cooked.

@ApostateProphet @calvinrobinson We know this is AI because it would be the longest stretch that he didnt blame Israel for something.

@calvinrobinson I thought this is AI. You need help!

I genuinely thought this was AI when I first saw it. Please, someone close to Erika, speak to her in love. She cried leaving the Correspondents Dinner, “I just wanna go home” Encourage her to go home. She does not need to do this. Go home, be a mother. x.com/dissidentwest/…

@not_our_guy @MasonSCraig Agreed.

@MasonSCraig Elevation (or even Bethel) is infinitely more reform-able than EO or Roman Catholic Church.

Historic Protestants, If there were no other options, which Church would you attend?

And wasted most of your childhood scrolling her phone and posting the slop herself. I know way too many cases like this offline. It's so sad, especially when the kids are viewed as accessories. The same kind of women, if they were from liberal backgrounds,would trans their kids for clicks and social standing.

People used to worry that kids believing in Santa would undermine their Christian testimony to their own children. Imagine becoming an adult and realizing that your mom was actually just one-shotted by post-COVID meme disinfo slop from her Instagram algorithm.

@josephbackholm I thought of you when I saw this clip. Reminds me of the question, "Is abortion a moral good or a necessary evil?"

Good job, Congressman!