[Teachldsseminary] CHAT: check out hoax's? Boyd K Packer

[E. Keith (JB) Howick, Jr.]

Sis. Mitchell,

I'm President of the Wallace, ID Branch.  We receive a letter from the 
First Presidency every couple of years reminding us that non-general 
conference quotations from any Church leader that are not properly cited 
and verifiable* are to be avoided, that we're to keep an ear out for the 
use of improperly cited quotations or stories and gently remind the 
Membership that passing on such information is usually more harmful than 
beneficial.

It's great that the CES website has this and other hoaxes listed for 
your benefit.  I wish such information were readily available to all the 
members of the Church.  However, the simple rule from the Brethren 
suffices.  Basically, if you personally can't search for it and find it 
on the Church's website or open a book and point to the quote (if 
originally authored) and a source citation (if not), don't use it and 
don't pass it along.

I'd like to also point out that any email containing citations to people 
like "the wife of Boyd K. Packer's grandson" should be considered a hoax 
by definition.

JB Howick

*A quick note about verification.  Publishing a quote in a book is not 
enough to validate the quote.  A fabulous example is a quote by Oliver 
Huntington printed in The Young Woman's Journal (v3:263-4, 1892) where 
he claimed that he had heard Joseph Smith teach that people lived on the 
moon, dressed like quakers, and lived to the the age of 1,000 years....

Neil Armstrong proved Oliver Huntington to be a liar, but because his 
unsourced claim had been printed in a church periodical, it was believed 
to be true.  It's not enough that a quote has been printed.  It must be 
originally sourced, too, or it should be avoided.




Linda Mitchell wrote:
> Where does one go to check out LDS hoaxes?  I just got this and wanted to
> check if it was real.

-- 
*E. Keith (JB) Howick, Jr.*
President
/WindRiver Publishing, Inc. <www.windriverpublishing.com>/