Okay, I suspect this thread is on its way out, which is good because I am probably going to have to pledge to limit myself once again very soon, and because this thread had been very time consuming for a while there. However, I had one more thing I really wanted to share before this thread enters semi-retirement (it will of course still be a place where anyone can post questions, but I will not actively seek any responses and I believe most people's curiosity has been settled for the time being).
I am a big fan of books, especially religious books. The following pictures are of my religious books. We recently bought another shelf and they're getting reorganized, so they're not necessarily in the order I like, and this isn't even all of them (I could get about two more shelves loaded for you). This is a sample to show you how much I study this. Now I'd be lying to say I've read all this, but I've certainly looked through them and read many and at least used those not read as reference material.
I'm a little disappointed at the fact that I don't seem to have made available my Mormon Doctrine collection by Bruce R. McConkie. While the name sounds authoritative, McConkie was chasatized for his first edition's tone and inaccuracies. He made several changes to reduce the offensive nature of his work when releasing his second edition, but he also did not change many things specifically criticized by Church leaders in his first edition. He later released a slightly revised second edition, which is the version most know today. The first edition is usually pretty valuable and goes for around $300 on eBay at times, though I've seen rarer printings go for more and damaged versions go for much less. I happen to have one of the damaged versions, which I obtained for $150. I have the second edition and the revised second edition as well. That's a collection I'm proud of.
I have nearly a complete set of the Messages of the First Presidency as well, shown in the third photo. The complete set usually goes for $450-$600 on eBay. I have volumes 1-5 (missing 6), plus two duplicates (2 and 5). The best part is that while individual books can be priced as high as $75, especially the rarer volumes 4-6, I have gotten all my books including duplicates for no more than $40 total. That's why I love thrift shopping :)
The fourth photo shows my Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr. (great nephew of prophet Joseph Smith and 10th prophet, and in his earlier years served as the Church Historian and Recorder. He wrote quite a few books on doctrine from a very faith-based perspective. Next to him I have my B.H. Roberts collection. He served as a Seventy and wrote the History of the Church and the Comprehensive History of the Church (first is a collection of documents edited together, second is more of an analytical synopsis), as well as several other books. He wrote from a much more scientific and critical angle, and really provided an intellectual and analytical perspective of the Church and its doctrines. These are two of my favorite Church authors, and they were contemporaries who did butt heads at times.
Finally, I have a collection of several different translations of the Bible, including Catholic, Protestant, Jehovah's Witness, scholarly, and Jewish translations (shown in second photo). I also have a copy of the "Inspired Version," a very offensive edition to most non-Mormons as it contains what we call the Joseph Smith translation. Smith altered many passages in the King James Bible in order to provide what we believe may be a more accurate rendering of some things. I use cautious wording here, as this is not simply a matter of actual translation. His work could be called more of a commentary, explanatory, expansive, clarifying, and at times correcting work. To give a minor example, the Bible says in Matthew that Jesus' robe was scarlet while John describes it as purple. Smith altered the scarlet to purple for consistency, presumably by us because this is the correct color, and significant in that purple is the color of royalty. Our official Bible is the KJV for several reasons, but the Joseph Smith Translation serves as a resource at times. This could be useful for those offended or interested in order to learn more on the topic.
As I said, this is not all. I also have a collection of works for other religions, such as two copies of the Qu'ran, Baha'i sacred texts, and other works. Especially interesting to me are the groups that claim adherence to a truer form of the faith revealed to Joseph Smith, such as the before mentioned Community of Christ, some things related to the ever-popular fundamentalist sects that practice polygamy and make the news more often than we do, and most interesting to me, the Strangite sect. The Strangites believe that James J. Strang should have succeeding Joseph Smith instead of Brigham Young, and make a very interesting case. There are even schismatics among this branch, and all membership in the whole world of all branches total less than 1,000 members, but they've never vanished despite ongoing pressure. They are a very interesting group.
All in all, I feel very qualified in my religious knowledge for an amateur on the topic. I really would have loved to major in religious studies. In any case, I wanted to show off about 70% of my collection for fun. Thanks for peeking, and thanks for all who have been interested in this thread. I hope that ultimately I have settled some of the confusion, although it appears the tea thing will forever be a stumper. I also hope that I have reduced a number of misconceptions, reduced any prejudice, and have not completely alienated any of you towards my faith. It really is a beautiful faith despite its human shortcomings. Remember, in any human institution, even divinely inspired ones, man's fingerprints will always reduce its perfection. Nevertheless, I truly believe that this is God's Church.
