Author: Sharon Lindbloom
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The Three Witnesses and Reality
On March 18, 2010 LDS professor Daniel Peterson authored a guest blog for Mormon Times. In “The three witnesses and the reality of the Book of Mormon” Dr. Peterson writes, “Serious critics of the Book of Mormon must neutralize the testimonies of the witnesses to the golden plates. “ Dr. Peterson praises another LDS professor,…
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Joseph’s Orb: Undeniable Sign of Truth?
I am at a loss. I can’t find the logic in a statement found in Mormon Times (or the article that follows it). Maybe the Mormon Coffee community can suss this out and make some sense of it for me. Mormon Times reported that at the BYU Studies Symposium a couple of weeks ago Paul…
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Source of Truth
The African Ex-Mormon Foundation recently published an article in The Inquirer Online newspaper (Liberia, West Africa). Seeking to address the question, “Is Mormonism The Same As Biblical Christianity?,” the article forms an interesting argument: The author notes that number one above, the source of truth, is the most important key to understanding the different faiths.…
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The Primary Purpose of LDS Temples
It has been said that the purpose of LDS temples is to make men into Gods. Many Mormons dispute this, complaining about the insensitive way this sacred information is presented. Whether such a statement seems sensationalized or not, the question is: Is it true? In the October 2009 Ensign LDS Apostle Robert D. Hales wrote…
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Mormon-Catholic Tolerance
Last week Mormon Times ran a guest blog by BYU professor Daniel Petersen titled “Mormon-Catholic tolerance goes back to Brigham Young years”. Dr. Petersen’s remarks were an informal response to Francis Cardinal George, the head of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, who spoke at BYU on February 23rd (2010). Cardinal George reportedly wondered…
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Thus Saith the Lord: Go Get a Tan
National Geographic Magazine recently published an excellent feature article titled The Polygamists. Journalist Scott Anderson’s insightful piece about the FLDS church, its people, and its history is well worth reading. In the midst of this article Mr. Anderson writes this about the FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs (who is currently in prison): “Jeffs’s diary, also seized…
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Make-Believe Mormons
On February 21st (2010) a young woman sent her secret to the Post Secret blog. She wrote, “I started a blog to talk about how I’m ‘Faking it’ as a Mormon…I haven’t told my husband I joined for him.” Calling herself “The Faker,” the blogger describes herself as “Married, childless, petless, late-20s… and, of course,…
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Why Do They Hate Mormons?
Mormon Times columnist McKay Coppins recently wrote about a bit of misadventure endured by LDS missionaries as they headed off to begin their missions. Before they even got beyond the airport they had suffered two incidents of rudeness directed at them because of their identifying missionary badges. To Mr. Coppins’ credit, he wrote, “I am…
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Ignorant Translators Commit Many Errors
Christian apologist Rob Bowman at the Institute for Religious Research’s Mormons in Transition web site has published a nine-page study of The Book of Hebrews and the Joseph Smith Translation. Mr. Bowman maintains, “My argument here is simple: a comparison of the JST [Joseph Smith Translation] to the KJV [King James Version of the Bible]…
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“Picky, theological details”
On January 25th (2010) LDS Seventy Bruce C. Hafen spoke at the University of Utah during a fireside for young adults. Though I didn’t agree with everything, I found some of Mr. Hafen’s remarks (as reported in Mormon Times) to be quite refreshing. For instance, “Faithful questioning is a hallmark of a searching soul, he…
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Danites
Always interested in Mormon history, I’m currently reading a book about the 1856 Mormon handcart tragedy. Before getting to the heart of the story, the author (David Roberts) provides a sketch of some of the history of the Saints leading up to the handcart “experiment.” Mr. Roberts touches on a bit of Mormonism’s past that…
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Purging the Church
The Bible talks about church discipline. With a double emphasis on holding firmly to the truth and living a moral life, the New Testament says the church (the body of true believers) is to call sinners to repentance. If someone is accepted as part of the visible church but refuses to repent of sin, whether…
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LDS Missionaries Annoy Aussies
A newspaper story from Australia came across my desk this week. It seems that some students and staff at Melbourne’s Deakin University are being annoyed by LDS missionaries: MORMON missionaries are “creepily” spruiking for new members in an underpass near Deakin University, an academic says. Two missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter…
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The Law
One significant difference between biblical teaching and Mormonism has to do with the nature of God’s Law. LDS leaders teach that salvation/exaltation is gained through faith plus works. To achieve the celestial kingdom (to spend eternity in the presence of God) one must believe in Christ and also keep the commandments embodied in the Law.…
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Mormon Theism
Christianity is a monotheistic religion, but what is Mormonism? Mormonism has been called monotheistic, polytheistic, henotheistic, tri-theistic, and more recently, monolatristic. I don’t know if there is a defined theistic category that fits Mormonism, but let’s look at what these five are, and see which seems best suited for the LDS belief system. I checked…
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