Author: Sharon Lindbloom
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Mormonism and the Pressure to be Positive
In July (2012) Salt Lake City’s City Weekly interviewed former Mormon John K. Williams. The resulting article, “Mormon Mission Spin – John K. Williams: Pressure To Be Positive,” discusses Mr. Williams’ experiences and personal struggles as a Mormon missionary in Bolivia, as a returned missionary, and now as an ex-Mormon. The focus of the interview,…
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Mormon Temples: One Way
Thomas S. Monson, the current LDS president and prophet, has a Facebook page. Well, actually, a Thomas Monson Facebook page exists, but it is “not an Official church Facebook page.” The page describes itself as, “Quotes and talks from Thomas S. Monson.” A couple of weeks ago (24 June 2012) the page posted a picture…
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Mormonism (at Best) a Very Distant Cousin of Christianity
Eliza Wood, a contributing blogger to Huffington Post, recently (27 July 2012) wrote an article titled, “Are Mormons Closer to Muslims or Christians?” Her reason for tackling this question: “As the media shapes our understanding of the Mormon faith, now that we Americans consider electing our first Mormon presidential candidate (Mitt Romney), it might be…
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Transitioning from Mormonism to Christianity
Earlier this year Reuters reported that the top leadership of the Mormon Church is not only aware of the fact that Mormons are “leaving [the Church] in droves,” but the leaders “really care” about the situation. Additionally, ex-Mormon discussion and support groups have popped up all over the Internet. In answer to the “I’m a…
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Mormon History: Here a Blip, There a Blip…
Latter-day Saint Melissa Inouye writes, “Mormonism isn’t like a string of Christmas lights.” She would rather liken Mormonism to a loaf of sourdough bread, and here’s why. Each light in a string of Christmas lights is dependent on the other lights in order to function properly. If one light is broken (in her example), the…
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Mormonism and the United States Constitution
With the 4th of July celebration of America’s independence on our minds, a look at Mormonism and the Constitution seems timely. I originally wrote the following article in 1999 after an experience I had while participating in a Christian outreach at a Mormon temple open house event. Though it is possible that the Mormon Church…
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Do Mormons and Christians Share the Same Gospel? (part 2)
On Monday (18 June 2012) Mormon Coffee addressed the claim made by BYU Professor James Faulconer: “Mormons differ from other Christians in significant ways, but there is little difference between us in our understanding of the gospel.” How individual Mormons understand the gospel may or may not line up with the teachings of Church leaders,…
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Do Mormons and Christians Share the Same Gospel?
LDS Professor James Faulconer recently posed and answered the question, “How Do Mormons Understand the Gospel?” After exploring a few ideas, he concluded, “Mormons differ from other Christians in significant ways, but there is little difference between us in our understanding of the gospel.” I won’t speak to how Mormons-in-the-pew “understand the gospel,” but regarding…
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Mormonism’s “Formative Period”
Robert Millet, professor of education at Brigham Young University, has contributed an article to the Washington Post addressing the question, “Are Mormons Christian?” As part of his apologetic published on June 4 (2012) Dr. Millet wrote, “So far as I can determine, the cry of ‘Mormons are not Christian’ was not heard very often during…
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Too Many Mormons Look Back
During a recent panel discussion Mormon apologist Scott Gordon talked about the Mormon doctrine of continuing revelation. He said, “Continuing revelation means the Church learns and grows as well. And I think what we do is we often go back to the Evangelical fundamentalist viewpoint that if you go back far enough, you’re going back…
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Why Would “Five Wives” Brand Offend Mormons?
Much has been written over last week or so about Idaho’s ban of the sale of a particular brand of vodka because of its label. The spirit, made at Ogden’s Own Distillery in Utah, is called Five Wives Vodka, and the Idaho State Liquor Division doesn’t like it. On May 24 (2012) Howard Wasserstein, deputy…
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Prince of Angels, Brother of Jesus
Gregory J. Krieg wrote a blog for ABC News titled, “Mormons! The Least You Should Know.” Mr. Krieg, writing from a political perspective, laments the misinformation on Mormonism that appears online, and wants people to be better informed about the Mormon religion. He explains, “Ignorance creates a vacuum and vacuums, especially in politics, sometimes get…
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A Vision of Mormonism’s Premortality
Did you know that no women chose the side of Lucifer in Mormonism’s premortal War in Heaven? Of course, this is not official LDS Church doctrine, but according to a vision received by Mosiah Hancock in 1855, every female spirit chose to either side with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ or to remain neutral during…
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Airbrush Correlation Up to Mormon Standards
Heather, a blogger at Doves & Serpents, made an interesting discovery. In a blog posted last week (May 16, 2012) Heather, a Latter-day Saint, wrote about a painting by Dutch artist Carl Heinrich Bloch that was reproduced in the December 2011 issue of the Mormon magazine Ensign. It seems that Bloch’s painting, The Resurrection (1873),…
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Experiencing the Mormon Temple for the First Time
I recently came across a web page on which a Mormon man recounted his first temple endowment experience. Following his story, he posted “sincere replies from other church members” who wrote about their own first temple experiences. The perspectives of these Mormons who were excited and ready for the spiritual experience of their lives is…
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Mormons see “anything but a unity of the [Christian] faith.”
LDS Apostle Jeffrey Holland was invited to speak at Harvard Law School last month (20 March 2012) during the LDS Student Association’s annual Mormonism 101 series. His talk was about what Mormons believe. After telling his audience about Joseph Smith’s First Vision and the Mormon proclamation of complete Christian apostasy, Mr. Holland explained, “It is…
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Does Mormonism Still Teach God the Father Was Once a Man?
Joe Carter at The Gospel Coalition blog recently wrote a good article providing relevant FAQs in answer to the question, “Are Mormons Christian?” The first topic Mr. Carter addressed was, “What do Mormons believe about God?” His answer began this way: “Mormons claim that God the Father was once a man and that he then…
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A Mormon Denominational Walkabout
On a recent visit to Kansas City I stopped in Independence, Missouri. It was a beautiful spring day, so I took a short stroll covering approximately a five-block area near the LDS Visitors Center. Of course, the Community of Christ’s temple dominates the landscape, but the small area is further dotted with churches that spring…
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Incidents of Persecution in Missouri
Earlier this week Michael Otterson, the head of public affairs functions for the Mormon Church, wrote at the Washington Post’s “On Faith” blog that Mormons in Missouri are currently experiencing “a time of healing” from the persecutions they suffered at the hands of Missourians back in 1838. Mr. Otterson wrote, “In the troubled history of…
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