Author: Sharon Lindbloom
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Raising the Bar: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
LDS missionary Jose Calzadillas finished his mission to Ohio last month (April 2009). When he tried to board a plane to head for home, he was arrested on the charge of being an undocumented immigrant. Mr. Calzadillas, like all other Mormons, would have made certain covenants at the time of his baptism into the LDS…
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“Saving Ordinance” Demoted to “Symbolic Gesture”?
You’ve probably heard about the current flap over the apparently unauthorized LDS proxy baptism of President Barak Obama’s deceased mother. People are offended on both sides of the issue. We’ve discussed this topic here on Mormon Coffee a couple of times over the years, when continuing LDS baptisms of Jewish Holocaust victims have been in…
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Apostate Apostles?
On April 6th (2009) LDS-owned Brigham Young University’s student newspaper, The Daily Universe, ran a photo with an unfortunate caption. Pictured were some members of the Church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. They were identified in the newspaper as “The Quorum of the Twelve Apostates.” The Associated Press reported, “The typo was an honest mistake,…
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Buyer Beware
On March 26th, 1830, following a reprint of the text from the title page of the Book of Mormon, this announcement appeared in the Wayne Sentinel: The above work, containing about 600 pages, large Duodecimo, is now for sale, wholesale and retail, at the Palmyra Bookstore, by HOWARD & GRANDIN. The initial printing totaled 5,000…
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Joseph Smith did more than any man who has ever lived…
I understand that Mormons respect and revere Joseph Smith. I get that. I really do. Yet sometimes the way he’s talked about, even in an official sense, seems a bit over the top. In the February 2009 Ensign magazine former Seventy F. Burton Howard wrote, “If Joseph saw what he claimed to have seen, and…
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No Love Lost Between Mormons and HBO’s “Big Love”
Have you heard about the next episode of HBO’s Big Love, set to air on Sunday (March 15, 2009)? It’s being widely reported that the television show will be depicting the LDS temple endowment ceremony as one of the main characters faces losing her LDS Church membership. Read more about it from The Associated Press.…
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Reactions to Paul’s Letter to the Galatian Church
The Sacred Sandwich web site posted this on February 20th, 2009. It bears repeating–and discussing.
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Sacred Taxonomy
Every now and then I hear a frustrated Mormon express something like this: “Why are other churches so threatened by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Other churches even have classes against us! My Church would never do that. My Church never says anything negative about other churches.” Apart from the fact that…
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Mormon Jurors Not Welcome?
Last week The Associated Press reported, Defense asks for no Mormons on murder trial jury OGDEN, Utah — An attorney for a man charged with aggravated murder have filed a motion to keep off the jury any members of the Mormon church who might believe that the only way for him to be forgiven by…
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Fruits of the First Vision
In this month’s First Presidency Message (February 2009), Dieter F. Uchtdorf wrote of how Joseph Smith’s First Vision blesses people’s lives. He wrote, “Through his [Joseph Smith’s] work and sacrifice, I now have a true understanding of our Heavenly Father and His Son, our Redeemer and Savior, Jesus Christ, and I can feel the power…
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Inhabitants of the Moon: Truth or Fiction?
One Sunday morning a few weeks back my pastor, discussing the relationship between science and creation, mentioned a newspaper hoax that took place in 1835. It seems New York reporter Richard Adams Locke wrote a six-part series of articles detailing new scientific discoveries that exposed the existence of life on the moon. From lunar forests…
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The Red Brick Store
Not long ago a new LDS web site was launched: The Red Brick Store. The web site describes itself like this: “A collaboration amongst editors of Mormon-related journals and magazines to nurture and share good writing and good thinking in Mormonism.” One of The Red Brick Store contributors, Stephen Carter told Mormon Times, “We wanted…
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Mormons and Evangelicals in the Public Square
Columnist Joel Campbell at Mormon Times encourages Mormons to turn the other cheek when they are offended. Citing Tom Hanks’ statement that the LDS support of Prop 8 was “un-American” and Focus on the Family’s decision to pull an online interview with LDS conservative Glenn Beck, Mr. Campbell suggests Mormons meet such challenges with courage…
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Text in Context
During the Priesthood meeting at the last General Conference, President Thomas S. Monson addressed the congregation. His talk was titled, To Learn, To Do, To Be. President Monson spoke of the size of the large assembly of LDS priesthood holders, their admirable desire to learn their duty, and their capacity to share the LDS gospel…
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“We Relied on the Integrity of Mr. Hofmann…”
Looking through my files pertaining to “This Day in Mormon History” I came across this for January 14th.: 1983 – Mark Hofmann sold the [LDS] Church, through the agency of Gordon B. Hinckley, a forged letter from Joseph Smith to Josiah Stowell for the sum of $15,000.00. This letter, allegedly written in 1825, indicated that…
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Should Historians Tell the Truth?
A little over two years ago Jerald Tanner left this life for his home in Heaven. Born and raised a Latter-day Saint, when a young man Jerald discovered that Mormonism could not bring him to Christ. When God granted Jerald the free gift of salvation, Jerald spent his life in grateful service to God, researching…
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Focus on the Family and Glenn Beck
The tempest in a teapot seems to have settled down. But for a week or so at the end of December (2008) the media went a bit wild with the Focus on the Family/Glenn Beck story. If you were distracted by Christmas and missed it, here’s what happened. On December 19th the evangelical Christian ministry…
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The Difference Between Life and Death
Katrina Marti is an ex-LDS friend of mine. She and her husband, Steve, are currently serving with New Tribes Mission as Christian missionaries in Mexico. In mid-December (2008) Katrina read a blog article written by Baptist pastor Tim Wade titled, “Are Mormons better Christians?” Originally posted on Pastor Wade’s own blog on December 2nd, Katrina…
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Usurping Christmas?
During Christmas week I was listening to a discussion on the radio regarding the place of Santa Claus in Christmas. Was it good or bad, the talk show’s host wanted to know? As you can imagine, there were all sorts of opinions expressed by callers who thought the inclusion of Santa in Christmas was good,…