Category: Mormon Coffee Blog (2007-2019)
-
The Grace Club
My daughter took The Not Even Once Club book off my shelf and wanted me to read it as a bedtime story. I can’t blame her: it has fun and inviting pictures. I told her it was not a book I agreed with. “Why not?” We read through it slowly together. Here were my follow-up discussion…
-
Two Views of Eternal Life
Former Mormons who are now Christians say that this 21 minute video has been instrumental in helping them recognize the differences between the biblical view of salvation and the Mormon view of eternal life. It helped them understand what God has done to rescue them — to rescue all of us — from the consequences of our…
-
In the Line of Duty: The Mountain Meadows Massacre
“There was a massacre in these hills.…” (Stewart Lee Udall, The Mountain Meadows [1990], from a poem written by Udall, a descendant of John D. Lee, and read at the reinterment of victims bones at Mountain Meadows, September 1999) It was spring of 1857. Promises of a bright future in the west beckoned. A collection…
-
Mormons Don’t Deserve This
Chris Duckworth, a Lutheran pastor in Indiana, wasn’t happy when a 12-page advertising supplement arrived on his doorstep last week. The “Non-Mormon Temple Visitors Guide” was published by Tri-Grace Ministries and distributed to communities in preparation for the LDS Temple Open House event scheduled to begin on July 17th (2015). On his blog, Reverend Duckworth…
-
The Wives of Joseph Smith Visit Manti
The annual Christian outreach at the Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti, Utah concluded about 2 weeks ago. During this year’s outreach, 34 women, dressed in pioneer clothing, each took on the identity of a wife of Joseph Smith. This was a powerful visual representation that helped Mormons better understand what 34 wives actually looks like.…
-
Brigham Young’s Test of a Prophet
Brigham Young taught, “[The wicked] found fault with Joseph Smith, and at length killed him, as they have a great many others of the Latter-day Saints. What for? Because of his wickedness? No. But the cry was, ‘Away with him, we cannot do with this man nor with his people.’ Did they hate him for…
-
Joseph Smith “Carried Off My Daughter”
Over the years, much has been written about the heartbreak caused by Mormon weddings. The oft-cited cause of this heartbreak is the sacred, exclusive LDS temple wedding that necessarily excludes “unworthy” friends and family from attending. According to Mormonism, marriages must be performed and sealed in a Mormon temple by the proper priesthood authority so…
-
How the LDS Church Prepares Its Members for Atheism
Why do so many Mormons become atheists? Whatever the validity of the observation, online discussions of this topic usually only revolve around the answers of not wanting to be fooled again, burnout, and that the same things that deconstruct Mormonism deconstruct all religions. All of these look outside for an answer, but what about Mormonism,…
-
Are You Ready To Engage Mormons for Christ?
The Mormonism Research Ministry website is filled with resources to help people gain a broader understanding of the Mormon Church, including its doctrines and history. The website also offers resources to help Christians prepare to reach out to Mormons or those investigating Mormonism. Among other things, MRM has prepared pdf files of three “Redi-references” that can…
-
How Was Joseph Smith’s Seer Stone Like a Smart Phone?
I know the headline sounds like a lead-in to a joke, but in fact, Mormon apologist Daniel Peterson wrote a “Defending the Faith” column for Deseret News in which he suggested that, though “some critics of Joseph Smith mock the fact that part of the Book of Mormon translation process apparently involved dictating while looking…
-
Do Mormons Have Faith in the Bible?
The Mormon Church recognizes four books as scripture: The Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and the Bible. And yet, as noted at the MRM website, Joseph Smith said [of the Bible], “Ignorant translators, careless transcribers, or designing and corrupt priests have committed many errors” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 327).…
-
The Pattern of Mormon Temples
Last week I returned from a visit to Utah. While there, I took a tour of the Mormon Church’s newly completed Payson Temple. As is the normal practice for temple open houses, the tour began with a video about Mormon temples. And as is usual for the temple open house videos, the claim is made…
-
Mormon Church Essay on Priesthood Ban Banned From Church Classroom
An interesting thing happened to Mormon Sunday school teacher Brian Dawson. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that a student in Mr. Dawson’s youth Sunday school class asked him why his Nigerian wife joined a church that had at one time excluded blacks from the priesthood and Mormon temples. The student wondered where the priesthood ban…
-
“As Mormons, We Worship…?”
At the Mormon.org website, visitors can learn about Joseph Smith and what he means to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Under the sub-heading, “A Martyr of the Restored Gospel,” the site says, “Joseph Smith gave his life for the cause of truth. “Some people mistakenly believe Mormons worship Joseph Smith.…
-
What I Learned on My Visit to Old Mormon Nauvoo
A few weeks ago I visited The City of Joseph: Nauvoo, Illinois. It was quick trip; I was only able to spend two days in the area, hurrying from place to place in an effort to do some primary source research. I had little success regarding the event on which I sought information, but I…
-
Looking at the April 2015 Mormon General Conference
The LDS Church’s most recent General Conference was held April 4-5, 2015. A couple of interesting graphics have been produced as a result. Over at MormonChannel.org’s Facebook page visitors were asked to fill in the blank: “Because of #ldsconf I will __________________.” A few days later Mormon Channel posted this word cloud created with the answers…
-
A Mormon “Detective Story”
[The following is a guest post written by a friend of Mormonism Research Ministry – a former Mormon who wishes to remain anonymous to keep family peace.] I’m submitting for your consideration a “detective story” from my family history that raises more serious questions about Joseph Smith and polygamy. It starts with my uncles – devout…
-
“Utter Nonsense” Presented at the April 2015 Mormon General Conference
It’s like an April Fools joke, but nobody’s laughing. Instead, people are scratching their heads. During the April 2015 Sunday morning General Conference session, Mormon Apostle Dieter F. Uchtdorf (of the First Presidency) gave a talk that just a few decades ago would have been described by LDS Church leaders as one of “such utter…
-
Mormonism’s “Different Jesus”
On Monday I blogged about my disagreement with Mormon bishop Nate Sharp’s implication that because there is “one and only one Jesus Christ” the idea that Mormons believe in a “different Jesus” is a myth. Today I want to look again at his blog article and very briefly examine a few of the attributes Dr. Sharp…