Category: Joseph Smith, Jr.
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Guess Who?
Members of the LDS Church are familiar with the charge that Mormonism isn’t a Christian faith. They hear it often enough, but they really don’t understand why people think that. "We are Christians," Mormon President Gordon B. Hinckley insisted. "We have the name of Jesus Christ right in the name of our Church, The Church…
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The Validity of the Mormon Church
Naturally I receive a lot of mail from well-meaning Latter-day Saints telling me how I will never be able to “disprove” the claims of Mormonism. Personally, I find such a comment a tad bit on the arrogant side since it exposes a sense of “omniscience” that no Mormon owns. A recent comment I received stated:…
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New and Improved King Follett Discourse
In 2004 the LDS Church brought its long-running City of Joseph pageant (Nauvoo, Illinois) to a close. In 2005 a new pageant premiered in the City of Joseph — Nauvoo Pageant: A Tribute to Joseph Smith. Along with the introduction of the new pageant, the LDS Church also offered tourists several historic vignettes which were…
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Review: Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration
I’ve spent the last 4 days in Nauvoo, Illinois, the historic town used by the Mormon Church for faith-promotion and proselytizing. On Sunday, at the LDS Visitors Center (pictured at left), a friend and I viewed the movie, Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration. Produced as part of last year’s celebration of the 200th…
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Mormon Prophets Known by Their Fruits
Mormons are always telling me that I should know Joseph Smith was a true prophet because (they quote Matthew 7:20) “by their fruits you shall know them.” Then they point out all the good things the Mormon Church is responsible for like humanitarian aid, boy scout training, good citizens with strong work ethics, etc. I…
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Tarred & Feathered
Last Friday I went to the LDS Church sanctioned Joseph Smith web site. The site has a section titled “On This Day…,” reporting daily events from the life of Joseph Smith. On Friday it said, March 24, 1832Hiram, Ohio. A mob violently tarred and feathered Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon. This is interesting to me…
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The Nature of the Godhead
The LDS Church has begun a new series of articles in the Ensign which are for the purpose of “explaining the basic beliefs of the restored gospel, doctrines unique to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” The first article in the series, The Nature of the Godhead appears in the January 2006 issue…
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Worship of Joseph Smith?
Reading the December 31, 2005 issue of Church News I came across this: “As Latter-day Saints we no more worship Joseph Smith than we do Peter or any of the other ancient apostles. Peter, in fact, is an apt comparison. Both Joseph and Peter fearlessly obeyed the Master in conveying His gospel to every nation,…
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Brigham Young Testifies of Joseph Smith—and Then Some
I just received my December 31st issue of Church News. This issue is pretty much dedicated to “Remembering Joseph Smith.” The first article (which is all I’ve read so far) is titled Prophets Testify of Joseph Smith. It consists of short excerpts from the sermons and talks of Latter-day prophets. Each of the 14 prophets…