Category: Mormonism
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The First Vision’s Slow Entrance Into the LDS Story
When addressing the subject of Joseph Smith’s personal encounter with God the Father and Jesus Christ, Gordon B. Hinckley, the fifteenth president of the LDS Church, stated, “There’s no other event in all recorded history that compares with it, not even at the baptism of the Savior” (“Testimony of the First Vision,” Church News, July 1,…
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Gods and Goddesses, Kings and Queens
In November 2004 Dr. Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Seminary, spoke in front of a packed house at the Mormon Tabernacle on Temple Square. Dr. Mouw apologized for the way evangelicals had borne “false witness” about the teachings of Mormonism. Later, when asked to clarify his statement, Dr. Mouw wrote, “I have received emails in…
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Citations on the Fall
Mormonism teaches that The Fall was a wonderful and fortunate event, empowering man with more liberty to choose (now “knowing good and evil”), with the ability to procreate, and with the opportunity to prove one’s worthiness through a learning process unto personal exaltation and full potential (godhood). This is connected to other Mormon doctrines like…
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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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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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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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Struggling With A Loss of Faith?
Struggling in the aftermath of religious betrayal? We hope to offer some understanding and direction.
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“A Christian Wouldn’t Do What You Do.”
I am often accused of being “unChristlike” because I take a vocal stand against Mormonism. I recognize heresy in Mormon teachings and stand against it for two reasons. One is the call in Scripture for followers of Christ to “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). The…
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Joseph Smith and Folk Magic
The post focuses on Joseph Smith’s involvement in magical practices, particularly surrounding the autumnal equinox and their significance in the origins of the Book of Mormon, as examined through various scholarly reviews.
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Is Mormonism Christian? Two Views
The October 2008 edition of First Things contains a lengthy article titled, “Is Mormonism Christian?” The article is in two parts. The first was written by LDS Seventy Bruce D. Porter and takes one position; Christian professor and author Gerald R. McDermott wrote the second part, concluding with a different opinion. After lamenting the poor…
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Movie Review: Emma Smith: My Story
Reviewed by Bill McKeever When I first saw the billboards along Interstate 15 advertising Emma Smith: My Story, I wondered how much of “Emma’s story” was going to actually be told. When the trailers for the film started airing on local Salt Lake television stations and I saw that much of the film appeared to…
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Joseph Smith’s 1832 Handwritten History
One hundred and seventy-six years ago yesterday (that is, on July 20, 1832) Joseph Smith began writing a history of his life. This was his first attempt at recording his history. He worked on it for several months while living in Kirtland, Ohio, but abandoned the project in November of the same year. The account…
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Public Offerings
The woman looked at me with smug satisfaction and said, “At my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we never pass a collection plate. It’s such a prideful thing to put your tithes and offerings on display for everyone to see. We do our giving in private.” It’s likely that those who…
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A Look at Fundamentalism Mormonism
By Bill McKeever The practice of plural marriage had been the center of controversy for Joseph Smith and his fledgling church ever since rumors began circulating about an extra marital affair he had while living in Kirtland, Ohio. According to George D. Smith:
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Muslims and Mormons
“U.S. Muslims and Mormons share deepening ties” states a headline from an April 2, 2008 article in the L.A. Times. The article discusses a bond between Mormons and Muslims that springs from their corresponding history of alienation and shared values. The article focuses on the similarities between the two religious groups and the ways in…
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The Attempt to Sell the Book of Mormon Copyright
Text of Revelation (link) A Revelation given to Joseph Oliver [Cowdery] Hyram [Hiram Page] Josiah [Stowell] & Joseph Knight given at Manchester Ontario C[ounty] New York Behold I the Lord am God I Created the Heavens & the Earth & all things that in them is wherefore they are mine & I sway my scepter over all…
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Quotes on Merit, Earning, Worthiness, and Qualification
2000 – present “Let us make our homes sanctuaries of righteousness, places of prayer, and abodes of love that we might merit the blessings that can come only from our Heavenly Father… How might we merit this promise [spoken of in Ezekiel 36]? What will qualify us to receive this blessing?” – Thomas S Monson, “To…
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Latter-day Saints—Where Did You Get Your Authority?
By Hal Hougey A. The Jews Asked Jesus and the Apostles This Question – Matt. 21:23-27; Acts 4:7-12 Jesus and the Apostles did not need, nor did they produce, credentials from the priesthood to show their authority. So neither will we. LDS have the same misconception that the Jews had: that authority passes from one…