Tag: Mormon Church
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Mormonism’s “We’re Not Weird” Campaign
Once upon a time The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints freely identified itself as being different. In 1976, the man who became the church’s 15th president wrote, “Suffice it to say that [the LDS church’s] theology, its organization, and its practices are in many respects entirely unique among today’s Christian denominations” (Gordon B. Hinckley, What of…
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New LDS Easter Video Means To Offer Hope, but It Doesn’t Deliver.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released a new Easter video last week. Titled “Rise,” the 1-minute 43-second video is described in a church news release as portraying “some of the challenges of life and the hope and help that Jesus Christ brings to those who follow Him” (“New Easter Video from Church…
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Revised LDS Temple Endowment Ceremony Now Includes More Pictures of Jesus
21 February 2023 I love to see the temple.I’ll go inside someday.I’ll cov’nant with my Father;I’ll promise to obey. “I love to See the Temple” is a popular Primary song in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Kids as young as three years old sing about preparing themselves to attend an LDS temple…
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The “Completely False” Rationale for Mormonism’s Restoration
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints struggles to explain past teachings about a universal Christian apostasy.
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LDS Church Corrects Perceived Improprieties in Classical Religious Art
2 January 2023 Just shy of 400 years ago, in the 1650s, Italian artist Carlo Maratta painted “The Holy Night,” a tender, nighttime depiction of Madonna and Child. In the painting, said to have been inspired by Correggio’s “Nativity,” the young Virgin Mary looks with adoration at her newborn babe from whom light seems to…
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Statue of Joseph Smith Joins 54 Other “Messiahs of Peace” at India’s World Peace Dome
In Pune, India stands the World Peace Dome, the “world’s largest dome” described as “an epitome of architectural magnificence.” Beneath the dome is the World Peace Prayer Hall, where up to 3,000 people may gather for “meditation and introspection” while surrounded by “the statues of the world’s greatest philosophers and scientists,” called “Messiahs of Peace.”…
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The LDS Church Is Just Trying to Blend In
In July (2022), LDS author Jana Riess made an interesting observation: “During the last four years, the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has introduced a host of changes that have made the church a little more mainstream, a little less weird.” In her article, Dr. Riess notes some of these…
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‘Uncomfortable’ and ‘Weird’ LDS Temple Ceremony
Hulu, the online streaming service, released a miniseries in April (2022) based on the real-life 1984 Utah murders of a mother and her toddler daughter. The miniseries, “Under the Banner of Heaven,” follows Jon Krakauer’s 2003 bestselling book of the same name as it explores Mormon fundamentalism and Mormonism’s sometimes violent history. I’ve been seeing…
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The Crucial Question Related to Mormonism’s Dependence on Personal Revelation
7 June 2022 In an opinion piece about personal revelation published on May 28th (2022), The Salt Lake Tribune columnist Gordon Monson asks some interesting questions. He begins with a hypothetical one: “Is there a slipperier foundational concept in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints than the one that centers on being guided…
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Is Jesus the Only Redeemer? In Mormonism, It Depends.
In the April 2022 issue of the LDS magazine For the Strength of Youth, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Russell M. Nelson, commented, “Jesus Christ’s Atonement was infinite. He saved all humankind from never-ending death. He suffered intensely, beyond what any mortal could suffer. His suffering was for all people…
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Everything that Matters Most in Mormonism
23 February 2022 On February 6th (2022) Brad Wilcox spoke at a church fireside event for young Latter-day Saints in Alpine, Utah. Dr. Wilcox is the 2nd counselor in the Young Men general presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and a professor at church-owned Brigham Young University. In his talk, he…
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When a Myth About Mormonism Turns Out to Be True
On January 13th (2022) David Noyce, managing editor at The Salt Lake Tribune, highlighted an article that had appeared earlier in the month on the Beliefnet web platform. “Latter-day Saints know that outsiders get plenty wrong about their religion,” Mr. Noyce wrote. “The Beliefnet website tries to set some errors right with a recent post…
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Making the LDS Church Slightly Better: A Member’s Wish List
At the start of the new year, when many of us are thinking about self-improvement and ways we can make 2022 a better year than the one we’ve just lived through, Gordon Monson, columnist for The Salt Lake Tribune, was thinking about how to make his church better. A member of the LDS church, Mr.…
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Heavenly Mother: “A Cherished and Distinctive Belief Among Latter-day Saints”
To coincide with Mother’s Day, on 8 May (2021) The Salt Lake Tribune published an article by journalist Peggy Fletcher Stack titled, “Latter-day Saints are talking more about Heavenly Mother, and that’s where the debates and divisions begin.” Because The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints doesn’t have a systematic theology that includes detailed…
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Consider David Whitmer’s Testimony
The February issue of Liahona magazine (published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) includes a supplement to the church’s religious study curriculum, “Come, Follow Me.” The magazine article looks briefly at two Book of Mormon witnesses, David Whitmer and Martin Harris–both of whom, along with Oliver Cowdery (a third Book of Mormon…
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Book of Mormon Translation: Though Questions Persist, One Thing is Clear
How was the Book of Mormon translated from the Reformed Egyptian found on the gold plates into English? Despite available eyewitness accounts and an official position stated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints itself, Mormons don’t seem to know the answer. The process Joseph Smith used to produce the Book of Mormon…