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One of the promises of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that it offers the “restoration of all things.” Latter-day Saints are told that their church brought back ancient lost traditions and covenants that originated at the time of Adam and Eve, but were lost during the Great Apostasy. Joseph Smith and…
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Today I watched a YouTube video by someone who is investigating the LDS Church. He talked about his experience being challenged to abstain from tea and coffee. The missionaries promised him that doing so would help him get an answer as to whether the LDS Church was true or not. Their challenge actually should help…
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Preface I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to engage with my friends who are watching LDS General Conference this weekend. I have seen that people respond very negatively to even gentle criticism of specific talks and I want to let my LDS friends enjoy the weekend without being a source of negativity.…
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One of my favorite things about the Gospel of John is how it depicts the exalted status and nature of Jesus Christ. John 1 famously begins with a verse that unequivocally declares that Jesus was “with God” from the beginning and himself “God. (John 1:1) Jesus is also depicted as the one through whom “all…
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One of the sparks that ignited the Protestant Reformation was the sale of indulgences. These indulgences promised that the living could, by making a financial contribution, contribute to their ancestors escape from purgatory. Martin Luther responded with indignation to Johann Tetzel’s declaration that “As soon as the gold in the casket rings the rescued soul…
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As I reflect on my time in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I often find myself struggling for a proper analogy or framework for talking about my time in the Church. I can’t deny the many positive experiences I had, nor can I deny that there are many significant similarities between my…
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Over the past few years, my worldview and perspective have shifted in so many profound ways. While nothing has impacted me more than the word of God, there have been a lot of really significant books that have shaped my perspective and understanding. These are all books that I highly recommend. I want to write…
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I recent came across a claim by Prof. Bart Ehrman that struck me as sufficiently weak that one didn’t need to be a scholar to refute it, just be ;a careful reader of the New Testament. As part of a recent argument against the Historicity of the Book of Acts on the popular channel Paulogia,…
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The Bible speaks piercing clarity about our human capacity to generate idols to worship other than the true and living God. Paul talks about this process in Romans 1 where human beings exchange “the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.”…
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The original language of a text will often preserve evidence of puns, word play, homonyms, alliteration, or other literary devices that do not translate easily into other languages. In the case of the Book of Mormon, one of those noteworthy word plays is the fact that the Book of Mormon relies on the similar sound/spelling…