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Joseph Smith’s “translation” of the Bible was intended as a response to a problem he believed he had identified: that “many important points touching the salvation of man had been taken from the Bible, or lost before it was compiled.” But in his translation efforts, did Joseph Smith restore and clarify lost truths—or did he…
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When we think of Christmas, we imagine a silent night, not a battlefield. But in addition to bucolic fields and shepherds, perhaps one image that should come to mind when we imagine Christmas is the Battle of D-Day, when American (and other Allied) soldiers began to take Europe back from Nazi control. (I know that…
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There’s a well-known (though perhaps apocryphal) story about C.S. Lewis and the distinctiveness of Christianity: During a British conference on comparative religions, experts from around the world debated what, if any, belief was truly unique to the Christian faith. They began eliminating possibilities. Incarnation? Other religions had their own versions of gods appearing in human…
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Yesterday the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints put out a new policy that for the first time seems to expressly endorse the use of alternative translations other than the King James Version and even provides a list of translations the Church views favorably, including the ESV and NIV. This is framed as a…
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Latter-day Saints frequently encourage Christians to read the Book of Mormon, declaring that the book is another testament of Jesus and fully compatible with the Bible. And on its surface, the Book of Mormon seems relatively harmless. Very few of the more distinctive teachings of Mormonism are explicitly taught on its pages. And yet the…
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I. How Can I? O Lord my God How can I question your wisdom?When you have intricately woven me from my mother’s womb How can I boast about my own strength?When I am clay in the potters’ hands How can my heart grow cold?When every beat is a gift from you How can I not…
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I recently saw the new movie Nuremberg. The movie is about the trial of Nazi generals at Nuremberg after the Second World War. It was a well-crafted film that featured an incredible performance from Russell Crowe as Nazi leader Hermann Göring. I would recommend watching the film for Crowe’s performance alone. But the movie also…
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Last year, when the first part of the Wicked movie came out, I wrote about how Elphaba’s longing to stand in the Wizard’s good graces—and her eventual discovery that the man behind the curtain had no real power—deeply resonated with my own journey out of Mormonism. Yesterday, I saw Part Two. I enjoyed many of…
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Abraham and Grace: Chosen, not Earned Should Abraham be seen as a model of religious striving, or a recipient of God’s sovereign grace? Abraham is one of the most important figures for Jews, Christians and Muslims. He is seen as the Father of the Faithful who trusted in God and developed a deep covenantal relationship…