Category: The Church
Secret Combinations and Plausible History: Teotihuacan
Drawing upon Mesoamerican history and some intricate details that can be drawn from the Book of Mormon, Brant Gardner explores Mormon’s treatment of secret combinations and some ties to actual…
Early Christianity and the (Restored) Concept of Three Degrees of Glory
A page in Barry Bickmores’ “Mormonism and Early Christianity” site provides some information from early Christian writings that are consistent with the Latter-day Saint doctrine of three degrees of glory…
Moviegoers, You Have the Freedom to Walk Out
Just a quick thought this morning: Walking out of a theater can be a liberating experience. When you’re sitting through a movie that increasingly assaults your soul with violent images…
Marcus H. Martins on Race in the Church
“A Black Man in Zion: Reflections on Race in the Restored Gospel” is a good read from the first black man to serve a mission after the 1978 revelation that…
How Quickly Freedom is Lost: Remembering FDR’s NRA
Were any of you around in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s day? I am amazed at how he is praised in our modern textbooks, with little critical discussion of what he did to Japanese Americans or to the Constitution of this land. While the precedent he set of massive executive power grabs continues unabated in our day, there are some lessons from his reign that should be remembered by those who seem eager to trust a President with power far beyond the intent of our Founding Fathers. For example, consider FDR’s National Recovery Administration (NRA)…
Reminder on Comments: This Is Not the Place for YOUR Unconstrained Freedom of Speech
A couple people have been sorely offended when I have deleted comments that violate my policies here. As a reminder, I ask that your comments be on-topic, civil in tone,…
Open Your Eyes: A Tongan Miracle in a Peruvian Airport
When I drove my son down to the Chicago Temple recently, he read to me a chapter, “Open Your Eyes!”, from John Groberg’s book, Anytime, Anywhere (Salt Lake: Deseret Book,…
The Breath of Life: Jennifer Sabin Sattley and the Amazing Sacrifice of Two Ward Members
The October 2006 Ensign (in print but not yet online) shares the story of Jennifer Sabin Sattley, a beautiful 24-year-old and new bride. Jenny would have died long ago from…
Updated Review of Black and Mormon
Many Latter-day Saints shouted with joy or at least breathed a sigh of relief on June 9, 1978 when the Church announced that any worthy male could be eligible to…
Rejecting Mormon Folklore about the Former Restrictions on the Priesthood
My recent post on the recent common ancestors we probably all share challenges some once popular “Mormon folklore” attempts to explain the pre-1978 restrictions on the priesthood, the reasons for…
