Category: The Church
Two Important, Even Troubling, Clues About Dating from W.W. Phelps’ Notebook with Egyptian “Translation”
Update, May 3, 2019, and more on May 8, 2019: In yet another frustrating turn as I explore the convoluted issues of the Book of Abraham, I need to add…
Digging into the Phelps “Translation” of Egyptian: Textual Evidence That Phelps Recognized That Three Lines of Egyptian Yielded About Four Lines of English
Update, April 30, 2019: Today I noticed there is another document from Oliver Cowdery mentioning Katumin and giving the same English text that Phelps provides. The document is listed as…
Wrong Again, In Part! How I Misunderstood the Plainly Visible Evidence on the W.W. Phelps Letter with Egyptian “Translation”
Update, April 23, 2019: Doubly wrong! When I wrote this post earlier today, I was examining the very light “ink” with the words “in part” on a key manuscript by…
The Pure Language Project
To understand the strange Kirtland Egyptian Papers, we may need to understand the fascination with “pure language” that was found among some early Latter-day Saints. Brian Hauglid wrote this in…
Tender Mercies: How the BYU Management Society and a China Moment Turned Gloom into Contentment
Monday morning was gloomy. Perhaps my most depressing day over my 8 wonderful years of ups and downs in China. This was a day of confronting some painful suspected realities….
Maybe We Should Remember the “Hot” Part of the Prohibition on “Hot Drinks”
Some recent hot news points to the risks of drinking very hot beverages. A new study suggests that drinking piping hot tea regularly can nearly double the risk of esophageal…
Big News in Newly Published Details About Elijah Able
Over at Ardis Parshall’s valuable blog, Keepapitchinin, there is an important new guest post by W. Paul Reeve: “Newly Discovered Document Provides Dramatic Details about Elijah Able and the Priesthood,”…
Pro-Choice for Education
I am dismayed that some people who pride themselves on being pro-choice stand for choice when it comes to the decision of a parent to terminate a young human’s life,…
“Here, Take My Camera”: Responding to the Miraculous Message and Convincing Power of the Book of Mormon
The Shanghai International District Conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was held March 17 and 18, 2018, in Shanghai. The highlight by far was the musical…
Freedom to Be Thankful For: My Pilgrimage to Xiaogang, Birthplace of China’s Latest Revolution
One of the most touching and courageous moments in China’s recent history is depicted in the painting below of a secret meeting of farmers in a tiny village that few…
