Posted in councils Leadership Policies The Church

Tip for Unit Leaders: When Multiple Organizations Request the Same People for Callings, Have a Meeting with Leaders to Explore Options

Today my wife praised our recently released bishop’s method of handling conflicts in calling requests. She just learned about this technique and was thrilled at the simple beauty of it….

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Posted in freedom Industry Prophets Social Issues Society War

“The False Gods We Worship”: Why Is This First Presidency Message So Hard to Find When Searching?

UPDATE, DAY 0: With the help of my untrustworthy but still very smart friend, ChatGPT 4, I was able to determine that the reason a controversial 1976 First Presidency message…

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Posted in Book of Mormon Books Doctrine Evidence history Origins Problems Repentance Scholarship Scripture Translation

A Simple Example from the Book of Mormon Showing Why Scholarship Is Needed

Many Latter-day Saints seem unaware of the great body of scholarship that can strengthen faith and understanding for members of the Church and those exploring it. Such scholarship can be…

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Posted in Ancient Near East Book of Moses Scholarship Scripture Social Issues

A Slow Learner, But a Fast Liar: Meet ChatGPT, the Smart Research Tool Willing to Make Up Quotations

After being disappointed with the blatant political biases of ChatGPT, as discussed in my previous post about my efforts to examine issues related to abortion and race, I remained hopeful…

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Posted in abortion freedom General government Humor Industry language Media News poetry politics Scholarship Social Issues Society

Can We Have an Honest Chat About Abortion and Race? Not With ChatGPT

    Curious about the knowledge of the impressive new Artificial Intelligence tool, ChatGPT, I started my day with a question about abortion and race. This tool, now owned by…

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Posted in Ancient Near East Book of Mormon Book of Moses Evidence Scholarship Scripture Videos

An Overlooked Example of the Book of Mormon’s Surprising Use of Book of Moses Material

While Noel Reynolds and I felt like we had pretty well mined all the relevant connections between the Book of Moses and the Book of Mormon when we published our list of nearly 100 connections, there’s an important one that we missed. Missing the connection may have been easy to do since the related Book of Mormon verse uses different wording that succinctly summarizes a longer Book of Moses passage, and at first glance appears to just be referring to a familiar story from Genesis. This connection involves Satan’s influencing Cain to slay Abel in Helaman 6:27 and Moses 5:25.

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Posted in Bible Book of Abraham Christianity Evidence Faith Gospel of Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Repentance Resurrection Sacrifice The Church

The Light of Christ and the Birth of Christ

This is the short message I gave near the end of the musical Christmas Devotional for the Appleton, Wisconsin Stake on Dec. 24, 2022 in Neenah, Wisconsin. The Light of…

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Lehi-and-Sariah
Posted in Arabian Peninsula Book of Mormon Books Evidence Media Scholarship

A Key Book to Understand Nahom and Bountiful is Now Free Online: Warren Aston’s Lehi and Sariah in Arabia

A thorough and valuable book on Lehi’s Trail and the Arabian Peninsula evidence for the Book of Mormon is now available free online, thanks to the generosity of the author,…

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Posted in children Family gender Gospel of Jesus Christ LGBTQ Policies politics Prophets Social Issues

The Church Announces Support for a Bill Supporting Same-Sex Marriage

The Church has spoken in favor of a federal bill supporting same-sex marriage, while still maintaining the position that homesexual activity is inconsistent with the teachings of the Gospel. Here…

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Ani Maamin cover
Posted in Ancient Near East Bible Book of Mormon Books covenants Critics Doctrine Hebrew Israel literature Revelation Scholarship Scripture

Joshua Berman’s Ani Maamin: An Orthodox Jewish Scholar Provides Help in Keeping the Faith in the Face of Secular Bible Scholarship

During a recent trip to Atlanta, my wife and I connected two of our Latter-day Saint friends with dear Jewish friends there. Among the many topics of the evening, we…

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