Mormon Coffee

Tomorrow (November 1, 2008) marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Mormonism’s third prophet and president, John Taylor. Taylor became an LDS apostle in 1838, then became the President of the LDS Church in 1880. Having married 16 women (8 of them in the year 1846) and fathered 35 children, John Taylor died of congestive heart failure on July 25, 1887 (see Richard S. Van Wagoner and Steven C. Walker,A Book of Mormons).

John Taylor is well known for the comfort he provided Joseph Smith during Smith’s last hours in Carthage Jail when he twice sang, at the Prophet’s request, “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief.” Perhaps lesser known are some of John Taylor’s teachings. In honor of his 200th birthday, a few notable teachings from John Taylor are provided below.

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The Pain of Prophetic Love

At the request of our Mormon friends here at Mormon Coffee, today’s topic for discussion is, The Book of Mormon: True or False? Before the discussion starts, however, I need to lay down some ground rules.

• It is understood by all here that Mormons ultimately believe the Book of Mormon is true due to personal revelation. For this discussion, possession of LDS testimonies will be assumed. Therefore, the bearing of these testimonies in the following comments is not permitted.

• When making evidentiary statements of fact, please provide supporting source references.

• Please dialog here in your own words; do not fill your comments with lengthy quotes from others.

• Remember (and follow) the Mormon Coffee comment policy that calls for the summation of main points (in your own words) before linking to another source.

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Meridian Magazine, billing itself as “The Place Where Latter-day Saints Gather,” recently ran an article written by reader Michelle Worley. Titled “Standing Up for Prop 8: ‘I Hope You Know We’re Not Haters,’” the article recounts Ms. Worley’s experience standing at a busy intersection holding a sign in support of the California marriage amendment.

Encountering people on both sides of the Prop 8 issue, Ms. Worley enjoyed encouragement and endured criticism. Some people booed her, some yelled at her, some challenged her. A group of men surrounded her and “flood[ed] the air with crude and derogatory statements.” Many people misunderstood Ms. Worley’s motivation for holding her sign and for standing strong for traditional marriage. One man, carrying a sign against Prop 8, shouted, “Haters! Bigots!”

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New West Politics ran a story this week about the political race for Wyoming’s U.S. House seat. Two candidates are running neck-in-neck, but the Republican congressional candidate, Cynthia Lummis, hopes to add the Mormon vote to her support base. Mormons make up 10% of the voting Wyoming public.

Ms. Lummis is a conservative life-long Missouri Synod Lutheran, but she investigated Mormonism — up to the point of baptism — two times while in college. She had many LDS friends then, and, according to the New West Politics article, she hopes that history, coupled with her conservative politics, will win the day.

But, as the article mentioned, the LDS vote is not “monolithic.” Church leaders in Wyoming say there is a strong minority of Mormon Democrats in the state, and the Church allows people to vote their consciences.

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