Category Archives: Brigham Young

The Transfiguration of Brigham Young

It’s Throwback Thursday! The following blog article originally posted at Mormon Coffee on August 8, 2011. —— When Joseph Smith died in June of 1844, the Mormon Church faced a succession crisis. Mormon historian Richard S. Van Wagoner explained, “Despite … Continue reading

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Brigham Young’s Test of a Prophet

Brigham Young taught, “[The wicked] found fault with Joseph Smith, and at length killed him, as they have a great many others of the Latter-day Saints. What for? Because of his wickedness? No. But the cry was, ‘Away with him, … Continue reading

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Mormon Church does not apologize.

Mormon apostle Dallin Oaks caused quite a stir in late January. In an interview related to the Church’s news conference on LGBT issues and religious discrimination, Mr. Oaks expressed his view that apologizing for the Church’s “harsh rhetoric of the … Continue reading

Posted in Brigham Young, Gordon B. Hinckley, Joseph Smith, LDS Church, Mormon History, Mormon Leaders | Tagged , , , , , , , | 27 Comments

Mormons Studying the New Testament in 2015

The Mormon Church’s Sunday School course of study for 2015 is the New Testament. Accordingly, Gig Harbor, WA newspaper columnist Alfred Gunn (LDS) wrote a column for The Peninsula Gateway titled, “The Bible as a treasured course of personal study.” … Continue reading

Posted in Bible, Book of Mormon, Brigham Young, Joseph Smith, Mormon Leaders, Mormon Scripture | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 27 Comments

Bruce McConkie vs. Brigham Young

It’s Throwback Thursday! The following blog article originally posted at Mormon Coffee on March 6, 2006. —————— I was reading an article in the Deseret News on Saturday [March 4, 2006] that discusses the history of “The Seven Deadly Sins.” … Continue reading

Posted in Brigham Young, God the Father, Prophets | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Early Mormon Marriages: Tangled Webs to Sort Out in the Eternities

Many people are aware of Joseph Smith’s practice of polygamy. A subset of those people are also aware that some of Joseph’s plural wives were married to other men at the same time they were married to Joseph. Many of … Continue reading

Posted in Brigham Young, Early Mormonism, Joseph Smith, Mormon History, Polygamy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Ballad of the Mountain Meadows Massacre

On September 11th, 1857 a Mormon mob attacked and murdered 120 men, women and children who were passing through Utah Territory as they traveled from Arkansas to California on their way to a better life. Known as the Mountain Meadows … Continue reading

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“Love thy neighbor”: Mormonism’s second prophet explains what Jesus meant

On Sunday, February 8, 1857 Brigham Young took the stand at the Great Salt Lake City Tabernacle to deliver a discourse to his congregation. On this occasion, Mormonism’s second prophet included some expositional preaching on Jesus’ command found in Matthew … Continue reading

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A History Tour of Brigham Young’s Beehive House

On June 19, 2014 I visited Utah and took a tour of the Beehive House, Brigham Young’s principal residence in Salt Lake City. Guided through the 1854 home by two young sister missionaries, I learned a lot about the comfortable … Continue reading

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A doctrine God revealed to Brigham Young

Charles Harrell is an Associate Professor at Brigham Young University. In his 2011 book, This Is My Doctrine: The Development of Mormon Theology, he discusses many issues not normally found in a typical LDS-authored book. One such issue is the … Continue reading

Posted in Brigham Young, Early Mormonism, Fundamentalist Mormonism, God the Father, Mormon History, Mormon Leaders | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 28 Comments