Tag Archives: Mormonism

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

Posted in Brigham Young, LDS Church, Mormon History, Polygamy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 20 Comments

Follow the Prophet?

It wasn’t long ago when an advertising campaign for basketball superstar Michael Jordan emphasized just three words: “Be like Mike.” The slogan became very popular and sold plenty of shoes. This came to my mind as I read an article … Continue reading

Posted in Mormon Leaders | Tagged , , , , | 57 Comments

From the Mailbag (Eternal Marriage)

Hi, I have a Mormon friend that finds forever marriage very important to him and I tried explaining how Heaven is going to be so much better then any marriage or person. He then asked “What is there to do?” … Continue reading

Posted in Afterlife, Christianity, Family, LDS Church | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

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

Litigation and the Mormon Church

A couple of months back grindael mentioned a trademark lawsuit that was brewing between the Mormon Church and a dating service called Mormon Match. The Church is claiming trademark infringement in Mormon Match’s use of the word “Mormon” and is … Continue reading

Posted in Civil Liberties, LDS Church | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

How Good is Good Enough?

About a week after the April 2014 General Conference of the Mormon Church the (Provo, Utah) Daily Herald published an article by correspondent Steve Densley titled, “How Good is Good Enough?” Mr. Densley began, “The semiannual conference of the Church … Continue reading

Posted in Afterlife, Forgiveness, Salvation, Worthiness | Tagged , , , , , , | 23 Comments

“What Many People Called Sin Is Not Sin” Part II

During a Church Court in 1850, Joseph E. Johnson claimed that he was aware of what he called “the first frigging” of Joseph Smith and Johnson’s mother-in-law, Mary Heron Snider. For details about this incident, see Part I. The reason … Continue reading

Posted in D&C and Pearl of Great Price, Early Mormonism, Joseph Smith, Mormon History, Polygamy | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

“What Many People Called Sin Was Not Sin” Part I

A Church Court is convened. A man is accused of committing adultery and fathering a child with another man’s wife.  One of the presiding elders speaks to those assembled about the offender and says that, “This matter was bro[ugh]t before … Continue reading

Posted in Early Mormonism, Joseph Smith, Lorenzo Snow, Mormon History, Polygamy | Tagged , , , , , , , | 22 Comments

The Good News of Repentance?

In the December 2013 Ensign, Brian D. Garner of the Church Correlation Department wrote a five-page article titled “The Good News of Repentance” (pp. 40-44). As I was reading this piece—subtitled “There is great joy in heaven whenever we repent … Continue reading

Posted in Forgiveness, Repentance, Salvation | Tagged , , , , , , , | 34 Comments

Joseph Smith and Romans 4:5

Joseph Smith revised the Bible. Some say he “corrected” it. The resulting volume is known as the Joseph Smith Translation (JST) or the Inspired Version. My Mormon edition of the King James Version of the Bible (1989) includes seventeen pages … Continue reading

Posted in Bible, Christianity, God the Father, Joseph Smith, Mormon Scripture, Nature of God, Salvation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 44 Comments