When most people use their rational faculties to test their testimonies about their religious scriptures, they tend to concentrate on things like history, archeology, or …
Pyramids-R-US
Last week I spent a supper hour (it took that long) reading an article called “America’s Ruling Class – And the Perils of Revolution” by …
Wandering Mormons as Nephites
More than two years ago, the Holy Spirit began insisting that I re-read the Book of Mormon. Of course, I didn’t immediately recognize the impulse …
Faith & Doubt
Today’s guest post is by Glenn. When I was at BYU, I got interested in the study of folklore – the way that traditional culture …
Patriarchal Hierarchy and the Kingship Model
OT SS Lesson #21 When we lived in Saudi Arabia a few years ago, I obtained a faculty position in the fairly newly-formed department of …
Looking for an Apologist to Discuss Book of Mormon for Podcast
MM Community, I’m looking to do a podcast series for Mormon Stories on Book of Mormon Historicity and DNA. I’ve approached Mike Ash to participate, …
Joseph Fielding McConkie and the Lens of Literalism
In a recently published book ‘Between the Lines: Unlocking Scripture with Timeless Principles’ (2009), Joseph Fielding McConkie tries to deal with the issue of discerning …
Committing Spiritual Murder: Analysing Alma 39
Michael Ash in a Sunstone article entitled ‘The Sin “Next to Murder”’ has argued that Alma’s exhortation to his son Corianton (who had ran off …
Dialogue Subscribers and Book of Mormon Historicity?
In 2005 Dialogue conducted research among it’s subscribers. There was over a 1,000 responses which (assuming that everyone answered every question) is a fairly good …
Twilight Poll: Anti-Feminism or Fanciful Fiction?
Because of the New Moon movie, Twilight is getting a lot of discussion in the media. Since the author, Stephanie Meyer, is LDS, a few …
On Agency and Accountability: An Inter-dependent View
Jeff Spector wrote a post on Agency a few months ago which I enjoyed alot. The discussion led me down a slightly different path and I …
Have you read the Sealed Portion of the Book of Mormon Yet?
Christopher Nemelka has published the sealed portion of the Book or Mormon and has also translated the 116 pages of missing manuscript. His website can …
Science vs. Religion: A Poll
When there is a seeming conflict between science and religion, people tend to make a mental choice that either favors religion or science. Which is …
Early Mormonism in Context
We tend to view Mormonism in the context of its current contemporaries: Baptists, Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, and atheists (among many others). But how does Mormonism …
The Genius of Mormonism: Israel is Back, Baby! (POLL incl.)
One of the attractive components to Mormon theology was the notion that Mormons were a chosen people, and both figuratively and literally part of the …
Oliver Cowdery Was Punk’d!
When you hear the name Oliver Cowdery, you probably think of the story that culminates in the revelation that became Section 9 of the Doctrine …
The Book of Mormon’s Doctrine of Deity
I am fascinated by the Book of Mormon’s teachings (i.e. doctrines) about deity. I am almost equally fascinated with the many scholarly attempts to force …
The Book of Mormon: A 20th Century Text
There are many positions on which century the Book of Mormon originated in, but most seem to fall into two general camps: the book was …
Our Foundation Stories Part IV: The Book of Mormon Translation
Was the Book of Mormon translated? Was the Book of Mormon revealed? Was it inspired? Was it all three, or a combination of the above? …
The Book of Mormon: Would You Regularly Study Inspired Fiction?
I’m intrigued by those on the bloggernacle that see The Book of Mormon as fiction but inspired by God. It’s common to hear someone that …
Our Foundation Stories Part III: The Book of Mormon Comes Forth
As a child, the story of Moroni visiting Joseph Smith seemed familiar to me, but I couldn’t put my finger on just why. Only later, …
The Book of Mormon: For Our Day
Ezra Taft Benson taught that “the Book of Mormon … was written for our day. The Nephites never had the book; neither did the Lamanites …
God’s Hit List in the Book of Mormon
One of the most unseemly and disturbing images in the Book of Mormon is when Nephi is commanded to cut the head off of Laban who …
What if Joseph Smith Published the Book of Mormon Last Year?
Many of you may have heard about a man named Joseph Smith that recently claimed to have found some plates of gold, shown to him …
“The Whole Church is Under Condemnation”: The Talk that Changed the Church
April 1986: President Benson presides over his first General Conference. Did anyone listening to his humble little talk, called “Cleaning the Inner Vessel,” realize that …
The Unfinished Restoration: A Global Vision
Mormons tend to think of the Restoration as a discrete series of events that began with the First Vision and concluded with the Martyrdom. Because …
Whose Record is 4th Nephi?
In the latter part of the Book of Mormon, we see a resurgence of the name “Nephi.” First, we have Helaman’s son, Nephi (Helaman 3:21) …