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Previous Posts
The meanings of Zion
This is the third post on Richard L. Bushman's Mormonism: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2008). [See Part 1 and Part 2.] In Chapter Three, Bushman reviews the several meanings of the term "Zion" in LDS doctrine and thinking.
The Mormon sense of Zion has no real parallels in Protestant though
posted 11:00:37pm Jul. 29, 2009 |
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A statistical portrait of Mormons
The Pew Forum recently issued a detailed summary of survey information about Mormons gathered as part of a much larger survey of religious life in the United States. It is a very readable summary, noting that Mormons comprise 1.7% of adults in the US; 35% of Mormon adults live in Utah and 13% live i
posted 12:33:08pm Jul. 29, 2009 |
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July 24th: Pioneer Day in Utah
July 24th is a state holiday in Utah, designated Pioneer Day. It commemorates the entry of the first wagon train of Mormons into the Salt Lake Valley in the summer of 1847. They came down Emigration Canyon, somewhat north of the present I-80 corridor which comes down Parley's Canyon. Brigham Young w
posted 5:38:50pm Jul. 23, 2009 |
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Finding heretics in strange places
A very interesting post at Mormon Matters, reviewing a 1989 book titled "Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up?" The book was written by an attorney who grew up a Jehovah's Witness, then became an Evangelical Christian. That lasted until he conducted a thorough reading the original writings of the
posted 6:27:09pm Jul. 22, 2009 |
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Reason and revelation in Mormonism
This is a second piece on Bushman's Mormonism: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2008). [See Part 1.] Every faith and denomination has an approach for balancing faith and reason. In Chapter Two of the book, Bushman briefly outlines the LDS approach.
The context, of course, is how a faith or den
posted 12:46:47am Jul. 17, 2009 |
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posted January 28, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Truth is truth. Why must trades be made on something as pure as truth? We should all study it out, and seek for it. Trading around doctrine only creates confusion and lack of faith- no matter what religon you are affiliated with.
posted January 28, 2009 at 2:35 pm
You don’t have to believe in anything that isn’t true. But the fundamental question that anyone who believes in anything should ask is: how do I know what is and isn’t? Once answered, the contest of opinions becomes entirely irrelevant.
posted January 28, 2009 at 5:12 pm
“Mormonism will give back Young Earth Creationism if Protestants will give back eternal marriage.”
OK, that’s funny.
posted January 28, 2009 at 6:54 pm
“Mormonism will give back Young Earth Creationism if Protestants will give back eternal marriage.”
I can support that trade, since I reject Young Earth Creationism. I just hope they keep Family Home Evening – the Mormon practice I heard taught on the radio by a Mormon-bashing minister that was the real genesis of the Creeping Mormonism post I wrote. It really was funny – to hear Mormonism condemned in the first part of the broadcast and then hear Family Home Evening lauded as a way to save the modern family in the last part of the same broadcast. I don’t think the minister realized where the idea originated, because he heard about it on “Focus on the Family” – which recently pulled an interview with Glenn Beck, because of complaints about his Mormonism.
As I said in the post, I love the irony.
posted January 28, 2009 at 8:53 pm
I’ve also concluded that Mormon leaders also beggared racist doctrines like “Mark of Cain” and “Curse of Ham” off of American Protestant figures.
posted January 29, 2009 at 3:44 am
Seth,
Parley and Orson Pratt were Southern Baptist ministers before joining the LDS church, and they brought with them some of the contorted scriptural and theological arguments used to justify slavery. I think they were the ones who influenced Brigham Young to seize on the idea of the seed of Ham being “cursed as to the priesthood.” With tragic results.
posted January 30, 2009 at 1:35 am
Why do we always seem to come off worse when we try to imitate the Protestants?
posted January 30, 2009 at 10:30 am
Seth R, I would like to see someone do a post on that question. Would be a very good discussion of 1) Why do Mormons imitate Protestants and not Catholicism or even Islam and 2) What exactly is Protestant in Mormonism that isn’t also Mormonism?
posted January 31, 2009 at 7:28 am
This sounds a little sick.
No church can trade or claim ownership to any of Gods truths.
For the truth is for all His children under one church; called the people.
This is where the LDS church has strayed. It is called pride and greed of ownership in things which is not theirs to own. And it is the opening gates into other things that do not promote genuine love which the Father asks of us to have for all people.
As an LDS member, I am heavily disappointed in the LDS church and its members, who do not stand in love for all.
love
posted February 1, 2009 at 1:24 am
Jettboy, I think Joseph Fielding Smith (or was it “F. Smith”?) had an ongoing correspondence with a notable Baptist authority. I think it influenced a lot of his views on the Bible, which Bruce R. McConkie then inherited (being a big fan of Pres. Smith’s work). So that might be part of it.
I also remember reading an article several years ago in a journal of comparative religious studies about how both Mormons and Catholics alike in the late 1800s and early 1900s sought to shed their “outsider” status and gain favor with the Protestant majority in America by taking vicious pot-shots at each other.
Writers like Talmadge and B.H. Roberts also borrowed a LOT of their scholarship from Protestant takedowns of the papacy.
So I imagine there is a long and interesting story to be had here.
posted February 2, 2009 at 6:12 pm
I will never give up the Protestant doctrine of eternal marriage.
That is at the heart of my faith. And my wife’s.