NOM

He's never been one of my faves, but I did not dislike him. Along with the right to have your own opinion but not your own facts is the whole business of calling the church anything but the whole name. We all agree that's folly and nonsense, and Ballard was part of that movement. I'll give the chap ...

Seems to be an interesting nugget of history as it pertains to Mormons, who settled Utah more or less. It's the thing that landed JS in jail at Carthage together with his brother Hyrum, which I've never sorted out in my mind why Hyrum was there...anyway, it is what lead to Joseph and Hyrum Smith's u...

These are staggering numbers for missionaries- had no idea there were so many. Sort of makes good sense that they'd need more missions.

I hope it is because the church is moving towards service and not proselyting.

I always have warm thoughts regarding the kindness and service orientation of Mormons. As individuals they are A-okay. I'll have to go along with moksa. Most of the Mormons I've rubbed shoulders with in regards to serving others is heartwarming. When I'm with good ones, it feels like home. These ar...

First of all- the word testimony is not a stand alone word, yet in Mormon culture when the word is used the assumption by others is that you believe the entire sha-bang-a-bang, and no one really does because no one has all of the facts of the church. It changes all the time and is impossible to keep...

I find the Lost 116 Pages to be absolutely fascinating and in my opinion one of the BIGGEST problems with the Book of Mormon's historicity that most people don't talk about. How'd he get it done? Why did it take so long for him to start after he purportedly had the plates? Why would he use a seer s...

Remember, as a child growing up, how the New Jerusalem was going to be in Missouri, and I thought, that's cool, where's Missouri? Must be some groovy place, Garden of Eden there and all, "walk where Adam and Eve walked". Pretty good stuff. Then I went there...not much happening. Hmmm. Years later, t...

Is an "angel with a drawn sword" similar/comparable to the Holy the Ghost? Always wondered about this "drawn sword" business myself. Why a sword? Did it have to be drawn to get their attention? Why not just zap them like ol' Moroni did when JS tried nabbing the plates out of the stone box that no o...

Good post and responses. Enjoyed them all. Safe to say that we have all wondered how the folks lifted, and handled gold plates that weighed- at least- 40-50 pounds, as recorded by one of the "witnesses". Try that on for size sometime. Go to a gym and just try to pick up a 40 or 50 pound weight, with...

The devil has been busy with all the victories he's racked up, probably started keeping score as soon as Joe Smith's gold bible story came out and by golly and by gum- he's still racking up victory over victory....all the infidels saying Mormon all the time, or gasp- LDS. Whew, that's offensive for ...

Thanks for the responses, and the website. Very interesting. With all due respect to Jos Smith being lazy, I'm not sure if I agree with that one. The scribes seemed to be fairly knowledgeable people, but I'm not sure of their personalities apart from the bits and pieces of information on them in scr...

Re-reading "Rough Stone Rolling" by Bushman, a book that I quite like, but one that gets me wondering about a lot of things in the early days of the church that make little of no sense. In regard to the lost 116 pages- my mental list of things I don't understand is why JS did not: 1. Make a copy of ...

This article is from 2013 and has gotten a TON of play by apologists, but as you said if you want to take this study as evidence you're screwed anyway because it completely undercuts the Book of Mormon narrative (not to mention Adam and Eve in Missouri). I remember years ago listening to the 'Three...

Holding back my judgement on this one until I read it. Listened to part of a Q&A with Richard Bushman and his wife, who I consider quite knowledgeable people on the subject of JS, and he mentioned that he was working on this project. I've read "Rough Stone Rolling" a few times and I think that Bushm...

Thanks for sharing Moksha, and I must say, I've enjoyed the comments on this. When I have time I will look into this further.

I'd never heard of this guy Kimo, so I looked him up. Interesting story about him in the Church News a while back, his dad then mom being killed in different automobile accidents. That would be difficult to deal with. Sounds like a good chap so let's hope for the best. Who knows, he could be another...

Back when it was announced that my stake president and 1st councilor were being sued as part of a suit about their actions to enable and protect a known child molester, DW was vocal about her support of the victims and their families, partially because she knew one of the sets of parents very well....

Could not agree with much of what the video had to say and stopped watching once the BS came up over my hip waders. The artist has talent though, as a painter, I'll give him that. This is an all too typical example of establishing a theme with a conclusion in mind, then working to try and justify it...

Interesting. Christians actually acting like Christians. Good for them. Apart from having a strange name, I'd never given them much thought.

Question- are they the ones we should thank for this brother and sister business that Mormons have embraced and which there seems to be no end to?

Interesting post, thanks. I'd not seen the BKP quote. Interesting choice of word using "belligerent", as it is usually used in a negative context, so I'd say it's spot on for ol' Boyd K, as he was as stubborn, set in his ways, and narrow-minded as any leader in the church. Your last line, first caus...