Category: Doctrine
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LDS Indoctrination and Retentive Socialization
LDS Indoctrination and Retentive Socialization Introduction In A Message To The Most Ardent Critic Of The Mormon Church, Ben Arkell quotes a nameless member of the church who had recently dropped off their daughter and son at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day…
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Book of Mormon parallels to 1800s thought
Book of Mormon parallels to 1800s thought Richard Bushman, well-known Mormon historian, recently stated: … there is phrasing everywhere–long phrases that if you google them you will find them in 19th century writings. The theology of the Book of Mormon is very much 19th century theology, and it reads like…
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Questions to Ask
Introduction These questions are designed to probe various aspects of the LDS Church’s history and truth-claims.1 The list was made for 1) investigators to ask the missionaries, 2) active members to ask themselves, or 3) those experiencing a faith transition to ask their parents or ecclesiastical leaders. The majority of…
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Swords and Spears
Swords and Spears For over a decade I’ve been hung up on the dearth of physical evidence, particularly Iron Age artifacts, supporting the Book of Mormon. Recently I had a mini-enlightenment in this regard: swords and spears do not grow on trees; they do nor fall as manna from Heaven. They are…
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Issues and Questions Regarding LDS Doctrine and History
Fourteen years down the road, the questions and issues raised in this letter remain substantially unanswered, to my knowledge unaddressed, by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. August 30, 2003 153 Canemah Way Oregon City, OR 97045 President Gordon B. Hinckley The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day…
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Too Big to Fail
I considered titling this “Too Big to Fail?” But no, with billions in assets, millions of Saints tithing ten percent, and catastrophic cultural implications, like Chase Manhattan and Goldman Sacks, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is too big to fail. While fiscal failure of the Mormon church portends…
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Finding Truth: Response to “8 Anti-Mormon Tactics That Satan Uses To Attack The Latter-day Saints”
In March of 2017, MyLifeByGogoGoff published a piece entitled 8 Anti-Mormon Tactics That Satan Uses To Attack The Latter-day Saints. The piece was then reblogged by LDS Living. I am certainly no expert logician, but I have taken a couple philosophy courses, and I spent many years in the sciences…
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The Shunning Key
The Shunning Key: Whom Mormons shun and why Introduction The leaders and manuals of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints frequently emphasize brotherly love and charity to all. Consider this statement by Elder M. Russell Ballard: Let us reach out in friendship and love to our neighbors, including…
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Problem Summaries: resources discussing LDS-truth claims
Problems with LDS truth-claims Before reading about the problems, you may want to first consider the pros and cons of investigating the truth-claim data. Very short summaries Five Key Facts (~ 1 page) 50 Problems with the Mormon Church (~10 minute youtube video) More significant summaries Mormon Primer (multiple perspectives: mainstream, critical,…
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Joseph Smith’s Polygamy Denials
Introduction Joseph Smith denied the practice of polygamy1 on several occasions. He was also responsible for the publication or distribution of several additional denials. A complete listing of early Church leader polygamy denials up to 1850 is available here. A few notes: Hyperlinks to original source material may be found by…
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Faith of a naturalist: response to “Faith of a Science Teacher” questions
Introduction On February 12, 2017, The Faith of a Science Teacher published a post entitled “Questions about the Church and Gospel of Jesus Christ”. I think many of these questions are very poignant. Having thought for many years about these same kinds of questions, I decided to offer up some…
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Eyes vs Heart
There may be those that attack a 14yr old boy prophet, the Book of Mormon prophets, living prophets, and a living Christ. There were those that accused, and today accuse, Jesus Christ of not being Christian, of having, and being the devil. There are those that deny the existence of Heavenly Father,…