1. Overview: Church members are taught that the prophet speaks for the Lord and will never lead the church astray (even when they are wrong). President Heber J. Grant said: “Always keep your eye on the President of the church, and if he ever tells you to do anything, even if it is wrong, and…
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1. Overview: The testimony of the three and eight witnesses to the gold plates is often considered a key component of the Book of Mormon’s credibility. However, the witnesses, by their own admission, seemed to have only seen the angel and plates in a visionary state in their minds (as Joseph Smith suggested to them)…
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On June 13th, Apostle Oaks and Historian Turley gave a fireside at my stake in Idaho “to answer some faithful questions and to minister to some disabling doubts.” In this fireside, the couple responded to several questions that are most relevant to those that agree with Denver Snuffer and Rock Waterman. In my view, that…
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I have seen several friends post the article “How Does Gay Marriage Hurt Us? Here’s How.” and found it terribly lacking. Here are the key points it makes and some of my thoughts on these. “How does our marriage hurt you?” they ask. Well, I can think of one significant way it will hurt us: It…
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It seems like every few weeks we hear about someone being called to a disciplinary court for apostasy for daring to speak out about their unbelief. Usually, the justification is that publicly questioning the church’s teachings causes others to lose faith and to doubt, thus we are leading people out of the church. Frequently, they claim we…
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Posted: 11 April 2015 Updated: 9 May 15 (plus postscript) Harold B. Lee The recent Mormon Stories Podcast interviews of Kirk and Lindsay Van Allen by Gina Colvin and John Dehlin evoked my memory of encountering Harold B. Lee in September 1965 regarding “The Principle”. When “Steven in Milcreek” responded to my comment about “HBL” on John’s…
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Several years back, I was discussing some of these matters with one of my daughters, and she posed this question to me: Let’s just say you’re right, and that the Church’s claims aren’t true. What is the harm in staying in it, and being involved with it? We’re happy, we’re living good lives. What is…
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I first need to make a crucial distinction here, between the Corporate and Institutional Church, and the Church that exists in the lives of the individuals and families that comprise the various Wards and Branches of the Church. Even though I was a convert to the Church, I raised my family in it, and was…
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