All essays and chapters
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Tribe of Manasseh — North American Nephite Model
I have always loved apologetics. I enjoy discussing doctrine, scriptural versus and evidence that support or are seen as evidence against the Book of Mormon or LDS church. For that reason I…
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Series: Leaving the Church - Eric NelsonLeaving the Church: A Compilation of the Evidence Against the LDS Church
I hope those of you who read this document do not get the wrong idea: I am not leaving the Church out of anger, sin, or laziness. I am not leaving due…
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Introduction to Examining Church Claims
The Church was organized in Manchester, New York, on April 6, 1830. The original name used on that date was actually the “Church of Christ.” This was changed in 1834 to “The…
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Series: My Search for Truth - Wes TWhy I No Longer Believe
I have always appreciated that LDS members are taught to value intelligence and truth. I want the church to be true. It has generally been a positive force in my life. I…
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The Book of Mormon Came in a Box
“Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.” - Matthew 13:13 When I married my sweetheart at the age…
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The 1832 First Vision account was suppressed between 11 and ~30 years.
The 1832 First Vision account was suppressed between 11 and ~30 years The evidence LaMar Petersen, an amateur Mormon historian, met with Levi Young (senior President of the First Council of the Seventy)…
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The three-fold nature of the LDS Church: corporate, totalistic, and individual-growth
The three-fold nature of the church: corporate, totalistic, and individual-growth bwv549 last updated 2016-06-06 Teachings and actions of the Church, its leaders, and its members may be categorized into three prominent mindsets:…
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Testimony, Spiritual Experiences, and Truth: A Careful Examination
1 Introduction 2 Do spiritual impressions teach truth? 3 What’s behind a spiritual experience? 4 Testimony, bias, and propaganda 5 Circularities: pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps? 6 Conclusions 7 Additional reading (note:…
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Knowledge and our younger generations
3Ne 26:11 “Behold, I was about to write them, all which were engraven upon the plates of Nephi, but the Lord forbade it, saying: I will try the faith of my people.”…
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Accept all things in faith
Carson, I am not raised in the Church but rather I am a “convert”. In deciding, through much prayer and reading, I decided to be Baptized fully aware that I might not have…
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I Desire to Understand
Years ago when my son left the church, I chose to dig deep and find the answers to the difficult questions about church history and its doctrine. I went into this venture…
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All in Joseph Smith’s milieu: a response to LDSLiving article on Book of Mormon evidences
Kathryn Jenkins Gordon recently read through the Book of Mormon with a distinct purpose: I wanted to determine how many evidences were found in the Book of Mormon itself supporting the fact…
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Letter to parents: Thoughts on the Word of Wisdom
Context: This is a letter I wrote to my mother and father about my current approach to the Word of Wisdom. I recently resigned from the Church, and I have other siblings…
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Check Your Premises
The Shins will change your life. Spoken by a young Natalie Portman in the cult indie classic Garden State, The Shins really have changed my life, providing a therapeutic soundtrack to my transition out of…
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America, Chris Columbus, The Bundy’s, and Sorrow
I live in Eastern Washington. The Bundy’s misguided and atrocious take-over of a Federal visitor’s center in Eastern Oregon has got me thinking on one of the most fundamental issues of the Book…
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Riding the Wake of 60 Years of the Good Ship Zion
It’s Christmastime 2015. I’m 61 years old, a loving husband, father of four, grandfather of nine and — eight months into the Post-Mormon portion of my life. The past two years of transition…