Scripture
Easter Mourning
A 73 year old man with arthritis, failing kidneys, and other health problems died last Tuesday. I didn’t know him very well (I’ll call him Gene), but I knew his daughter. During the funeral yesterday, his daughter recounted his life and said she was glad that he had left his bodily prison, but at the […]
Historical Accuracy in LDS Scriptures
The LDS Church has produced an update to the scriptures, following 8 years of work by historians on the Joseph Smith Papers Project. You may have heard about some of the changes, as our own Andrew S was the one that alerted me, but By Common Consent has some fantastic posts on the subject as […]
Magi from China
A few years ago, Revelation of the Magi was first translated into English. I’ve wanted to blog about it for a time, but now seems appropriate. According to ABC News, An ancient text called the “Revelation of the Magi,” has been rediscovered and tells a very different version of the Three Wise Men’s journey to […]
Reassessing the Birth of Jesus
In a 2010 article in BYU Studies, Professor Jeffrey R. Chadwick of BYU made the case that Jesus was born in December of 5 BC. In the most recent issue of BYU studies, professors Lincoln Blumel and Thomas Wayment review Chadwick’s article and make the case that “his handling of certain ancient sources, including the […]
Q&A with Terryl and Fiona Givens
What a week! I had the pleasure of attending sessions with both Ron Paul and Terryl Givens. Now I have to choose whether to write about Ron Paul, or Terryl Givens. Tough choice. Given that political discussions often devolve into ideological (and often irrational) arguments, I’m just not in the mood for Ron Paul this […]
The Purpose of Fasting
Our ward doesn’t start until 11. Â In our family, we’ve encouraged our children to fast once they are baptized. Â My oldest son is ten, and my daughter is eight. Â One morning, after the deacons came to our house to collect fast offerings, I caught my son crouching in the kitchen trying to hide a yogurt […]
Abraham: Breaking the Cycle of Child Abuse
The Biblical story of Abraham is an interesting story for me on several levels. Â In the past, I’ve talked about different academic perspectives of him, my personal discomfort with how he mistreated his wife Hagar, and I have also compared the Book of Abraham to Islamic texts. Â Tresa Edmunds has her own blog, and is […]
FAIR 2012 Review
In past years, it seems that the Sunstone Symposium and FAIR (Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research) have overlapped, so it was difficult to attend both. Â However, this year they were not the same week. Â I was able to attend my first FAIR conference, though my time was limited to just 2 speakers. Â Since this […]
The Non-verbal 1978 Revelation
As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been reading the Lengthen Your Stride: Working Draft.  Chapter 22 provides more information than is available in Lengthen Your Stride by Edward Kimball.  Many have wondered why there has been no written revelation of the 1978 revelation allowed men  of all races to hold the priesthood, and […]
The Bushman Interviews
As a recap, here is a recap of all of my posts transcribing the Richard Bushman interview.
