Mormon Heretic

United Order vs Consecration

I always thought the United Order and Consecration were the same thing.  I’ve been reading a book called Great Basin Kingdom by Leonard Arrington (former church historian) and learned they are actually different.  The basic difference to me seems to be that with Consecration, one gave all they owned to the church, and then were […]

Would you recognize this church?

Often on the bloggernacle, someone will ask (such as Faithful Dissident did recently) What Would Joseph Smith Think About The Modern LDS Church? The implication often is that we moderns have strayed.  Perhaps, but another answer is we have evolved.  But if we moderns were to travel back in time, would we recognize them?

Knowing – Nicolas Cage

I just saw this movie last night.  I had never heard of it before, and literally knew nothing about it.  I told my wife to pick a movie, and I thought she would pick a chic flick.  She said she thought I might like it because it had something to do with numbers and predicting […]

Did Moses Copy Hammurabi’s 10 Commandments?

A friend of mine let me know about this news item at Signature Books.  Apparently, one of their authors (David Wright) has a new book published by Oxford University Press.  For those of you who don’t know, Oxford is known as a pretty tough place to publish.  They have pretty high scholarly standards, so getting […]

Mormons and Indians in the Great Plains

I have some good news, and some bad news.  First the good news–I got a new job!  Now the bad news–my new job will interfere with my frequent blogging, so there will definitely be a decrease in activity. My book club has been reading a book called Establishing Zion by Eugene Campbell.  I couldn’t find […]

Early Church History: Oaks and Veazey

I’ve been reading a book by Apostle Dallin Oaks called Carthage Conspiracy.  Oaks is a lawyer, former Utah Supreme Court judge, former dean of the University of Chicago Law School, and president of BYU from 1971-1980 (updated 8/9/2009).  He wrote the book in 1975, and analyzes the trial of the assassins of Joseph Smith.  I […]

The Documentary Hypothesis

The 8th Article of Faith for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints states: 8 We believe the aBible to be the bword of God as far as it is translated ccorrectly; This has to be one of the most oft-quoted articles of faith by members of the LDS church.  In one of my […]

Science and Religion: Compatible or Not?

Ok, this is a post to tackle a few issues.  #1, Bishop Rick did request a post: “Personally, I would like to see a post that shows how evolution could fit inside the Genesis account of creation. I predict a lively discussion there.” I did do a post on Evolution, but he didn’t know me […]

Pres Veazey on Scripture Literalism

Thanks to FireTag for letting me know about a recent statement by the current prophet of the Community of Christ.  He talks about scriptural literalism.  The videos can be found on the CoC website, and this quote comes from Chapter 4.  Let me quote from Pres. Veazey directly:

What if Christ’s Bones Were Found?

I don’t know why, but I love to learn about archaeology, especially religious archaeology.  A few years ago, Simcha Jacobovici came out with a documentary and book called The Jesus Tomb.  In it, he makes a claim that the bones of Jesus may have been located in a tomb unearthed in Jerusalem.  Of course, the […]