Christian
6 Reasons Why Mormons Are Beating Evangelicals in Church Growth
If you’ve been on the bloggernacle for long, you’ve probably seen some posts that note that growth in the LDS Church is flattening out, and these posts usually make the implication that this is simply an LDS phenomenon. Â However David French (a Presbyterian evangelical) recently pointed out that in America nearly all Christian religions are […]
BYU Education Week Recap 2012
Well, I’m conferenced out now. I attended BYU Education Week for the first time (though my wife has been going for years), and wanted to give a few impressions following my Sunstone and FAIR Conference posts. I was frankly astonished at how enormous BYU Education Week is. It dwarfs these other two conferences in size. […]
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 Religious Test and Cleanflix
I thought I would take a quick break from the Bushman interview for this little post. I attended the Ogden Film Festival last week (officially known as the Foursite Film Festival) and saw 2 films: The Religious Test and Cleanflix: the Documentary. I thought I would give my impressions.
Mitt, Falwell, and Liberty University
Liberty University, founded by Moral Majority leader and evangelical Jerry Falwell, recently invited Mitt Romney to speak at commencement exercises.  Several students boycotted the commencement address by Romney, choosing not to attend.  Christianity Today had an interesting article titled Why Jerry Falwell Sr. Isn’t Rolling In His Grave over Romney’s Liberty Invitation. The subtitle was “And what […]
Confronting Racism-Part 2
I’ve already posted Part 1 of the Mormon Matters episode 80: How Can we Confront Racism within Mormon Thought and Culture? Here is part 2. I have previously posted excerpts from this panel discussion when I asked if 1978 was the right year, and whether the Church should apologize. The transcript below continues after Part […]
Was 1978 the Right Year?
The priesthood and temple ban was lifted in a 1978 revelation given to President Spencer W. Kimball and the Twelve Apostles. With Civil Rights being a big issue in the 1960’s, there are many who criticize the church for taking so long in lifting the priesthood ban on black men, and the temple ban on […]
Bill Russell: Pillars of my Faith
John Dehlin of Mormon Stories has a recording of a 1993 Sunstone Symposium. Bill Russell gave a very interesting presentation. I transcribed the entire talk, and wanted to share it with everyone. Bill certainly has an interesting perspective on things. Â He is a past president of the Mormon History Association. The topic was titled Pillars […]
Routine Prophecy in a Church
In the lifetime of Joseph Smith, there were more than 100 revelations recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants. Â In the past 120 years, we’ve had only the vision of Joseph F. Smith (section 138), and 2 Official Declarations added–the Manifesto, and the elimination of the ban on black members to receive the priesthood. Â There are […]
New Theories on the Crucifixion
With Easter upon us, I wanted to talk a bit about the death of Christ. Â Traditional images of the Crucifixion look similar to this one (pictured on the left.) Â National Geographic has put together 10 videos in a 3-DVD set called Science of the Bible that looks into various aspects of the life of Jesus. […]
Mormon Heretic 