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Early Christian History

Canaanite Dieties

By Mormon Heretic March 20, 2016 1 Comment

It’s Easter time again (next Sunday is Easter if you weren’t paying attention.)  Easter is that one holiday that Mormons observe, but don’t really celebrate.  With Easter comes the story of the Passover.  (This is one of those strange years in which Easter occurs a month BEFORE Passover.)  In the past, I’ve blogged about various […]

War on Christmas? Blame Christians

By Mormon Heretic December 24, 2015 Leave a comment

Starbucks got a lot of flack because they used plain red cups this year instead of ones decorated with snowflakes as in years past.  Steven Colbert had a funny bit about it. But did you know that from a historical perspective, it was Christians who don’t like to celebrate Christmas?

Birth of the Devil

By Mormon Heretic August 30, 2015 1 Comment

Abraham is known as the father of monotheism.  Growing up in a culture of polytheism with both good and bad gods, Abraham declared that there was only one god, YHWH. Egyptologist Kara Cooney has narrated a Discovery Channel series (now on Youtube) has said that archaeological evidence has shown that ancient religions have always been […]

Posts Restored – Back to the Present

By Mormon Heretic May 26, 2015 2 Comments

Many of you have noticed a blast from the past on my blog.  Back in Feb 2013, my host server crashed and I had to back up my blog and try to restore it.  I picked WordPress.com, thinking that was a good choice.  Well, it didn’t restore all my posts–I was missing about 150 of […]

The Christmas Star in BoM

By Mormon Heretic December 24, 2014 Leave a comment

When I was a child, I was always excited about putting the Star on top of our Christmas tree.  The story of the Christmas star is found in the Book of Matthew: Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came […]

LDS Film Festival 2013

By Mormon Heretic January 20, 2013 Leave a comment

While the Sundance Film Festival gets all the press, Utah County is also home to the LDS Film Festival.  I reviewed the schedule, and thought I would point out a few films that sound interesting at the Scera Theater in Orem, Utah. Wednesday – Opening night

The Worth of $ouls

By Mormon Heretic December 30, 2012 3 Comments

“Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God” (D&C 18:10).  But how much is a soul worth?  Freakonomics tries to answer the question. For those of you unfamiliar with Freakonomics, it was originally a book written by two Steves:  Dubner and Levitt.  Levitt is an economist for the University of Chicago […]

Reassessing the Birth of Jesus

By Mormon Heretic December 9, 2012 6 Comments

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 […]

Jesus had a wife?

By Mormon Heretic September 30, 2012 2 Comments

I’ve enjoyed reading about a recently discovered document scholars have dubbed “The Gospel of Jesus’ Wife.”  It’s just a scrap of papyrus that dates to around 150-200 AD, but it is causing a bit of a stir.  Dr. Karen King of Harvard University has recently translated the document and it contains the line, “Jesus said […]

Questions for Mormons

By Mormon Heretic September 19, 2012 13 Comments

Most of the people who come to my blog are Mormons, but there are some that aren’t.  I have been surprised that my 3-year old post on the Trial of Joseph’s Assassins has suddenly developed a spirited discussion.  I want to keep that post on topic, so I have decided to move some of the […]