History
True Stories that Impacted You
Ok, I have a tendency to get into some pretty deep stuff here, and so every once in a while, I need to take a break. Over the weekend, our local PBS affiliate broadcast Hotel Rwanda, with Don Cheadle. It is the true story of the Rwandan Civil War of around 1994, with Don portraying […]
A Radically Different Book of Mormon Geography Theory
In the movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Nazi’s are looking for the Lost Ark of the Covenant. They have an image of a map burned into the hand of a Nazi scientist, so they think they know where the Ark is. However, there is a critical piece of information missing which is found […]
Sidney and Joseph – A Strained Friendship – Part 4
With Sidney running the church in Quincy, Joseph and others were still in the Liberty Jail. Through the first 10 years of the church, Sidney Rigdon and Joseph Smith seem to be in lock step with each other. However, the Nauvoo period seems to show a few cracks in the friendship. Were they serious? Well, […]
Sketch of Sidney Rigdon – Part 2
Ok, I just finished the Sidney Rigdon book, and wanted to give some of my overall impressions, as well as present some information about his life. I had intended to give an overall sketch of his life, but this post is long enough, so I will probably do this in a few parts. I like […]
Sidney Rigdon: A Portrait of Religious Excess
A few weeks ago, I read this humorous article in the Deseret News which basically said the men don’t attend book clubs. I loved this quote: “Men realize that they are only allocated a certain number of spoken words in their lifetime, so being of a cautious nature, they choose not to waste words on […]
Early Black Mormons
I recently purchased Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons. It is an outstanding documentary produced by Margaret Young, BYU faculty member, and Darius Gray, one of the original members of The Genesis Group. Under President Joseph Fielding Smith, this group was supervised in 1971 by junior apostles Gordon B Hinckley, Thomas S Monson, […]
Baptism for the Dead – So What?
Recently, there has been some news where Jews object to the Mormon practice of baptism for the dead, especially for Holocaust victims. Catholics have also objected to the Mormons use of old church records for the purpose of baptism for the dead. I came across an Irish Columnist who basically says, “Why do they […]
Not Your Typical Conference Weekend
When LDS people think of Conference Weekend, it is usually 8 hours (10 if you go to the Priesthood session) over the first weekend in April and October. Well, I spent 9 hours this weekend in Mormon-themed conferences, and I’ve got Stake Conference tomorrow (2 more hours.) So, I’m definitely conferenced out.
Kirtland Banking Crisis Apostasy
This was originally posted at Mormon Matters Feb 20, 2009. I am reposting it here. Since Hawkgrrrl does not offer Virtual RS/PH lessons anymore, I thought I’d try my hand at it this one time. My wife was preparing Lesson 27: Beware the Bitter Fruits of Apostasy, and I couldn’t help but think that this was a […]
Mormon Heretic 