Mormon Culture
Bushman’s Perspective on Polygamy, Alger, and Snow
Thanks to Tara, my recent post announcing my perspective on polygamy has received a recent boost of activity (and is my most commented post ever on this blog, currently with 97 comments.) We had been discussing some of the more controversial aspects of polygamy: (1) Was Joseph’s polygamy revelation really a disguise for his real […]
Interview with the Community of Christ
Over the last year, I have come across a few bloggers who are members of the Community of Christ (formerly known as RLDS). I have always been curious about the Community of Christ, and have often wondered the differences in worship between their services, and LDS services. I wanted to share some of the stuff […]
Similarities Between the Lemba and Lehi
The History Channel has a show called “Digging for the Truth.” In season 1, they did an episode called “The Lost Tribe of Israel”, which highlighted the Lemba Tribe in South Africa, which claims to be a Hebrew people who were displaced around 700 BC, about 100 years before Lehi left Jerusalem. I couldn’t help […]
A South American Model for the Book of Mormon
A little more than 10 years ago, I was vacationing in Hawaii with a few friends. While there, we attended a small branch and became good friends with one of the members there. The member invited us over for family home evening, and introduced me to the idea that the Book of Mormon happened in […]
My Perspective on Polygamy
I have long avoided talking about polygamy on my blog. It is a source of tremendous discomfort for me, but it keeps coming up, so I want to give my impressions about this early practice in Mormonism, as well as my beliefs and reconciliations.
A Constitutional Theocracy
The Faithful Dissident asked a very interesting question in my last post. Back to Joseph Smith and theocracy, there’s something that puzzles me about Quinn’s claim. If JS truly intended on establishing a theocracy in America, wouldn’t that be in complete contradiction to what his religion proclaimed (i.e. that the US Constitution was a God-inspired […]
Women and the Melchizedek Priesthood
I was first introduced to the idea of women holding the Melchizedek Priesthood in the book called Sidney Rigdon: Portrait of Religious Excess by Richard Van Wagoner. Sidney claimed that Emma Smith was the first woman to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood (as I blogged about in Part 5). The current book I’m reading, The Mormon […]
My 2nd Scoop: A Curious Verse
I recently made the acquaintance of Morgan Deane, who runs a blog called Warfare and the Book of Mormon. Morgan is a scholar in Military History, and has used some of his expertise in analyzing some passages in the Book of Mormon as related to warfare. Here’s what he says about himself on his website.
When was the Melchizedek Priesthood Restored?
First of all, I have to point to the Teacher, at Gospel Doctrine Underground, for introducing this topic to me. Previous to his discussion, I had not given much thought to when the Melchizedek Priesthood (MP) was restored. I just finished a book called “The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power” by D. Michael Quinn which […]
Mormon Heretic 