Mormon

Blacks & the Priesthood: Why don’t we talk about Elijah Abel and Green Flake?

Most Mormons believe that President Kimball’s revelation in 1978 was the first time black church members were able to hold the priesthood. However, in 1836, Elijah Abel was ordained an elder, probably by Joseph Smith himself. Elijah helped build the Nauvoo Temple, tried to rescue Joseph from jail, and served several missions for the church. […]

Utah Mormons used to be Democrats. What happened?

Utah is considered one of the “Reddest” of “Red States” (Republicans.) Mitt won 90% of republican votes in the recent primary, and Utah has had a Republican Governor for the last 22 years, and counting. However, it was not always so. Between 1917 and 1985, 6 of 9 Utah governor’s were Democrats. When the Republican […]

Iron Mine Discovery in Peru bolsters Book of Mormon

Many people have dismissed the Book of Mormon as non-historical because Nephi supposedly used iron, but no iron has been found (among many criticisms). I got an email newsletter from the Nephi Project about a new discovery by Purdue University researchers in Science Daily about an Iron Ore mine. An excerpt from the article states, […]

Is the Book of Abraham related to Muslim texts?

I was reading an article in Time Magazine a while back about how Abraham is a central figure in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. I was intrigued to learn that the article states, “The Koran includes scenes from Abraham’s childhood in which he chides his father for believing in idols and survives, Daniel-like, in a fiery […]

Similarites between Papal Infallibility and Mormon Prophetic Infallibility

I looked up “Infallibility”, and according to encyclopedia.com, “Roman Catholics hold that the infallibility of the church is vested in the pope…on matters of faith and morals. Definitive pronouncements resulting from an ecumenical council, when ratified by the pope, are also held to be infallible.” In Official Declaration 1:12, Wilford Woodruff writes, “The Lord will […]

Evolution goes to church

Of course it won’t be at an LDS church, but check out Darwin Weekend.

Thoughts on Romney, McCain, & Huckabee

First of all, I have to say of the 3 Republicans that were left, Romney was my first choice. I wasn’t 100% for Romney–I think the flip-flopping charge stuck because it was true, and I didn’t like his previous stances on abortion and gay rights, but overall, I thought he was the best, and I […]

Looking at Mitt on Super Tuesday

Normally my wife is not interested in politics. But this year is different. Here is a spreadsheet we came up with to predict how Mitt is going to do on Tuesday, and it doesn’t look promising. Now, I have no idea how states allocate delegates, but we got this off the web for the most […]

Book of Mormon Geography

About 7 years ago, I was introduced to the idea that the Book of Mormon lands didn’t take place in Central America, but rather South America. Lately, I’ve been studying the issue again, and came across a theory that the Book of Mormon didn’t take place in the Americas at all, but rather in Malaysia […]

Views on Evolution

I know the LDS church has no official views on evolution. I had someone ask me what I thought about it, and frankly, I haven’t given much thought about it. As I understand, there are people at BYU who believe in evolution, but I think they believe that evolution has limits, and don’t rule out […]