Movie/Book Reviews
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. […]
Were Jesus and Mary Married?
The Da Vinci Code created a bit of a stir in making the claim that Mary Magdalene and Jesus were married. Â How do LDS handle the issue? Â Dale Bills, a spokesman for the Church, said in a statement released Tuesday, 16 May 2006: The belief that Christ was married has never been official church doctrine. […]
Women and Temples
It’s amazing what you can learn on the Bloggernacle. Â Layne at Feminist Mormon Housewives expressed concern about a policy at a temple she attended. Â As Young Women’s advisor, she took the young women in her ward to perform baptisms for the dead. Â Apparently the unnamed temple she attended had a policy that women currently experiencing […]
Shooting down Priesthood Ban Myths
On February 25, Scott Gordon president of the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR) sent out a newsletter to subscribers noting that February is Black History Month.  Gordon explained why black history matters, and explained 3 myths about the ban.  Just 3 days later, Professor Randy Bott created a stir when he tried to explain […]
Atonement Theories
National Geographic has put together a 3-DVD set about the life of Jesus in a series called Science of the Bible. Each DVD contains a different aspect of his life. In a documentary called The Arrest, they document the ancient Jewish practices at the temple and events leading to his arrest. The producers of the […]
Friendly Atheist Finds Value in Book of Mormon
Clay Painter of Mormon Expression interviewed Bob Price about his opinions of the Book of Mormon. Not everyone believes the Book of Mormon is a truly divine document, but I found it interesting to hear that Bob finds value in the Book of Mormon, despite his being an atheist. Regarding Mormon Expression, sometimes I find […]
Boomerang Back to Religion
I transcribed a bit more of the Jana Riess interview from Mormon Stories. Â There have been many posts (such as this one by Mike S) lamenting the fact that the activity rates seem to be slowing for the LDS Church. Â I thought it was interesting that John Dehlin acknowledged that atheists are having a hard […]
Jana Riess: Truth Doesn't have to be Empirical
Jana Riess has recently published a book called Flunking Sainthood in which she decides to spend 1 month participating in various spiritual rituals. For example, she spent one month fasting from sun up to sun down as a pious Muslim would do during Ramadan (though she picked the month of February because it had the […]
The First Black Mormon Leader: Pete
Since today is MLK day, I thought it might be nice to talk about the first Black Mormon leader. In his book on The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations, Mark Staker spends a surprising amount of time discussing the first Black Mormon Convert–a former slave known as Black Pete, and notes that he […]
Mormon Heretic 