13 Comments

Did Paul Found Christianity?

Posted by Mormon Heretic on June 24, 2010 in Catholic, Early Christian History, Gnosticism, Mormon, Scripture, Theology

Bishop Rick has mentioned a few times that he believes the apostle Paul invented Christianity, so I thought I’d create a post to address this specific issue.  In my previous post on the Strangite Church, he said in a few comments,

I believe Paul invented Christianity, not Jesus. There are only a couple of last minute, thrown-in scriptures that Christians use to claim Jesus intended to start a new church, but the overwhelming evidence points to Jesus merely trying to reform Judaism.

He went on to say, Continue Reading »

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The Strangites: Another Mormon Group

Posted by Mormon Heretic on June 12, 2010 in Book of Mormon, Early Mormon History, History, Mormon, Mormon Culture, Movie/Book Reviews, polygamy, Restorationist Churches

As I mentioned previously, I really enjoyed the Strangite session of the Mormon History Association meetings a few weeks ago.  Vickie Speek, John Hamer, and Mike Karpowicz gave some fascinating presentations on this little known group.  Following the session, they answered additional questions, and I thought it would be interesting to provide a transcript of the Q&A session.  But before I get into the transcript, I should tell you a brief history of the Strangite Church.

James Strang, prophet of the Strangite Church

James Strang was baptized into the church just a few months before Joseph Smith was killed in 1844.  He said he had a letter from Joseph proclaiming that Strang was to lead the church.  The letter is currently owned by Yale University; in the past few decades, they have declared Joseph Smith’s signature on the letter a forgery.

Evidently Strang was a dynamic leader.   Continue Reading »

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Why Can’t God Speak English?

Posted by Mormon Heretic on June 8, 2010 in Mormon, Movie/Book Reviews, Theology

I received a surprising resurgence of activity from one of my oldest posts, Book of Mormon Geography.  In the latest discussion, Bishop Rick asked, “Why would HF send a revelation that would not be understood?”  Then he clarified it further stating, “Why would HF send a revelation to HIS “Prophet” (as opposed to any “prophet”) that would not be understood by HIS “Prophet”?”

This seems to be a common theme in the Bloggernacle–but not just here.  Other religions have similar questions, and even agnostics/atheists ask similar questions.  In the book Powerful Prayers, Larry King asks Rabbi Irwin Katsof, “Why can’t God speak English?”  Let me quote from the book for a moment.  From page 163, Continue Reading »

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John Wooden: More Like a Methodist Minister Than a Basketball Coach.

Posted by Mormon Heretic on June 5, 2010 in Christian, Death, Sports

One of my big passions is sports, though I don’t talk about it much on this blog.  John Wooden died Friday night at the age of 99.  He was an amazing coach and an amazing man.  One person said Wooden was “more like a Methodist minister than a basketball coach.”  ESPN put together a tribute of former players, coaches, and announcers who know him well.

Wooden led UCLA to 7 straight National Championships, an 88 game winning streak, 38 straight NCAA tournament wins, and 10 NCAA championships in 12 years, before retiring in 1975.  He was known as the Wizard of Westwood (a nickname he didn’t like.)  Here are some excerpts from from that piece.  (I’m not sure everyone that was interviewed, so if you know, please tell me and I’ll update the post.) Continue Reading »

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After the MHA Convention: A Very Schismatic Day 4

Posted by Mormon Heretic on May 31, 2010 in CoC/RLDS, Early Mormon History, History, Mormon, Mormon Culture, Movie/Book Reviews, Restorationist Churches

All trip long, I have been looking forward to attending the Community of Christ Devotional at the Independence Temple.  The meeting began at 8:30 AM, and was a wonderful hour of singing and spoken word.  Professor Alex Baugh of BYU, and Apostle Susan Skoor of the Community of Christ

you can see my shoulder

CoC Apostle Susan Skoor

gave background on many hymns written or revised by WW Phelps.  It was a truly inspiring meeting.  I haven’t enjoyed singing that much since I was in the MTC!

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Day 3 at MHA

Posted by Mormon Heretic on May 30, 2010 in Early Mormon History, History, Intellectualism, Mormon, Mormon Culture, Movie/Book Reviews, Restorationist Churches

John Hamer, Mike Karpowicz, and Vickie Cleverly Speck gave a very interesting history of the Strangite movement.  What’s a Strangite you say?  Speck filled in many details: she said that James Strang was baptized into the LDS church just 4 months prior to the death of Joseph Smith.  Strang claims to have a letter from Joseph Smith making him the new leader of the LDS movement, and claims to been visited by Smith at the moment of Smith’s death.  An angel later anointed Strang with oil as the new prophet.  Amazingly, Strang counted many of the Smith family (including  Joseph’s brother William) as followers, and other prominent members, such as Martin Harris.

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Highlights of Day 2 at MHA: Trouble in Zion, Bushman, Gordon, and Bringhurst and the Awards

Posted by Mormon Heretic on May 29, 2010 in Early Mormon History, History, Intellectualism, Mormon, Mormon Culture, Movie/Book Reviews

It’s the pits when you have to choose between sessions, and I made a difficult choice in the morning.  I had wanted to attend Kathleen Flake’s session on LDS Adoption Theology, but instead attended Ken Ballentine’s documentary, Trouble in Zion. (Saints Herald has already blogged about it, and there is a Facebook page.  I also mentioned that I wanted to see it from the LDS Film Festival earlier this year.)

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Pres Veazey and John Hamer: Highlights of MHA Day 1

Posted by Mormon Heretic on May 28, 2010 in CoC/RLDS, Early Mormon History, History, Intellectualism, Mormon, Mormon Culture, Movie/Book Reviews

I thought I’d give a quick rundown of my first day here at the Mormon History Association meetings here in Independence, Missouri, and tell you of some of the cool people I’ve met here.  The first activity we had was to go to the Harry S Truman Library.  I didn’t realize President Truman grew up in Independence, Missouri.  I enjoyed going to the museum and meeting several people there.  As I have learned more people on the bloggernacle and Mormon history, I recognized Emily Jensen of the Mormon Times.  As I introduced myself to her, I was surprised to learn than she had read my brief blog post from yesterday.  I had just posted it a few hours prior, and she told me that she knew that Mormon Heretic was here at MHA, and she was hoping to meet me!  I was really surprised when she told me that she reads my blog regularly.

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Mormon History Association meetings

Posted by Mormon Heretic on May 27, 2010 in Early Mormon History, History, Mormon, Mormon Culture, Movie/Book Reviews

It’s been a busy week.  Last week, Summer semester started, and I am teaching 2 online math classes at the local community college, so I apologize for no post on Sunday.  I am currently in Kansas City, Missouri for the Mormon History Association meetings over the next few days, so I hope to make up for the past week.  On my way in to register, I ran into Lavinia Fielding Anderson and Elder Marlin K Jensen.  They were very pleasant to meet with, and I look forward to giving you some more updates following the opening session tonight.  Stay tuned!  (I plan to attend a devotional on Sunday morning at the Community of Christ temple in Independence.)  If anyone else is here, please let me know your comments too.

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MH Can Now be read on your Mobile Phone

Posted by Mormon Heretic on May 16, 2010 in Tech Answers

Ok, I did some blog changes recently, and now I have a plugin so you can read my blog much easier on your mobile phone.  I used the MobilePress plugin (see this page for more info).  I’m also looking for a good widget or plug in so I can be notified when someone makes a new post on their blog.  I’ve missed a few on the Faithful Dissident‘s blog, and I’d like to prevent that in the future.  It’s too hard to visit all my favorite blogs, and I need some sort of widget to help be out.  Any ideas?  (Also feel free to post other cool widgets and plugins here.)

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