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Utah Mormons used to be Democrats. What happened?

Posted by Mormon Heretic on February 23, 2008 in History, Mormon, Politics, polygamy

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 party was founded in 1856, it was mainly opposed to “the twin relics of barbarism— slavery and polygamy,” and pledged themselves to rid the country of these two evils. Mormons were understandably anti-Republican Party, and voted for Democrats in droves. Continue Reading »

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Iron Mine Discovery in Peru bolsters Book of Mormon

Posted by Mormon Heretic on February 19, 2008 in Archeology, Book of Mormon, Geography, History, Mormon, Science, Scripture, South America

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, “The researchers determined that the mine is a human-made cave that was first created around 2,000 years ago. An estimated 3,710 metric tons was extracted from the mine during more than 1,400 years of use. The mine, which is nearly 700 cubic meters, is in a cliffside facing a modern ochre mine.”

Continue Reading »

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Is the Book of Abraham related to Muslim texts?

Posted by Mormon Heretic on February 17, 2008 in Islam, Judaism, Mormon, Multi-Faith, Old Testament, Scripture, Theology

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 furnace to which he is condemned for his fealty to Allah.” As I recall, the print version of the magazine had additional information on Abraham and Islam, including more details of this story.

To me, this sounds very similar to the account in the Pearl of Great Price. Is it possible, that Joseph translated a Muslim text? I find no accounts of this in the Bible, and I am not aware of any apocryphal writings about this story. Is anyone out there familiar with this? Are there other parallels with Islam, or is the story found elsewhere?

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Similarites between Papal Infallibility and Mormon Prophetic Infallibility

Posted by Mormon Heretic on February 12, 2008 in Catholic, History, Mormon, Priesthood, Priesthood Ban, Scripture, Theology

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 never permit me or any other man who stands as President of this Church to lead you astray. It is not in the programme. It is not in the mind of God. If I were to attempt that, the Lord would remove me out of my place, and so He will any other man who attempts to lead the children of men astray from the oracles of God and from their duty.”

Is there a fundamental difference between these? Continue Reading »

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Evolution goes to church

Posted by Mormon Heretic on February 9, 2008 in Creationism, Evolution, Mormon

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

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Thoughts on Romney, McCain, & Huckabee

Posted by Mormon Heretic on February 9, 2008 in Mormon, Politics

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 still think that.

I keep hearing everyone say the sky is falling now that John McCain is probably going to win the republican nomination. I think this is ridiculous. This link on MSNBC Hardball shows 10 reasons why conservatives hate McCain. Of these 10 reasons, I can only agree with one of them, and am lukewarm on 2 others. Do these 10 reasons describe your position? Here’s what I think about these.

Continue Reading »

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Looking at Mitt on Super Tuesday

Posted by Mormon Heretic on February 3, 2008 in Mormon, Politics

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 recent polls for the Republican Super Tuesday states. Alaska, ND, and Montana didn’t have any polls, so we just gave all 3 candidates (Huck, McCain, and Mitt) 33% each. In some cases, Rudy was still in the race when the poll was taken, so I don’t know how that will impact the race, because he had a sizable lead in some cases. Super Tuesday Predictions with results

(You may need to click the link twice to see the file.) Remember this is for entertainment purposes only, but I’m curious to see how things go. Roughly McCain should take home 580 delegates, Mitt should get 200, and Huck should get 178, but these are all probably low numbers, because I doubt Rudy will get any.  By the way, these result were found at USA Election Polls.

I updated the spreadsheet to reflect actual poll winners.  Actually it was closer than I thought.

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Diversity in the Church

Posted by Mormon Heretic on January 28, 2008 in Culture, History, Subjective

First of all, let me say that I am truly sad about Pres Hinckley’s passing. He is a true inspiration, and I, as well as the church will greatly miss him. His humor, and candor will be greatly missed.

Newsweek has an interesting article found at http://www.newsweek.com/id/105857/page/2

It talks about diversity in the church, and some of the poor retention rates of converts. Pres Hinckley was one who was greatly concerned about retention of converts. I recently attended the LDS Film Festival, and watched a movie called Continue Reading »

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Book of Mormon Geography

Posted by Mormon Heretic on January 25, 2008 in Book of Mormon, Central America, Geography, Malay, Mormon, Science, South America

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 (known as the Malay Peninsula.) Has anyone heard or studied this hypothesis?

So, I decided to learn more about the different ideas of BOM geography. James Sorensen has a book published in 1991 where he gives a short synopsis of the various (approximately 80) theories. Many are similar, and here are the major categories of theories. Continue Reading »

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Why are the 12 Tribes of Israel important?

Posted by Mormon Heretic on January 25, 2008 in 10 tribes, Articles of Faith, Culture, Israel, Theology

The LDS Church has a list of 13 general beliefs, which was composed by Joseph Smith in the 1830’s. It does not cover everything the church believes, but is a good guide. In the 10th article of faith, it states, “We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes”.

First of all, why do we care about the 10 tribes? Continue Reading »

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