1 Nephi 11:16-17 16 And he said unto me: Knowest thou the condescension of God? 17 And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.   Nephi was shown a vision to understand the interpretation of his father Lehi’s dream. After […]

  I plan to study the Book of Mormon more in depth this year, as we study it in Gospel Doctrine. Something I’m learning, is that as Grant Hardy said, when you take the Book of Mormon seriously and dive deep, not just the way LDS do traditionally in a devotional way, but also the […]

  Bill Reel recently published a podcast interview with Richard Bushman. I believe this is the most important hour of discussion any Mormon in the church today can listen to. Richard Bushman is the #1 scholar in the church when it comes to respectability in both the academic world and within the church as a […]

  You’ve got a face not spoiled by beauty I have some scars from where I’ve been You’ve got eyes that can see right through me You’re not afraid of anything they’ve seen I was told that I would feel nothing the first time I don’t know how these cuts heal But in you I […]

Today is Diwali, the most important Festival in the Hindu religion. Hindus will light clay lamps to signify that the light inside their souls has triumphed over the spiritual darkness. People wear new clothes, decorate their homes with lights, and light fireworks to celebrate the festival. It’s their version of Christmas, with children receiving gifts […]

  We are all highly tainted in our perspective by our own personal experiences.  I am a straight, white, male business owner comfortably isolated in middle class Utah County Mormon suburbia.  I try to be empathetic to others.  But I don’t have a lot of that first hand personal experience that tends to turn passive […]

  In this article, Zelph on a Shelf responds to the recent discussion of New Mormonism, including my post here.  New Mormonism or New Order Mormonism or Sacramental Paradigm Mormonism is the idea that one ignores (this is not to say that it opposes the literalness) the historicity of the Book of Mormon and other restoration events […]

  The church just released two essays that touch on the area of female equality issues. The essay on Mother in Heaven was informative but not terribly groundbreaking.   Joseph Smith referenced the existence of a Mother in Heaven, and modern church leaders affirm that doctrine, but outside of that nothing has been revealed.  We don’t pray to […]

  The following is an alternate view of Joseph Smith, which incorporates the historical information used against Joseph but from a faithful perspective.  I don’t agree 100%, but I like a lot of the points in this.  Even though it comes from a non-LDS, I think it’s a view shared by a segment of believing […]

My post on New Mormonism last week raised a lot of questions. First of all, we need a new name for New Mormonism. My term ‘sacramental paradigm Mormonism’ is not very catchy, and the term ‘New Mormonism’ gets some people really upset. 🙂 To be clear, New Mormonism to me is not a new church, […]