The following is long because I want to make sure I approach the subject carefully. It is indeed a soft criticism upon statements given by a man I believe to be an Apostle of God, so I can understand if the very idea can be seen as offensive to some. I apologize for that offense, but I believe the criticism is valid.
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Archive for the ‘Doctrine’ Category
My Thoughts on Pres. Packer and Pres. Beck at the 2010 LDS General Conference
Monday, April 5th, 2010 — NoCoolName_Tom
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The Handcart Tragedy
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 — NoCoolName_Tom
Most Mormons are very familiar with the story of the Martin and Willie Handcart Rescue. The Rescue was a favorite story of heroism and courage for President Hinckley who made reference to the story many times. However, the story has been strongly mythologized in the ~150 years since it first occurred.
In 1856 two handcart companies, through a series of events, were traveling west to the Salt Lake Valley. They were very late in going and, though warned against doing so by the experienced members of their companies, felt that God would protect them and they continued on (see this Deseret News article for an interesting discussion by Mormon historians as to what and who was to blame for the tragedy). Notable in this part of the journey is Levi Savage; a man who was experienced with the trail, he urged the companies to winter in Iowa City, earn money for better quality handcarts and supplies, and try to set out again in 1857. The leaders of the company urged the immigrants to continue and that God would protect them. Levi Savage again warned them that they would face danger and even death, but said he would go with them and help them. He did so, and never (as far as I can find) spoke anything unkind against those leaders.
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Adam-ondi-Ahman
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 — NoCoolName_Tom
This might be a little rushed and odd – this post was requested and I don’t have much free time to write it in. As such I really don’t have many sources. Feel free to call me out on anything wrong. I’ll try to either find sources or edit the post with the correct information.
Adam-ondi-Ahman (usually called simply Di-Ahman by the Mormon settlers) is located in Northern Missouri and was a sizable settlement during 1838. As one of the Mormon headquarters during the Mormon War of 1838 it held Mormon militia prepared to defend themselves and to take, by force occasionally, property from the enemy in recompense for property taken from them earlier by mobs of Missourians (the 1838 conflict is a messy affair and while the Mormons were, by far, not the most violent they did participate in fighting, plundering, and property burning of their own; this is the heyday of the Danites, a band of supporters of Joseph Smith whom he used sparingly but they often got out of control in following the prophet’s counsel).
The word had first appeared in a revelation given in 1832 (D&C 78). In this revelation the word was not defined, although the reference is quickly followed by “Michael”, who was identified by Mormons as the name Adam was known by before and after his mortal life. In 1835 another revelation related an event in the early religious history of humanity where Adam blessed his righteous posterity in a valley called Adam-ondi-Ahman.
A site settled in 1838, called Wright’s Ferry, was renamed by God through Joseph as Adam-ondi-Ahman (see D&C 116); Joseph prophesied that in a future day Adam shall come and visit his people and in this place the Ancient of Days, a title variously interpreted by Mormons as either Adam or God (as for Adam-God, nope, not going there!), will sit. Another revelation a few months later castigated the Saints for covetousness and poetically referred to Adam-ondi-Ahman as the “place where Adam dwelt”. These are the only canonical references.
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Carthage Jail
Monday, June 29th, 2009 — NoCoolName_Tom
There were many factors that led to Joseph Smith’s martyrdom: polygamy, his running for President, the newly formed “Reform Church” operating in Nauvoo that was leading to a fracturing of social life, his public disdain for Missouri, and his leadership of the Nauvoo Legion (meaning that Joseph, as Mayor of Nauvoo, Leader of the Nauvoo Militia, and Leader of the Church was in charge of Nauvoo from a religious, political, and military perspective at the same time – that amount of power in a single person was troubling). However, the one factor that looms over them all is his decision, ratified by the Nauvoo City Council, to close the tabloidish paper: the Nauvoo Expositor (Note: Richard E. Bennett, BYU professor of Church history and doctrine disagrees; I like his post – a good focus on the scriptures. I need to do that more!).
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Kirtland, Ohio
Saturday, June 27th, 2009 — NoCoolName_Tom
Kirtland, Ohio
As for the Kirtland Temple, it’s likely that those who tour the building will receive a lot of historical information. The building is owned by our cousins, the Community of Christ, and they usually run their tours in a historical fashion, as opposed to the Mormon sites which are almost always part of the Mission and staffed by missionaries. While the LDS missionaries are encouraged to study the history of the sites they service they are also expected to stay “on script” at most sites; the RLDS sites are usually staffed by historians or history students and, as such, you’ll probably get a different tour each time you go.
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Little Myths about Latter Day Saint History
Friday, June 26th, 2009 — NoCoolName_Tom
Yes, I spelled the title correctly. These are common myths about the Latter Day Saint movement, a religious movement that contains The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (note the hyphenation; also commonly called the Mormons), the Community of Christ, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite), the Church of Christ (Temple Lot), the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and many others. Of course, to be completely honest, this is mostly about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and the Community of Christ (CoC), formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and their common (and separate) history.
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Colesville and Palmyra
Thursday, June 25th, 2009 — NoCoolName_Tom
I’m not sure about doing both of these sites in the same day, but Joseph (and I think Emma) made this trip a few times in the first few years of their marriage. Palmyra was a small town that benefited slightly from the construction of the Erie Canal and is the township where Joseph grew up from a young boy to a young man. He hobbled into Palmyra a little crippled boy still recovering from an intensive leg surgery and finally left as the leader of the Lord’s Restored Church.
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Sharon, Vermont
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 — NoCoolName_Tom
The obelisk stands 38 1/2 feet high – one foot for every year of Joseph’s life. It is difficult to understand why a Church that had only recently found financial independence and was struggling to assimilate into American life and culture would go to the expense of building a monument in such an out-of-the-way place
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My Revised Primary Lesson
Thursday, June 4th, 2009 — NoCoolName_Tom
I teach the 10-11-year-olds in my ward primary. This year’s course of study is the D&C and Church History. After reading a lot about Church History and Joseph Smith (including in the completely awesome biography, Rough Stone Rolling) I was worried before starting as to how I would be teaching the course. Thankfully the lesson manual is written with a surprising amount of carefully chosen wording and nuance. If you are a member who doesn’t know many details about Church History you really won’t find anything in the manual troubling, and if you know a lot about Church History you’ll find that the lessons are carefully worded to consciously flow around controversial subjects.
In teaching I’ve never really had much problem with the lessons. Until now.
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2 Comments | Posted in Doctrine, Mormon, Personal, Primary | Read on...
