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Whether or not the glory of the restoration is diminished or not is up to the individual to decide. But this is completely independent of the fact that Joseph did borrow. One cannot be honest with the history and not see that Joseph borrowed at every turn. I think that was part of his great genius -...

One of the things that "Misquoting Jesus" explores is that new religions often lay claim to old beliefs, prophecies, and scriptures but take them in a new direction. This way the religion is exciting and fresh while also having an old historic feel...the fulfilment of things foretold. He explores t...

Oh, yeah, I'm definitely biased. I was also biased in my old beliefs. I don;t currently believe there were really gold plates and eve if there were I don't buy any of the stuff about the Lamanites/Native Americans. Nobody can figure out the modern geography because it's fiction. Etc. But the BoM is...

I haven't listened to it yet. Since I'm not a member anymore, I've found that I have little patience for apologetics and I wasn't entirely sure how that interview was going to go. Reading your post though, I'm thinking I'll put it in the queue I wouldn’t consider him traditional apologetics. Althou...

I just saw that Bill released the audio of his disciplinary council. He was asked to sign a document not to record it and he did sign it. So he not only recorded it anyway, which I could maybe justify for just your own purposes and private records, but to also release it just seems very dishonest to...

I have currently stepped away from activity and doing so has helped me see more clearly some of the benefits I am missing out on. Most obvious to me is the community of fellowship. For me, a religion should be about love and kindness and looking for meaningful opportunities to serve others. For many...

I listened to an interesting interview recently with David Bokovoy who is an Old Teatament scholar and antiquity historian. He commented that as a historian, it is quite easy to explain the Book of Mormon as being entirely a product of the 19th century, from the 19th century ideas about origins of t...

I share others concern about a sub-culture developing where service missions are seen as “less than.” Particularly in the language that says prospective missionaries are first considered for a proselyting mission, and then if not eligible may be able to serve as a service missionary. It’s already es...

That is a tough one. My step-grandmother died last year (great lady), and for the first time that I could recall, hearing the platitudes about her and the next life caused a lot of grief and loneliness that I did not expect. I quoted her as "returning to the God who gave her life" a lot - even if i...

There are several ways to frame this, here are a few: 1) I don't believe that there's a spirit that resides in our body and I don't believe there is a spiritual realm. 2) I believe that there isn't a spirit that resides in our body and I believe there isn't a spiritual realm. That's why it's hard f...