The Kinderhook plates are a small un-noteworthy blip in the story of Joseph Smith’s very complex and full life. Because they have nothing to do with revelation, there is no doctrine that comes from them and no real benefit to studying them. There is simply no reason for them to ever come up in normal … Read more
One of the popular anti-Mormon arguments is that Joseph Smith stole Freemasonry to invent the temple endowment. The history and evidence do show that, like many influential men of the time including the Founding Fathers, Joseph Smith and several early Church leaders did join the Freemasons shortly before the Nauvoo Temple endowment. Nauvoo itself had … Read more
The second principle of the gospel is repentance. To be happy in life, we must repent and accept the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Fixating on past errors and sorrows creates discontentment and ingratitude and limits our ability to grow. Happiness requires moving on from past wrongs and focusing on improving the present and the future. … Read more
The Book of Abraham is a short book of scripture translated by Joseph Smith in 1835. The text presents itself as an ancient record connected to Abraham, containing teachings about covenant, priesthood, premortal existence, creation, and God’s relationship with humanity. It now appears in the Pearl of Great Price. Joseph Smith stated that the papyri … Read more
Royal Skousen was a professor of linguistics and English at Brigham Young University and the longtime editor of the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project. He spent decades examining the original manuscript and the printer’s manuscript of the Book of Mormon, working directly from the earliest surviving textual evidence rather than later recollections or theological assumptions. … Read more
Critics of the Church argue that because Joseph Smith practiced plural marriage, he could not have been a prophet. That conclusion depends on modern assumptions about what “marriage” is and how it works. The Assumptions Behind the Criticism Assumption 1: Polygamy Is Never Ordained of God This assumption starts by deciding in advance that polygamy … Read more
The First Vision is perhaps the most miraculous and spectacular event of the last days. That God would again reveal himself to man shows the love of God, the fulfillment of his plan, and clarifies misunderstandings of doctrine that developed when the original apostles were killed, creeds were formed, and Christianity merged with Roman governance … Read more
Thomas Faulk was the the author of Letter For My Wife. Calling him an author is generous, as most of his content is taken straight out of the CES Letter. He is an ex-Mormon who seeks to persuade other members to leave the church. Let’s examine what we actually know about him and his motives. This … Read more
If Faulk’s intent was to persuade his wife, who never read the letter, why would he make a public website, and why would he make hundreds of revisions to it over time? Did he really think, that if he polished up the writing and added more pictures then his wife would read it? Not likely. … Read more
Thomas Faulk’s Letter for My Wife presents itself as a heartfelt explanation of lost faith from studying history, but when you look beyond the tone, the “letter” is actually something very different. When reading his introduction the “bold faced liar” bells rang in my head when I read that his “faith crisis” started when he … Read more