The debate over how Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon continues to stir controversy. While many accept the theory that Smith used a seer stone, recent scholars challenge this, suggesting he used the Nephite interpreters instead. This article is the first of two that critically examines both perspectives, seeking to find the one with the strongest historical support. Here we critically evaluate the evidence that Joseph Smith used the seer stone to translate the Book of Mormon.
Category: History
A Leftist Tells The Truth About Socialism
The propaganda spread about Socialism is vast and deep. From our political institutions to our political institutions to our media platforms, praise and adulation for Socialism is everywhere. The constant indoctrination is hard for most people to break. But, every now and then, the matrix breaks, and someone says the truth. Someone who shouldn’t. Someone whose credentials with the intelligentsia are otherwise impeccable. But the impossible happens. These people tell the truth and, when they do, it is paradigm breaking as they see what was once obfuscated by propaganda and lies. They tell the truth and reveal the lies that deceive the masses.
This article is about just such an occasion.
Why Do We Celebrate Pioneer Day?
The LDS pioneers, often mischaracterized as westward expansionists, were actually refugees fleeing persecution. Facing extreme hardship in Winter Quarters, they endured starvation, disease, and squalid living conditions. Despite these trials, their faith and dedication grew stronger, ultimately establishing the Kingdom of God. Their story is one of resilience and unwavering belief that should inspire all of us to aspire to match their examples in dedication, sacrifice, and faith.
Lorenzo Snow’s Prophetic Explanation of How to Achieve World Peace
The 20th century was one of the deadliest in all human history. From the fields of Flanders to the gas chambers of Auschwitz to the gulags of Stalin to the mass starvation of Mao to the killing fields of Cambodia and more, hundreds of millions of men, women, and children have been raped, tortured, mutilated and slaughtered. And it could all have been avoided if the people of the world had listened to a prophet’s voice as he laid out the path to prosperity, liberty, and peace at the very start of the century.
This article looks at President Lorenzo Snow’s inspired counsel about how the 20th century could’ve been the greatest age of all time and explains how his words have never been more important and applicable than now.
Was Jesus Married?
Christians have often assumed that Jesus wasn’t married, mostly based on the idea that if Jesus had been married then it would be mentioned in the Gospels at some point. This assumption is flawed for many reasons as shown in this article. Indeed, when we add the historical knowledge we have of the era with the cultural information preserved within the Gospels, it seems most likely that Jesus was married.
The Disgusting Absurdity of Democracy
We are constantly told that “democracy is under threat” by whatever politician or program happens to be controversial at the time. But the truth of the matter isn’t that democracy is under threat.
The truth is that democracy *is* the threat.
Democracy is one of the most dangerous political systems ever devised and it makes possible the worst and grossest crimes imaginable. Worse, democracy gets you to fund, support, and love these crimes, to call the vilest evils good. And this article uses American support for the Israelis in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict to prove it.
The Power of Nonviolence!
There is no question.
There is no argument.
There is no debate.
Nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience are the most powerful, most effective, and most successful tools for everything from changing bad laws to overthrowing tyrannical despots.
The superiority of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience to violence of any and every form is an indisputable fact.
And here is the proof.
An Ancient Revelation on the Nature of Government
One of the great values of reading ancient history is that there is very little that is new under the Sun. Tribalism, nationalism, imperialism, and statism are not new phenomena in human history. Both their dangers and the solution to those dangers were well-known to the people of the past.
When we study their teachings we can recognize the way that the same old propaganda and same old lies have been repackaged by the political elites for our day, to indoctrinate and deceive us into believing in an ideology that serves them while harming us. We can also learn from the ancients how to prevent this cycle from repeating so that we can build a better and freer world.
Here is just such an example.
Jesus Christ Is The Leader of His Church Today
The leader of the Church of Jesus Christ is the Lord Jesus Christ. He leads this church actively and directly. And this isn’t meant in some theoretical or technical sense. It is meant very literally. This is shown in this LDS Classic as President Heber J. Grant recalls a revelatory vision he had of the Lord Jesus Christ deciding to call him to the Apostleship.
The One and Only Path to Peace
One of my favorite Christmas hymns is, “I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day.” Based on the poem, “Christmas Bells,” by poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the hymn confronts the pains of living in mortality and facing evil directly as well as the means by which we triumph over evil. The story behind the hymn only enhances its message and helps us to understand the powerful of Hope and Faith in our every day lives.