There are two different but connected errors that seriously plague modern Christianity. The first is the common error throughout segments of Christianity, including among Latter-day Saints, that the Earth was created in a single week. I addressed this error and corrected it last week. The second common error is that the world approximately 6,000 to 7,000 years old. That is what this article is about. The idea that the world is only 6,000 years old, an error that has damaged the faith of tens of thousands, even millions, of people, is based on a couple of fundamental misunderstandings of the scriptures. Both have also been refuted by modern revelation starting with the Prophet Joseph Smith. In order to correct this error and demonstrate what the scriptures truly teach on this subject I will combine a proper understanding of scriptural context with modern revelation to establish what it is about the Age of the Earth that the scriptures do teach so that we Latter-day Saints will not continue to fall into the error that other Christians have.
Category: LDS Church
The World Was Not Created In Six Literal Days
There are two different but connected errors that seriously plague modern Christianity. The first is the common error throughout segments of Christianity, including among Latter-day Saints, that the Earth was created in seven days. The second common error is that the world approximately 7,000 years old. Both are based on fundamental misunderstandings of the scriptures and have damaged the faith of thousands of believers. Both have also been refuted by modern revelation starting with the Prophet Joseph Smith. In order to treat both of these issues with the seriousness they deserve I have decided to write an article dedicated to each. This article will address the erroneous belief that the Earth (or even the entire Universe) was created in six days by God. In doing so I will combine a proper understanding of scriptural context with modern revelation to establish what it is about the Creation of the Earth that the scriptures do teach so that we Latter-day Saints will not continue to fall into the error that other Christians have.
Did Joseph Smith and Brigham Young Teach That People Live on The Moon and The Sun?
In their never ending efforts to discredit the Latter-day Restoration of the Gospel anti-Mormons search for any information they can find to make the prophets sound crazy, because if you can discredit them then you can discredit the work they did. Among the accusations that are hurled at early Church leaders is that Joseph Smith taught that the Moon is inhabited by people and that Brigham Young believed that beings lived on the Sun. In this article I will present the sources for these accusations in full (as opposed to the incomplete and partial quoting that anti-Mormons usually use) and place these quotations in their historical context, showing what people from the most respected scientific minds to the most common laborer believed about possible life on the Moon and Sun. Once I have done so I will demonstrate that nothing that Joseph Smith or Brigham Young said or believed was incongruent with the scientific knowledge of their day and that their statements do not disprove or discredit the Restoration of the Gospel or the veracity of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
G.K. Chesterton’s Insights Into Mormonism and Polygamy
Being mocked in the news media is nothing new for Latter-day Saints. It has been a constant part of our history since the Restoration commenced. What is rare is having non-member critics whose insight is keen enough to help even Latter-day Saints understand our faith. Just such a rare example is famed Roman Catholic essayist and writer G.K. Chesterton’s 1911 article, “Mormonism.”
Not only does Chesterton’s insight help Latter-day Saints better understand the origins of plural marriage/polygamy and why it is part of the Restoration of All Things, but he offer other keen insights as well. In this short article he ably dissects the false tolerance that dominates in the present day. He also correctly explains that if you want to understand people and history you have to understand the religion that provides the basis for the actions individuals and societies engage in. In so short an article there is great depth here that applies to the current era of history.
What Christians Should Think of Memorial Day
Today I want to share a talk that a friend of mine delivered the Sunday before Memorial Day in 2017. He used Apostle Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s General Conference address, “Perfect Love Casteth Out Fear,” to counter the endless bombardment of propaganda that takes place at this time. My friend told the truth about the pro-state, pro-military lies that inundate us, preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and focused on the Gospel’s demand that we renounce violence and fear as means to achieving our social, political, or economic ends. In turn he also talks about the War on Drugs, the War on Terror, the US military, the idolatry of worship weapons as if they can keep you safe, missionary work, serving our enemies, loving those who hate us, and the way to build Zion.
What Mormon Women Had To Say About Polygamy- Part 2
I pick up here right where I left off in Part 1 – in the middle of the Great Indignation Meeting. Threatened by new anti-Mormon legislation aimed at destroying polygamy and annihilating the church, the women of the church have come together in a mass meeting. In it they defend polygamy as one of the greatest revelations God had given, demand that the United States government honor and recognize their rights to believe and live how they choose, declare that polygamy and the doctrines of the church have helped them to have greater rights than any other place in the United States, proclaim their status as mutual helpmeets and workers with men, and denounce efforts to attack the church and end plural marriage as being inspired by Satan himself. When you listen to them it becomes clear that they were not oppressed or abused, rather these were powerful, intelligent, and empowered women who were acting to protect one of the most important factors in their independence, the Latter-day Saint practice of plural marriage. Their experiences, their voices, their truths counter anti-Mormon lies and show us why we shouldn’t be ashamed of our past practice of plural marriage. Instead of listening to the ignorant and liars, read the words of the women themselves who lived it. You might be surprised.
What Mormon Women Had To Say About Polygamy- Part 1
We all know how we are supposed to think and feel about the practice of polygamy by early Latter-day Saints. We have been told that it was sexist, oppressive, abusive, and harmful to women, something we should be ashamed of, so much that even many Latter-day Saints assume the assertions are axiomatic. But, are they? Are these statements in fact true or are they, like so many other things today, merely modern anti-Mormon drivel projected onto the past?
In order to figure this out I have decided to go back to listen the voices of the women who had firsthand experience with plural marriage, the polygamous women of Utah, to see what they had to say about the practice. Needless to say what I found is quite the opposite of the malignancies spread about plural marriage today. These powerful, intelligent, educated women saw plural marriage as an essential right of theirs that brought numerous blessings and protections to their lives which they would rather die fighting to protect than give up at the demand of the law. In this series I want to make their voices heard to counter the lies falsely spread in their name in by anti-Mormons. When it comes to plural marriage, thee truth about, like everything else, will set us free of the falsehoods we believe and reaffirm the truth of the Restored Gospel.
What About The Ages Differences Between Joseph Smith And His Wives?
It is common and unsurprising for anti-Mormons to attack the character of the Prophet Joseph Smith. By doing so they can elicit fury from among their co-believers and engender confusion and hatred among the ignorant. A common tactic I have encountered recently is the argument that even if Joseph Smith wasn’t a pedophile (an accusation I have disproven elsewhere and a link to which will be in this article) they nevertheless argue that because some of his plural marriages were to people significantly younger than him those marriages were necessarily abusive by default because of the differing levels of maturity and therefore power and equality present in the relationship. In this article I dismantle this argument and evaluate its accusations and assumptions in the light of what we know of the culture and history of the era that the Prophet Joseph Smith lived in. Ultimately, I demonstrate that for multiple reasons this argument is incorrect and nothing but a fallacious act of presentism that has little to do with Joseph Smith or the times he lived in.
Eliza R. Snow Explains The Purpose and Power of The Relief Society
The Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the largest female organizations on the planet which is composed solely of women. It was established by revelation and given power and authority by His prophets to be one of the most powerful engines for doing good that the Earth has ever encountered. But I find that many members, men and women, don’t think of Relief Society as being anything other than that thing the women do on some Sundays. In this article we look at the teachings of Eliza R. Snow, founding member and record keeper of the Nauvoo Female Relief Society, the one who re-founded it in Utah, and second President of the Relief Society as she explains the organization of the Relief Society, its purpose, and the power it has to accomplish God’s work upon the Earth.
The Truth About Mormon Culture And Why It Is Amazing
There is no end to the handwringing that and internet article posts made by members and non-members of the Church of Jesus Christ that claim to accurately diagnose problems in “Mormon culture” and then offer solutions. Claims of homophobia, sexism, racism, nativism, transphobia, hatred, cliquishness, and more are all laid at the feet of the Latter-day Saints, told their culture is to blame, and demand (or “suggestions”) are made that will supposedly banish these ills from Latter-day Saints society. But is this true? It is certainly true that Latter-day Saints do some of these things, but is the reason they do it because of the influence of uniquely LDS theology and cultural beliefs?
In a word? No. These problems exist among Latter-day Saints, but these problems are not caused by Latter-day Saint or Mormon culture. Rather, Latter-day Saints are made scapegoats for problems which exist universally in the worldly societies in which Latter-day Saints participate and the values of which they have absorbed. When a Latter-day Saint is sexist, racist, nativist, etc., he or she is acting out the prejudices and biases of his or her own national culture and not so-called Mormon culture. In this article I explain how Latter-day Saints are indoctrinated into the virtues and vices of their national cultures and end up repeating those errors which are then incorrectly blames on Mormonism’s influence. I also talk about how you can get down to what is an actual, true Latter-day Saint culture, providing some examples to support my arguments about what it is and what it looks like. Finally, I conclude by looking at how real Latter-day Saint culture is a manifestation of the culture of Christ, which we should embrace wholeheartedly while abandoning all the Babylonian cultures of the world.