If you pay attention Latter-day Saint history you can pinpoint the era in which American nationalism eclipsed the truth of our past as refugees and immigrants subjected to ethnic cleansing and oppression by the American state and American people. It is the point in which those first generations began to die and their grandchildren were being born, when the myth of the Mormon American pioneer developed as a way to legitimize the Saints in the eyes of and integrate the Saints into a society that had always hated and oppressed them. Here I attempt to recapture at least part of the truth of our past and address the dangers of this myth and false tradition of our fathers to us as a people.
Category: Religion
That Time When Brigham Young Absolutely Demolished Young Earth Creationism
In writing my last two articles refuting some erroneous ideas and false doctrines about the creation and age of the Earth, I cam across a rather fantastic address by President Brigham Young from 1871. In it he teaches that there is no antagonism between science and religion. This is especially true for “Mormonism” as our faith embraces all truth from wherever it comes as part of it. Science and religion are both ways that God makes known the truths that He wants His children to know. His specific comments on the Creation and Age of the Earth do a great deal to dismiss the idea that the Earth is only 7,000 years old and that it was created in six literal days. This address will be enlightening to everyone who reads it.
The Mormon Pioneers Were Refugees and Illegal Immigrants
Pioneer Day is today. Celebrating the first time a company of Saints entered the Salt Lake Valley to permanently settle there, it is the closest thing we Latter-day Saints have to our own church holy day (holiday.) But there is a lot to this story that we don’t tell on Pioneer Day, a lot of our history and precious truth that we leave on the cutting room floor. For example: The pioneers weren’t really pioneers. They were really refugees illegally immigrating into Mexico in order to escape the decades of pogroms, ethnic cleansings, exterminations, and genocide they had suffered in the United States. This article is an attempt to tell this story of our spiritual and literal ancestors so that we can apply to real lessons of our history to the world we live in today and make it a better place, a more Christ-like place, a Zion-place.
Scriptural Proof The Earth Is More Than 7,000 Years Old
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.
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.
The Christian Origins of Individual Freedom
What does it mean to be free? How do you protect liberty? What role, if any, does the government and/or religion play in liberty, either in protecting it or degrading it? These are important questions that we need the answers to if we are to realize our potential as individuals and peoples. In order to understand what freedom is, how we gain it, how we preserve it, and how to increase it in the future, we must know the history of the ideas of liberty. All of those things is what this article is all about.
What Were The Political Views of J.R.R. Tolkien?
Dr. J.R.R. Tolkien is the most important fantasy writer in all of history and the most important writer of the 20th century. His two most famous works – “The Hobbit” and its sequel trilogy “The Lord of The Rings” – are the foundation of the entire fantasy genre. The themes and ideas of his writings have captivated people for almost a century now and nowhere is his keen insight into the nature of humanity, history, and society better demonstrated than in his writings about government and what we would today called the State. Tolkien in his own private letters identified himself as an anarchist. In this article I will be exploring exactly what he meant by calling himself an anarchist, why we should be paying attention to his insights about government, and the economic ideals he championed, which are fundamentally free market in nature. Using his public works and his private letters as sources, I will demonstrate that Tolkien was, in modern terms, an anarcho-capitalist.
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.
“Salem’s Lot” – The State is a Vampire
In this LDS Book Review I review one of Stephen King’s earliest and best novels – the vampire horror story, “Salem’s Lot.” Printed in 1975, “Salem’s Lot” tells the story of a ragtag group of small town folk as they fight against a powerful source of true evil, the Master Vampire Kurt Barlow as he converts the town of Jerusalem’s Lot into vampires. The story contains numerous themes that stand out to a person of faith – including battling against true evil as Barlow isn’t just a vampire but he is specifically a worshipper of Satan and sacrifices at least one human child to the Lord of Flies in the book. This novel also has some powerful things to say about government and the State. So in this review I don’t just review the book I also explore what it means to compare the State to vampirism as the book does, the true meaning of religion as a cosmic force, and the conflict between God and the government. The story of “Salem’s Lot” couldn’t be a more apt metaphor for what the State does to individuals and society and what we must do to drive a stake through the heart of the State and reclaim our individuality and liberty.
What Mormon Women Had To Say About Polygamy – The Great Indignation Meeting
The discussion of plural marriage and the practice of polygamy among the early history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is dominated by a lot of ignorance, error, and anti-Mormon lies. While it is no surprise that non-members would believe these things the degree to which members of the church view polygamy as oppressive, anti-woman, and abusive is shocking and depressing. In an effort to correct these lies I have appealed directly to the words of the women who lived polygamy themselves and what they had to say about their lives. For that I turned to the printed account of The Great Indignation Meeting, a mass protest meeting held by the women of Utah in 1870 wherein they declared the ways that polygamy elevated them in society and protected their rights, denounced federal efforts to violate their human rights by making polygamy unconstitutional, and announced that they would rather die than submit to the oppressive laws of the government that would deny them their rights to plural marriage. The words of these powerful and intelligent women absolutely demolish the lies of anti-Mormons and promote the truths of the Restored Gospel.