The link goes to my rendition of D&C 87, the Prophecy on War, what it means and how it applies to us today.  Comments here are definitely welcomed.

http://joelsmonastery.blogspot.com/2013/04/d-87-prophecy-on-war.html

Other posts by Rameumptom
https://www.millennialstar.org/author/rameumptom

Professor Bart Ehrman is sharing parts of his upcoming book, How Jesus Became God, where he discusses various ancient Jewish and Christian beliefs.  In one blog post, he writes:

Other Angels as God and Human Continue reading →

New Testament scholar Larry Hurtado discusses at his blog the concept that what we view as “monotheism” today is very different than how ancient Jews and Christians did.  He therefore coins some new phrases for us: “ancient Jewish monotheism” and “ancient Christian monotheism.”

These do not deny the existence of other gods, but only that the ancient Jews and Christians focused their worship only on God (or God and Christ in the case of Christians). Continue reading →

Periodically, the world lurches through serious changes.  When it does, it forces people to choose between the world’s goals and the Church’s standards. When this happens, we go through a serious moment of apostasy.

Previous events in modern LDS history include:

1. The nation’s banks collapsing in 1836-37, causing the failure of the Kirtland Savings, and many people leaving Joseph and the Church
2. The first succession of Presidency after the death of Joseph Smith
3. The end of polygamy under Wilford Woodruff
4. Blacks receiving the priesthood (yes, there were many who left the Church either due to racist beliefs, or because they insisted JFSmith and BRMcConkie could not be wrong)
5. Equal Rights Amendment of the 1970s/80s
6. The September Six (early 1990s)

As we can see, some of these apostasy events were larger than others. Some affected only a small group, but were highly publicized, while others involved large numbers of members, and even apostles.

Today, I believe we are entering into an era that could open the door for another large movement away from the Church.  There are three major areas affecting this:

1. Gay rights
2. Women’s rights
3. Intellectual assaults on the Church

For the movement on Gay rights and on women’s rights in the Church, I think we may see some major apostasy.  As gays and their supporters (including many LDS, such as Marie Osmond), push for gay marriage, we will see the Church forced to make a decision.  The Church has established a line in the sand, based upon the Proclamation on the Family (which I hope becomes OD3 this General Conference), stating we will love all God’s children, but marriage ordained of God is between man and woman.  So important is this concept that the header for OD1 was changed in the new LDS scriptures to proclaim that the standard is one man/one woman in marriage, unless God commands otherwise.  I do not see God commanding otherwise, as scripture has only ever defined two types of marriage: traditional and polygamy.
Continue reading →

Recently, I’ve been thinking about some of the LDS apologist colleagues who have lost their footing and left the Church.  I won’t name names, but I am saddened by the loss (theirs and ours) and have long pondered how it could happen.

So it happens that several decades ago, when I began scouring ancient texts and discussing the gospel Continue reading →