Recently my Stake President challenged us to read the Book of Mormon this summer (or this year). I’m always up for another foray into the lovely pages, so I decided to start listening during my daily bus commute.

I had also recently helped my daughter finish documenting her completion of the Personal Progress requirements. Therefore I was reminded of the Lenten Personal Progress program I developed, which among other things tells you how you can complete the Book of Mormon in 46 days.

Reading 1 Nephi 1-7, I came across the following in 1 Nephi 5:11, 17, 18, 19:

11 And [Lehi] beheld that [the plates of brass] did contain the five books of Moses, which gave an account of the creation of the world, and also of Adam and Eve, who were our first parents…

17 And now when my father saw all these things, he was filled with the Spirit, and began to prophesy concerning his seed—

18 That these plates of brass should go forth unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people who were of his seed.

19 Wherefore, he said that these plates of brass should never perish; neither should they be dimmed any more by time. And he prophesied many things concerning his seed.

Recall that Manasseh (hiss boo) had reigned for decades in idolatrous and infanticidal polytheism within recent memory when Lehi fled Jerusalem. So the monotheistic Judeo-Christian creation story where man is created by God would have been precious indeed.

An account of the creation of the world, and also of Adam and Eve…

We know that the original 116 pages of the Book of Mormon were lost. Might these pages have contained an account of creation and the Abrahamic covenant that, though brief, was paradigm altering for Joseph Smith? I’ve sent a query to Don Bradley, who has made an extensive study of the likely contents of the 116 pages.

But here’s what I do know.

Book of Moses. In 1830 Joseph turns to the Bible, to create an expanded version of the text therein. This is very shortly after Joseph has published the Book of Mormon and organized the Church.

Joseph’s alterations to the creation story are significant – so significant that we have canonized that particular portion of Joseph’s inspired Biblical revision as the Book of Moses, now in the Pearl of Great Price.

Remember the words Joseph was given after losing the 116 plates regarding the Book of Mormon: even so shall the knowledge of a Savior come unto my people… [ref]D&C 3:16[/ref]

We know the Book of Mormon talks about Jesus Christ constantly, incessantly, with some Christian scholars suggesting the Book of Mormon almost qualifies as Jesus fan fic.

But what if all this adulation of our Lord and Savior was in a book that initially told us of how Jesus had volunteered to be the Savior of mankind, to save us all from death and sin at the very beginning, when Adam and Eve transgressed? Would it not make sense that prominent recollection of the salvation of the seed of Adam and Eve would create the Christ-worship we see throughout the Book of Mormon? Continue reading →

This week a good friend[ref]Barry Blacka[/ref] lost his battle with cancer.

Last night we gathered to celebrate the life of this good man.

I was not prepared for the richness I would feel at the celebration.

The stories moved me to laughter and tears.

His daughter told of a time while babysitting as a teenager, when noise of the front door handle being rattled caused her to call her Dad. He’d shown up toting a rifle, only to discover it was a cat jumping up and attempting to grasp the shiny knob that was causing the worrisome noise.

His son-in-law told of being a young man and inviting my friend to be treated to lunch. My humble friend had suggested McDonald’s. When the suitor had asked what my friend wanted to eat, my friend declined, pulling out the bag lunch his wife had packed for him. And then they sat and shared a memorable lunch as they discussed the young man’s plan to propose marriage to my friend’s oldest daughter.

But it was not so much the stories and the preaching of the sweet doctrines of eternity that I will remember the most. Nor will my primary memory be the sublime music my friend’s family and friends shared with us mourners.

It was remembering sitting with my friend’s first wife in 1984, when she was dying of cancer. It was seeing another of my friend’s sons-in-law playing the organ and remembering that we had been each other’s first date. It was looking at my former Relief Society President, whose son had been the young man nervously sitting at the McDonald’s with his future father-in-law. It was the dozens and hundreds and thousands of other connections and shared experiences with those in that room.

As I looked around the room, I was surrounded by people I have cherished, who have cherished me for decades. I’ve seen them marry. I’ve seen them as Sunbeams in Primary, now grown and with children of their own. I’ve seen them as harried parents or uncertain adults, now confident in their silvered years.

Even the architecture resonated. That was the pulpit where I had given a eulogy when my own son died. That pulpit was where I first heard President Benson speak as a President of the Church, the first time he would as President of the Church utter the invitation to read the Book of Mormon. That was the pulpit where Elder David Haight had stood and told us of the godly event he’d participated in when President Kimball was given permission to open the priesthood to all worthy men.

The decades of marriages and baptisms and funerals and loving interactions and kindnesses built on one another, resonating with this single instance where we, the mutually beloved, honored the life of one who has been so humble and good and kind. We yearn to see our friend once more, in that world that will be free of pain and illness, in that world where we will know as we are known and love without fear of loss. And beyond the hope of seeing that particular friend again, we have a confident hope in that sweet world, where all we have loved will live together in sweet humility and fond friendship.[ref]The vision of the afterlife related by Heber Q. Hale in 1920 suggests all co-exist in the afterlife, with those in the Celestial glory having full ability to visit with their loved ones, even if their loved ones are restricted to a lesser glory. Online 13 Jul 2017 at http://emp.byui.edu/davisr/121/Vision%20of%20H%20Hale.htm.[/ref]

This is the sublime fruit of the good and wise life we are urged to live. This is the precious sweetness we are given when we repent of our wrongs.

This is the love everlasting Our God and Our Lord yearn to pour out on us.

This is the hope of a peace that overwhelms death and heartbreak.

This is the faith of my fathers and mothers, my daughters and sons, for all generations and all eternity.

This past month a friend sent me an e-mail regarding sex education. In following a link and clicking on an unfamiliar term, I was immediately taken to a page with graphic illustrations of the sex act that term referred to.

It is at times like this that I wish it were possible to wash out a portion of one’s brain.

The unfortunate thing is that these graphic illustrations are included in “sex education” in some parts of the nation.

As I consider the young people I most care about, I am prompted to ponder what I wish they would learn about sex in a school setting.

1) I would like for them to be taught that they have reproductive “bits,” the age at which it becomes biologically responsible to use those bits, and the age and circumstances when use of those bits become correlated with happiness and joy (e.g., not poor, not diseased, not dead, not abused).

2) I would like for them to be taught what happens when bits are used casually and without protection (poverty, disease, death, abuse).

3) I would like for them to be taught that the reason their “bits” bring great pleasure and urgency is because we evolved to reproduce, even when there wasn’t going to be sex education, literacy, or any social safety “net.”

4) I would like for them to be taught the reasons why society developed marriage as a way to protect the rising generation.

5) I would like for them to be taught that it is possible to thwart nature, so long as the teaching included information about the risks attendant with thwarting nature (e.g., abortion, birth control, fertility treatment).

6) I would like for them to be taught that one’s sense of sexual identity (intensity of desire, category of desired mate) can be influenced by biological factors beyond their control.

7) I would like for them to be taught that sex is profoundly impactful, and casual sex can be disruptive to their sense of self, independent of religious belief. Perhaps in that context, I would like for them to be taught why there are laws that designate sex before the age of [insert local legal age] as rape.

I would not want young people I most care about to learn the following:

1) The fifty ways to use their bits to titillate themselves and others for the pure purpose of titillation. That’s what the Internet and porn magazines are for, should the individual be so inclined. There are helpful online resources like PlugLust.com that help young women and also men to use sex toys safely. Sexual exploration should both be a satiating and safe journey all throughout. Though I wouldn’t mind the young ones being informed which Internet activities and purchases would be considered criminal.

2) The myriad ways their bits can be used to facilitate sexual satiation in non-traditional unions. Again, that’s what the Internet is for. I wouldn’t be adverse to student groups that help ensure sexuality in non-traditional unions is informed (e.g., protecting youth from predators in the non-traditional union they are considering).

I’m sure my lines in the sand aren’t exactly where everyone else would wish to draw the lines, and I am influenced by my milieu, which includes employment by a federal agency where non-traditional unions are celebrated and protected.

Assuming you would draw the line in the sand differently, what would you change and why?

Roughly 175 years after the terrible accusations of summer 1842, I got an e-mail from a friend. Various family and friends had told my friend all about why Joseph Smith and the Church were wrong. They didn’t know who to ask other than me (which is a sad commentary of some sort).

They trust me to be honest – perhaps a bit too explicit and open mic, in fact. But for this person, they didn’t want to feel like they were being “handled.”

The questions were:

Q: Did Joseph destroy public property?

Q: Did Joseph lie to Emma about Eliza snow? Who caught them in bed? Was it Emma? How old was Eliza when this happened? Why was the revelation received after the incident?

Q: Why didn’t Joseph use the urim and thummim? If those were God’s tools, why didn’t he use them?

Q: To obtain the priesthood, do you have to be a full tithe payer? Are you denied the priesthood if you don’t pay tithes? In particular, did Joseph demand money for ordaining people to the priesthood and did he demand that people pay for the Book of Mormon?

Q: Where in scripture or the Family Proclamation is it stated that those who engage in same sex marriage (or relationships) cannot hope to ever be saved. Why isn’t someone who beats their wife and children, for example, punished the way we punish those who marry someone of the same gender?

My friend, like many of us, no doubt, has someone (or a few) in their extended family who don’t identify as hetero-normal or CIS (i.e., comfortable with the gender one is born with).

My first thought was “you didn’t read my book…!” But when someone is bleeding, you don’t say, “Have you read my thousand page dissertation on transfusion?” You just whip out a bandage or tourniquet and help stop the bleeding. Then you can point them to the academic literature.

So here are a few answers I gave my friend. Posted since I suspect my friend isn’t the only one with these questions. Continue reading →

Read it here and discuss below.