Mormon Heretic

With Easter upon us, I wanted to talk a bit about the death of Christ.  Traditional images of the Crucifixion look similar to this one (pictured on the left.)  National Geographic has put together 10 videos in a 3-DVD set called Science of the Bible that looks into various aspects of the life of Jesus.  Episode 7 called “The Crucifixion” explores the death of Christ, and comes to some different conclusions than are traditional.

Most paintings (such as this one) depict Jesus with nails in his palms, but some have questioned whether these nails would have been strong enough to hold the body of Jesus.  Many Mormons believe that another nail was added to Jesus’ wrists because of the fear that the weight of Jesus would tear through the hands.  Experts on the video discuss this traditional theory. Read more…

The Da Vinci Code created a bit of a stir in making the claim that Mary Magdalene and Jesus were married.  How do LDS handle the issue?  Dale Bills, a spokesman for the Church, said in a statement released Tuesday, 16 May 2006:

The belief that Christ was married has never been official church doctrine. It is neither sanctioned nor taught by the church. While it is true that a few church leaders in the mid-1800s expressed their opinions on the matter, it was not then, and is not now, church doctrine.^[2]

According to the Foundation of Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR),

“Several early LDS leaders believed Jesus was married, and said so from the pulpit on occasion. Here is one example from Apostle Orson Hyde: Read more…

Jesus was a social revolutionary.  He gave women a much larger role in his movement than was traditional in ancient Judaism.  In a previous post, I talked about the story in Luke chapter 7 about a woman wiping Jesus’ feet with her tears and hair.  Such behavior would have been considered lewd by first century Jews.  There are other instances of Jesus interacting with women in ways that upset the social order.  ”The Real Mary Magdalene” (part of a 3 DVD set of Science of the Bible –it’s on disk 3), shows that Jesus’ interactions with women would have turned heads in first century Israel.  But first, let’s talk about the name “Magdalena.”  What does it mean?  Quoting from the documentary, Read more…

It’s amazing what you can learn on the Bloggernacle.  Layne at Feminist Mormon Housewives expressed concern about a policy at a temple she attended.  As Young Women’s advisor, she took the young women in her ward to perform baptisms for the dead.  Apparently the unnamed temple she attended had a policy that women currently experiencing their period would not be allowed to participate in baptisms, but would be allowed to participate in confirmations.  Rebecca at By Common Consent noted that some temples have the policy, and some don’t.  According to Rebecca,

There is no rational basis for this policy. It needs to go. Period.

(Sorry. Couldn’t resist.) Read more…

March is Women’s History Month.  In celebration of that, I wanted to talk about Mary Magdalene.  I really enjoyed a documentary from National Geographic called “The Real Mary Magdalene.”  It’s a fantastic video, part of a 3 DVD set of Science of the Bible (it’s on disk 3),  and gives some really cool insights into this great woman.  I wanted to give a transcript of the video that discusses an ancient smear campaign against her.

Read more…

On February 25, Scott Gordon president of the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR) sent out a newsletter to subscribers noting that February is Black History Month.  Gordon explained why black history matters, and explained 3 myths about the ban.  Just 3 days later, Professor Randy Bott created a stir when he tried to explain why the priesthood ban took place.  Bott stated that (from the Provo Daily Herald)

“God has always been discriminatory” when it comes to whom he grants the authority of the priesthood, he said. He quoted Mormon scripture stating that the Lord gives to people “all that he seeth fit.”

Read more…

Michael Quinn gave a fascinating interview on a wide range of topics on Mormon Stories.  There are a lot of topics I could discuss, but I was surprised to hear Quinn defend correlation.  In response to a question about correlation, Quinn said (at about the 29 minute mark of Part 2),

In correlation’s defense, it’s not a threat but it is a challenge.  The church, ever since the 1960′s has faced a fundamental challenge of centrifugal growth.  With that massive growth in the hinterlands of the church, in particular for different cultures where English is not the common language, it was a question of losing the identity of Mormonism that it might become what the Irish Church was to Catholicism and Rome, what the French Church was to Catholicism and Rome–national churches with their own way of doing Catholicism, sometimes in opposition to the Holy See in Rome.  Well, the leadership of the church didn’t want to re-live that experience, and that’s a major reason why correlation came into effect was to standardize the manuals, the instruction, and I”ve often said that–and this is unfair but I’ve said it–this is to make the General Authorities feel at home no matter where they are in the world.

But it’s also to make sure that Mormonism is the same, and that you don’t get a Mexican version of Mormonism, which happened in Mexico in the 1940s.   Read more…

Dramatization of ancient Jewish priests with blood on their clothes preparing another sacrifice at the ancient temple in Jerusalem.

National Geographic has put together a 3-DVD set about the life of Jesus in a series called Science of the Bible.  Each DVD contains a different aspect of his life.  In a documentary called “The Arrest”, they document the ancient Jewish practices at the temple and events leading to his arrest.  The producers of the documentary strive for an incredible detail of historical accuracy.  They try to show the people were dressed at the time, exactly how the temple looked, the sacrifices that were offered.

Read more…

Clay Painter of Mormon Expression interviewed Bob Price about his opinions of the Book of Mormon.  Not everyone believes the Book of Mormon is a truly divine document, but I found it interesting to hear that Bob finds value in the Book of Mormon, despite his being an atheist.  Regarding Mormon Expression, sometimes I find that it seems to be a rant against the church, but other times, it has some really interesting information.  This podcast was one of those good episodes, so I decided to transcribe the entire half-hour interview.  I’ll let Clay introduce Bob to you.

Read more…

I transcribed a bit more of the Jana Riess interview from Mormon Stories.  There have been many posts (such as this one by Mike S) lamenting the fact that the activity rates seem to be slowing for the LDS Church.  I thought it was interesting that John Dehlin acknowledged that atheists are having a hard time keeping their children “in the fold” as well.

For a bit of background, Jana Riess was raised by an atheistic dad, and her mom wasn’t very religious either.  Yet, Jana felt pulled toward religious faith, joining with the Presbyterians before embracing Mormonism.  John questioned why it is hard for atheists to keep their children away from religion.  This corresponds immediately after their conversation that I transcribed previously. Read more…

Jana Riess has recently published a book called Flunking Sainthood in which she decides to spend 1 month participating in various spiritual rituals. For example, she spent one month fasting from sun up to sun down as a pious Muslim would do during Ramadan (though she picked the month of February because it had the fewest days), she spent another month observing the Sabbath as an Orthodox Jew would, she spent another month in mindfulness prayer, and many other spiritual practices from a variety of religious traditions. I really enjoyed the book–she has a witty sense of humor, but she claims to have failed nearly every spiritual practice for a year.

Read more…

Since today is MLK day, I thought it might be nice to talk about the first Black Mormon leader.  In his book on The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations, Mark Staker spends a surprising amount of time discussing the first Black Mormon Convert–a former slave known as Black Pete, and notes that he was an early leader in Kirtland.

Read more…

I always enjoy going to the LDS Film Festival. This year it will be held in Orem, Utah (Scera Theater) from Jan 25-28. The official schedule will come out on Monday, but some of the bigger films have already been announced here. The biggest headline name is Dean Cain in a film called Sweetwater (a movie about cancer.)  Anyway, I plan to talk about it more in the coming weeks, but wanted to give a preview for anyone interested.