After Christmas, we decided to finally upgrade our television, and got a new 55 inch HD LCD. It’s pretty nice. As part of the package, we are able to download Netflix directly to the television. The first Netflix movie I watched on my new television was Ken Burns’ America: The Shakers (1985). I picked it because I remembered that there was a mission to the Shakers in D&C 49.
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I finally got around to one of my requests! Tara and I have been discussing several topics, such as the Priesthood Ban, Polygamy, and Abraham, and the story of Balaam always seems to come up. She takes the position that Balaam is a fallen prophet, but I think he never was a prophet. Here’s my case. What do you think?
Balaam has to be one of the most intriguing characters in the Bible. He is one of only 7 gentile prophets mentioned in the Bible. The others are Beor (Balaam’s father), Job and his 4 friends. My favorite part of the story of Balaam is the talking donkey–it is the only place where an animal speaks (unless you count the serpent in the Garden of Eden.) Ascertaining Balaam’s character can be a bit of a challenge. On the one hand, the story of Balaam in Numbers 22-24 says the he not only talked with God, but a destroying angel appears to prevent him from cursing Israel. On the other hand, he is referred to as “the wicked one” in Revelations. So which is he?
Let’s get some background and a brief synopsis of the story of Balaam.
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I have some good news, and some bad news. First the good news–I got a new job! Now the bad news–my new job will interfere with my frequent blogging, so there will definitely be a decrease in activity.
My book club has been reading a book called Establishing Zion by Eugene Campbell. I couldn’t find it in the library, but Signature Books has posted the entire book online and you can read it right here! Briefly, Campbell is a former history professor from BYU. I learned tons from it, though I did find the first 5 chapters a little slow. However, chapters 6-7 were very interesting, and I want to talk about them.
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In part 5 of my Sidney Rigdon series, I wrote that I thought I was done writing about Sidney Rigdon. But alas, I have been given a challenge to refute the Spaulding Manuscript theory by Doug G, so it looks like I’m temporarily back to talking about Sidney Rigdon.
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Ok, I just finished the Sidney Rigdon book, and wanted to give some of my overall impressions, as well as present some information about his life. I had intended to give an overall sketch of his life, but this post is long enough, so I will probably do this in a few parts. I like this quote from the introduction.
“Together, Rigdon and Smith, in a theological partnership, led a religious revolution that is still on-going in many respects. Rigdon’s role in the birth of Mormonism was substantial, yet the lion’s share of his contribution has been obscured by official alteration of official church records.”
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With St Patrick’s day being here, I wanted to tell the story of St Patrick. Mormons love good missionary stories, and I think the story of St Patrick is a wonderful missionary story. The information below comes from a DVD titled, Christianity-The First Two Thousand Years. (It was originally aired on A&E.) If you want to learn more, there is an interesting article in the Deseret News about St Patrick.
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I few weeks ago, I read this humorous article in the Deseret News which basically said the men don’t attend book clubs. I loved this quote:
“Men realize that they are only allocated a certain number of spoken words in their lifetime, so being of a cautious nature, they choose not to waste words on book discussions …”
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I recently purchased Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons. It is an outstanding documentary produced by Margaret Young, BYU faculty member, and Darius Gray, one of the original members of The Genesis Group. Under President Joseph Fielding Smith, this group was supervised in 1971 by junior apostles Gordon B Hinckley, Thomas S Monson, and Boyd K Packer to try to fellowship black LDS church members.
Since I had already seen the movie at the LDS Film Festival, I was really looking forward to the special features on the DVD, and I was not disappointed. Connell O’Donovan, an independent genealogist and Mormon Historian outlines 7 early black church members who held the priesthood prior to 1847–one of them was even a Branch President! I’d like to give a brief outline of some of these early black Mormon pioneers.
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My brother died in a car accident in May 2006. His family was badly injured as well. His death was an emotionally painful experience for me. As part of my coping, my mother gave me a copy of a book titled, The Message, by Lance Richardson. It gave me some comfort, though certainly didn’t relieve very much of my pain.
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William McLellin (or M’Lellin) is an interesting figure in LDS church history. He was called as an original member of the Quorum of 12 Apostles, and was excommunicated for apostasy in 1838. At this point, he became a vocal critic of the church.
Mormon Times recently published an article about a recently discovered McClellin notebook, and more information can be found here.
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While there is much ado about the Sundance Film Festival, here in Park City, Utah, there is another film festival which starts today in Orem, called the LDS Film Festival. I went last year, and loved some of the movies. The festival runs through Saturday.
Certainly, many of the movies here are not up to Hollywood standards, but they can leave some lasting impressions. I thought I would review some of last year’s favorites, and add some that I hope to see this year. Unfortunately, I have to work, so I can’t see all the ones I would like to see.
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There is a new movie out in theaters called Errand of Angels. A preview can be found here, and it is available in Utah theaters Aug 22. This will be at least the 3rd5th “Hollywood LDS Missionary” movie, coming since God’s Army, and The Best Two Years, Other Side of Heaven, and States of Grace (God’s Army 2).
I saw this movie at the LDS film festival back in January, so I thought I would give a movie review.
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I started a new job about a month ago at a treatment center. It is basically a very small private high school, that takes students with all sorts of problems, including depression, ADHD, alcoholism, drug abuse, anorexia, bulima, cutting (ie physically cutting oneself for emotional reasons), and many other behavioral disorders. I’m a math teacher there. The students are monitored 24 hours a day, and live at the treatment center.
The job pays very well, and has a few perks. I get free lunch, and I get paid to eat lunch. That is because I am required to supervise lunch. The teenagers have every moment of their lives evaluated. They have point sheets. On these point sheets, all staff basically grade their behavior–even during lunch. Their lives are HIGHLY regimented. For example, new students are told that they can only use the following 5 items to keep clean: shampoo, body wash, deodorant, soap, and one more thing I forgot. When they have been on good behavior, they can upgrade to using conditioner, makeup, perfume, hairspray, and they can shower in the morning.
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