It’s not clear to me whether John Lennon realized he was proposing his own sort of Heaven when he wrote the classic ballad “Imagine,” but that’s what he was doing. He invites us to “imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try” and describes a world of peace and love, a sort of heaven on earth. The longing for peace in a heavenly place has led poets and prophets throughout the centuries to write, paint, sing and talk about Heaven. Professors of religious studies Colleen McDannell (University of Utah) and Bernhard Lang (University of Paderborn, Germany) have traced these currents throughout western thought in Heaven: A History.[1] To call the book a “tour through the museum of Heaven” would impose all the baggage the boring word “museum” carries; this book is an enjoyable journey. Mormons have a pretty different view of Heaven compared to other contemporary Christians, so I was glad to see a short section of the book discussing Mormon views specifically. [Read more...]

I know there are some other LDS Logos users, and perhaps others who are interested but wondering about the whys and whats.

Edit: Logos4 for Mac will officially leave beta in October. Logos is having a giveaway to publicize it.

Why use an electronic library?

• Carry around 200,000 or 200,000,000 pages of text in your iPhone or laptop or cramped Brooklyn apartment.
• Search them. All of them. In less than .25 seconds. For any reference to Amos 3:7, or Abraham, or anything else you can dream up.
• Usability. How many times have you read something with scripture references and actually looked them up? What if they just popped up with a mouse-over, not even a click? Like to take notes? Mark things up in multiple ways? What if you could double-click on the river Cedron (or Kidron) and have it open up a Bible dictionary entry and map? Or just go directly into a Hebrew or Greek lexicon from the KJV text, without knowing any Greek or Hebrew.
• If you ever got mad at how lame Gospelink or Infobases was, this is for you. [Read more...]