David J. Larsen spoke on ancient and modern temple worship at the 2015 FairMormon conference back in August, and his remarks are publicly available:   http://www.fairmormon.org/perspectives/fair-conferences/2015-fairmormon-conference/the-order-of-the-house-of-god   Posted from Salt Lake City, Utah     Read more

    David French, for whom I have great respect and with whom I typically agree — he and his wife even headed up “Evangelicals for Mitt” during both the 2008 and 2012 primary and general election seasons — says “No”:   http://www.nationalreview.com/article/428763/christians-muslims-same-god-wheaton-college   He’s wrong.   Francis Beckwith, who has a lengthy history of sharp criticisms of Mormonism, says “Yes”:   http://www.thecatholicthing.org/2015/12/17/do-muslims-and-christians-worship-the-same-god/   Professor Beckwith is right on this question.  As is Pope Francis.  As are many other theologians... Read more

    Ben Spackman has put together some useful suggestions for students and teachers in the approaching 2016 Church curricular year:   http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2015/12/2016-gospel-doctrine-recommended-resources-on-the-book-of-mormon/   I don’t disagree with any of his choices.   Posted from Salt Lake City, Utah     Read more

    The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be. Attributed to Socrates (d. BC 399) Posted from Salt Lake City, Utah Read more

    Matthew 28:11-15   This is, as a matter of fact, one of the most ancient counter-explanations for the purported bodily resurrection of Jesus.   That’s significant:  It suggests that everybody agreed that the tomb was, in fact, empty.   No small thing, that.     Read more

    I like it any time people with very different world views learn to talk civilly and respectfully to one another.   http://forward.com/sisterhood/327510/muslim-and-jewish-feminists-gather-to-seek-common-ground/   Thanks to Jabra Ghneim for alerting me to this story.     Read more

    “A common sense and satisfying interpretation of our world suggests the designing hand of a super intelligence.”  (Owen Gingerich, Professor Emeritus of Astronomy and of the History of Science, Harvard University; Senior Astronomer Emeritus, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory)   Read more

  Matthew 28:9-10 John 20:14-18 Compare Matthew 26:32; 28:7-8; Mark 14:28; 16:7, 9-11; Luke 24:10-11   Notice the statement in the Matthew passage that the women, having met the resurrected Christ, “held him by the feet.”  This, by itself, is enough to suggest a problem in a common reading of the “Touch me not” passage in John.   I wrote a column about 3.5 years ago that indicated why a lot of what I’ve heard said about that passage is wrong:  http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765566003/The-gospel-truly-brings-joyful-news.html?pg=all... Read more

    One of the most dishonest accusations leveled against the Church by its most dishonest critics is alleges that Latter-day Saints celebrate “Smithmas” — Joseph Smith’s birthday — on 23 December, instead of Christmas.  Allegedly, our worship services on the Sunday closest to Christmas typically focus on the Prophet, whom we really worship.  Jesus, so the charge goes, is scarcely mentioned.     Here’s how our sacrament service went today:   As we entered into the chapel, we were... Read more

    I like this story very much, for several reasons:   http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-35132157     Read more