![\"Beautiful!\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2020\/08\/ngc7027_HubbleKastner_960.jpg\")
<\/a>(NASA, ESA, Joel Kastner public domain image; processing by Alyssa Pagan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Some time back, I read the very good book by Fiona Givens and Terryl Givens, The Christ Who Heals: How God Restored the Truth that Saves Us<\/em>. \u00a0I sometimes encounter derisive comments from certain critics about how shallow Mormonism<\/a> supposedly is. \u00a0Such complaints astonish me. \u00a0I find the implications, entailments, and disclosures of the Restoration radical and utterly profound. \u00a0And so, it seems, do Fiona and Terryl:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Mormonism is so rich in doctrine, so expansive in its teachings, that we may be too easily distracted from this one cardinal proposition: \u00a0The Restoration recovered that Christ who is the most remarkable being in the history of religious thought. \u00a0<\/strong>(1)<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n They endeavor to show, in fact, that the figure of Christ \u201ccomes into his full splendor and beauty through the lens of the Restoration\u201d (1).<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Mormonism has immense theological profundity. \u00a0It repudiates notions of inherited guilt and depravity, restores vulnerable compassion and empathy to a Heavenly Father, recaptures the saga of human preexistence and our literal co-heirship with Christ, and provides a coherent scheme of salvational plenitude for the dead as well as the living. \u00a0Its doctrines are alternately exhilarating and consoling, controversial and common-sensical.<\/strong> \u00a0(2)<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I strongly suspect that one of the factors in recently declining conversion rates and in some retention problems among young Latter-day Saints is our failure to adequately exhibit the exciting and radical depth of Mormonism. \u00a0This book is a helpful instrument for reminding ourselves and others of what we\u2019ve sometimes allowed to be obscured.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Especially in this context, I like their comments on what Latter-day Saints often call the \u201cGreat Apostasy\u201d:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n This \u201cfalling away\u201d does not represent some minor corruptions of sacramental liturgy or ritual forms. \u00a0It is not about wicked priests whom God punished by removing their priesthood. \u00a0It is about a fundamental misapprehension of the background and purpose and extent of the covenant (premortal origins, mortal incarnation, and eventual theosis and sealing into the eternal family). \u00a0It is the loss of the mode by which that covenant is executed (through temple covenants that create those chains of infinite belonging, completing our journey from intelligence to joint heirship with Christ).<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The loss of the larger cosmic context was compounded by failing to see the Fall as a necessary and premeditated immersion of humankind into the crucible of experience, suffering, and schooling in the practice of love. \u00a0The loss was not about baptizing at the wrong age or in the wrong medium. \u00a0It was about not knowing that baptism makes us \u2014 all of us eventually \u2014 literally members of Christ\u2019s family and co-heirs with him as planned in premortal councils. \u00a0What is at stake is not simple difference in standards of sexual practice or marriage\u2019s purpose per se. \u00a0It is about failing to see the family structure as a divine mode of eternal association that is at the very heart of heaven itself. \u00a0In sum, the \u201cRestoration\u201d is not about correcting particular doctrines or practices as much as it is about restoring their cosmic context.<\/strong> \u00a0(14-15)<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Interpreter Radio Show \u2014 February 27, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n In the first hour of this episode of the weekly Interpreter Radio Show, Steve Densley, Matthew Bowen, and Mark Johnson discuss Hebrew rhetoric and scribal training in the Book of Mormon with their guest, Noel Reynolds.\u00a0 (It\u2019s a much more interesting topic than you might initially think, and Noel Reynolds is constructing a very important argument.)\u00a0 You can listen to or download the 27 February 2022 broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show at the link provided; for your listening pleasure it has been freed from all commercial interruptions and other extraneous noise. The second portion of the show is a roundtable devoted to a discussion of the upcoming \u201cCome, Follow Me\u201d lesson #15 (Exodus 14\u201317).\u00a0 The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard on K-TALK, AM 1640, each and every Sunday evening, week in and week out, from 7 to 9 PM (MDT).\u00a0 If you can\u2019t get it on your radio \u2014 e.g., if you\u2019re outside of the Salt Lake Valley \u2014 you can still listen to it live on the Internet at ktalkmedia.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Moreover, as we\u2019ve done here, we archive each episode and make it available to you online and at no charge, at your convenience.\u00a0 We\u2019re really generous that way.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n It seems that somebody else, somebody who is not a Latter-day Saint, has noticed the mention of baptism for the dead in 1 Corinthians 15:29:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDoes the Bible Have a Loophole Passage for Getting to Heaven?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n You might find this story interesting, especially as we\u2019re nearing the open house for the Washington DC Temple, prior to its rededication:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Washington D.C. Temple site\u2019s history is as American as the capital city itself: The land survived two wars and more than a dozen different owners before housing the largest east-coast temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Another essay that will interest some of you:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhy \u2018All-In\u2019 LGBT+\/SSA Saints Are So Reluctant to Speak Up:\u00a0As conversations regarding the Church and LGBTQ issues only seem to be getting louder, why are so many faithful LGBTQ\/SSA Latter-day Saints choosing to stay quiet?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I met him only a couple of times, I think, and we didn\u2019t always agree.\u00a0 Sometimes, candidly, I didn\u2019t even understand his position.\u00a0 But I liked him, and not only because he once offered to represent me pro bono<\/em>, long ago, when a very angry critic was threatening baseless but potentially devastating legal action.\u00a0 (Happily, the threat melted away, and his help wasn\u2019t needed.)\u00a0 He passed away much too young:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Robert Dale Crockett<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n A group of us met this morning to brainstorm about our next film project, which we\u2019ve titled Six Days in August<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 There\u2019s still some work to be done in connection with the overall \u201cWitnesses\u201d film project, of course:\u00a0 The dramatic film, Witnesses<\/em><\/a>, has had its theatrical run and is now available on DVD and via streaming, and streaming options for it will shortly be expanded.\u00a0 Its accompanying docudrama sequel, Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon<\/em>, will be made public on 24 May.\u00a0 And eighteen \u201csnippets\u201d or short features have already been completed, with at least two more to go.\u00a0 (They\u2019ll be going up online fairly shortly, I think.)\u00a0 But we\u2019re now beginning to move forward on the new effort, and that\u2019s always exciting.\u00a0 The possibilities are (almost) endless.\u00a0 It\u2019s daunting too, of course; I have to raise the money that will enable us to make this project a reality.\u00a0 If you feel that you can, please join in the effort!<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Last night, in memory of my brother, we watched Michael Caine and Steve Martin in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels<\/em>.\u00a0 It was one of his favorite movies.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 \u00a0 *** \u00a0 Some time back, I read the very good book by Fiona Givens and Terryl Givens, The Christ Who Heals: How God Restored the Truth that Saves Us. \u00a0I sometimes encounter derisive comments from certain critics about how shallow Mormonism supposedly is. \u00a0Such complaints astonish me. \u00a0I find the implications, entailments, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n