Some Latter-day Saints insist that the Book of Mormon can be inspired fiction and still be scripture.  According to this view, God “revealed” a fictional tale of the Nephites to Joseph Smith in order to (somehow) inspire people to believe in Christ, accept Joseph Smith as a prophet, and live better lives.  From one perspective this may make some sense; the the parables of Jesus are obviously fiction, yet are scripture.  More to the point, the allegory of the Olive... Read more

Blarney Castle, Ireland, on a very rainy day (18 May 2012). http://www.flickr.com/photos/hamblinofjerusalem/sets/72157631075378454/detail/ I cannot stop speaking in Limrick A fact that makes my poor friends real sick. For try as I wilt, I still speak with a lilt, Since the Blarney stone I gave a big lick. Read more

Can’t we expect that a person who is a Mormon believes in God?  Mormonism is, after all, a religion, and religion is about God or the gods? Can’t we expect that a person who is a Mormon should believe in Jesus Christ?  It is, after all, called “The Church of Jesus Christ.” This seems so utterly obvious to me.  Anyone can believe whatever they want, of course, but this seems really basic to me.  If these two basic beliefs aren’t implied in the name Mormon, then there... Read more

“I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory,’ ” Alice said. Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. “Of course you don’t—till I tell you. I meant ‘there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!’ ” “But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean ‘a nice knock-down argument’,” Alice objected. “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said... Read more

New Hamblin-Peterson column in the Deseret News http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765596184/Sikh-religion-is-distinct-from-Islam.html Read more

I’m done talking about the Board-That-Cannot-Be-Named.  I have no interesting in visiting the site, or reading what they have to say, or talking about them.  I only mentioned them at all because a friend sent me an email describing their attacks on John Gee, and I felt like defending my friend John.  So I won’t say any more about them, nor will I post anything members of that board send as comments.  Case closed. Read more

A number of people have made interesting comments.  I’ll make a general response here. By trying to set a minimal definition of what it means to be Mormon, I’m not talking about trying to create social boundaries and drive away people.  I welcome all.  All suffer periods of doubts.  All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  Lord knows I have. I’m talking about trying to create an intellectually coherent meaning for the term Mormon.  The alternative... Read more

It is generally my policy to ignore the anti-Mormon and apostate message board.  I would be ignoring them right now except that a friend of mind sent me a message about how they were slandering my friend John Gee. The apostates have complained that I refuse to post a link to their site.  I have a policy of not providing links to sites that provide links to exposés of the LDS temple ceremony or to pornography.  I guess I’m just strange... Read more

He sent these to me because they are too long to fit in the “comment” slots.  They are attached here as a pdf file. BOB SMITH REPLY TO HAMBLIN 8-10-12 Read more

Some of the rabble (note I said some) at the Great and Spacious Trailer Park (GSTP) are claiming that I am universally attacking everyone who ever posts there.  They are wrong.  Note what I actually said: Certain denizens of the LDS apostate intellectual slums of the internet claim that my friend John Gee, a professor at Brigham Young University, lacks all credibility in professional Egyptological circles.  (This accusation, by the way, comes from people [i.e. the “certain denizens”] with no advanced degrees in... Read more