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Before The World Was: A Biblical Examination of the LDS Doctrine of Premortal Existence
A Theological Essay from a Traditional Christian Perspective Introduction: A Different Starting Point When Elder Ronald M. Barcellos rose to address a gathering of Latter-day Saint students, he opened with a premise that most Christians in the room would have found jarring — had they been there. With warm pastoral affection and the cadence of…
Book Review: 175 LDS Temple Symbols and Their Meanings by Donald W. Parry
Overview and Purpose Published in 2020 by Deseret Book, 175 Temple Symbols and Their Meanings is a 310-page reference guide by Donald W. Parry, a professor of the Hebrew Bible at Brigham Young University and a contributor to the Dead Sea Scrolls translation project. The book draws on President Russell M. Nelson’s teaching that “each temple is…
The Sealed Verdict: Speculating on the Mysterious Fall of James J. Hamula
A Shockwave Through the Hierarchy On August 8, 2017, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a brief, carefully worded statement: James J. Hamula had been “released as a General Authority Seventy… following church disciplinary action by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.” That sentence — understated and clinical —…
From Enslaved Saint to Murdered Man: The Tragic Story of Thomas Coleman in Early Utah
Brigham Young’s Race Theology and the Murder of a Black Mormon Prologue: A Body on the Hill It was the afternoon of December 11, 1866, and a group of boys playing on the rocky bench above Salt Lake City stumbled upon something that would haunt Utah’s history for more than a century and a half….
The Unraveling Faith: When Latter-day Saints Leave the Church
The Shelf: When Faith Meets Unanswered Questions For many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), faith is a carefully constructed edifice. Beliefs are meticulously placed upon a mental shelf, each one bolstering the others. But what happens when troubling questions begin to accumulate, threatening the stability of the entire…
Hebrews 6:9–20 … ANCHORED: Hope That Holds (PDF only)
ANCHORED: Hope That Holds Hebrews 6:9–20 ESV EXTRA CREDIT – Regarding the Melchizedek Priesthood: Mormon vs. Christian theology. The Latter-day Saint Theology of Two Priesthoods The Aaronic (Lesser) Priesthood The LDS Church maintains a hierarchical priesthood structure that begins with what they term the “Aaronic” or “lesser” priesthood. According to official LDS teaching materials,…
Joey Sampaga Sermon: The Tragedy of Spiritual Blindness, Luke 11:29–36
On Sunday, March 8, Pastor Joey Sampaga delivered a message from Luke 11:29–36, building on the previous week’s warning about the danger of an outwardly cleaned but spiritually empty heart. Jesus calls the generation “evil” for demanding signs despite witnessing His miracles. He declares the only sign they will receive is the sign of Jonah—His…
Two Million Stones, Twenty Years, One Unanswerable Question: The Engineering Mystery of the Ages
From Ramps and Sledges to Hydraulic Elevators and Human Counterweights: The Complete Survey of Every Theory, Ancient to Cutting-Edge INTRODUCTION: THE PROBLEM THAT WILL NOT SLEEP Stand at the base of the Great Pyramid of Giza on a late winter morning, when the desert air is still cool, and the plateau stretches toward Cairo in…
THE INVISIBLE CIVILIZATION: How the Book of Mormon Describes a World That Never Left a Trace
Illustration: Faith meets the fossil record. This Google Gemini AI illustration captures the introduction to the blog post, highlighting the irony of a modern religious monument standing beside a scientifically verifiable prehistoric excavation site. A Scholarly Examination of Book of Mormon Archaeology in Light of Current Evidence “Biblical archaeologists can barely keep pace with the…
The King of Confidence: James Jesse Strang: Prophet, Pirate, and America’s Only Self-Crowned King
In the power vacuum following Joseph Smith’s murder in June 1844, a little-known convert named James Jesse Strang made an audacious play for control of the Latter-day Saint movement. Producing a letter he claimed Smith had written before his death — naming Strang as successor — he launched one of the most brazen religious confidence…