DiscussMormonism.com

This is an interesting question. As to why a determinist should agonize over their decisions, if the decisions are in some sense already predetermined (given, as EAIllusion says, a prior causal chain), I think the answer lies in our humanity. Why do I get butterflies when I stand near the edge of a ...

Ed has a great opportunity here. We have lots of Egyptian papyri that could be translated using his method. Forget the Joseph Smith Papyri for now. If it's a valid method -- and, per Ed, this kind of translation method was apparently well-known by the ancients -- then it should work for other ancie...

Ed has a great opportunity here. We have lots of Egyptian papyri that could be translated using his method. Forget the Joseph Smith Papyri for now. If it's a valid method -- and, per Ed, this kind of translation method was apparently well-known by the ancients -- then it should work for other ancien...

So what would be wrong with getting the ordinances from the Catholic Church then, despite its supposed apostasy? Hasn't its priesthood been handed down? LDS teach that Catholic baptism doesn't count. I'm not sure where you're coming from on this. If a member thinks the Church has apostatized (case ...

I agree with you that the polygamist strain is a problem for independent LDS. What is required to avoid this is a rethinking of the theology, starting with the full incorporation of Mother in Heaven into the Godhead and the decanonization of much of D&C 132. The CoC has removed portions of its ...

There is an interesting historical anecdote about an early post-Manifesto polygamist named Joseph Musser I once heard from a close friend who knows his Mormon history. Musser was encouraged to enter polygamy in that period of transition when polygamy was on the way out but new polygamous sealing we...

The Mormon necessity of ordinances "in the LDS sense" comes from LDS teachings. If you come to think that the LDS church has lost its way, it would not follow that you'd think holders of an apostate priesthood actually yet have any authority to validly administer efficacious ordinances. D...

The Mormon necessity of ordinances "in the LDS sense" comes from LDS teachings. If you come to think that the LDS church has lost its way, it would not follow that you'd think holders of an apostate priesthood actually yet have any authority to validly administer efficacious ordinances. D...

1. The essence of Mormonism is the priesthood and its ordinances, without which no one can gain exaltation. Such a definition implies the need for some organization to authorize those who can perform such ordinances. In my view, this one constitutes the most important justification for the existenc...

I think an interesting related question is, "Does Mormonism need a church?" And the answer to that depends on what you believe Mormonism to be, and why it exists. So, what are some, not necessarily mutually exclusive, definitions of Mormonism and the relation of those definitions to the ne...