The Trinity is a difficult thing to discuss, especially for non-Trinitarian Christians like myself. It seems as though everyone doesn’t understand it: it is a mystery of God. But different people seem to not understand it in very different ways. Some believe it’s one of the most beautiful parts of Christianity while others think it is completely absurd. I hope to clear up a bit of that confusion here.
Category: Religion
Why Don’t We Build Cities Anymore?
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints used to have a tradition of building cities.
Under the leadership of Joseph Smith, we built the cities of Kirtland, Far West, and Nauvoo. Brigham Young oversaw the building of almost 300 cities across the Intermountain West. City building slowed dramatically after his death. We haven’t built any new cities in the last hundred years.
Why?
The Violent Mormon Stereotype
There is a stereotype in some crime dramas and Westerns that suggests that Mormonism promotes violence. This stereotype began in the nineteenth century adventure stories, gained lasting influence through A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle (1887) and Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey (1912) continued in the silent film era through works like A Mormon Maid (1917) and Trapped by the Mormons (1922), and continues today in murder mystery novels and dramatized true crime stories. This is not to say that all murder mysteries that involve Mormons are stereotypical, nor is all fiction that criticizes Mormonism. Some stories subvert or avoid this stereotype. But there are many examples that follow the stereotype.
Public Secularism & Religious Liberty
We often think that the countries of the West share similar principles of democracy and freedom. When we look closer, we see that these words can mean very different things in different places. The differences between presidential and parliamentary democracy are real and important. The differences in freedom are real and important as well. Here, I will look at the difference between the religious liberty of the Anglosphere and the public secularism of much of mainland Europe.
MORMON DOCTRINE by Bruce R. McConkie (1958) was an Aberration
McConkie was the most influential theologian in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the second half of the twentieth century. His magnus opus was Mormon Doctrine, an encyclopedia which attempted to answer all of the important questions about Mormon doctrine. It has been somewhat controversial because many of the answers it gave were wrong, but I think that it has a bigger problem. Mormon Doctrine is contrary to the way Mormonism approaches Truth.
Time Only is Measured Unto Man
Is measuring time an affront to God?
Legibilism in Mormonism
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a large, centralized institution. Since large, centralized institutions tend to be biased towards legibility, it is worth asking if this exists in Mormonism. I try to avoid value judgements here and allow you to decide if less legible institutions are better or worse for the Church.
Miracles and Physical Laws
Could God perform a miracle that violates physical laws? I think that this question is based on a false notion of what a physical law is. Physical laws are summaries of all observations. If something is observed that contradicts a physical law, then the law must change to accommodate the observation.
Paradigms on Scripture
The Bible is the most read book in the world, with an estimated 5 billion copies sold. Scripture has been read and reread, interpreted and reinterpreted countless times. However, reading the same scriptures does not that we understand them the same way. It is an extremely helpful skill to be able to understand when people think differently than you. Even if you say the same words, those words might have such different meaning to you that you do not understand each other. You should practice being aware of when people are talking past each other. Perhaps this is nowhere more common and more important than in religion.
My Testimony
Now that I have the foundational scientific writings for this blog posted, I should also post some foundational religious writings too. This is my testimony of God (in general) and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (in particular). Much can and will be said on this topic, but I will keep it brief today.