DiscussMormonism.com

Over a decade ago, when I was very active online in critiquing Latter-day Saint apologetics (and, to a lesser, extent truth claims), I made some posts criticizing the the NHM/Nahom find as evidence for the Book of Mormon. Dan Peterson and Bill Hamblin both participated in the discussion. One of my a...

for what it's worth, the Godmakers came out in 1982 and gained heavy traction over the succeeding several years in shaping views of Mormonism among many traditional Christians. But perhaps the Godmakers' biggest impact was how it prompted the church to react by downplaying Mormon distinctives and tr...

And if Mormon numbers were retirement savings, then over the thirty-year period 1985-2015 the Mormon church would have been investing with Bill. Whatever the church was doing to raise numbers in all that time, it never succeeded in triggering self-reinforcing growth that builds with compound intere...

Church Growth 2012 2.3% 2013 2.0% 2014 1.9% 2015 1.7% 2016 1.6% 2017 1.4% 2018 1.2% Estimates 2019 0.9% 2020 0.6% 2021 0.3% 2022 -0.1% 2023 -0.4% 2024 -0.7% 2025 -1.0% Interesting, Everybody Wang Chung. There has clearly been a downward trend. I'm curious about the basis of the projections. The ave...

In my experience, Don does not shy away from controversial topics. While he may be trying to provide a faithful explanation, I would expect him to do so with some evidence to back it up. Remember he was the one who pointed out that Joseph Smith actually did produce a translation of the Kinderhook p...

It's from a faithful perspective. So, any coverage of this issue will be from nothing to just believe the obvious smoking gun lie, is my guess. In my experience, Don does not shy away from controversial topics. While he may be trying to provide a faithful explanation, I would expect him to do so wi...

Don, any comment about that rumor from a year or two back about the pages turning up in someone’s safe deposit box and now being in the church’s possession? Dan Judd is the guy’s name, I think. I was super skeptical on first hearing it, but then thought ehhhh, maybe. Regardless of this specific exa...

It's late here in Zion, so just a quick note right now, and an explanation later. What makes it all in some ways less weird but perhaps in other ways weirder is that, actually, the small plates weren't bound with Mormon's plates. While this is the image we were all given, and what we were told, this...

Hey Consig, An interesting thing to note is that Joseph doesn't just contradict himself between the 1832 and 1838 accounts; he contradicts himself within the 1838 account! Joseph Smith-History 10 In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Wh...

The laborer in the vineyard is worthy of his hire. And one must be a crafty laborer these days. But I need to level with you here: we do know each other from a past life, and we have always treated each other fair and square, no matter how completely our enemies encompassed us. Next time you are tr...