My Column in the "Mormon Times"

[_Eric]

I miss the good ol' days... back when DCP had stopped posting his SPAM here.

[_Inconceivable]

I thought it wholly inappropriate to commingle Christmas and the 2005 Smithmas both on the same Sunday. The Celebration of Joseph Smith should have occurred the Sunday before the Christmas program. In my ward, we had lesser occurrences of this for several years and then the Bishop changed and in 2008 we had exactly an equal parts Christmas and Smithmas. To me this means that the worship of Christ and the reverence for Joseph Smith have blurred in some member's minds.

I have a few thoughts:

Rather than celebrate the birth of Joseph Smith in December, liven up the Sunday before Easter to coincide with the betrayal and subsequent crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Should put his life's work into perspective.

But when I think about it, June 27 is a much more festive day if one is to celebrate anything relating to Joseph Smith.

[_Joey]

I've been promised an entry within the week -- we'll see! -- from a Mesoamerican archaeologist who converted to Mormonism many years after she received her doctorate. I'm confident that, if you read her entry at all, you'll dismiss it with a sneer.

Interesting. Do you believe she has the credentials, experience and reputation equal to the likes of Clark and Sorenson ? If so, do you think she could bring attention to the LDS scholarly works on Book of Mormon historicity where the likes of Clark and Sorensen have, in your word, "been ignored"? Or do you find her to be relatively inexperienced compared to the likes of Clark and Sorenson?

[_Daniel Peterson]

For a relatively recent article by Professor Sorenson that doesn't seem to have been ignored, see my thread in this forum entitled "John Sorenson on Mesoamerica and the Ancient Near East."

[_LDS truthseeker]

A new column of mine appeared in the “Mormon Times” section of the Deseret News today, entitled by the newspaper’s editors “Prophet’s Birthday Fits with Season”:

http://www.mormontimes.com/article/1902 ... ith-season

.

Interesting read. In your article you state:

"But first, a word about his associate, Oliver Cowdery. In April 1838, charged with serious offenses, Oliver was excommunicated from the church. He was not present to defend himself, though he always vigorously denied wrongdoing and eventually sought rebaptism. Before returning, however, he demanded that the accusations be retracted. Why? Because they were false but also in order to preserve his credibility as a witness to crucial founding events of the Restoration."

Didn't some of these accusations come from Joseph Smith himself such as Oliver apparently lying about Joseph having an improper relationship with Fanny Alger behind Emma's back?

[_Fence Sitter]

Interesting read. In your article you state:

"But first, a word about his associate, Oliver Cowdery. In April 1838, charged with serious offenses, Oliver was excommunicated from the church. He was not present to defend himself, though he always vigorously denied wrongdoing and eventually sought rebaptism. Before returning, however, he demanded that the accusations be retracted. Why? Because they were false but also in order to preserve his credibility as a witness to crucial founding events of the Restoration."

Didn't some of these accusations come from Joseph Smith himself such as Oliver apparently lying about Joseph having an improper relationship with Fanny Alger behind Emma's back?

Did Oliver leave the church or was he excomunnicated? I have heard accounts that rather than face a trail he left. Perhaps he was still excommunicated after he left. In any case it seems he and David Whitmer were about to bring charges against Joseph Smith for adultery with Fanny Alger. The church teaches the Book of Mormon to be perfect (or nearly so) but does not make the same claim for Joseph Smith. Restoring Oliver's credibility as one of the main witnesses to the Book of Mormon would be in line with those teachings. Now what to do with D. Whitmer and Martin Harris?

[_cinepro]

Search results on LDS.org for the name "Joseph Smith" show nearly 10,000 hits
The same for "Jesus Christ" get 18,000 hits.

So at least on the website, Jesus is talked about nearly twice as much as Joseph Smith.

HOWEVER, should we discount the number of times the phrase "...in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." is used?

You would also need to include all the other common names used to refer to Christ (i.e. "the Lord", "the Savior", "the Son of God")

[_cinepro]

Since 2005 was the bicentennial of Joseph Smith's birth, it was scarcely surprising to see a considerable uptick in mentions of him around 23 December of that year.

Even including this unique cover for the December Ensign of that year:

[_moksha]

This might be a good topic for a November 2011 column in the Mormon Times. Dr. Peterson could address this issue and perhaps convince people to use different Sundays for the two.

I've never -- ever -- encountered what you describe.

How many Christmas programs could you have possibly attended during those four years? I only attended the ones in my ward. Anyway, don't you think it wise to keep the celebration of Christ at Christmas separate from any devotional time toward Joseph Smith? I have absolutely no problem with a separate Sunday devoted to the prophet Joseph Smith, but not at the Christmas program.

You know that Kirby at the Tribune also has a mustache. I think it may be a helpful ingredient in successful religious column writing.

[_Daniel Peterson]

It's with considerable trepidation that I announce my latest "Mormon Times" column here on a message board where two of the finest English-prose stylists of our generation publish some of their finest work. But here goes:

http://www.mormontimes.com/article/1919 ... -of-Christ