The Initiatory Experience

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Are You Temple Worthy?

Temple worthiness isn’t just about "good behavior" in Mormon teaching. It’s a gate that determines who qualifies for the highest blessings the religion offers. The church teaches that only people judged worthy can enter the temple, make covenants, and receive the ordinances that lead to exaltation, which is the belief that humans can become like God and live forever with their families in the celestial kingdom. This makes worthiness interviews a spiritual checkpoint that can shape someone’s identity, their standing in the community, and even their hope for eternity. Are You Worthy to Enter a Mormon Temple? Are You Worthy of the Mormon Temple? Yes No Restart Enter the Temple

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The Smithsonian “Early Horses” Article Does Not Prove the Book of Mormon True

A Smithsonian Magazine article titled “ Native Americans Spread Horses Through the West Earlier Than Thought ” (2023) has been circulating in Mormon spaces as supposed proof that horses existed in the Americas during Book of Mormon times. The article summarizes a legitimate scientific study published in Science titled “ Early Dispersal of Domestic Horses Into the Great Plains and Northern Rockies .” (2023) But when you read what the researchers actually found, it’s clear this does not support the Book of Mormon’s claims at all. What the Study Actually Found The research team, led by William Timothy T. Taylor, analyzed horse remains found across the Great Plains and northern Rockies. Using radiocarbon dating, DNA sequencing, and isotopic analysis, they discovered that the animals were of Spanish origin. In other words, these were not remnants of ancient, native North American horses that somehow...

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Early Mormon Criticisms - 1: Caution Against the Golden Bible

This series looks back at how early critics of the church reacted to the rise of Mormonism. Some mocked it, others warned against it, and a few tried to make sense of it. Each post features a real historical excerpt and some quick context to show how critics viewed the new faith as it was unfolding. For this first article, we are going to look at one of the first known in-depth public criticisms of the Book of Mormon, which appeared before the book itself was publicly available. On February 20, 1830, Cornelius Camden Blatchley, a New York physician and writer known for his skeptical views on organized religion, published an article titled “Caution Against the Golden Bible” in the New-York Telescope . Written only weeks before the Book of Mormon’s official release in March of that year. Most of his arguments are still being used to this day. The Complaints Presented by Blatchley He specifies reading the Title page as well as pages 353–368 of the original Book of Morm...

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Is Mormonism a Cult?

The word “cult” usually brings to mind the most destructive examples of control, where people lose their freedom, identity, or even their lives. That harm is real and should never be minimized. But the psychology behind those groups does not appear only in the extremes. The same methods of influence exist in more common institutions too, but often differ in intensity. Religion, politics, and corporate systems all use similar tools to shape belief and loyalty. Mormonism belongs on that spectrum, not because it is as harmful as the worst examples, but because it relies on many of the same patterns of authority and conformity. One way to see this clearly is through the BITE Model of Authoritarian Control. The model, created by Steven Hassan, outlines how groups shape members through four areas of influence: B ehavior I nformation T hought E motion. Each form of control helps a system maintain stabil...

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Are Mormons Christian?

People keep asking whether Mormons are Christian, as if that’s the issue that matters. It’s not. Mormons love this question since its probably one of the tamest aspects of the faith to question. The other day I was reading some comments on an online post that was debating the issue of whether or not Mormons were Christian, and this interaction caught my eye. One individual declared that the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) “never were and never will be Mormon.” Now, I can't imagine that many Mormons will share this same sentiment, considering that the FLDS church literally emerged from the exact same roots as the Utah church. But this interaction ironically demonstrates the exact same mindset that other Christians have about Mormons. Some Christians don’t consider Mormons Christian because Latter-day Saint teachings reject key doctrines established by early Christian creeds, like the Trinity, original sin, and the belief that Go...

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Lucifer's Lantern

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