Lucifer's Lantern

  In the last article we looked at how Magnalia Christi Americana demonstrates how early Americans saw themselves as a covenant people in a covenant land. To demonstrate how that same worldview shaped Joseph Smith’s Book of Mormon, we’re going to walk through the purposes behind both books. Luckily John Higginson spells out the goals of Magnalia in his introduction to Cotton Mather’s work. Once you compare those intentions to the Book of Mormon , the influence is hard to miss. The First Purpose of Magnalia Christi Americana: First, That a plain scriptural duty of recording the works of God unto after-times, may not any longer be omitted, but performed in the best manner we can. ( Magnalia Vol 1, pg 10) Higginson meant this in a very literal way. Puritans worried that if they didn’t record God’s works, their children wouldn’t know how God had acted among them, and the community could lose sight of the guidance they believed God had provided.  Mather builds his entire project...

There is a very distinct moral rhythm that drives the entire storyline of the Book of Mormon. This is often referred to within the church as the “pride cycle.”     It goes something like this: When the people remember God, they live peacefully and prosper. Their obedience brings material success and national stability. Then, wealth and comfort begin to shift their focus. Pride replaces gratitude. The people start to divide into social classes, persecute the poor, and boast of their own strength. As pride spreads, the society grows corrupt. Prophets warn them to repent, but their voices are ignored or mocked. Eventually, destruction comes through war, famine, or internal collapse. Suffering drives the people to humility. They remember God again, repent, and the Lord blesses them with peace and prosperity. Then the cycle restarts. This pattern is repeated continually from the beginning of the Book of Mormon and is claimed to be the direct result of covenant with God. That when ...

If Jesus came back today, he would not recognize what Christianity has become. The modern church is built on power, money, and influence. Whatever moral teacher he might have been, his message has been rewritten to fit the needs of institutions. The result is less a faith about truth and more a system for control.      The French philosopher Jacques Ellul explored this process in his book The Subversion of Christianity . (Affiliate Link) He wrote that the teachings of Jesus were too disruptive to survive unchanged. The early followers of Jesus spoke about compassion, humility, and equality. Those ideas had no place in an empire built on hierarchy and control. Over time however, Christianity adapted. It learned to cooperate with authority. What started as a small movement of the poor became the official religion of the powerful.      Ellul, who was a Christian, saw this as a betrayal. Every belief system changes once it becomes institutionalized....

       All right. So, for this post today, I’m going to be talking about a pretty sensitive subject. And that’s going to be satanic ritual abuse and potential ties to leadership of the Mormon church.      It should go without saying that this is going to be a little bit more of a sensitive subject. I’ll say up front that I have no intention of diving into specific examples—detailed descriptions of what satanic ritual abuse looks like—outside of broad definitions. My goal is just to give an idea of what makes ritual abuse a little bit different than regular abuse (for lack of a better word). Consider this your heads up that this is going to be a sensitive subject.      I typically wouldn’t really give this type of subject very much attention. I certainly never planned on making a post about it. But I did have an interesting conversation the other day with an LDS content creator that I message with sometimes. I was a little surprised whe...

  I would probably say that the Book of Mormon is one of the most heavily criticized pieces of literature ever put into circulation. These criticisms go back even before it was published. From the moment Joseph Smith claimed he had access to an ancient record that God needed him to translate, people began theorizing about its origins. They criticized Joseph Smith, questioned his motivations, and doubted his inspirations. Once the Book of Mormon was published, critics finally had the text itself. Since then, it has been torn apart, analyzed, and debated for nearly 200 years. If you want to dive into these criticisms today, you face an overwhelming mountain of material to sift through. That’s where I want to narrow the focus a bit by recommending one book: Studies of the Book of Mormon by B. H. Roberts.   (affiliate link) I recommend it for three reasons. First, it presents excellent criticisms of the Book of Mormon . Second, the controversy surrounding its content and pub...

So much about who we are as individuals is tied up into our belief systems. For most of my life I identified as a Mormon. Walking away from the church, I realized that took up a tremendous part of who I was and how I identified myself as a person. I went through these phases where I struggled with the question: outside of Mormonism, who am I? What do I believe in? What are my moral standings? What are the things that I want to support, and what are the things that I don’t want to support? I don’t think I’m alone in this. The other day I was looking at my  page for reading recommendations. And as I was looked through my reading list, it hit me: every single book I was suggesting to people, (and nearly every single book I had read since leaving the church) was tied directly to Mormonism. And honestly, that bothers me a little bit... I've been keeping myself in a box. I’ve come to identify as an agnostic atheist. But here’s one of the things that’s been bothering me. When I introduce...