Category: Revelations
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Revelations, Policies, Doctrines, and Decrees
Different categories of pronouncements by LDS leadership ideally reflect different levels of ‘official-ness,’ but they also provide convenient room for denying the same.
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LDS Priesthood — Invention or Restoration?
By Sandra Tanner One of the major claims of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that it is the only true church, with the only authority to act in God’s name. Mormonism has a lay priesthood, its leaders are not trained in theology or biblical languages, but are usually businessmen advanced due…
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LDS Patriarchal Blessings
By Sandra Tanner Joseph Smith claimed through revelation to reestablish the ancient order of “Patriarch,” patterned after the father’s blessings given in the Bible (see Genesis, chapters 27 and 49). Unlike the Old Testament blessings given by a father on his deathbed to his sons, the LDS blessings are given by non-relatives to various members of the…
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Joseph Smith’s “White Horse” Prophecy
By Sandra Tanner Since United States Senator Orrin Hatch, a faithful Mormon, announced his candidacy in 1999 for the office of President of the United States, there has been growing interest in how he views the U.S. Constitution and one of Joseph Smith’s little known prophecies. In the Salt Lake Tribune, November 11, 1999, there…
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Playing FAIR?
An Evaluation of Joseph Smith’s “Rocky Mountain Prophecy” By Johnny Stephenson Condensed and used by permission from: https://mormonitemusings.wordpress.com/2012/02/11/playing-f-a-i-r/ I often come across this scenario on Mormon Facebook Pages and other sites as I browse the internet: Self-proclaimed Mormon “apologists” using material from FAIR (Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research) to “prove” that critics of Mormonism…
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The Role of Prophet, Seer and Revelator in Mormonism
By Sandra Tanner [From a talk given by Sandra Tanner, May 30, 2009, at the Compassionate Boldness Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.] At the April, 2009 annual conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Thomas Monson was formally set apart as the “Prophet, Seer and Revelator” of the church. But what…
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Sacred Marriage or Secret Affair?
How many of Joseph Smith’s wives had living husbands? Did Joseph Smith marry young girls?
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Zelph the White Lamanite Warrior
By Sandra Tanner Today many of the LDS scholars want to limit the Book of Mormon geography to southern Mexico and Guatemala. However, the leaders of the LDS Church have always maintained that the story happened over the larger land mass of North and Central America. One of the problems of limiting the geographic area…
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Was the Garden of Eden in Missouri?
By Sandra Tanner When Christians hear Mormons refer to the Garden of Eden they may incorrectly assume that the LDS believe it was by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Joseph Smith, however, claimed by revelation that the Garden of Eden was in western Missouri. This would throw off the entire first part of Genesis. Noah…
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Saintly Scissors
The Cutting Away of Unwanted Revelation By Sandra Tanner Just as God spoke to Moses on the mountain, the LDS Church claims that God personally appeared to Joseph Smith and directed him to establish “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth” (Doctrine and Covenants 1:30). LDS revelations are usually…