The Last Days

But know this: difficult times will come in the last days. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. (HCSB, 2 Timothy … Continue reading “The Last Days”

But know this: difficult times will come in the last days. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. (HCSB, 2 Timothy 3:1-4)

It is prophesied that there will be difficult times just preceding the Second Coming of Christ. Though no one knows when the Second Coming will be, we can discern the signs of the times (Matt. 24:36; Mark 13:32; Matt. 16:2-3). There will be “wars and rumors of wars,” and “the whole earth shall be in commotion” (D&C 45:26); “men’s hearts shall fail them, and they shall say that Christ delayeth his coming until the end of the earth” (D&C 45:26). During those days “all things shall be in commotion” (D&C 88:91), “the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds” (D&C 88:90) and “a great hailstorm sent forth to destroy the crops of the earth” (D&C 29:16).

It sounds really bad. The question is this: can a rough approximation be made as to when these terrible events will happen? Perhaps this is possible. There are several things that will place tremendous stress on the social and political fabric of the global community as we approach the middle of this century. They include demographic factors, oil depletion, wickedness, environmental factors relating to pollution and global warming, and political factors. I intend to briefly examine each of these. Continue reading “The Last Days”

The Nature of Christ

Related Posts: The Trinity; Who is Jesus?-To a Mormon; Are Satan and Jesus Brothers?; Whom do we Worship?; Mormonism and the Creeds of Christendom; Godhead: God or Gods? This post will compare the LDS understanding of the nature of Christ to that of normative Christianity. A good place to begin the comparison is with the … Continue reading “The Nature of Christ”

Related Posts: The Trinity; Who is Jesus?-To a Mormon; Are Satan and Jesus Brothers?; Whom do we Worship?; Mormonism and the Creeds of Christendom; Godhead: God or Gods?

This post will compare the LDS understanding of the nature of Christ to that of normative Christianity. A good place to begin the comparison is with the creed of Chalcedon, which states that Christ has two natures, that he is both fully divine and fully human. Continue reading “The Nature of Christ”

Racism in the Book of Mormon: Part I

Related Posts: Blacks and the Priesthood; Race issues in the Book of Mormon: Part II; Was Mormonism ever pro-slavery? There are four principle themes in the Book of Mormon: politics, religion, war, and “race.” This post will explore the last of the four. Though the Book of Mormon says, “[God] denieth none that come unto … Continue reading “Racism in the Book of Mormon: Part I”

Related Posts: Blacks and the Priesthood; Race issues in the Book of Mormon: Part II; Was Mormonism ever pro-slavery?

There are four principle themes in the Book of Mormon: politics, religion, war, and “race.” This post will explore the last of the four. Though the Book of Mormon says, “[God] denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female,” and “all are alike unto God” (2 Nephi 26:33), when it mentions people cursed with a “skin of blackness” it smacks of racism.

Even though I have titled this post “Race issues in the Book of Mormon,” the people involved are actually of the same family. Continue reading “Racism in the Book of Mormon: Part I”

Racism in the Book of Mormon: Part II

Related Posts: Blacks and the Priesthood; Race issues in the Book of Mormon: Part I; Was Mormonism ever pro-slavery? Continued from Racism in the Book of Mormon: Part I Criticisms Interpreting the physical differences between Nephites and Lamanites as due to sun exposure is a recent development. In the recent past Mormons saw the difference … Continue reading “Racism in the Book of Mormon: Part II”

Related Posts: Blacks and the Priesthood; Race issues in the Book of Mormon: Part I; Was Mormonism ever pro-slavery?

Continued from Racism in the Book of Mormon: Part I

Criticisms

Interpreting the physical differences between Nephites and Lamanites as due to sun exposure is a recent development. In the recent past Mormons saw the difference in racial terms, visualizing the Lamanites as looking like Native Americans and the Nephites as Caucasian looking. So, abom 1ccording to that view the Native Americans still carry with them the mark of the curse, and the Native American way of life–once so detested among white Americans–is evidence they had not given up their wild ways. Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith (d. 1972) wrote in Answers to Gospel Questions: “

 

The dark skin of those [Indians] who have come into the Church is no longer to be considered a sign of the curse. Many of these converts are delightsome and have the Spirit of the Lord. Perhaps there are some Lamanites today who are losing the dark pigment. Many of the members of the Church among the Catawba Indians of the South could readily pass as of the white race; also in other parts of the South (p. 124; published 1957-1966).

Also, LDS art in the recent past tended to depict the Nephites as very European looking. More recent art tends to downplay the difference, but the Nephites are still depicted as being lighter complected than the Lamanites. (See here for some art samples from lds.org.) Continue reading “Racism in the Book of Mormon: Part II”