Latter-Day Templar: May 2021

Sunday, May 23, 2021

Re-built home of Joseph and Emma

Re-built home of Joseph & Emma Smith, Harmony PA - much of the translation of the Book of Mormon took place here.

(photos from the Mormon Heritage Association Facebook page)

Hale home

Re-built home of Emma Hale Smith's parents, Isaac & Elizabeth Hale, Harmony PA

Friday, May 21, 2021

BRAVE: Demi Lovato Comes Out As "Non-Binary"

The Changing Forms of the Latter-day Saint Sacrament

(by Ugo A. Perego interpreterfoundation.org)

Abstract: Partaking of bread and water each Sunday is a fundamental part of the theology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — a solemn moment in which the mortal Savior’s mission and ministry are remembered and pondered by those who partake individually and as a congregation. This paper explores instructions provided by the Savior himself as found in the Mormon canon of scriptures, together with a review of how this practice has changed over time as part of the LDS Church liturgy. Moreover, the meaning associated with this sacred ordinance is analyzed by way of the Savior’s teachings in ancient scripture through Mormon prophets in modern times, particularly in light of a more recent emphasis shared by the LDS Church leadership.

https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/the-changing-forms-of-the-latter-day-saint-sacrament/

The Brass Plates: Can Modern Scholarship Help Identify Their Contents?

(by A. Keith Thompson interpreterfoundation.org)

Abstract: The Book of Mormon contains little information about what the Brass Plates contain. Nephi said it was a larger record than the Hebrew Bible brought to America by the Gentiles. But it could not have contained the records of Old Testament prophets who wrote after Lehi’s party left Jerusalem or the New Testament. We know it contained some writings from Zenos, Zenock, Neum, and Ezias, but what else could it have contained? Though the “Documentary Hypothesis” idea that the Christian Bible is the product of redactors is distasteful to many Christians, this article suggests this scholarship should not trouble Latter-day Saints, who celebrate Mormon’s scriptural abridgement of ancient American scripture. This article also revisits the insights of some Latter-day Saint scholars who have suggested the Brass Plates are a record of the tribe of Joseph, and this may explain its scriptural content. The eight verses from Micah 5, which Christ quoted three times during His visit to the Nephites and which did not previously appear in Mormon’s abridgment, receive close analysis.

https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/the-brass-plates-can-modern-scholarship-help-identify-their-contents/