[Colofornian]

From the column: The majority of faithful Latter-day Saints who engage in temple work for the dead probably have never heard of the Law of Adoption. Yet, for roughly a half century, until 116 years ago, it was the forerunner of today’s large-scale church temple ordinances for the deceased, which are considered sacred and necessary in the LDS Church for afterlife progression. Gordon Irving, then associate historian for the LDS Church, wrote a fascinating piece for the spring 1974 issue of BYU Studies. Titled, “The Law of Adoption: One Phase of the Development of the Mormon Concept of Salvation, 1830-1900,” Irving explains that in 1830, the genesis of the church, “early members appear to have accepted the traditional Christian view of a heaven for the righteous and a hell for the wicked.” That would change soon. By 1832, Irving writes, the prophet Joseph Smith had published revelation that there were three separate kingdoms of glory within heaven, or salvation; furthermore, the kingdom assigned a person depended on his or her good works. At this time, the Mormon concept of hell evolved into a place called “sons of perdition,” which was restricted to very few.

You know, if it was just "evolving" doctrine per se, that'd be still understandable...but when you consider these were no low-level doctrines -- that it covered heaven & salvation matters -- and that none of these things were revealed in the Book of Mormon, already touted to be the "fulness of the everlasting gospel"...you then realize these things fall outside even the Mormon gospel version!

[ReverendJames]

Achieving exhalation. Like the Scientologist having you hold on to two soup cans so you can eventually become “Clear” (as in your wallet getting Clear?)

[T Minus Four]

Oh what a tangled web!