Free Republic

SALT LAKE CITY— Utah’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force arrested 39 suspects on suspicion of dealing in child pornography after a month-long investigation. It is part of Operation FrostyLime Squeeze. The unique name stems from FrostWire and LimeWire.com, two of many file-sharing websites local police, the FBI and the Utah Attorney General cracked down on from February 28 to March 31. The most arrests came out of Utah County with many of the suspects in positions of trust and lived a double lifestyle, according to investigators. “These are your next door neighbors, pastor, scout master, teacher, the coach....

DRAPER, Utah— Federal officers arrested 53 year old Felix Callejas, his wife and two of their children at their home April 19. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says a judge ordered Luca Callejas to return to El Salvador in 2008. Callejas' other family members got the same deportation order in 2009. The family appealed and their case was dismissed earlier this month. Callejas is the president of a Spanish speaking LDS Church branch in Draper. Concerned church members called local activist Tony Yapias saying they're now afraid to go to church. “The whole membership was devastated over what happened,” says Latino...

In a recent survey by pollster Gary Lawrence of how Americans view "Mormonism," a whopping 77 percent said they were not sure Mormons are Christians. Understanding how the public views us can improve our responses to gospel questions. SNIP 2. Ditch the lingo. Gary Lawrence is a respected pollster and adviser to the missionary department. He suggests we use simple terms to which our Christian friends will relate: Use "Christianity" instead of "gospel," "re-established" instead of "restoration," and "men changed" instead of "apostasy." 3. Stay on message. Only 12 percent of Americans know our central message. It is this: We...

SNIP Teach of faith to keep all the commandments of God, knowing that they are given to bless His children and bring them joy. 4 Warn them that they will encounter people who pick which commandments they will keep and ignore others that they choose to break. I call this the cafeteria approach to obedience. This practice of picking and choosing will not work. It will lead to misery. To prepare to meet God, one keeps all of His commandments. It takes faith to obey them, and keeping His commandments will strengthen that faith. Obedience allows God’s blessings to flow...

Last month (March 2011) Ensign magazine included a challenge titled “How Well Do You Know Our Church Leaders?” It consisted of 15 details from the lives of the 15 current Prophets, Seers and Revelators of the LDS Church. Readers were invited to match the names with the facts. The Ensign challenge included things like figuring out which leader once raised rabbits or worked on an oyster boat. The lives of LDS leaders throughout the history of the Mormon Church reflect much more interesting details than those included in the Ensign article. So I here add my own version of “How...

The Way of the Disciple President Dieter F. UchtdorfSecond Counselor in the First Presidency  Now is the time to embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, become His disciples, and walk in His way. Today is the day the Christian world traditionally calls Palm Sunday. You will remember that it was on that Sunday nearly 2,000 years ago that Jesus Christ entered the city of Jerusalem during the final week of His mortal life. 1 In fulfillment of Zechariah’s ancient prophecy, 2 He rode in on a donkey, and as He did so, a great multitude came out to greet the...

Four decades ago, when my wife Dianne and I were active Baptists, somehow we ended up with a Baptist hymnal in our home. This same kleptomaniac-like behavior has surfaced on multiple occasions with respect to LDS hymnals. We even have an LDS hymnal embossed with “Joseph Smith Memorial Building.” Our Baptist hymnal is a...once widely-used, 1956-copyrighted edition published by Convention Press... SNIP Recently I searched our current 1985 edition of "Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" to determine how many of these hymns are common to our older Baptist hymnal. One might be surprised to learn...

PARK CITY — Cathy Chamberlain spoke about recognizing and remedying common misperceptions of women in the LDS Church, at the 4th Annual LDS Business Conference. "There are a lot of myths out in the world about who Mormon women really are," Chamberlain said Friday in Park City. "The most common myth outside of the church is that LDS women are second-class citizens in the church. Among our own women, they're not sure their roles are as important as men's roles. "We've got some cultural myths we've got to remove, and it's become a mission of mine to figure out how...

I once observed to a Mormon friend that Gordon B. Hinckley, late president of the Mormon Church, publicly lied when it suited him. No, I didn’t simply up and assault my friend’s faith. That would be bad manners. He and I discussed religion often; this happened to come up in the course of one of our conversations. “Lied?” said my Mormon friend. “Name one instance.” Without having to think hard or research, I came up with three: 1. When Hinckley served as an assistant to his predecessor, Ezra Taft Benson, he repeatedly assured church members that Benson was actively engaged...

"The right to lie in the service of your own interests is highly valued and frequently exercised"-Nero Wolfe I began this list when I was a full time employee of the LDS Church Education System (CES). I worked as a Seminary Principal/teacher, Institute teacher/Director, and Stake CES Coordinator from 1975 - 2002. My last assignment was brief. I signed a Letter of Agreement with CES to serve as the Director of the Pullman, Washington LDS Institute of Religion adjacent to Washington State University in July 2002. I resigned from CES a month later. I carry fond memories of the students,...

Introduction If Mormonism itself is not the "one true religion" as it claims to be, then that claim, of course is not true, and is a lie. If Joseph Smith did not really see angels, and if he did not really translate the Book of Mormon with divine help, then those claims are lies.But the purpose of this article is not to deal with those broad issues, since the amount of evidence that would be required to demonstrate the falsity of those claims (and the other broad claims of Mormonism) is more than can be dealt with in a small space. Rather,...

The Biblical Jesus vs. the Book of Mormon Jesus (From a post on exmormon.org) Special thanks to who ever posted this originally (sorry I forgot your name) and aknowledgement to Gordon Hinckley who said "we worship a different Christ". LDS members believe that they are singularly blessed with a record of the earthly ministry of Jesus from his life in Palestine, his visit to the Spirit World, and his visit to the Americas. Yet, a chronological reading of the story of Jesus’ last week in Palestine to his ministry in the America, using LDS scripture, leaves one puzzled as...

When the family organization was revealed from heaven—the patriarchal order of God, and Joseph began, on the right and the left, to add to his family, what a quaking there was in Israel. Says one brother to another, "Joseph says all covenants [previous marriages] are done away, and none are binding but the new covenants [marriage by priesthood sealing power]; now suppose Joseph should come and say he wanted your wife, what would you say to that?" "I would tell him to go to hell." This was the spirit of many in the early days of this Church. ....

No, it isnÂ’t being sealed to your spouse on wedding day, although that is a prerequisite (preparatory and required) to receive this highest and most sacred sealing ordinance. The priesthood sealing powers of Elijah, as restored in this last dispensation (D&C 110:13-16) and vested in the presiding high priest of the Church (D&C 132:7), are truly infinite in their application, being enabled to promise eternal life and exaltation to the faithful saints while yet in this life, as Peter explained to the ancient saints (2 Pet. 1; Eph. 1:13-14). Those saints who so receive are they who are of the...

  25 March 2011 — Salt Lake City News Release The Joseph Smith Papers series continues to put historic materials into the hands of modern readers. On 23 March 2011, the Church Historian’s Press released the latest book in the landmark project, Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations.As a prophet of God, Joseph Smith received many types of divine communication, and this new book presents those revelations as they were printed during his lifetime. Together with its predecessor, Revelations and Translations, Volume 1: Manuscript Revelation Books , the books make the early revelations more accessible than ever before for...

If I ever do decide to write a book about last weekend, they'll probably call it something like, "Fall From Grace: How a Good Mormon Boy Just Wanted to Watch a Little Basketball, But Ended Up Drinkin', Smokin' and Gamblin' the Weekend Away." I blame March Madness. The annual NCAA basketball tournament opened last weekend, and let's face it, some of us go a little crazy this time of year. Opening weekend alone features 48 games. Forty-eight. I did the math, and that many 40-minute games works out to 1,920 minutes -- a whopping 32 hours -- of basketball. And...

"If you can't say anything nice then don't say anything at all," says Thumper rabbit in the movie Bambi.  Sounds nice enough, right?  Not to me. Unfortunately, we tend to promote this philosophy as the ideal.  But it isn't...it's simply another form of oppression and tyranny.  (I know what you're thinking: "Thumper??!  An oppressive tyrant??!  Get a grip, Julie!")  Just stay with me, dear reader, and hear me out...:) Rather than speaking truthfully and ethically to each other, we suppress reality and truth in the name of inauthentic "niceness."  With no constructive outlet, we're more likely to use subversive, underhanded...

Many Americans doubt the morality of atheists. According to a 2007 Gallup poll, a majority of Americans say that they would not vote for an otherwise qualified atheist as president, meaning a nonbeliever would have a harder time getting elected than a Muslim, a homosexual, or a Jew. Many would go further and agree with conservative commentator Laura Schlessinger that morality requires a belief in God—otherwise, all we have is our selfish desires. In The Ten Commandments, she approvingly quotes Dostoyevsky: "Where there is no God, all is permitted." The opposing view, held by a small minority of secularists, such...

Let me state from the outset that my purpose here is not to argue that Mormons are meaner than anyone else. I don’t think that. What I am going to argue though is that Mormons aren’t nicer than anyone else either. I’d say if you could get into the heads of Mormons you’d discover that they are thoroughly human, no nicer or meaner than any other large group of people. Now if you don’t know about Mormonism, the above might seem trivial to you, but consider this, when people talk about knowing Mormons, what is one of the things they...

Beck's Bogus Beliefs March 2011 by T. A. McMahon "Glenn Beck, the television and radio talk show host who is best known for his conservative political views, isn't someone whom we would normally address in our newsletter. Our concerns are usually directed at individuals, programs, or organizations that promote spiritual or theological views contrary to the Word of God. Beck, of late, seems to be making himself at home in that realm, and he's attracting many who call themselves Bible-believing Christians. ... First of all, Glenn Beck is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He...