James, the brother of Jesus...

Since reading the book many years ago entitled Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage, I have been interested in learning about the earthly family of Jesus Christ.

Jesus of Nazareth had four brothers, or more correctly, half-brothers, and at least two half- sisters, so He came from a rather large family. In both Matthew and Mark of the New Testament, the brother named James is written first when listing the four brothers of Christ. By being written first, we can assume then that James was the oldest of the brothers of Jesus. That being said, then James, the brother of Jesus, knew Jesus Christ longest on this earth - other than His mother, Mary. More is known about James than any of the other brothers of Jesus.

What must have it been like to grow up with an older brother that was perfect in all ways? Jesus never sinned, therefor, He never did anything wrong. Children were no different in the days of Christ than they are today. I am almost certain that Jesus was ridiculed and made fun of by the other children - including His own brothers. We can only yearn for a glimpse into the home life of that family, but all we know is that James seems not to have accepted him as the Messiah until after his resurrection, according to the Gospel of John.

After Christ's resurrection, He sought out His brother James, and James repented and became a devout believer in the Messiah and a powerful leader in the early church. In his letter to the Galatian saints, Paul refers to James, the Lord’s brother, as an apostle. Many scholars believe that it was James, the brother of Jesus, who wrote the epistle of James. It is interesting to note that in that epistle, James does not refer to himself as the brother of the Lord but as his servant, “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

I am certain that Jesus dealt with his siblings in their early childhood years as He always dealt with people - with love and kindness. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that the four brothers of Jesus became believers after His resurrection and followed after Him all the remaining days of their lives.

I believe that there is a lesson here for all of us.

A symbol of Christ...

The LDS critics often mention that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints cannot be a Christian religion because they do not recognize the cross as a symbol of one who believes in Jesus. While it is true that Mormons do not wear the cross as jewelry, nor adorn their chapels and temples with the cross, Mormons believe that the cross is a symbol of the dying
Christ, and Mormons would rather remember and celebrate the risen and living Christ. This was the greatest miracle in human history - Christ rising from the dead - and this is what the Mormons wish to remember. Not that they will ever forget the great sacrifice that Christ made for all mankind on the cross at Calvary - this cannot and will not be forgotten.

Thousands and thousands of men have died on a cross, as this was a popular death among the Romans and Assyrians, but only one Man rose from the grave after being nailed to the cross. Most of the other thousands of names have been forgotten that died on the cross, but because He rose from the dead, Christ will always be remembered.

Because our Savior lives, we do not use the symbol of his death as the symbol of our faith. As President Gordon B. Hinckley once said, " And so our lives must become a meaningful expression, the symbol of our declaration of our testimony of the Living Christ, the Eternal Son of the Living God."

President Gordon B. Hinckley expressed it best here on why the LDS members do not have the cross on or in their buildings of worship.

The Joseph Smith Papers Project...

The Joseph Smith Papers Project is huge.....and I for one can't wait until it is completed. This project will include everything ever written by him, dictated by him, or received by him.

The last paragraph in the Mormon Times article states : "The terrible things said about Joseph Smith come largely from ignorance about the past," Jensen said. "(The project) is just a connection to the past that helps you visualize and understand the early Saints."

It is estimated that the first volume compiled from these many papers will be available at the end of the year.

That should be some interesting reading..........

Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling

I just started reading a book that I have had for some time entitled Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Lyman Bushman. Bushman's most notable published work, From Puritan to Yankee: Character and Social Order in Connecticut, 1690-1765 won the prestigious Bancroft Prize in 1968, an award considered to be one of the greatest honors for a work on American history.

So I found it interesting while reading the Mormon Times here that Bushman just gave a speech on Wednesday at Weber State University.

In his speech, he stated, "the LDS church is in good company, with Judaism, Islam and Christianity all making extraordinary claims" and that the LDS Church simply needed time to become more familiar to the world in general."What is needed for Mormonism to become respectable is for it simply to age", Bushman stated.

I pondered that last statement and wonder how factual it is. There are so many individuals and organizations that still look at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as fanatical, extremist, and belonging to a cult. I wonder if those that think that way will ever believe anything differently. But perhaps their children will.

This is a very good article, and I encourage you to look it over here.

This is the last paragraph from the Mormon Times article on Bushman's speech: "Piece by piece," Bushman observed, "the elements of the arguments against Mormonism can be dealt with."

Well said.

National Council of Churches USA…

The National Council of Churches USA has recently made a list of the Top 25 Churches in America that is quite interesting and informative. But what I also find interesting is what church organizations make up the members of the National Council of Churches USA.

Interestingly, four of the top five churches in their Top 25 Churches in America survey do not belong to the NCC…..I wonder, (but won’t take the time to find out) , how many of the top 25 churches in America don’t belong to the NCC when four of the top five don’t.

I also noticed a few churches that belong to the NCC that I have never heard of, and have linked to the churches sites to learn more about them. If you wish to learn more also about the churches listed as belonging to the NCC, you can do so here.

To learn more about the Lord Jesus Christ, visit JesusChrist.lds.org

Changes in the Book of Mormon...

The anti-Mormons love to bring up the issue of the changes that have been made to The Book of Mormon since 1830. They especially like to do this while quoting Joseph Smith as saying the Book of Mormon is more correct than even the Bible.

When Joseph Smith said that the Book of Mormon was the, " most correct of any book on earth", his view had little relation to the grammar, spelling, or punctuation used in the Book of Mormon. Because of the truth that the Book of Mormon brings to the world, the correctness of the book lies in its message. That is why Joseph Smith concluded be saying a person can "get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book".

But what about all the changes in the Book of Mormon? Some anti-Mormon blogs are talking about more than 400 changes since 1830 in the Book of Mormon. Well, they are correct. There are many thousands of little changes in the Book of Mormon. Listed below are some of those changes made in the Book of Mormon since 1830.

- Words deleted: that (188 times), the (48 times), it came to pass ( 46 times), a and an ( 40 times), had (29 times).

-Words added : of (12 times), and, is, and the ( 7 times)

-Grammatical changes: which to who ( 891 times), was to were, (162 times)

-Typographical errors: aaswer, amog, bacause, daghter, theit, uttered, among many.

That is just a short list of these type of changes, which also include many spelling changes that were made.

As late as 1828, there were as many as four dictionaries that were available. Examples from these four dictionaries show the variations in spellings commonly accepted at the time Joseph Smith was dictating the Book of Mormon to his scribes:

Sheridan: published 1784 creatshur scriptshur claushure

Walker: published 1794 cretshure scriptshur clauzhure

Perry: published 1805 creature scripture clauzhure

Jameson: published 1827 creture scriptyur clauzhur

These same type of changes were also made in the Bible. Simply compare a 1611 King James Version of the Bible with a Kings James Version of today, and you will also see thousands of changes. This does not distract from the meaning and message of the Bible....it simply makes it easier to read today.

Visit my blog here to learn more about the changes that the Bible has also seen in the last few hundred years.

Most importantly, neither the Bible nor the Book of Mormon have to be infallible to get its message across.


To learn more about the Lord Jesus Christ, visit JesusChrist.lds.org

New web site about Jesus Christ...

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a new web site where everyone can witness for themselves what the LDS Church believes in concerning our Savior, Jesus Christ. He plays an essential role in all of our lives, and this is a wonderful site to share with all the world regarding our love for Him.

The Prophet Joseph Smith was often asked, “What are the fundamental principles of your religion?”

“The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.”


To learn more about the Lord Jesus Christ, visit JesusChrist.lds.org