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Dr. Ryan Cragun has done some excellent research on the decline of religion generally (secularization). He grew up LDS in beautiful Morgan, Utah (up Ogden Canyon), served a mission to Costa Rica in the 1990s, and then left the church in 2004. His latest work turned up the fact that Utah is no longer a majority Mormon state. The LDS church via its media holdings in Utah would like you to believe that 60 percent of the state is still Mormon. They are just not allowed to utter the word "Mormon" for fear of spontaneously combusting, or at the very least going to Hell at some future date (despite the fact the founding scripture of the institution has "Mormon" in the title). Perhaps the church will rename the book, The Book of Nephi, which would be great since it was actually Nephi that appeared to Joseph Smith all those years ago. Cragun's research indicates with a 99.9 percent confidence interval (most studies only use 90-95 percent) that 38-46 percent of the popula

  I have recently been fascinated with NDEs (near death experiences). When I was Mormon I would look for ones that confirmed my myopic belief structure. I rarely found any, owing to the flawed nature of Mormonism (or any religion). Now that I am out of organized religion, I find inspiration in any sincere NDE. By using the Holy Spirit as my guide, I can usually tell who is honest and who is just seeking attention or who is working for the adversary. I am skeptical of any NDE that purports everyone goes to Heaven.  I recently came across Vincent Todd Tolman's NDE on the Shaman Oaks YouTube site. Vincent wrote a book The Light after Death where he recounts his experiences while being clinically dead for over an hour, and then in a coma for three days. He was guided by his deceased grandfather Drake and taught 10 principles everyone must learn before being allowed entrance into Heaven. You can watch his 20 minute video explanation or buy his book, but I will relate his idea that most

One thing (out of hundreds) I have learned from Grant Hardy's Oxford Annotated Book of Mormon , is that  the phrase "3 Nephites" is not scriptural. It is another example of our inability as a group of people to actually read and understand what the text states. The BOM describes the 3 New World hand-picked leaders by CHRIST, as the "three disciples". Nowhere does it designate their ethnic background. For all we know these 3 exemplary men were all Lamanites.  It would make sense, since the Lamanites are described in the book as being more righteous immediately prior to JESUS's visit than their brethren the Nephites. Why do we keep calling them the 3 Nephites? Because we like to think of think of the Nephites as the good guys, and the Lamanites as the bad guys. Interesting, when GOD preserved the Lamanites and destroyed the Nephites.  The most CHRIST-like group in the entire text are the people of Ammon, the Anti-Nephi-Lehis. You may recall those people were c

When JESUS visited the more righteous part of the Lamanite-Nephite population (after destroying the murderers and abortion supporters),  he said the following: "Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world."  (3 Nephi 18:24) Was he telling them (and by extension we, the readers) to hold up our own lives as examples of following GOD? Is this a call to show this wicked world what a good person acts like?  I am an abject sinner, so I don't need anyone following my poor example. What about the great Rusty Nelson, the 99 year old know-it-all in SLC? Surely mankind should follow the example of an arrogant surgeon turned false church president.  Not so fast sheeple of the Mormon corridor. JESUS continues in verse 24 with, "Behold, I am the light which ye shall hold up, that which ye have seen me do." There you have it. JESUS is the model for all behavior. Follow no person, follow JESUS. How do we do that? Well very conveniently for us, GOD the Father