Jehovah’s strong lesson against racism

In the Old Testament we learn that Moses married a black woman. Some traditions teach that this woman was Zipporah, the woman Moses met and married in Exodus 2:15-22. The Bible records that Zippporah was from Midian, which is east of the present-day Gulf of Aquaba (northeast Red Sea). Moses’ black wife was from Cush, … Read more

Revisiting John 3:16 on Easter Sunday

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 In the middle 1970s, I was an LDS missionary in the southern United States – the Bible Belt. Everywhere we went, we saw the phrase, “John 3:16.” It … Read more

Are you prepared for the famine?

Sunday school lessons on the final chapters of Genesis typically discuss the story of Joseph and his brothers and then skip ahead to the blessings Jacob (Israel) gives to his sons before his death. Perhaps more pertinent to our time is the story that often gets passed over — the story of the increasingly severe … Read more

Was Eve deceived by the Serpent?

The other day I asked this question to my 89-year-old mother. Her answer was, “I don’t believe that for a minute. She knew exactly what she was doing.” It is impossible to know the precise degree to which Eve may have made her decision (about eating the fruit) by being swayed by Satan’s temptations or … Read more

Climbing over Mount Stupid

A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again. Alexander Pope Both the diagram and the quotation above illustrate the human tendency to think we know more than we do. They do not discourage learning, but remind … Read more

The band of robbers: A cautionary tale

The following story, recorded in the Book of Mormon, took place in America about 29 to 23 B.C. It’s events are amazingly similar to recent history. And it came to pass that the Lamanites did hunt the band of robbers of Gadianton; and they did preach the word of God among the more wicked part … Read more

Republicans fear democracy

Republicans like to play a little game with the word “democracy.” Whenever someone refers to the United States as a “democracy” they pipe up in a self-righteous know-it-all voice and say, “The United States is not a democracy, it’s a republic.” This word game, while technically historically accurate, is essentially meaningless. While the founding fathers … Read more