I made deseretnews!

Now, this is pretty insane. I’m mentioned in a deseretnews article and I only had one article on Mormonism. Sheesh, I guess I’m going to have to get busy writing.

Was Joseph Smith a Martyr?

I was poking around on the two big Mormon apologist sites (Fair and Farms) and they both have articles on Joseph’s martyrdom.

Christian apologists usually make the argument that Joseph wasn’t a martyr because he went out with guns blazing. You can read about his death in the “Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints” volume 2 by BH Roberts.

The usual story you will hear is that Joseph went to Carthage, was held there and then the mob came up and killed him.

Last year we took a tour of the jail and it was very interesting but our tour guide said nothing about the pistol that Joseph Smith used to fire three shots at the mob.

Then instantly rising to his feet he drew the pistol Cyrus Wheelock had left him, and with a quick, firm step, and a determined expression in his face he advanced to the door and snapped the pistol six successive times; only three of the loads, however, were discharged. (B. H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1930], 2: 284 – 285.)

Now, there’s the argument by the Mormon apologists: the word “martyr” merely means witness, Joseph Smith was a witness even to the end.

Armageddon is coming! What, again??

Here’s an interesting article about Jehovah Witnesses

Believing Armageddon is imminent, Jehovah’s Witnesses go on a mission
FAITHFUL OUT TO CALL ON EVERY HOME IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

In case you weren’t aware of it the Watchtower has a very consistent record of false prophecies. Here are a few:

Armageddon 1914

The Watchtower Reprints, January 15, 1892, p.1355
“The date of the close of that ‘battle’ is definitely marked in Scripture as October, 1914. It is already in progress, its beginning dating from October, 1874.”

The Watchtower Reprints, July 15, 1894, p.1672
“We see no reason for changing the figures – nor could we change them if we would. They are, we believe, God’s dates, not ours. But bear in mind that the end of 1914 is not the date for the beginning, but for the end of the time of trouble.”

The Watchtower Reprints, September 15, 1901, p. 2876
“The culmination of the trouble in October, 1914, is clearly marked in the Scriptures; and we are bound therefore to expect a beginning of that severe trouble not later than 1910; — with severe spasms between now and then.”

The Watchtower Reprints, June 15, 1905, p.3576
Charts showing 1914 date.

Pi and very silly people

Third try is charm for new pi record

How about some pi? This kid can recite 10,980 digits of pi. Sheesh, what happened to the good old days when kids would memorize tv theme shows… what are things coming to today.

Of course the world record is 42k digits.

But it is pretty impressive, especially for engineers who usually say "oh, it's about 3.1415 something – close enough".

Look, I can barely remember my phone number. I'm an engineer, I've been trained in math that's mainly alphabet soup, I don't do real numbers. I can do imaginary numbers, I can do transforms, I can find surface integrals and work differential equations but when it comes to balancing my check book I take the best 2 out of 3 totals.

Now this lady here is a nut bar: Pa. Woman Sentenced for 'Stealing' House

She didn't have a dollar to her name, then goes to closing with some forged papers. That's just dumb, I mean, what were you thinking? It's not like you can fence it or exchange vin's or put a new coat of paint on it and the bank will say "Well, the city survey says that the house should be here, but we sold a green house and this one is white… I guess we'll just keep looking."

It certainly isn't going to be the case where the bank will go "Oh, it's just 328 g's, just let her have it."

Unless the house has wheels, you probably shouldn't try and steal it.

Out and About

I haven’t posted here in a while since things have been crazy busy. Went down to Charlotte NC for some schoolin. I’m an external student at SES and they require four module classes to be taken on campus. A module is basically a week long class from 6-10pm Mon-Fri and from 8-4 on Saturday. You basically get an entire semester’s worth of teaching in one week. It’s a good way for me to kick start my degree path since being an external really bites.

I attended a class by Gary Habermas on C. S. Lewis. It was a very interesting class, especially from Habermas.

If you don’t know who Habermas is, he’s a guy who has pretty much specialized in the resurrection of Jesus. He got his doctorate in it, he’s written tons of books about it, and that’s just his thang.

He gave a little bit of his testimony and basically he became a Christian and then pretty much doubted everything about it for a little bit…. like 10 years. And one of the things that brought him back was the resurrection. For him the resurrection of Jesus is the center of Christianity and everything is relative to it.

And indeed, in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 (the resurrection chapter) Paul makes this same statement because if Jesus isn’t raised from the dead, then we’re the most miserable people on earth.

But what also makes Habermas interesting is that when he debates atheists, he uses only material that they’ll accept. Paul & 1 Corinthians 15 is accepted as early and historical by skeptics and Mark is accepted by skeptics. From a handful of points that all the skeptics accept, he goes on to demonstrate that the resurrection of Jesus is a historical event.

I watched Habermas debate the famous atheist Anthony Flew (who has become a theist recently – but he’s not a Christian) on the John Ankerberg show. If you haven’t seen this debate it’s off the hook!

Habermas presents 12 lines of evidence and Flew couldn’t refute one of them. It’s really interesting especially since Flew is probably The Foremost Hume Scholar in the world.

You can watch the video on Habermas website.

He talked with an atheist while he was down in Charlotte (actually he talked with several) and this guy asked for one book that defined what he believed and Habermas said “The Risen Jesus and Future Hope” – I’m going to have to get that one.

I’ve got his “Historical Jesus” which is fascinating especially when all the skeptics are running around looking for the “historical Jesus”.

I hope to get me some time to post up in here in the next few weeks. I’d like to post more about Mormonism, especially the doctrine that they taught back in the good olde days that Adam was God, I want to post some C. S. Lewis articles, and some other stuff.

Hey, if you guys have any questions or criticisms about the Bible, Christianity, or Terry Pratchett, email me at bishopbooyah at gmail.com. And I’ll post on those whenever I get a chance.