long ago ideas

“When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago." - Friedrich Nietzsche. Long ago, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery conquered false claims that the Book of Mormon was fiction or that it came through a stone in a hat. But these old claims have resurfaced in recent years. To conquer them again, we have to return to what Joseph and Oliver taught.

Thursday, July 31, 2025

New podcast from France, etc.

People are asking about the new "Gospel Answers" on Book of Mormon translation, which I'll address in the next post in connection with the FAITH model.

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Recently I was a guest on Mormon Book Reviews. Check it out here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phdk7bCOagw


Steve titled the podcast, "Mormon Godhood Revealed in France?" One of the topics we discussed is how so much art in France depicts the Godhead consistent with Doctrine and Covenants 130:22.

The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us.

During the conversation, we discussed this piece of art by Reubens:


It's a massive painting. Here's how it looks in the Lyon museum.


The English wikipedia article gives only a brief explanation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saints_Dominic_and_Francis_Saving_the_World_from_Christ%27s_Anger

The French wikipedia article goes into far more depth, but if you don't know French you need to translated it into your own language.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Dominique_et_Saint_Fran%C3%A7ois_pr%C3%A9servant_le_monde_de_la_col%C3%A8re_du_Christ

Yesterday I took photos of another piece painted in the late 1400s that depicts God the Father with a tangible body separate from Christ.



People in France have been viewing these pieces for hundreds of years. We find that many people, once they hear what our missionaries are teaching, think it makes sense that God has a body, as taught in D&C 130. 

We are reminded of another passage, because people around the world "are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it."

(Doctrine and Covenants 123:12)

Related to this is the doctrine of the pre-existence, which most people intuitively believe but never hear taught, but that's a topic for another day.
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BTW, during the conversation I pointed out that no one has produced any physical evidence that Hyrum Smith attended More's school (affiliated with Dartmouth) for more than one quarter in 1814. Lucy Mack Smith recalled that Hyrum attended, but she didn't say when or for how long.

And yet some people assume Hyrum attended for several years. 

This is another example of why the FAITH model is so important. Let's start with facts first, then make assumptions, draw inferences, articulate theories, etc.

I'm eager for more evidence on this point if anyone has some. Email it to me at lostzarahemla@gmail.com.


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