scriptures

Authentic Ancient Metal Plates

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Since the recent events surrounding the seeming forgery of the Jordan Lead Codices, I thought it would be good to bring back to mind the authentic discoveries made within the last century of ancient writings on metal plates. There are literally hundreds of examples of such plates all around the world.  I’m indebted to William Hamblin and John Tvedtnes for there scholarship on these findings.

Of course, in Joseph Smith’s day, such discoveries had not been made yet, and so Joseph was mocked for his story of having discovered gold plates with the writings of ancient people inscribed on them.

Today it is becoming commonplace to find such ancient texts, which is why in the dozens of media reports on the emergence of the lead plates this past week, not one questioned the fact that the writings were on metal.  In fact, one scholar specifically noted that there were examples of ancient metal tablets made out of copper, bronze, and gold.

Here is a summary of only some of the most prominent findings.   [Read more…]

What is Guile?

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The word guile may date back as early as the 12th century, but is not very common in our vernacular today.  At first it seemed to me this might mean “lies,” but there is more to it.  Webster defines it as “deceitful cunning : duplicity.”  This doesn’t get us very far unless we understand those words too:

  • deceitful – having a tendency or disposition to deceive, not honest, deceptive, misleading
  • cunning – dexterous or crafty in the use of special resources (as skill or knowledge) or in attaining an end, characterized by wiliness and trickery
  • duplicity – contradictory doubleness of thought, speech, or action; especially : the belying of one’s true intentions by deceptive words or action

The word comes from the Middle English gile, from Anglo-French.  It’s related to the Old English/French wigle or wigila, which refer to sorcery or witchcraft.  It’s also related to the Old English word wil or wile, meaning a trick. [Read more…]

The Universal Creation Song

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Music is a fundamental part of worship, and was even more so anciently than it is today.  Before the printed word made the sacred word so accessible to the masses, it was passed on from generation to generation orally.  But this was not just the spoken word.  In order for the word to be remembered and said the same way over and over again, over decades and centuries, a mnemonic device was employed to facilitate the reciter.  This device was music.  The sacred word, every word, was put to music.

This can be seen in the way the Bible is written in Hebrew, one of the oldest languages in the world.  In Hebrew, particularly the Hebrew Bible, there are cantillation marks that specify how the text should be sung:  [Read more…]

New WordPress LDS Scripture Linker Plugin for Bloggers

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Example of a popup using the new WordPress LDS Scripture Linker Plugin by DearScriptures.com

Example of a popup using the new WordPress LDS Scripture Linker Plugin by DearScriptures.com

For some time I’ve been using the excellent LDS Linker WordPress plugin, developed by Joey Day, to automatically link all scripture references on TempleStudy.com directly to the Church’s online scriptures at scriptures.lds.org.  It worked very well, and continues to be one of the most popular WordPress plugins for LDS bloggers to link their scripture references to the online scriptures.

Recently I was thinking how much easier it would be to just hover your mouse over a scripture reference and see a popup with the scripture reference written out.  It would make reading the scripture references that much quicker in a blog post, rather than clicking a link to another site.  [Read more…]

Access the Scriptures via SMS Text or Instant Message

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DearScriptures.com

DearScriptures.com

I’m always looking for better ways of accessing, searching, and reading the scriptures.  They are truly the words of eternal life.  Whenever I hear of a new way of encountering the scriptures, I check it out.  DearScriptures.com is an online version of the scriptures that now allows you to text message (SMS) or instant message (IM) scripture references to it, or search for scriptures, and it will reply with the references and/or text of the scripture(s). It includes other great features as well, such as searching hymns and retrieving hymn lyrics.  And it’s all free! [Read more…]