caspianrex

For what it's worth, I am not LDS, but I always speak very highly of Mormons. It really bugs me whenever I encounter someone who is negative towards any of the Saints, as I have always had very positive experiences with Mormons whom I have met. I've had some really lovely chats with Mormon missionaries, and even though I made it clear that I wasn't on the same page theologically, I was respectful and we prayed together at the end of our encounters. As with most things in this life, I find that our experiences with others are always better when we find common ground.

I should also have mentioned, they also have a Facebook Group. (It's a closed group, so you have to request to get in, but that helps them protect from trolls.)

For reading the Book of Mormon, I recommend this site: The Book of Mormon Online. It's not an official LDS site, but it is Mormon run, by someone who is a faithful church member. You can keep track of your reading there, and see facsimiles of all kinds of historical editions of the Book of Mormon. It's really an excellent site.

I don't know if anyone here has heard of everywordbible.com, but you may want to check it out. The website, which allows readers to read the Bible, and comment on what they read, as well as sharing pictures and videos that relate to the topic, was started by a Mormon couple and a Baptist deacon. You can read more about the history of the project at this Deseret News article. The site is just getting started, but I've found it to be interesting: a great way for Mormons and non-Mormons to find some common ground in their shared Scripture.

I realize I'm coming to this topic a little late, but I recently got interested in the topic of alternative alphabets, an interest which naturally led to the Deseret Alphabet. Comparing the Deseret Alphabet to other alternative alphabets, such as Quikscript or the Shavian alphabet, Deseret comes out looking pretty good, IMHO. Certainly, it's a prettier looking alphabet than either Quikscript or Shavian. It does seem to lack the Shavian alphabet's sensible pairing of plosive consonants, and it doesn't have a very good system in place for the "schwa" vowel, but apart from that, I find it a distinct improvement on our traditional Roman alphabet. I will share more opinions, perhaps, as I get more familiar with the letters and how they were used.

I just watched Ralph Fiennes' excellent film of Shakespeare's Coriolanus. I never saw it when it was in theatres, so when I was browsing Netflix last week, and stumbled across it, I thought I'd give it a try. I'm really glad I did, as I thought it was one of the best Shakespeare films I'd ever seen. Fiennes is marvelous, as usual, but I was particularly impressed with Gerard Butler as Aufidius. Brian Cox and Vanessa Redgrave were amazing as Menenius and Volumnia, respectively. Really a very strong cast overall, and a brilliantly done modernized adaptation. Highly recommended.

I will second what GrayMars said about the NET Bible. It is a great version for study, especially as the translation notes always make it quite clear why the translators made a lot of the choices they did. If you don't have e-Sword or another Bible study program, the NET Bible's official site is an excellent resource (and they've recently revamped it, so it is looking really good).

Wow, I didn't remember even joining this forum (almost 4 years ago)! I think I fully intended to check in from time to time, but I don't know what happened. Looking at the dates of my earlier posts, it was only a few months before my wife became pregnant with our second daughter, who's now 2 1/2 years old! So perhaps my disappearance after that time was due to all the business of becoming a father of two... Anyways, I still read the Book of Mormon from time to time. Recently, I discovered that the entire text of the B of M is posted on Poetry Genius, which enables people to create their own commentary. Some of you may want to check it out. I've only done one annotation myself, and it hearkens back to an earlier part of this very conversation on the forum about Moroni 10:4-5. I tried to be fair in my annotation of the verse, but the notes could greatly benefit from some actual LDS perspective. Great to be back! Peace.

Thanks, Loudmouth, for your comments. Especially, I thank you for your illuminating exposition of Moroni 10:4. That does give me a bit of a different perspective on the passage than I had before. Also, nice quote from Fiddler on the Roof in your signature area...great role, Tevye. I'd like to do that part some day...

A brief postscript to my reply to Spamlds: You indicated that you were distrustful of those who use "anonymous screen names" (even though I'm guessing spamlds is not your given name). For the record, my name is Cory Howell, and I live in Nashville, TN. I'm not sure if my profile here contains my real name, but I'll see if there's any way to post it there, too.

Spamlds- I assure you, I have no intention of attempting to proselytize Mormons. As I mentioned in my original post, I have had a couple discussions with Mormon missionaries, and have always been very welcoming to missionaries who asked to talk to me. I really don't think I have been "lurking" on this site. I've posted a blog, and was forthcoming about my appreciation of Mormon hospitality, as well as my theological differences with the LDS faith. My interest in the LDS church is academic, as I have pointed out. That, and I am interested in discussions about life, faith, etc. with actual Mormons. As I don't know any Mormons in the Nashville area personally, this website seemed like a good forum to do that. My only chat in the chat room here, incidentally, was not even about theology per se, but about gun control and the low literary quality of the Left Behind novels. Still, I imagine trust has to be earned, so you can continue to be wary of me until we've had the chance to get to know each other. Blessings...

Greetings everyone! I have sort of introduced myself on my first blog post, which has already received several comments. As indicated in the title line of this post, I am not Mormon. I was raised Lutheran, but currently serve as Director of Music at a small Methodist church in West Nashville. I am a full-time dad: my wife has a good full-time job, so I stay with our daughter, while she works. I am also a paid singer with the Nashville Symphony Chorus, and work part-time at Macy's. So, even though I don't have a single full-time job, my part-time jobs add up. Why am I interested in an LDS website, specifically this one? Well, first of all, I have long had a deep interest in learning more about several faith traditions that are different from my own, including Roman Catholicism, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Jehovah's Witnesses, Christadelphianism, several branches of the Armstrong movement, and Scientology. Although I have not followed any of the paths I mention above, I am interested in the social and spiritual forces that lead people to follow a particular religious path. As far as this LDS.net goes, I am very impressed with the quality of the website, and the amount of information here. (For that matter the official Mormon site at LDS.org is put together pretty well, too.) Although I don't fancy myself an expert on the LDS faith in any sense, I am not coming from a position of complete ignorance. I have read about half of the Book of Mormon, skimmed through the Doctrines and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price. I am very well read in the Bible, and I have both the Joseph Smith Translation and the official LDS King James Bible in my collection. I have a variety of printings of the Book of Mormon, a concordance to the Book of Mormon, and several books about past Mormon presidents and prophets, published by the LDS. I have talked to Mormon missionaries on a couple different occasions, once online and once in person. For the most part, those discussions were pleasant, but not particularly informative (by which I mean all the material presented consisted of material I had already read for myself. In both cases, we agreed to disagree. To wrap up, I am looking forward to engaging in dialogue with Mormons or non-Mormons on this excellent site. I am not seeking to convert to the LDS faith. To those who would exhort me, according to Moroni 10:4, to pray about the truth of the Book of Mormon, I assure you I have done so, and thus far have not found that to be the case. If any non-Mormons Christians are reading this, and hoping to unite with me in some proselytizing, I am not interested in that, either. I will attempt to be as honest as possible about where Mormon theology and orthodox Christian theology part ways, in my view; but I also believe that mainstream Christians can learn a lot from our Mormon friends. I close with blessings for all, in the name of Jesus Christ Our Lord.