Brandon (Buddy) Cole, CCO

Efrain is a good young man who could use some help here. Please consider donating to his relief here.

www.gofundme.com/f/support-ef...

Witnesses of the golden-colored plates (likely made from tumbaga) consistently put their weight between 40 to 60 lbs. This renders your figure of 200 lbs irrelevant.

Many of Joseph's sealings (including all of the wives under 18) were:

- For the next life only, did not take effect during this life, and therefore did not include sexual contact; or
- Of an adoptive sibling relationship instead of a spousal relationship and therefore did not include sexual contact

YouTube video by Licet Studios Ships in Storms | 10+ TERRIFYING MONSTER WAVES, Hurricanes & Thunderstorms at Sea

If the front ends of these long ships can get submerged in such storms, then why wouldn't small little barges around a mere 20 feet long be pushed underneath for a few short seconds as well?

youtu.be/cMNH4nmOims?...

What is so unrealistic about a heavy wave pushing a watertight ship downward for only a few seconds, and the air inside bringing the ship straight back up?

Ships historically had to be watertight on the bottoms and sides; what's so unrealistic about the tops also being watertight so that waves could roll over them during storms?

The fact that you seem so bothered by the notion of watertight barges that you have to exaggerate by calling them submarines reveals an insecurity in your position.

American Indians have used travois for centuries.

Here is a link to a PhD dissertation by Lakota Indian Yvette Running Horse Collin on the existence of Horses in Pre-Columbian Americas:

scholarworks.alaska.edu/handle/11122...

Which pillars in the Church are you referencing in particular?

And why would the commonality of mere pillars be incriminating?

They were so against it that they did not permit one of their Lodges to be named King Solomon Lodge since King Solomon—a key figure in Masonic ceremony—was a polygamist.

So that Lodge was named Wasatch Lodge instead.

I haven't pretended that it did not exist; rather, I simply corrected you two in your false exaggerations.

As for The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, its claims are not capable of being scientifically proven or disproven.

Racism was certainly inherited from Southern Baptist Christians and brought back to Utah in the form of the mark-of-Cain theory. Unfortunately, that racism festered like a cancer in the Church for decades; but never to the point that it was adopted into the Church's doctrinal canon, thankfully.

The only worry expressed against these attempted repeals was that of Latter-day Saints potentially using Freemasonry to proselyte to other Freemasons (which has proven not to be a widespread issue).

That ban remained on the books until 1984, when it was finally repealed after three attempts (the other two being in 1965 and 1983).

In 1925, the Grand Lodge of Utah instituted a formal ban against all Latter-day Saints, stating only that the teachings and regulations of [the Church were] incompatible with membership in the Masonic Fraternity" in Utah.

Thomson committed mail fraud with his fake Masonic schemes, which, as a Latter-day Saint himself, did not paint a good picture of the Church. His trial put him out of business in 1922 with his federal conviction.

By 1890, the Grand Lodge of Utah had become a non-Latter-day Saint club where non-Latter-day Saints could get away from Latter-day Saint influence.

This is demonstrated by the 1878 expulsion of John P. Sorenson from Argenta Lodge No. 3—of the Grand Lodge of Utah—for being baptized into a faith (i.e., the Church) that condoned plural marriage, made illegal by the US Congress in 1862.

From the establishment of the Grand Lodge of Utah in 1872 until 1890, the reasoning was the polygamy question, given that:

- Polygamy is against federal law.
- The Church had—and, at times, required—polygamy during that time.
- Masons are required to be law-abiding citizens.

Such similarities were not the reasoning given for prohibition against Latter-day Saints.

Sure. Thankfully, no secrets were spoiled in the Church's adoption/adaptation of Masonic teaching methods.

Had Joseph never become a Mason, we would still have the same temple endowment; it would merely be conveyed via different ceremonial means.

Even with the earliest known iterations of the temple endowment ceremony, there was only ever about a 5% similarity, having to do with how things were taught, and nothing to do with what things were taught, why things were taught, or in what light things were taught.

- Teach the Church's own doctrinal principles concerning everyone's divine origin/potential as children of God.
- Be a ceremonial vehicle for us to make covenants with Jesus Christ to keep His laws.

However, no such doctrinal principles and no such covenants are found anywhere in Freemasonry.

Joseph Smith Jr adopted some elements from the Masonic teaching model (e.g., concepts of theatrical presentation, of gestures for tokens as mnemonic devices, of illustrative symbols, etc.) and adapted them for one ceremony (that of the temple endowment) in order to:

I cannot speak for the rituals that Thomson used.

Insofar as between American Craft Masonry and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there is, yes.

Hi there. Freemason and Latter-day Saint here.

Thomson likely would have let in atheists; that'd have meant more money to line his pockets.

The Grand Lodge F&AM of Utah is the only jurisdiction that ever prohibited members of a specific religion (i.e., Latter-day Saints) from joining its Lodges.

Can you imagine the amount of lynching that racist Missourians would have legally committed if any black Latter-day Saints had been allowed to exercise priesthood authority over mostly white congregations?

How interesting that this took place just shortly after Missouri rescinded its "Mormon Extermination" order.

www.sos.mo.gov/archives/res...

Further, "white and delightsome" in The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ refers to purity of character—not to skin color—as clarified in the 1840 edition. In Joseph's day, "white" and "pure" were used synonymously, per Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language.