David T
@improvementera.com
Latter-day Saint Christian. Random musings on Scripture, History, Culture, Lived Religion & Liturgy. Not a hater.
M̶o̶r̶m̶o̶n̶ ̶A̶d̶v̶e̶n̶t̶ Christmas Season (AKA 'Light The World') seems to have come early this year on ChurchofJesusChrist.org! The socials don't seem to have made the switch over yet, though. #LiturgicalColors
November 19, 2025 at 9:24 PM
M̶o̶r̶m̶o̶n̶ ̶A̶d̶v̶e̶n̶t̶ Christmas Season (AKA 'Light The World') seems to have come early this year on ChurchofJesusChrist.org! The socials don't seem to have made the switch over yet, though. #LiturgicalColors
Here's the most official acknowledgment of the likely late date of the composition of the Pentateuch I've seen ("the book of Genesis...can be dated back to the Jewish exile in the sixth century BC"), but with a funky caveat at the end which is itself complicated by its above take on Book of Moses!
![These five books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) are also called the Pentateuch—a Greek word meaning “the fivefold book” (Bible Dictionary, “Pentateuch”). Jewish people refer to these books as the Torah or the law of Israel (see Guide to the Scriptures, “Pentateuch,” Gospel Library). The Bible itself does not identify who wrote the Pentateuch. Many scholars believe that there were multiple writers, editors, and others involved in producing the text we have today (see Avram Shannon, “Authorship,” in Old Testament Cultural Insights, ed. Taylor D. Halverson [2022], https://biblecentral.info/library/chapter/authorship/). For example, the book of Genesis in its current form can be dated back to the Jewish exile in the sixth century BC (see Michael D. Coogan and others, eds., The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version, 5th ed. [2018], 6). Regardless of the complexity involved in the creation of the Pentateuch as we have it today, Restoration scripture confirms Moses’s central involvement in these works of scripture (see 1 Nephi 5:10–11; Moses 1:40–41; 2:1).](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4lchli2ta3uvcoeso5rvnb2i/bafkreibcq6yxskgp57ns5m6nbkk3g5cubb5k42ddypl2sw2fw2qjbqzm4q@jpeg)
November 14, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Here's the most official acknowledgment of the likely late date of the composition of the Pentateuch I've seen ("the book of Genesis...can be dated back to the Jewish exile in the sixth century BC"), but with a funky caveat at the end which is itself complicated by its above take on Book of Moses!
Old Testament Scripture Helps leaves room for accepting the use of Intelligences in Abraham as equivalent to Spirits (as Joseph Smith used the term), but leans more heavily on a quote from Elder/President Christofferson affirming revealed status to B.H. Roberts' (uncredited) tripartite model.
November 14, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Old Testament Scripture Helps leaves room for accepting the use of Intelligences in Abraham as equivalent to Spirits (as Joseph Smith used the term), but leans more heavily on a quote from Elder/President Christofferson affirming revealed status to B.H. Roberts' (uncredited) tripartite model.
And yes, this Scripture Helps volume continues to provide room for the Catalyst Theory of the Book of Abraham text as an orthodox position:
"Another possibility is that the Prophet’s study of the papyrus served as a catalyst that prompted a revelation about Abraham."
"Another possibility is that the Prophet’s study of the papyrus served as a catalyst that prompted a revelation about Abraham."
November 14, 2025 at 8:32 PM
And yes, this Scripture Helps volume continues to provide room for the Catalyst Theory of the Book of Abraham text as an orthodox position:
"Another possibility is that the Prophet’s study of the papyrus served as a catalyst that prompted a revelation about Abraham."
"Another possibility is that the Prophet’s study of the papyrus served as a catalyst that prompted a revelation about Abraham."
A significant acknowledgement in the footnotes of the "Old Testament Scripture Helps" about the Book of Moses: "While the book of Moses may include the restoration of material that was lost, it may also have been revelation given by the Lord to Joseph Smith that was never originally in the Bible."
November 14, 2025 at 8:28 PM
A significant acknowledgement in the footnotes of the "Old Testament Scripture Helps" about the Book of Moses: "While the book of Moses may include the restoration of material that was lost, it may also have been revelation given by the Lord to Joseph Smith that was never originally in the Bible."
Flashback to when Elder Stevenson acknowledged a VERY BAD AND OUTDATED SECTION in the Book of Mormon CFM manual that I (and I know others) immediately wrote in about as soon as it dropped in its initial online version.
www.deseret.com/utah/2020/1/...
www.deseret.com/utah/2020/1/...
November 13, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Flashback to when Elder Stevenson acknowledged a VERY BAD AND OUTDATED SECTION in the Book of Mormon CFM manual that I (and I know others) immediately wrote in about as soon as it dropped in its initial online version.
www.deseret.com/utah/2020/1/...
www.deseret.com/utah/2020/1/...
For D&C, there's some really good study resources for the D&C put out by the Church and available to all! 'Joseph Smith's Revelations' gives earliest text of revelations from the JSPP with scholastic commentary! The resources volume is like an index to where to find detailed info on each section!
November 13, 2025 at 6:41 PM
For D&C, there's some really good study resources for the D&C put out by the Church and available to all! 'Joseph Smith's Revelations' gives earliest text of revelations from the JSPP with scholastic commentary! The resources volume is like an index to where to find detailed info on each section!
They've already started switching over for NT and OT, with the new Seminary and Institute manuals being aligned with CFM, and focusing on basic application, while also releasing complimentary 'Scripture Helps' volumes that work more as commentaries. They are a mixed bag!
November 13, 2025 at 6:41 PM
They've already started switching over for NT and OT, with the new Seminary and Institute manuals being aligned with CFM, and focusing on basic application, while also releasing complimentary 'Scripture Helps' volumes that work more as commentaries. They are a mixed bag!
While the manual does redirect to other resources (calls out Fanny Alger, Helen Mar Kimball, etc), the Church is currently moving to split manuals between 'study helps' and 'lessons' (easy application). The D&C Historical Resources book is pretty good!
www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/histor...
www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/histor...
November 13, 2025 at 6:41 PM
While the manual does redirect to other resources (calls out Fanny Alger, Helen Mar Kimball, etc), the Church is currently moving to split manuals between 'study helps' and 'lessons' (easy application). The D&C Historical Resources book is pretty good!
www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/histor...
www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/histor...
This is likely a reference to the old idea that D&C 20:1 declares the date of Jesus' birth, that even FAIR acknowledges has no basis at all, and wasn't even connected to that idea by anyone until Talmage declared it to be so about a hundred years after it was written.
November 13, 2025 at 3:17 AM
This is likely a reference to the old idea that D&C 20:1 declares the date of Jesus' birth, that even FAIR acknowledges has no basis at all, and wasn't even connected to that idea by anyone until Talmage declared it to be so about a hundred years after it was written.
Interesting choice of a proactive credence affirmation on the Church's Christmas FAQ
www.churchofjesuschrist.org/welcome/chri...
www.churchofjesuschrist.org/welcome/chri...
November 13, 2025 at 3:11 AM
Interesting choice of a proactive credence affirmation on the Church's Christmas FAQ
www.churchofjesuschrist.org/welcome/chri...
www.churchofjesuschrist.org/welcome/chri...
Noting again for this week's #ComeFollowMe that in the Doctrine and Covenants (section 128) we have a reference to the angel Raphael, the only appearance of that name in our canon, since the only other appearance of Raphael in the Bible is in Tobit in the Apocrypha.
November 5, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Noting again for this week's #ComeFollowMe that in the Doctrine and Covenants (section 128) we have a reference to the angel Raphael, the only appearance of that name in our canon, since the only other appearance of Raphael in the Bible is in Tobit in the Apocrypha.
Reading about how as BYU President, Dallin H Oaks was EXTREMELY pissed off at Ezra Taft Benson's 'Birch Mafia' running an anti-communist spy ring at BYU, and wasn't a fan of "BYU's tenuous position in the silent contest with extremists if the right wing". That ... really puts some things in context.
November 4, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Reading about how as BYU President, Dallin H Oaks was EXTREMELY pissed off at Ezra Taft Benson's 'Birch Mafia' running an anti-communist spy ring at BYU, and wasn't a fan of "BYU's tenuous position in the silent contest with extremists if the right wing". That ... really puts some things in context.
Still jealous of your sticker!
November 4, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Still jealous of your sticker!
A very good mail day!
@camillagluh.bsky.social
@camillagluh.bsky.social
November 4, 2025 at 12:28 AM
A very good mail day!
@camillagluh.bsky.social
@camillagluh.bsky.social
Great discussion of the change from Joseph Smith's adoptionist cosmology to the transformation to viviparous spirit birth as the new orthodoxy, but with a hopeful note of JS' cosmological view making a comeback :)
October 31, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Great discussion of the change from Joseph Smith's adoptionist cosmology to the transformation to viviparous spirit birth as the new orthodoxy, but with a hopeful note of JS' cosmological view making a comeback :)
This paragraph has the interpretive key as to why Proselytizing Missions are continually presented as essential for men, and optional for women. Because the Initiatory language isn't spoken "outside", many are unaware about this particular difference, and when they are, it's often w/out context.
October 30, 2025 at 4:23 PM
This paragraph has the interpretive key as to why Proselytizing Missions are continually presented as essential for men, and optional for women. Because the Initiatory language isn't spoken "outside", many are unaware about this particular difference, and when they are, it's often w/out context.
The Long Promised Day!
October 29, 2025 at 9:08 PM
The Long Promised Day!
Hey, Easter is now mentioned in the Triple! (Really good historical intro edits from the JSPP. Nothing of significant note done with the BoM.)
October 23, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Hey, Easter is now mentioned in the Triple! (Really good historical intro edits from the JSPP. Nothing of significant note done with the BoM.)
Disappointing update for a book scheduled to be delivered YESTERDAY...
October 15, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Disappointing update for a book scheduled to be delivered YESTERDAY...
October 14, 2025 at 4:20 PM
