Jennifer Ann Mackley has children, and admits, “they don’t ask me questions… They go to Google.”

Getting your gospel education via the internet is risky, particularly when it comes to those matters we hold most sacred, the matters least likely to be accurately described by the faithful in tweets and Wikipedia articles.

Mackley speaks of the account where Wilford Woodruff saw the founding fathers of the United States in the St. George temple and was impressed that their temple work needed to be performed. Taken out of context, non-Mormons see this as a story of how Mormons are making dead people into Mormons.

But of course, that is not what Mormons believe. We believe that everybody should be given the opportunity to choose, and Wilford Woodruff had come to the point where he said, “I have been so focused on my own family that I didn’t even think about expanding this.”

Mackley feels that if we don’t talk to our kids about the context of our history and revelations, then these revelations and history will seem odd and strange to our children and form a core of disbelief.

Mackley was surprised when she was doing research out of her own curiosity that there wasn’t a book out there that put the development of temple doctrine all in one place, so that members could see the continuity. As she got further into her studies, she realized Wilford Woodruff’s life experiences spanned the bulk of the development of modern temple doctrine. Mackley’s Wilford Woodruff’s Witness: The Development of Temple Doctrine was published in 2014.

Mackley explains that as the Saints learned about the New and Everlasting Covenant and the temple, “It was like a puzzle: they were given pieces. Now we have the box with the picture on it; we know what we’re putting together. They had no idea.”

Deprecated practices such as rebaptism or priesthood adoption may confuse modern students of Mormonism. Mackley doesn’t see these practices as necessarily trial and error, but rather as evidence of increased learning.

Mackley strongly believes that members need to prepare spiritually to attend the temple but also need to prepare intellectually by doing some research.

Transcript link:

http://traffic.libsyn.com/ldsperspectives/LDSP_Jennifer_Ann_Mackley.pdf

Website link:

http://www.ldsperspectives.com/2017/10/09/temple-doctrine-development/

In this special three-part episode, LDS Perspectives gifts us a social media tool box.

LDS Perspectives Podcasters Stephanie Sorenson and Nick Galieti sat down with social media experts Michelle Linford, DaNae Handy, and Greg Trimble, to discuss how to maximize our interactions in the age of instant communication.

Michelle Linford is Executive Director of EPIK Deliberate Digital, a collaborative nonprofit focused on changing the culture related to kids and technology, encouraging a mindset where adults and children/youth work together to deliberately use technology for good.

Like many modern parents, Michelle feels responsible for helping her children stay safe and healthy in a digital world. She has volunteered for years in the pornography prevention space, so she is keenly aware of the very real dangers and concerns parents have. Her work at EPIK has also helped her understand that technology is a gift from God. It’s how and why we use it that matters. So she’s trying to create a #UseTech4Good culture.

DeNae Handy is an instructor of social media marketing and personal branding at LDS
Business College and has a background in music and music education. DeNae has been a columnist for Meridian Magazine and has essays in various book compilations.

Ms. Handy speaks to what our online presence reflects about our personal “brand.” Online forums are not insular; what we say and how we interact in one venue will bleed through to how we are seen through different digital “eyes.” Professor Handy talks about using good branding practices in every digital communication to maintain a consistent online presence.

Greg Trimble is an entrepreneur, member missionary, father, blogger, and digital marketer, and founder of an internet marketing agency in Southern California. He is a featured contributor to LDS Living, Deseret News, FamilyShare, other online publications. Greg has been interviewed by Fox 13 News in Salt Lake City, KSL, and BYU, and has spoken at firesides and conferences in Southern California, Utah, Australia, and Massachusetts.

Greg shares his experience jumping head-first into the deep-end of the blogosphere on March 10, 2014, when he created a blog and put out his first post. Since that time, he has had over 7 million page views.

Greg shares practical tools for those wanting to maximize their impact as a digital missionary and the reach of their personal blogs.

Adam Clarke’s Influence on the JST with Dr. Thomas A. Wayment

In this second LDS Perspectives Podcast on Joseph Smith’s translation of the Bible, Dr. Thomas Wayment talks about the influence of Adam Clarke’s biblical commentary on Joseph Smith.

Dr. Wayment is a professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University and publications director of the BYU Religious Studies Center. Dr. Wayment earned a BA in Classics from the University of California at Riverside, then earned a PhD in New Testament Studies at Claremont Graduate University. Unsurprisingly, Dr. Wayment’s research has focused primarily on the New Testament. But Dr. Wayment has also written extensively on the Joseph Smith Translation. He became fascinated with Joseph’s translation early in his biblical studies and he will soon have two book chapters published on new findings regarding Joseph’s Bible translation process.

In his recent studies, Wayment found an interesting connection between the JST and a biblical commentary well-known in the 19th-century, especially in Methodist circles.

Adam Clarke, a British theologian, took almost 40 years to complete his comprehensive tome, published as The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The text carefully printed from the most correct copies of the present Authorized Version. Including the marginal readings and parallel texts. With a Commentary and Critical Notes. Clarke’s commentary became a primary theological resource for nearly two centuries.

New research by Michael Hubbard Mackay has uncovered a statement indicating that Joseph Smith had access to a copy of Clarke’s Bible commentary. When Wayment compared Joseph’s translation of the KJV Bible to Clarke’s commentary, he realized that Joseph apparently used it in the translation process because of the marked similarities he found between entries in the commentary and changes in Joseph’s KJV Bible.

Dr. Wayment shares his view of what Joseph meant by “translation” and what it could mean for how we approach the KJV Bible and the JST.

The JST in the D&Cwith Dr. Ken Alford

LDS Perspectives Podcast is now one year old!

To celebrate, LDS Perspectives is holding a special first anniversary double episode on Joseph Smith’s translation of the Bible.

In this first anniversary episode, Dr. Kenneth (Ken) Alford reviews the historical background of the Joseph Smith’s Bible Translation and important ways we see the Bible translation influence the Doctrine and Covenants.

Ken Alford studied the Joseph’s Bible translation extensively as an undergraduate at BYU in the 1970s. Ken now teaches at BYU in the Department of Church History and Doctrine. But for the intervening decades, Ken was a member of the United States Army, including assignments as Strategic Leadership department chair at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., associate professor of computer science at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and serving on the Army Secretariat staff at the Pentagon. This varied background provides Ken context for the way Joseph’s evolving understanding of the Bible text matured.

Though the LDS Church did not retain Joseph’s Bible translation after the evacuation of Nauvoo, it is clear that the Bible translation was an active part of Joseph’s early theological development and instruction of Church members in what are now sections of the Doctrine and Covenants. New insights from recently discovered documents expand our appreciation of the interaction between the Bible and the Doctrine and Covenants. Ken cites Brigham Young’s 1844 comments, suggesting that had Joseph ever been able to publish the Bible translation, it would have evolved beyond what we have today.

Taunalyn Rutherford of LDS Perspectives not only interviews Dr Alford, but adds perspective from her experience with the Church in India.

Next week’s podcast will be the second anniversary episode, as Laura Harris Hales interviews Dr. Thomas Wayment about new research that sheds light on how Joseph went about translating the Bible.

Tabernacle Campswith Daniel Smith

Audio file: http://traffic.libsyn.com/ldsperspectives/LDSP_Daniel_Smith.mp3

Daniel Smith is creator of the YouTube channel “Messages of Christ.” Smith’s channel has been viewed over 1 million times.

Smith has a particular interest in ancient tabernacles and their artifacts, including building replicas of the tabernacles and making authentic tabernacle clothing.

Smith recounts how and why he creates tabernacle cloth (using a Lego machine) to create the tabernacle breastplate, what exactly happened in the tabernacle in biblical times, and why it’s important for members of the church to understand these things today.

Sometimes, Smith explains, the best way to understand something is to experience it.

Tabernacle camps are popping up — typically in Youth Conferences — in stakes all over the United States. There’s even one coming to BYU in the coming months, which will be used to teach students about the ancient biblical context of the tabernacles.