A few memories from our family to you.

Controversy about the reality of an actual photograph or a photo of a painting of the Prophet Joseph Smith. What is real? I haven’t found out definitive answers but here are two sites that provide “research” for their given belief.

Joseph Smith Photograph

Some say the photo originates from a painting of a daguerreotype from just before his death. Read more at Joseph Smith Painting. Others say it comes from a photograph of the daguerreotype which was commissioned by one of Joseph’s sons. Check out their research here.

Both sites say the daguerreotype, regardless of the subsequent format of this photo (painting or photo), was about the size of postal stamp. Really small! I think this is pretty interesting.

The church’s response to this controversy has been recorded in the Deseret News. To read the article click here. Post comments below on the subject.

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I’ve not always been interested in conspiracy theories, primarily because discussions about them have always left me feeling uneasy, or as if I have been doing something wrong.

As I read a blog entry by my cousin, Jeff Milner, a few days ago. He mentions an documentary called Zeitgeist and how it asks some important questions about the history of religion, September 11th, 2001 and other things. I actually only saw portions of the first two parts (there are three total).

I have to admit that what it talked about continued my feeling uneasy about certain aspects of what it mentions. In particular, regarding religion. The video indicates that there have many figures in history, with different names, that have similar characteristics of the Savior Jesus Christ. Now I have to say, I don’t  feel that what they are presenting is not presented without bias, but I also have to underscore the faith required to comprehend and follow in faith the Savior of the world and seek out confirmation to answers to questions that seem difficult to understand. I won’t claim that I know everything, but I will say that I have received answers to prayers and that I’ve felt led and guided in certain areas of my life. I use my faith to believe in the one and only individual that we can receive eternal salvation from (this isn’t commentary on other religions or philosophies of living). I also believe in the Prophets of ancient times as well as those today. I know the Prophet Joseph Smith restored the Gospel of Jesus Christ to this earth. I have felt the confirming feeling of warmth and spiritual guidance in this direction.

Also on this documentary they talk about September 11th, 2001 and the many theories that brought about the terrorist attacks on the United States and what happened during the time. I don’t claim to fully understand what happened that day and if there is information that we don’t understand. I hope that anyone responsible for lives lost that day that they will be fully accountable for their decisions. I mourn those losses and admit that New York City looks different without the WTC Twin Towers there. The work that is being done now is moving along but it is also sad to see. Marlene and I went to NYC in November and we passed by and took pictures (unfortunately part of the pictures that were lost with the harddrive formating mistake mentioned earlier on the blog). 

Here are a few sites to read more about these topics.

On the LDS or Mormon church: www.mormons.org or www.lds.org.

Memorial site to 9/11/2001: http://www.september-11th.us/

Documentary "Zeitgeist": http://zeitgeistmovie.com/

<p><span style="margin: 0px auto; display: block; width: 425px;">  <embed width="425" height="350" flashvars="docId=5547481422995115331&amp;playerMode=simple&amp;hl=en" wmode="transparent" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" allowscriptaccess="never" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://widgets.vodpod.com/w/video_embed/ExternalVideo.469100"></embed>   <span style="float: left;"><a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5547481422995115331">from video.google.com</a></span>  <span style="font-size: 10px; float: right;">

Finishing up the commentary about conspiracy theories, I continue to feel that finding out truth is important and using as many means to understand things is important, but I also feel that sometimes we can get overboard and lose sight of the importance of what our purpose in life is about.

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categories: joseph smith, lds
tags:

The Mormon Odyssey
A young man’s vision gave rise to the Mormon Church. Joseph Smith founded a booming faith that’s confronting its past as it looks to the future.
http://g.msn.com/0MN2ET7/2?http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9630255/site/newsweek&&CM=EmailThis&CE=1
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This is an interesting article about the church in Newsweek magazine. I found it to be fascinating because of the fact that more information is continuing to become available about the prophet Joseph Smith, especially as his 200th Birthday Celebration comes closer.

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