Informed Saints

Informed Saints
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Religion & Spirituality

The podcast where you can learn about everything from polygamy to gold plates. Hosted by Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, and Jasmin Rappleye.

  1. 3d ago

    General Conference October 2026 Recap and Analysis

    We're diving into the top highlights and reveals of the October 2026 General Conference, including a surprising address from President Christofferson on the spiritual dangers of gambling. ===Informed Saints Credits=== Produced by: The Ancient America Foundation Producer: Spencer Clark Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye https://ancientamerica.org/ ===Discover=== If any of our thoughts resonated with you, consider learning more about the single most influential book in our lives. https://www.discoverbookofmormon.org/ ===Content Disclaimer=== The views expressed represent ours alone and do not necessarily reflect the official position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. #lds #mormon #livestream #churchofjesuschrist Chapters (00:00:00) - Intro and General Conference Memes(00:03:49) - Ward Radio After Party and Conference Overview(00:06:35) - Elder Christofferson's Gambling Talk Introduced(00:08:15) - Personal Stories of Gambling and the 2005 Hinckley Talk(00:11:01) - Gambling vs Investing Debate(00:17:12) - Sports Betting, Corruption, and Predatory Apps(00:19:51) - Perceived Control, Addiction, and Being a Stumbling Block(00:24:19) - Was This New Counsel? Generational Context on Gambling(00:30:26) - Super Chat and Transition to President Oaks' Talk(00:30:59) - President Oaks on Doubt, Scripture, and Faith/Science(00:35:04) - Temple Prep Talks: Elder Gong and Elder Bednar on Sealing(00:39:11) - Orson Pratt Diagram and Sealing Complexity(00:42:49) - NFL Players at Conference and Elder Sikahima's Talk(00:45:58) - Sister Runia on Suffering and the Gospel as a Rock(00:48:31) - Elder Kearon's Glider Analogy and Jesus' Love(00:50:25) - Audiobook Narrator Jokes for Elder Kearon(00:52:09) - Elder Cook on Virtue and Moral Foundations Theory(00:55:13) - Elder Gilbert on Truth and Love Balance(01:01:01) - Elder Morgan's Convert Story and Loving Those Who Leave(01:04:09) - Closing Thoughts and Where to Find Conference Talks

  2. Sep 27

    How a Dead Sea Scrolls Translator Reads Isaiah

    Jesus told us to search Isaiah diligently—so why does it so often feel like a closed book? What if the passages that confuse us most are actually some of the most carefully crafted poetry in all of scripture? Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot sit down with Dr. Donald W. Parry—professor of Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls at BYU, a member of the international team of Dead Sea Scrolls translators since 1994, and one of the few scholars with his depth of expertise on the Great Isaiah Scroll (and Jasmin and Stephen's former Hebrew professor!). Drawing on his paper "Unlocking Isaiah's Closed Book," published in Steadfast in Defense of Faith: Essays in Honor of Daniel C. Peterson (Interpreter Foundation), and his new translation of Isaiah, Don walks through the three barriers that keep readers out of Isaiah—and the keys that let them in. A perfect companion for studying Isaiah in Come, Follow Me. ===Informed Saints Credits=== Produced by The Ancient America Foundation Producer: Spencer Clark Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye In this episode: • The 3 barriers to reading Isaiah: poetry, about 60 different speakers, and figures of speech • Hebrew parallelism 101—1,100+ examples in Isaiah (Isaiah 1:3; 65:14; 54:7) • Why Mark Twain mocked the Book of Mormon's repetition—and why it's great Hebrew • Plural amplification: why the Book of Mormon says "bloodsheds" • Lady Zion and the nursing mother (Isaiah 49:14–15) • Isaiah's rare rhymes: mishpat/mispach and tsedaqah/tse'aqah (Isaiah 5:7) • Gendered-noun patterns (Isaiah 43:16), "eat or be eaten" with the Hebrew verb 'akal (Isaiah 1:19–20), and the Lord as attorney and judge (rîb, Isaiah 3:13) • Chiasmus: 100+ in Isaiah (Isaiah 6:10; 60:1–3) and 300+ in the Book of Mormon (1 Nephi 4:33–35; 15:25) • Qumi ori ("arise, shine")—and a speculative thought on the name Cumorah • 44 figures of speech: "as scarlet… white as snow" (Isaiah 1:18), "Holy, holy, holy" (Isaiah 6:3), exclamations, metonymy, personification, and rhetorical questions • Prophetic past tense in Isaiah 53—and how Abinadi explains it (Mosiah 16:6) • Why Isaiah is a Jehovah-focused book: the divine name about 450 times and 200+ direct quotations • Joseph Smith's Hebrew studies with Joshua Seixas—and how to start learning biblical Hebrew yourself Go deeper with Don's work: → A New Translation of Isaiah: Based on Ancient Scrolls and Texts (FAIR): https://fairlatterdaysaints.org/store/product/a-new-translation-of-isaiah-based-on-ancient-scrolls-and-texts/ → "Unlocking Isaiah's Closed Book" (Interpreter Foundation): https://interpreterfoundation.org/reprint-unlocking-isaiahs-closed-book → Poetic Parallelisms in the Book of Mormon (Maxwell Institute): https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/mi/61 → Learn biblical Hebrew with Don (textbook + online courses): https://hebrew.byu.edu → Jesus Christ in Scripture with Don Parry & Tammy Uzelac Hall: https://www.youtube.com/@JesusChristinScripture Study deeply, believe boldly. ===Discover=== If any of our thoughts resonated with you, consider learning more about the single most influential book in our lives. https://www.discoverbookofmormon.org/ ===Content Disclaimer=== The views expressed represent ours alone and do not necessarily reflect the official position of The Church of Jesus Christ of... Chapters (00:00:00) - Introducing Dr. Don Perry and His Dead Sea Scrolls Career(00:03:18) - Barriers to Understanding Isaiah: Poetry, Speakers, Figures of Speech(00:04:26) - Synonymous and Antithetical Parallelism Examples(00:08:33) - Plural Amplification and Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon(00:10:08) - Dialogue and Emblematic Figures of Speech(00:11:43) - Similes, Metaphors, and Personification in Isaiah(00:15:32) - Grammatical and Phonological Parallelisms(00:17:53) - Gendered Nouns and Grammatical Mood Contrasts(00:19:45) - Wordplay, Progression, and Legal Language in Isaiah(00:21:50) - Chiasmus in Isaiah and the Book of Mormon(00:27:42) - Complexity of Book of Mormon Chiasmus as Evidence(00:29:25) - Why Isaiah Used Parallelisms(00:30:30) - Isaiah's 44 Literary Devices and Similes Revisited(00:34:17) - Duplication, Exclamation, and Exaltation in Isaiah(00:38:45) - Metonymy, Motive Clauses, and Prophetic Past Tense(00:42:43) - Personification and Rhetorical Questions Continued(00:44:06) - Isaiah as a Book About Jesus Christ (Jehovah)(00:48:20) - Reverence for the Name Jehovah and Sacred Space(00:50:54) - Learning Biblical Hebrew Today and Joseph Smith's Example

  3. Sep 20

    Where Is the Hill Cumorah? (The Truth About Book of Mormon Geography)

    Everyone knows where the Hill Cumorah is… right? Joseph Smith received the gold plates from a hill in upstate New York. But is that the same hill where Mormon hid the Nephite records and the Nephites made their last stand in Mormon 6? It's one of the most debated questions in Book of Mormon geography, and the history behind it may surprise you. In this episode of Informed Saints, Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot walk through what the Book of Mormon itself says about Cumorah, trace when the New York hill first came to be called by that name, and look at what the Church has officially said. Along the way they draw on the Joseph Smith Papers, the Church's "Book of Mormon Geography" statement, and the Hill Cumorah issue of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, including archaeologist John E. Clark's assessment of the site. Chapters: 0:00 The Hill Cumorah background  5:35 Is it in New York? 12:00 Assessing the sources  16:57 What’s from Joseph Smith? 21:21 David Whitmer sources  25:27 The Church’s position  28:00 What the BoM says? 35:15 Looking at the archeology  42:50 Another candidate in Mexico  47:00 Conclusion - Learning more ===Informed Saints Credits=== Produced by The Ancient America Foundation Producer: Spencer Clark Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye Further Readings: Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Hill Cumorah issue: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol13/iss1/ "Book of Mormon Geography," Gospel Topics: www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/book-of-mormon-geography Our Book of Mormon geography episode with Brant Gardner: https://youtu.be/lHEAG87wh9Y https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/hill-cumorah-site-guide/03-curators-notes https://scripturecentral.org/archive/books/book/introduction-study-book-mormon https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/MStar/id/27175/ https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/lucy-mack-smith-history-1844-1845/41 https://interpreterfoundation.org/journal/the-cowdery-conundrum-olivers-aborted-attempt-to-describe-joseph-smiths-first-vision-in-1834-and-1835 https://bhroberts.org/records/pWTXhj-mc2Zjf/w_w_phelps_identifies_the_hill_cumorah_as_being_in_new_york https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-a-1-23-december-1805-30-august-1834/9 https://bookofmormonresources.blogspot.com/2016/10/ramahcumorah.html https://bhroberts.org/records/zrSENb-yN34Vd/heber_c_kimball_recounts_the_cumorah_cave Chapters (00:00:00) - Introduction: Where is the Hill Cumorah?(00:01:08) - Book of Mormon Text: Details About Cumorah(00:05:37) - Distinguishing the Plates' Location from the Battle Site(00:06:53) - Origins of the Name 'Cumorah' for the New York Hill(00:08:51) - Oliver Cowdery's Letter Seven and the Mound Builder Myth(00:11:45) - Assessing the Reliability of Cowdery and Phelps(00:16:39) - What Joseph Smith Actually Said About Cumorah(00:19:17) - Lucy Mack Smith and David Whitmer Accounts(00:24:28) - Recap of Historical Sources and Timeline(00:25:14) - The Church's Official Neutral Stance on Geography(00:27:18) - Does New York Fit the Book of Mormon's Geographic Clues?(00:31:05) - Moroni's 35 Years and the Cumorah Cave Legends(00:35:10) - Archaeological Evidence (or Lack Thereof) at the New York Hill(00:37:55) - The Arrowhead Anecdotes: Critical Evaluation(00:42:43) - A Mesoamerican Candidate: Cerro El Vigía in Veracruz(00:46:49) - Closing Thoughts and Respecting Different Views

  4. Sep 13

    Most LDS Faith Crises Start in the Wrong Place. Here's Where to Begin.

    Most people having a faith crisis are fighting on the branches — polygamy, DNA, the Book of Abraham, race and the priesthood — when the actual problem is buried somewhere underneath. What happens if you go all the way down to the roots and ask why anything exists at all? Use discount code INFORMED15 for 15% off Walker Wrights Book! https://fairlatterdaysaints.org/store/product/nourishing-the-roots/ Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot sit down with Walker Wright, author of Nourishing the Roots: Seeking the Foundations of Latter-day Saint Testimony, published by FAIR. Walker takes a faith crisis apart from the bottom up — existence, intelligibility, morality, consciousness, God, the Resurrection, and the gold plates — and closes with the story of losing his sister at 11 and the years of atheism that followed. ===Informed Saints Credits=== Produced by The Ancient America Foundation Producer: Spencer Clark Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye In this episode: Elder Uchtdorf's roots-and-branches metaphor, mapped onto the first three temple recommend questions Why a branch you're struggling with can sometimes just be pruned — and why you still have to face the hard issues eventually Larry Corbridge's primary vs. secondary questions, and why an organism explains it better than concentric circles Why no artifact from the ancient Near East or Mesoamerica will move a committed skeptic — and what "lucky guess" really means Why nothing can predate existence, and what that implies about something self-existent, necessary, and eternal Laws of nature, why math matches them, and Joseph Smith's revelations on the light of truth that was not created or made Where objective morality comes from, and why the Holocaust is the test case Andrew Ferguson on Thomas Nagel: why no materialist actually lives like a materialist Fine-tuning and Martin Rees's Just Six Numbers — expand slightly faster or slower and there's no you The multiverse, the inverse gambler's fallacy, and why it's fine-tuning with extra steps The hard problem of consciousness, "What Is It Like to Be a Bat?", and how Mind and Cosmos got Nagel ostracized Philosophical zombies, the China brain, and Alvin Plantinga on other minds and properly basic belief Eternal intelligence, the mind of man, and the hierarchy of intelligences in Abraham 3 Miracles, divine healings, and what an exorcism implies about a hierarchy of spirits Are Latter-day Saints materialists? Goodness, truth, beauty, and the telos of eternal progression The Resurrection as the decisive revelation — Paul's undisputed letters, the Gospels as Greco-Roman biographies, and a crucified messiah nobody expected Why the eleven witnesses come up in every Christian-atheist debate, and why William Lane Craig and Trent Horn brush past them Oliver Cowdery's hand in the printer's manuscript, Martin Harris's matter-of-fact language, and how early those sources really are What kind of person could have written the Book of Mormon — Tolkien after twenty years at Oxford, or a farmhand with a stone in a hat? John Clark's 1% problem and Matt Roper's work on anachronisms Why Moroni's promise is a targeted spiritual experience and not Pam feeling God at Chili's Walker's sister Nicole, the MTC moment that changed everything, and why a faith crisis is like a horror movie Further Readings: Use discount code INFORMED15 for 15% off! https://fairlatterdaysaints.org/store/product/nourishing-the-roots/ Chapters (00:00:00) - Nourishing the Roots: Seeking the Found(00:00:37) - Walker on James Bond and the First Vision(00:01:22) - Describing the Roots of Christianity(00:04:47) - Like an Organic Plant, Faith Needs Nourishment(00:07:49) - The Reasons for Why Does Everything Exist?(00:13:25) - Does Moral Value Exist?(00:16:16) - Materialism and the Psychopath(00:20:59) - Doctor Strange on the Multiverse(00:24:13) - On the Problem of Consciousness(00:28:41) - Bluey The Bat Is For Real(00:29:06) - What is Consciousness?(00:33:24) - Nagel: The Problem of Consciousness(00:38:15) - The Real Evidence of the Resurrection(00:42:40) - The Evidence for the Gold Plates(00:47:08) - Joseph Smith on the Book of Mormon(00:51:18) - The Book of Mormon: An Experience of Truth(00:56:54) - In the Elevator With Infinite Truth(01:00:45) - What Happened to My Faith in the Latter Day Saints(01:06:23) - Nourishing the Roots: Seeking the Foundations of Latter Day

  5. Sep 9

    What Church Looked Like Before the 3-Hour Block

    The first sacrament meeting of the Restoration was held on a Tuesday. Latter-day Saints once drank homemade currant wine from a shared cup, sang hymns one line at a time because half the congregation couldn't read, and listened to music playing during the administration of the sacrament. Almost everything we picture when we say the word "church" is younger than we think. Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot trace nearly two centuries of change in Latter-day Saint Sabbath worship — from open-air preaching in the Nauvoo grove to the 2026 two-hour block. There is no single standard history of this subject yet, so this episode pulls the thread together from separate histories of the sacrament, the Relief Society, the Sunday School, the Aaronic Priesthood, Primary, and the Young Women — including Justin Bray's work on the early sacrament. Chapters: 0:00 Intro - Current Church Schedule Changes  6:16 Sacrament Meeting History 14:22 The Sacrament History 32:12 Relief Society & Youth Program Changes 36:36 Sunday School Changes 42:42 Young Men’s & Women’s 49:00 Age Categories 53:25 Conclusion - Inspired Direction ===Informed Saints Credits=== Produced by The Ancient America Foundation Producer: Spencer Clark Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye Church Changes Bibliography  “https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/sacrament-meetings?lang=eng,” in Church History Topics.  “https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/sunday-school?lang=eng,” in Church History Topics.  “https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/young-women-organizations?lang=eng,” in Church History Topics.  “https://churchhistorylibrary.churchofjesuschrist.org/guides/young-women-organization?lang=eng,” Church History Library Research Guides.  “https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/relief-society?lang=eng,” in Church History Topics.  Janene Wolsey Baadsgaard, “https://www.thechurchnews.com/1999/3/20/23249076/cover-story-sunday-school-grew-from-humble-start/,” Church News (March 20, 1999).  Justin R. Bray, “https://rsc.byu.edu/you-shall-have-my-word/lords-supper-early-mormonism,” in You Shall Have My Word: Exploring the Text of the Doctrine and Covenants, ed. Scott C. Esplin, Richard O. Cowan, and Rachel Cope (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2012), 64–74.  Justin R. Bray, "https://rsc.byu.edu/sacred-time/sabbath-sacrament-latter-day-saints," in Sacred Time: The Sabbath as a Perpetual Covenant, ed. Gaye Strathearn (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book), 207–42.  Rachel Cope, "https://rsc.byu.edu/vol-15-no-3-2014/thoughts-reclaiming-history-relief-society," Religious Educator 15, no. 3 (2014): 91–101.  William Hartley, https://byustudies.byu.edu/online-book/my-fellow-servants-essays-on-the-history-of-the-priesthood/from-men-to-boys, in My Fellow Servants: Essays on the History of the Priesthood (Provo, UT: BYU Studies, 2010).  William Hartley, https://byustudies.byu.edu/online-book/my-fellow-servants-essays-on-the-history-of-the-priesthood/mormon-sundays, in My Fellow Servants: Essays on the History of the Priesthood (Provo, UT: BYU Studies, 2010).  Glen M. Leonard, “https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1974/12/125-years-of-the-sunday-classroom?lang=eng,” Ensign (December 1974).  Janet Peterson, “https://rsc.byu.edu/firm-foundation/young-women-zion-organizational-history,” in David J. Whittaker and Arnold K. Garr, eds., A Firm Foundation: Church Organization and Administration (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2011), 277–94.  Mary Jane Woodger, “https://rsc.b... Chapters (00:00:00) - The Changes to the Church Schedule(00:01:13) - The Changes to the Church's History(00:06:05) - Wonders of the First Day(00:09:39) - Wonders of the First Division on Sunday(00:14:22) - The Sacrificial Birth(00:20:03) - The Concerns of Conservative Members About the Sacrament(00:24:43) - The Sacrament Worship of the Old Church(00:30:28) - Q&A: The Quaker(00:32:14) - The Auxiliaries of the Latter Day Church(00:37:59) - Teachers in the Aaronic Priesthood(00:44:50) - Primary and Young Women's Program in the Church(00:50:04) - The Correlation Revolution: When Everything Collapses Under the Church(00:55:13) - Wonders of the Church

  6. Aug 23

    What 'Utterly Destroy' Really Means in the Book of Joshua

    When Israel entered Canaan, the Bible says they were commanded to leave "nothing alive that breathes." Did God really command that — and did it actually happen? The Hebrew word behind the command, herem, tells a far more complicated story than you've heard. Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot dig into David Calabro's chapter on herem from From Wilderness to Monarchy (Religious Studies Center) — exploring what the word really means, what the archaeology of Jericho, Ai, and Hazor actually shows, and how Latter-day Saints can honestly face divine violence in scripture. ===Informed Saints Credits=== Produced by The Ancient America Foundation Producer: Spencer Clark Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye In this episode: What herem means — and its surprising connection to "harem" and the Arabic haram Herem across scripture: Malachi 4, Numbers 21, Deuteronomy 7, and Deuteronomy 20 Four inconsistent herem cases in Joshua: Jericho (Joshua 6), Ai (Joshua 7–8), the southern cities (Joshua 10), and Hazor What archaeology shows at Jericho, Ai, and Hazor — and why the older conquest model collapsed Competing theories of Israel's origins: conquest, gradual infiltration, peasant revolt, settling nomads Ancient war rhetoric: K. Lawson Younger's Ancient Conquest Accounts, the Mesha Stele, the Merneptah Stele, and a royal inscription from Sheba The moral problem: divine command theory, the wickedness of the Canaanites, Alex O'Connor's critique, and the question of children Nephi's explanation in 1 Nephi 17:32–35 Latter-day Saint tools: Melchizedek as a prophet in Canaan (JST Genesis 14; Alma 13; D&C 84) — and why Latter-day Saints aren't inerrantists The divine warrior motif and the violent world ancient Israel actually lived in Divine violence in restoration scripture and history: Laban, 3 Nephi, and Zion's Camp Read David Calabro's chapter free on the Religious Studies Center website: https://rsc.byu.edu/wilderness-monarchy/thou-shalt-utterly-destroy https://rsc.byu.edu/book/wilderness-monarchy Subscribe to Informed Saints for more faithful scholarship on the scriptures. Study deeply, believe boldly. ===Discover=== If any of our thoughts resonated with you, consider learning more about the single most influential book in our lives. https://www.discoverbookofmormon.org/ ===Content Disclaimer=== The views expressed represent ours alone and do not necessarily reflect the official position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. #BookOfMormon #LDS #ComeFollowMe #OldTestament #BibleStudy #Herem #Joshua #ConquestOfCanaan #Canaanites #Jericho #BiblicalArchaeology #AncientHistory #Deuteronomy #MeshaStele #MerneptahStele #HebrewBible #LatterDaySaint #ScriptureStudy #Bible #InformedSaints Chapters (00:00:00) - Joshua 8:1-2(00:01:31) - The Book of Joshua: The Conquest of Canaan(00:05:29) - Israel vs the Land of Canaan(00:09:29) - The Israelites and the Archeology(00:14:09) - Joshua's War of Independence(00:19:22) - The Israelites and the harem(00:21:13) - The Good News and The Bad News(00:21:55) - The Problem With Divine Command Theory(00:27:04) - Leviathan on the Canaanites(00:32:46) - Mormons on Divine Violence in the Bible

  7. Aug 16

    Mi'kmaq vs. the Gold Plates: Does the Comparison Hold Up?

    A widely shared chart in an edition of an annotated Book of Mormon claims the characters Joseph Smith copied from the gold plates match an old Native American hieroglyphic script. But when one researcher traced every glyph back to its source, the trail led somewhere no one expected — to the most infamous forger in Latter-day Saint history. In this episode, Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot sit down with Jerry Grover: an independent Book of Mormon researcher, geologist, and author of a book on the "characters document”. They walk through his new paper, published by the Interpreter Foundation, examining the claimed match between the gold plates characters and Mi'kmaq (Micmac) hieroglyphs. ===Informed Saints Credits=== Produced by The Ancient America Foundation Producer: Spencer Clark Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye In this episode: • What the "characters document" actually is — and why it isn't the Anthon transcript • John Whitmer's handwriting, an 1887 photograph, and a New York broadside • The documented origin of Mi'kmaq hieroglyphics: a 17th-century Catholic priest, birch bark, and Catholic prayers • Why 10–14 look-alikes out of roughly 4,000 glyphs isn't statistically meaningful • Mark Hofmann's forged "Anthon transcript" — and how its glyphs ended up in a modern comparison chart • The Brazil phone call: "Come authenticate our gold plates" • Wayne May's This Land, the Annotated Book of Mormon, and why citations matter • A hopeful precedent: the photo that was corrected in an earlier edition Read Jerry Grover's new paper at interpreterfoundation.org : https://interpreterfoundation.org/journal/mikmaq-meldrum-may-and-mark Further Resources: bmslr.org https://bmslr.org/translation-of-the-caractors-document/ www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/appendix-2-document-1-characters-copied-by-john-whitmer-circa-1829-1831/1 ensignpeakfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/The-“Caractors”-Document.pdf www.plonialmonimormon.com/2019/06/a-review-of-the-annotated-edition-of-the-book-of-mormon-part-2.html Subscribe for more faithful scholarship on the Book of Mormon and Latter-day Saint history. Study deeply, believe boldly. ===Discover=== If any of our thoughts resonated with you, consider learning more about the single most influential book in our lives. https://www.discoverbookofmormon.org/ ===Content Disclaimer=== The views expressed represent ours alone and do not necessarily reflect the official position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. #BookOfMormon #LDS #LatterDaySaints #ComeFollowMe #Mikmaq #Micmac #AnthonTranscript #CharactersDocument #GoldPlates #JosephSmith #MarkHofmann #ReformedEgyptian #ChurchHistory #BookOfMormonEvidence #InterpreterFoundation #JerryGrover #Nephite #LDSHistory #FaithfulScholarship #InformedSaints Chapters (00:00:00) - Is the Micmac Native American Language evidence for the Book of Mormon(00:04:51) - The Book of Mormon and the Mi' Kmaq Language(00:09:50) - The Fabricated Anthon Transcript(00:12:02) - The Authenticity of the Micmac glyphs(00:16:15) - Presumed Micmac in the Hoffman Forgery

  8. Aug 9

    Song of Solomon: Can Uninspired Writing Be Scripture?

    There's a book in your scriptures that Joseph Smith flagged as "not inspired," that Elder Bruce R. McConkie once called "biblical trash," and that the Come Follow Me manual skipped over entirely. It's also quoted three times in the Doctrine and Covenants — including in the Kirtland Temple dedicatory prayer. So what exactly is the Song of Solomon doing in our canon? Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot work through Dana Pike's chapter on the Song of Solomon in From Wilderness to Monarchy: The Old Testament through the Lens of the Restoration, published by the Religious Studies Center at BYU — a volume of essays walking through the Old Testament from a Latter-day Saint perspective. ===Informed Saints Credits=== Produced by The Ancient America Foundation Producer: Spencer Clark Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye In this episode: What Shir Hashirim asher lishlomo actually means, and why the lamed preposition (le) makes the authorship question harder than it looks Why biblical scholars date the Hebrew — including its Persian loanwords — well after Solomon's reign How the book traveled into the canon: the Septuagint, the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran, and Rabbi Akiva's insistence that it is the holy of holies Why the Song of Solomon is one of the few Old Testament books the New Testament never quotes, alongside Judges, Esther, and Ecclesiastes The striking parallels with New Kingdom Egyptian love poetry — including calling the beloved "my sister" Dana Pike's three-point case that the song didn't originate as inspired scripture Tremper Longman III's alternative: that its place in the Bible testifies that God cares about our most intimate relationships Joseph Smith's JST notation, what it tells us about the nature of the Joseph Smith Translation, and what "not inspired" most likely meant Song of Solomon 6:10 in D&C 109:73, "Rose of Sharon" as a title for Christ in Elder Holland's teaching, and the little foxes in the Nauvoo Relief Society The bigger question: what do we do with uninspired writing inside an inspired canon — and why Leviticus raises the very same problem Read Dana Pike's chapter in From Wilderness to Monarchy: The Old Testament through the Lens of the Restoration from the BYU Religious Studies Center: https://rsc.byu.edu/book/wilderness-monarchy Joseph Smith Papers Source: www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/old-testament-revision-2/104 Subscribe for more faithful scholarship on scripture, history, and the ancient world. Study deeply, believe boldly. ===Discover=== If any of our thoughts resonated with you, consider learning more about the single most influential book in our lives. https://www.discoverbookofmormon.org/ ===Content Disclaimer=== The views expressed represent ours alone and do not necessarily reflect the official position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. #SongOfSolomon #SongOfSongs #OldTestament #ComeFollowMe #LDS #LatterDaySaints #BibleStudy #ScriptureStudy #JosephSmith #JST #DanaPike #HebrewBible #BiblicalScholarship #DeadSeaScrolls #Septuagint #RabbiAkiva #Solomon #DoctrineAndCovenants #InformedSaints Chapters (00:00:00) - The Song of Solomon(00:01:55) - The Song of Solomon(00:06:59) - Song of Solomon(00:08:21) - Song of Songs and Egyptian Love Poetry(00:09:28) - The Song of Solomon(00:15:52) - The Song of Solomon: Not Inspired Literature(00:20:03) - The Song of Solomon and its relevance(00:23:15) - Is the Song of Solomon Less Inspired Than Leviticus?

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

The podcast where you can learn about everything from polygamy to gold plates. Hosted by Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, and Jasmin Rappleye.

Information

  • Creator
    Informed Saints
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    54
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025
  • Show Website
    Informed Saints

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