Letter to Editor, Provo Daily Herald, July 10, 2008 (not published)
[A Response to Letter Attacking Anti-Mormons Who Debunk Smith's Story]
Orson Scott Card passed over the fact that many sincere, honorable seekers after truth wish with all their hearts that the Joseph Smith story were true. How beautiful it is--truth restored to a wayward earth by a prayerful, pure young prophet!
Awareness of the fact that mankind's most notable achievements derive from grand illusions and grand delusions fails to diminish one bit or byte my gratitude for a Mormon heritage and daily association with superb devout family members and friends. Certain facts, however, cannot be ignored or refuted.
Only one item relevant to the story is still available for examination and analysis. No gold plates, no brass plates, no peep stone, no Urim and Thummim, no breastplate--just a scrap of paper with the heading "Caractors" followed by characters said to be Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac and Arabic which Joseph Smith claimed to have copied from the gold plates. (Joseph Smith - History, 1:64)
Smith obviously made a stab at creating believable characters but quickly gave up, producing nothing but squiggles and crude little scribbles. A fancy capital H appears twice and several Arabic numerals. Everything else is totally undecipherable, resembling the three languages not in the slightest. (Chaldaic and Assyriac are two names for the same language, commonly known today as Aramaic.)
It doesn't take a linguist to determine this. Place the "Caractors" and samples of the languages before even a little child or an illiterate and confirmation will be immediately forthcoming.
All Mormons (so highly commendable for their good conduct) should re-read their Article of Faith No. 13, practice it, and amend their preaching accordingly. ("We believe in being honest, true....") Attachment: 
Letter to Editor, Provo Daily Herald, shortly after Veterans Day, 2007
Sent: Wed Jun 11 20:59 (2008)
Hi Wendell
I've been reading your site. It's very interesting. Is it true you used to be a Mission President?
Truthseeker
Sent: Thu Jun 12 9:50
Yes, I used to be the truest of the true blue. I presided over the Argentina
Buenos Aires North Mission 1981-83 and then was transfered to Buenos Aires South
for the final year so the children of the assigned president could attend the
English-speaking American School within the boundaries of the North. I was also
president of the MTC in Chile for one year. Finding it impossible to continue to
live a lie, I wrote Dallin Oaks (selecting him because I had been a professor at
BYU) and questioned the temple practice of the bloody oath (cutting throats,
plunging dagger into heart, when the Bible says, "Swear not."). I was immediately
released and the great irony is that the general authorities omitted that feature
of the ceremony immediately afterward. It's so wrong to be right!
Progressing from true blue, I experienced true rue and gained a true view.
I feel nothing but love for my former co-religionists, of course. Prize-winning
roses can grow out of manure (lies, deceit, fraud, scams). They will be blessed, of
course, for their righteousness but their house is built on sand. Two beloved
nephews feel as I do but family and community pressure forces them to be closet
heretics. Sad but true: they could actually lose their jobs and friends because of
their honest desire to accept the truth.
Thanks for your kind words.
Wendell
Letter to Editor, Provo Daily Herald, April ?, 2008
Letter to Editor, Provo Daily Herald, May 1, 2008
Letter to Wendy--forwarded to family, January 12, 2008
Dear Wendy,
Well, yes, for an old man about to reach the age at which his father died, I do feel rather energetic. How come?
1) Wholesome,tasty meals provided by my principal care giver, including lots of fruit plus raw and cooked broccoli and other delicacies.
2) I've gained five pounds over the holidays from force-feeding. Fat is Energy.
3) The glory of God's amazing, miraculous creation is all around us. Perceiving it through the magical wonder of our senses heightens our sense of being special to the Eternal Father, producing in us responsive, appreciative bursts of inner energy and outward gasping and gaping at every flight of a bird, the fall of a flake of snow, the touch of a loved one's hand, the smile, the first word, the first step of a tiny child und so weiter.
4) The Creator has endowed us with the ability to create all kinds of imaginative things, small and large. Every new day and moment provide opportunities for new endeavors. What new thing can I do with my hands, my brain, my voice? Maybe I can even compose a little hymn of thanks and praise--nothing great but my very own (and the very own also, in large part, of great family, teachers, writers, musicians, artists, usw (etc.) that have got me to the point of even attempting such things, thanks to their influence, encouragement and example).
5) The ever-present possibility of surpassing ourselves. "I's not much, but I's all I's got" in the words of a southern Black. Making not much into more is a wondrous thing and with so many and so much around us to assist us, we can humbly advance in some ways forever, continually recharging our rechargeable physical, mental and spiritual batteries with every self-surpassing step. In the triumphant words of Stasia, "I deed it! I deed it" when she was a little sweetheart just moving beyond the first step/first word stage.
Whew! Writing this used up all my energy. A 10-minute break and I'll be O.K. again.
LovingyousomuchDad
Letter to Editor, Provo Daily Herald, April 7, 2008 Not Published
Subject: Rifts
Pres. Thomas S. Monson has invited those of his faith who have "drifted away" to return. "Rift" is a more pertinent term in this context than "drift." Cause rather than effect... A look inward rather than outward.
Emotional appeals may be effective for those content to wade in shallow waters but are of limited appeal to all with any depth of intellect. Pres. Monson should address questions that inevitably create rifts for all with a reasonable interest in facts, illustrated by the following:
There is only one item of evidence related to Joseph Smith's story still in
existence today. No gold plates, no brass plates, no Urim and Thummim, no peep stones--only the "Caractors," claimed by Smith to have been copied by him directly from the gold plates. They are in the possession of The Community of Christ (formerly known as The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) and authentic copies are readily available.
It is revealing to note that Joseph Smith started out making a serious stab at
creating believable characters in "Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac, and Arabic" but quickly gave up and produced nothing but meaningless squiggles, ending up with a series of nothing more than crude little scribbles--with the exception of a fancy H (repeated twice) and several Arabic numerals. Not a one of them resembles a single character from any of the purported languages.
Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg, UT 84082
Italy
Here I go again! Enriching others with other people's stuff. Well, I like to think that I contribute some modest programming skills toward making great stuff better known. My latest effort: www.nuspel.org/sorrento.html
I first studied Italian at the University of Vienna in 1952. (Why does this make me feel almost as old as I am?) Merrill and I left Johnny and Jeannie with some dear friends and spent spring break in Italy. This qualified me to teach Italian at Weber College. Some giovani (young people) from Hill Field (in the Service there) petitioned Weber for an evening school class and I (chair of the Foreign Language Dept.) elected myself to teach it. Well, no one else had even been to la bella Italia.
I've never enjoyed teaching more! I, a gringo, bringing Italy, its language, music, art, and other fabulous achievements alive to these American-born italiani! Only one of them, born in Venice, knew any Italian at all. She would occasionally catch me up (almost), but I always had an easy way out. "Remember, you speak Veneziano and in this class we use Toscano, the standard language of the press and the air waves, centered in Firenze (Florence)."
Actually, only matters of pronunciation were at issue. Tiny Italy--in comparison with the U.S.--has a multiude of living dialects, whereas we have a little Texan, "Southren," New Englandish, Brooklynese, and that's about it, with GA (General American) prevailing almost everywhere.
I got through those classes mainly through singing. The students loved it. O Sole Mio, Santa Lucia, Torna a Sorrento, and many others.
Hope you enjoy this version of Torna a Sorrento. In those classes I used a Toscano one—excellent but without the dialectical flavor of the Neapolitan original. I've listened to versions of Pavarotti, Caruso, and other greats but this one tops them all for passion and vigor, Io credo (I believe). Merrill and I took lots of photos at Sorrento, but rather than search through all our slides I just took this shot from the internet.
Great Italian achievements in art, architecture and music are well-known, but this amazing peninsula gave birth to great scientists and inventors, too. Many were great artists, sculptors and architects as well. Just a few: Leonardo DaVinci
Designs for a flying machine, a machine gun, a parachute, etc.
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
Engineering, studies of anatomy
Galileo Galilei
The telescope, experiments with gravity
Aldus Manutius
Invention of cursive handwriting)
Evangelista Torricelli
The barometer
Alessandro Volta
The electric battery, etc.
Daniel Bernoulli
The physics of lift—air moving across a surface decreases pressure, enabling gliders, airplanes, etc. to fly; also the carpet flat on the deck but not firmly glued down
Guglielmo Marconi
Radio telegraphy—a wireless system which eventually led to the invention of the radio, TV, the internet, etc.
Enrico Fermi
Built the first experimental nuclear reactor Con tutto il cuore,
Wendell
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, January 14, 2008
Yapland
You hear a voice. You expectantly turn your head. Just a yapper on a cell phone. Not yapping at you. More a relief than an annoyance.
Behind the wheel, applying makeup. Crunching on a sample at Costco. Fingering a fabric at FabricLand. Yapland has no boundaries. No limits.
A moment's silence is unnatural and unnerving to yappers. It might take them off automatic pilot and run them into a stump. Just kidding! They're never stumped ever. Who's thinking, anyway?
Whew! That could have been a close one just the same, but a potential moment of silence, it turns out, may not kill you. All is well and yappy in yap hap happy yapland.
Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg, UT
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, January 7, 2008
(Not Published)
Disproportion
Blowing up small things all out of proportion is all too human. One small example: Picking on an innocuous act of a poor husband and leveraging it up to the level of a common scold.
Two humongous ones: Cain's mark was just that, but to all too many it was black and covered his whole body. A large local flood was converted by the Babylonians into a catastrophe that submerged the whole earth, destroying all life except for that aboard a small boat--a myth blown up further by the Hebrews and Joseph Smith into "the word of God" in holy writ.
Mitt Romney's ill-considered words regarding the faith of his fathers are still getting blown up as part of an unrelenting effort to tarnish him. We most certainly should honor honorable forbears, but not blow up this natural affection all out of proportion by uncritically honoring all their beliefs. Look at the grief caused by this--from acts of terrorism to forbidding women's hair to show, a prohibition which no doubt makes the slightest wisp of it unbearably alluring and lascivious.
Mankind's most notable achievements derive from grand illusions and grand delusions.
Illusions can have rock-solid foundations. Delusions are built on sand. Conscientiously expand the first. Punch holes in and deflate the other.
Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg, UT
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, Dec. 31, 2007
Tolerance
(Not Published)
Allyson Davidson eloquently emphasizes a need for tolerance on the part of Huckabee and all. We definitely should be tolerant of others' beliefs but this doesn't disallow fair, objective analyses of them.
No doubt she views falsehoods, deceptions and scams as sinful and is familiar with Doctrine and Covenants 1:31: "For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance." Has she viewed and dispassionately examined Joseph Smith's "Caractors," the single tangible item related to his story that is still in existence? If not, she should, keeping in mind to whom we are indebted for that D&C verse.
Declared by Joseph Smith to have been copied by him directly from the gold plates, the Caractors were taken by Martin Harris to Prof. Charles Anthon, who allegedly stated that "the translation was correct, more so than any he had seen translated from the Egyptian. I then showed him those which were not yet translated, and he said they were Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac, and Arabic; and he said they were true characters."
The Caractors are now in the possession of the Community of Christ and reproductions of them are readily available for examination and analysis. Joseph Smith clearly started out making a stab at creating believable characters--though just weird squiggles except for a fancy H that occurs twice plus over a dozen Arabic numerals--and ended up with ridiculous little scribbles which Anthon supposedly translated. The professor must have been an absolute genius! (He denied saying what Harris claimed.)
Not one single "caractor" resembles any character from these languages. Place samples of them next to the "Caractors" and a child can determine this. No professional expertise required.
Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg, UT
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, Dec. 23, 2007
Triggered by the headline and front-page story in the Provo Daily Herald on Dec. 21, 2007 (Not Published)
The headline and a brief summary of the lead article
Former Mormon's writings published
The lost papers of William E. McLellin, a former close associate of Joseph Smith and one of the first apostles, have been found and published. He wrote of never hearing the story of Smith's "first vision" nor of the angel Moroni who led Smith to the gold plates, nor the story that John the Baptist appeared to Smith on the banks of the Susquehanna River.
LDS leaders are claiming that McLellin was so embittered that his recollections were intended to undermine the church, though we'll never know that answer, they say.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I say that the truth can be bitter and it can hurt (and heal, if we'll let it), but the truth is that McLellin's assertions jibe 100% with the facts of the matter.
Smith said, McLellin said
Who should be believed? Joseph Smith or William E. McLellin? In a quest for the truth, two paths are afforded by their respective track records. One conspicuous trace in the trail Smith left behind--not in unsettled dust but cast in concrete--is his "Caractors," which he claimed to have copied from the gold plates. No other tangible item remains. No gold plates, no Urim and Thummim, no peep stones--only this scrap of paper now in the possession of the Community of Christ and available for close scrutiny and analysis by all.
Smith clearly started out making a stab at creating believable characters, though just weird squiggles except for a fancy H that occurs twice plus over a dozen Arabic numerals, which Martin Harris took to Prof. Charles Anthon, who alledgedly identified them as "true Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac and Arabic characters," stating that "[Smith's] translation was correct, more so than any he had seen translated from the Egyptian."
Translating those ridiculous scribbles is as impossible as threading a rope through a needle. Feed them to a supercomputer programmed to decipher secret codes and GIGO. Garbage in, garbage out. Anthon denied saying what Harris claimed.
Not one single "caractor" resembles any character from these languages. Place samples of them next to the "Caractors" and a child can determine this. No professional expertise required.
Test this out for yourself. No contest! Smith is the loser.
Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg, UT
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, Dec. 17, 2007
(Not Published)
Foolish Furor
The furor over the most appropriate and respectful greeting for this season is foolish. "Happy Holidays!" is nicely alliterative and absolutely fine if we have in mind both Christmas and New Year's Day. If Christmas is paramount in our thoughts, then "Merry" or "Holy" could convey wishes in profane and religious exchanges.
The optimum solution would be to separate the celebration of the Messiah's birth from pagan Yuletide, with its crassly materialistic commercialization and cherished but heathen customs. Historians' best estimate of the season of the Messiah's birth is springtime. His devout followers (and others wishing to join in) should celebrate a consentaneously designated date in April or May--a holy day for them devoid of surcharged shopping and characterized by joyous, grateful meditations and displays of crèches, wisemen, the star, and heartfelt caroling as opposed to Santa, reindeers, chimneys, mistletoe, evergreen trees and "A Partridge in a Pear Tree," "Jolly Old St. Nicholas,"
The new holiday would be called Messiah Day. The Savior was born a Jew in the only non-pagan place on earth, the Holy Land, and the title derived from "Xristos," a Greek translation of Hebrew "Meshiach" is covertly and overtly anti-Semitic and totally inappropriate. "-mas" (meaning "mass") has Catholic connotations and therefore is not universal enough.
Messiah Day would be on a Sunday, obviating any remonstrances from atheists, the ACLU and others with regard to separation of church and state, who nonetheless would probably expect to enjoy a long week-end, with Friday and Monday included in the days of celebration.
To all believers out there: Have a marvelous Messiah Day! Merry Yuletide! to all others.
Wendell H. Hall
A special letter enclosed with a Christmas card from our neighbors directly across Main Canyon Rd. Their little son Jack has an astonishingly large vocabulary for such a young boy.
Holiday Greetings to all!
Lessons Learned in 2007
You can't have too many bandaids. If Jack's favorite phrase of 2006 was "Are you ok?" then his all-time favorite query for 2007 is "Can I have a band-aid?" He normally gets one and wears it for an hour or two and sometimes makes it through a whole day. We keep the band-aids in one of our upper cupboards in the kitchen. A couple of times I've screamed out in pain from bonking my head or stubbing my toe and before I know it, Jack is scrambling up the cupboard and back down again with a band-aid in hand. There are some things Dads do best. While I was working almost full-time in the studio this year [She's an acclaimed metal sculptor], Sam taught Jack how to rove the fields and race "boats" in the creek behind our house. The bridge that Sam and I built while dating is now their boat launching spot and leg-swinging hang-out.
Being a full-time artist takes discipline. I've been working up to full-time this last year and I'm proud to say that I'm much better at the discipline of steady production work. I've learned how to work more efficiently and refine my technical skills in regards to bronze work. I am doing all of the post-casting work on my bronzes, including sanding, grinding, welding, patinas and base-building.
You can grow big pumpkins in Wallsburg. But you need cages. And water. The deer here are so agressive they even succeeded in gnawing on Sam's 200+ pound prize baby. Sam had his pumpkins on a constant water drip. Even so, they were dwarfed by those more commonly grown back East. Sam did really well considering our dry climate.
You can't have too many tools. Sam, Jack and I drove to CA to pick up a surplus welder from Sam's cousin Knute. This welder allows me to weld bronze easily. The catch: it weighs about 800 pounds. Luckily Sam's folks had a hoist here in the shed to unload it---- again, you can't have too many tools.
It takes a village. Jack spent many of his summer days across the street at the Halls, an older couple who have a grandkids' playground. The grandpa, Wendell, noticed that Jack kept lining up the big wheels in tandem and realized he is fascinated with trains (that's an understatement). So the next time Jack came over he found a little train set in the playhouse. Jack was beside himself! Even as the temperatures keep dropping lower and lower and the snow keeps piling up, there isn't a day that Jack doesn't ask to go to "Black engine's house." I tell Wendell that it takes a child to know one!
You can't have too many Thanksgivings. My sister Suzanne and her family moved up from Austin to Cedar Hills! It's fun to have her here and get to know her better (we're a big spread-out family) along with my other sister Kathleen who's been here all along. Suzanne introuced us to our first ever Canadian Thanksgiving and I think the more Thanksgivings the better!
Three-year-olds are contrarians by nature. Jack is becoming less willing to agree with us. When he gets particularly oppositional, we often try to make him laugh and his response will often be a command: "not laughing!" or "not smiling!" Even if we are innocently pointing to something, one of his favorite objections is "not pointing!" Yes, Jack has become a true three-year-old at last!
..........
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, Dec. 11, 2007
(Not Published)
Faiths of the Fathers
"My faith is the faith of my fathers - I will be true to them and to my beliefs," Mitt Romney vigorously proclaimed in his powerful speech. Noble words, but reflecting why so much is wrong with the world. Followers of the Messiah should make a special point of following these words and urge others to do the same: "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me." (Matthew 10:37)
The Bible enjoins us to honor and love our parents, and we should, of course, but the Messiah was alluding to their traditions, beliefs and customs. Look around the world and be overwhelmed by all the misery, death and destruction caused by fanatic obsession with clinging to and advancing fathers' and mothers' ways, even to the extreme of forcing others to adopt them.
Ah, yes, but this applies to others, not us, for we have the truth!
We should all carefully examine the origins of our faith. Latter-day Saints ought to analyze the single extant bit of evidence having to do with their founder's story: the "Caractors." Claimed by Joseph Smith to have been copied from the gold plates, they were taken by Martin Harris to Prof. Charles Anthon, who reported back as follows: "[He] stated that the translation was correct, more so than any he had seen translated from the Egyptian. I then showed him those which were not yet translated, and he said they were Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac, and Arabic; and he said they were true characters."
They are now in the possession of the Community of Christ and reproductions of them are readily available for examination and analysis. Joseph Smith clearly started out making a stab at creating believable characters--though just weird squiggles except for a fancy H that occurs twice plus over a dozen Arabic numerals--and ended up with ridiculous little scribbles which Anthon supposedly translated. The professor must have been an absolute genius! (He denied saying what Harris claimed.)
Not one single "caractor" resembles any character from these languages. Place samples of them next to the "Caractors" and a child can determine this. No professional expertise required.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good" (1 Thessalians 5:21) should be the guidepost of all, however cherished received beliefs may be.
Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg, UT 84082
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, Dec. 4, 2007
(Not Published)
Why the U.S. Is Outperformed in Reading
Much more time is spent teaching our children to learn reading and writing than that devoted to the same task by speakers of Spanish and German, etc. This hogs irreplaceable hours from other crucial studies, adversely affecting our standing in math and science, for example. How can this very serious impediment to progress be eradicated? By throwing more money down a bottomless pit? The long overdue solution is English spelling reform.
This can be systematically accomplished through the thoroughly tested initial teaching alphabet approach (i.t.a), in which learners master the basic letter-sound relationships quickly and painlessly. To get them off to a speedy, confidence-building start, only regularly spelled words should be employed in beginning readers. Impossible? Yes, unless "regular" is defined in terms of the sounds most commonly associated with a given letter: [e] as in [be], for example, not [see, eat, key, lazy, aeon, chief, weird, these, antique, people, kilo], etc.
The first of the first readers should be amply illustrated and multisensorial learning (hear, say, see, write, identify, etc.) could include coloring the simple unambiguous line drawings employed to facilitate comprehension--one more aid to superior retention. Follow-up readers, divided into two parts--regular and irregular--would repeat the identical text, introducing learners to irregular spellings by means of texts with which they are already familiar, allowing them to grasp meanings through prior exposure and contextual associations already gathered in the first reading.
The modern technologies of optical character recognition and speedy printing make possible the adaptation of thousands of books in a brief period of time. Many of our citizens are bilingual. All of us--not just our children--would soon be bilteral in both OldSpell and NuSpel. It is true that our ancient spelling is sacred to many, but they would not be deprived. Texts in the Old would remain readily available. The new "books on demand" system can print a book in a minute or so at a cost of $3.00.
Publishers, teachers, and everyone of us should welcome innovations of this sort, not boxed in by conformity with convention and tradition and eager to think and teach and learn outside the box.
Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg, UT 84082
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, Dec. 7, 2007
(Not Published)
Romney's Great Speech
Mankind's most impressive attainments commonly derive from grand illusions and grand delusions. Earth's most breathtaking flowers can grow out of organic fertilizer. What could more fully confirm this than the unrivaled presidential qualities projected by Mitt Romney in his incomparably powerful speech.
Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg, UT 84082
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, Nov. 26, 2007
(Not Published)
Revisions of Revisions
Joseph Smith's Urim and Thummim obviously was a very imperfect instrument, compelling L.D.S. revisers in chief to revise revisions in order to conform Book of Mormon doctrine with facts and elementary concepts of God's unvarying righteousness and fairness. How Native Americans must be heaving a collective sigh of relief to know that God didn't curse those among them who actually are Lamanites to have "skins of blackness" and be "filthy and loathsome" but merely impure! Now, thanks to recent revisions, they can look forward to becoming "pure and delightsome" again (or in one revision "pure white" and delighted).
Revisions have become so numerous (many of them far from being trivial) that a revision of L.D.S. Article of Faith No. 8 must be revised to read "we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God, as far as it is translated correctly."
To justify why Laman and Lemuel's "seed," including innocent little children, were cursed with the same sore curse as their progenitors, L.D.S. Article of Faith No. 2 must be revised to read "We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression. We further believe that Native Americans will be punished for their own sins, and have been and will continue to be punished for Laman's and Lemuel's transgression, even with the sore cursing of skins of blackness and to be loathsome."
These changes won't change anything. At most they will produce barely a ripple.
Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg, UT 84082
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, Nov. 24, 2007
(Not Published)
The Next Book of Mormon Revision
According to Jan Shipps, Mormonism has a ready mechanism for revision. "You've got continuing revelation, the principle of shift and change." How now, after 178 years, can revelation from the top revise the only extant tangible fragment of evidence related to the authenticity of the Joseph Smith story?
No gold plates (now in heaven) and no Urim and Thummim (also returned to the heavenly messenger?)--only the "Caractors," ostensibly copied from the gold plates by Joseph Smith and taken by Martin Harris to Prof. Charles Anthon, who allegedly stated that "the translation was correct, more so than any he had seen translated from the Egyptian. I then showed him those which were not yet translated, and he said they were Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac, and Arabic; and he said they were true characters."
The Caractors are now in the possession of the Community of Christ and reproductions of them are readily available for examination and analysis. Joseph Smith clearly started out making a stab at creating believable characters--though just weird squiggles except for a fancy H that occurs twice plus over a dozen Arabic numerals--and ended up with ridiculous little scribbles which Anthon supposedly translated. The professor must have been an absolute genius! (He denied saying what Harris claimed.)
Not one single "caractor" resembles any character from these languages. Place samples of them next to the "Caractors" and a child can determine this. No professional expertise required.
Go ahead, revisers in chief. Shift and change this and lose your last fragment of credibility.
Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg, UT 84082
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, Nov. 19, 2007
(Not Published)
Romney Loves Data
Mitt Romney likes to say how he loves data. He should express for our country's voters his take on the data surrounding the single extant tangible scrap of evidence related to Joseph Smith's Book of Mormon story. No gold plates, no Urim and Thummin, no peep stones--only the "Caractors," ostensibly copied from the gold plates and taken by Martin Harris to Prof. Charles Anthon, who alledgedly stated that "the translation was correct, more so than any he had seen translated from the Egyptian. I then showed him those which were not yet translated, and he said they were Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac, and Arabic; and he said they were true characters."
The Caractors are now in the possession of the Community of Christ and reproductions of them are readily available for examination and analysis. Joseph Smith clearly started out making a stab at creating believable characters--though just weird squiggles except for a fancy H that occurs twice plus over a dozen Arabic numerals--and ended up with ridiculous little scribbles which Anthon supposedly translated. The professor must have an absolute genius! (He denied saying what Harris claimed.)
Not one single "caractor" resembles any character from these languages. Place samples of them next to the "Caractors" and a child can determine this. No professional expertise required.
Romney is an excellent candidate. Mankind's most notable achievements commonly derive from grand illusions and grand delusions. Let's have no illusions regarding pitiable victims of elaborate holy hoaxes full of holes.
Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg, UT 84082
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, Nov. 14, 2007
(Not Published)
Native Americans Are Lamanites
A recent L.D.S. assertion that not all Native Americans are Lamanites represents one more attempt to reconcile the Book of Mormon with obvious facts. In doing so, these officials ignore the words of Joseph Smith and the Lord himself.
From The Papers of Joseph Smith, Vol. 1: "At this time a great desire was manifest by several of the Elders respecting the remnants of the house of Joseph--the Lamanites residing in the west..."
The word of the Lord in Doctrine and Covenants 54:8: "And thus you shall take your journey into the regions westward, unto the land of Missouri, unto the borders of the Lamanites."
Many tribes, widely distributed, all of them Lamanites. Moreover, the DNA of all American Indians is the same--and Asian, not Semitic.
Joseph Smith was a gifted, prolific author--a tireless writer of fiction.
Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg, UT 84082
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, Oct. 30, 2007
(Not Published)
Mitt Romney and God's only True Church Franchise
Presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his coreligionists indubitably are Christians. This should be granted. The sticking point is their only true church and true gospel claim. Quite naturally, other Christians find this very offensive. To avoid any taint of arrogance, Latter-day Saints should forthrightly validate their claim by drawing the world's attention to the only extant tangible bit of evidence supporting it.
No gold plates. No Urim and Thummim. No peep stones. Only Joseph Smith's "Caractors," allegedly copied from the gold plates and taken by Martin Harris to Prof. Charles Anthon who, according to the LDS story, "stated that the translation was correct, more so than any he had before seen translated from the Egyptian. I then showed him those which were not yet translated, and he said they were Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac, and Arabic; and he said they were true characters." (Joseph Smith 2, 63-65)
Not included in the letter but inserted here for your information together with an observation in brackets and additional clarifications for those unfamiiar with the details of this fabrication:
[Isn't it striking to note that Joseph Smith started out making a stab at creating believable characters—though just weird squiggles except for the fancy H that occurs twice plus over a dozen Arabic numerals—and ended up with ridiculous little scribbles which Anthon supposedly translated? The professor must have been an absolute genius!]
The "Caractors" are now in the possession of The Community of Christ and reproductions of them are readily available for examination and analysis. Chaldaic and Assyriac are two names for the same language, now commonly known as Aramaic. Jean-François Champollion deciphered the Rosetta stone in 1822. Photography didn't exist back then and Prof. Anthon had in his possession nothing but Champollion's Preçis du système hieroglyphique des anciens Ègyptiens, no basis at all on which to build a career as a qualified Egyptologist.
In Mormon 9:34 Moroni states, "None other people knoweth our language; therefore [the Lord] hath prepared means for the interpretation thereof." Nonetheless, Smith (the very individual who claimed to have translated these very words and the only person on earth in possession of "the means for the interpretation thereof") reported that Anthon translated what he was given right off, with no need for a Urim and Thummim! LDS scholars scoff at Anthon's perfectly believable protest that he did not say what Harris claimed. And shouldn't Moroni have said "None other people knoweth our languages," though the Book of Mormon makes no mention of Chaldaic, Assyriac and Arabic.
Not one single "caractor" resembles any character from these languages. Place samples of them next to the "Caractors" and a child can determine this. No professional expertise required. To personally verify this, click here for sample writings located about a third of the way through the file.
Mitt is an exceptionally well qualified candidate, the best of all. A pity he doesn't realize that he is one more victim of a holy hoax full of holes. Yes, notable human achievements commonly derive from grand illusions and grand delusions. Yes, prize-winning roses can grow out of manure.
Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg, UT 84082
For ease of reading, typed versions of the remaining letters (except for one) are given.
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, May 14, 2004
LDS Church, Jewish groups respect each other
In response to Mr. Wendell Hall's May 5 letter about Mormons being anti-Semitic, the scripture Mormon 5:15 has reference to the Lamanites.
They were not Jewish people. They were those who had rejected the Law of Moses as well as the Savior and were a godless, bloodthirsty people.
Try reading 2 Nephi 29:4 to see the love and respect shown for the Jews in the Book of Mormon. As long as I have been a member of this church (28 years a convert) I have never heard negative remarks about the Jews, only respect and friendship.
Contact the Jewish leaders in Salt Lake City and find out their opinion of us. It is one of mutual respect and friendship. Judith Walker
Mapleton
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, May 14, 2004 (Not Published)
In response to Judith Walter, my reference was to a Book of Mormon text, not to contemporary LDS people. Please re-read Mormon 5:15‚ or has the B of M recently been revised? So it's not O.K. to vilify Jews but quite all right, even necessary, to denigrate Native Americans, justifying thereby our treatment of them? Since when have they been referred to as "scattered"? And are they even more dark, filthy and loathsome than themselves? The reference plainly is to Jews, an admirable people who have given the world untold numbers of great men and women, not to mention bright, adorable, innocent little children. Who can believe that these loathsome words emanated from a divine source, the God of love? Will Mormons ever retract them and abjectly apologize for them to both the Jews and the Indians?
Wendell H. Hall
Retired prof of Foreign Languages, BYU
Wallsburg
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, May 19, 2004
Anti-Semitism charge rooted in misinterpretation
Wendell H. Hall accuses those who believe in the Book of Mormon of being anti-Semitic, based upon his own misinterpretation of that scripture: "For this people shall become a dark, a filthy, and a loathsome people...." (Mormon 5:15)
He wrongly ascribes the term "this people" to the Jews when, in fact, it refers to the Lamanites.
In the Book of Mormon, the term "the Jews" refers, in different instances, to different groups of people which can be confusing. The term "the Jews" may refer to both those who are descendants of Jacob or, more specifically, to descendants of Judah, son of Jacob. The Nephits and the lamanites of the Book of Mormon are scripturally considered Jews in the sense that they are descendants of Jacob, yet they are Gentiles in the sense that they are not descendants of Judah.
Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints consider themselves to be Gentiles because they are not necessarily descendants of Judah, yet they consider themselves to be Jews in the sense that they are of the House of Jacob.
Is it possible that they could be anti-themselves?
Charles L. Eads, Pleasant Grove
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, May 20, 2004 (Not Published)
In response to careful readers of Mormon 5:15, my reference was to a Book of Mormon text, not to contemporary LDS people. Please re-read it. Has it recently been revised? "Scattered" is a term applicable to Jews, not Native Americans. And are Lamanites even more dark, filthy and loathsome than Lamanites? The reference plainly is to Jews, an admirable people who have given the world untold numbers of great men and women, not to mention bright, adorable, innocent little children. Who can believe that these loathsome words emanated from a divine source, the God of love? Will Mormons ever retract them and abjectly apologize for them to both the Jews and the American Indians?
Note: Shouldn't educated people be able to identify an antecedent? Perhaps Eads et al. have never heard the word.
Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, May 24, 2004
Jews, American Indians both insulted by Book of Mormon
For Charles L. Eads and others the Book of Mormon word Jews means anything but Jews.
In their contorted interpretation, the Lamanites (Native Americans) are accorded the honor of being even more dark, loathsome and filthy than themselves! So Mormon 5:14-15 should be read as follows: "And behold, [these things] shall go unto the unbelieving of the Jews... for this people [the Lamanites, according to Eads et al.] shall be scattered [a term applicable to Jews, not Native Americans], and shall become a dark, a filthy, and a loathsome people, beyond the description of that which ever hath been amongst us, yea, even that which hath been among the Lamanites..."
So these words, they say, are not anti-Semitic, merely anti-American Indian and therefore perfectly acceptable! With respect to "filthy," Native Americans have traditionally bathed frequently. By contrast the European conquerors considered bathing injurious to their health and risked bathing perhaps once a year when the water of streams and ponds warmed up.
The Jews have contributed so much to the world we can never repay them. When are Mormons going to officially apologize to both Jews and Indians for these loathsome words?
Former mission president, Buenos Aires North,
Buenos Aires South
MTC President, Santiago, Chile
Wallsburg
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, June 11, 2004
Don't allow letter writers to misrepresent positions
The Daily Herald becomes a source of disinformation when it improperly lists outdated religious credentials of writers, especially when they decry the teachings they formerly espoused under those credentials.
Confusing and contradictory was the letter from "Mission President, Buenos Aires North, etc." who criticized the keystone of the church that he left more than seven years ago and who now considers the Book of Mormon to be a work of fiction."
The Daily Herald performs a disservice to the public when it attributes options to officers of the church, either former or present, who are not authorized spokespersons.
Charles L. Eads
Pleasant Grove
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, June 11, 2004
Letters weren't talking about personal hygiene
I have some difficulty understanding both Wendell Hall's logic in his letter and the Herald's for printing such ignorance.
How many American Indian tribes can you name who were not driven from their lands, mistreated and scattered. Only the Jews? Come now.
And to refer to filthy as only meaning whether or not you bathe on a regular basis, please. In both the Bible and the Book of Mormon or any stermons or writings of religious leaders of all faiths, spiritual filthiness refers to sin, physical immorality or even the worship of false gods.
There are those who can wash twice a day and be filthy still. Darkness of the mind is ignorance,
The purpose of the Book of Mormon is to testify that Jesus is the Christ and the only name under heaven whereby man can be saved. The book has brought millions to Christ.
No apology needed except by Mr. Hall.
Lylle Tillett
Provo
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, June 11, 2004 (Not Published)
This is the U.S.A.
One way to frustrate serious debate is to sidetrack issues by means of non-pertinent observations having to do with the messenger rather than the message. Life is not static and knowledge and understanding constantly expand in this world of ours, except in closed minds.
These words of Christ are of particular importance today: "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me." (Matthew 10:37) Christians should love their parents, of course, and are commanded to honor them, but should follow Him before them.
Breaking with parental religious teachings isn't easy. What Muslim, for example, would think of not praying five times a day, prostrated toward Mecca? This custom is so public and social pressure is so great, those failing to do so might run a grave risk.
This is the U.S.A. Why, in certain environments, should dissenting require unintimidated courage? In this land of the free and home of the brave, how can a man be criticized for not betraying his conscience and not cravenly cloaking his past and his progress in anonymity?
Should a man be criticized by those who can't even recognize an antecedent? That the antecedent to "this people" in Mormon 14-15 is "Jews" could not be more obvious. Lyle Tillett has taken anti-Semitism and anti-Native Americanism to new depths. So the Jews and Indians were merely to become morally and spiritually filthy and sinful, not hygienically. I'm sure they are thrilled to know this. So much better than being simply unwashed! Just imagine how much more sinful they have been than those who scattered, murdered, plundered and dispossessed them.
The word "scattered" plainly refers to the Jews, not the "Lamanites." The Jews were scattered among other people. Native Americans were dislodged, relocated and placed on reservations but not forced to mingle with non-Indians nation-wide or world-wide in constant association. As individuals, families and groups in ghettos, the Jews were in close contact with gentiles everywhere—a superfluous clarification for those with sufficient education to identify an antecedent.
Wendell H. Hall
Former mission president, Buenos Aires North, Buenos Aires South
Former MTC president, Santiago, Chile
Retired professor of Spanish, BYU
Wallsburg
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, Aug. 25, 2004 (Not Published)
Biblical account of flood, creation symbolic
In his July 14 article, biologist Duane Jeffery states that some religions still take the story of Adam's naming of the animals quite literally, whereas to others this must be understood allegorically.
To certain religionists, an allegorical interpretation of any part of Genesis is impossible inasmuch as their prophet was granted the same visions given to Moses which somehow became the "writings" of Moses, constituting the Book of Genesis.
Likewise, a flood which covered the earth and its highest mountains for 11 months during which Jeffery's 1.7 million or so named species were saved from extinction in a 300 x 50 by 30 cubit boat providing all the habitats required for their survival must be considered God's revealed word rather than a cautionary allegorical tale or an ancient Babylonian myth. Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg, UT
Retired professor of Foreign Languages, BYU
Letter to the Editor, February 18, 2006
Creationism Must Be an Indisputable Fact
In his Book of Moses, Joseph Smith reproduced the same vision which supposedly is the basis of Genesis--transcribing with astonishing exactitude the same sound track and/or subtitles provided for Moses, though in King James English rather than Hebrew. Backed up by this, the creation account given in Genesis must be accepted as literally true.
Moreover, in the Book of Mormon, Nephi states "And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end." (2 Nephi 2:22)
This anthropocentric scripture proves beyond a doubt that not only man but all creation would have remained the same forever, precluding any possibility of evolution. Thankfully, Adam sinned, so erosion, curdling of milk and all kinds of things became possible, but only after the seventh day. Then sharp fangs and claws, porcupine quills and skunk perfume finally served a purpose.
Many thanks, Adam, for transgressing. Wait! Didn't Eve sin first. Didn't she entice him? Ask any man if this is not a grievous sin.
Intelligent proponents of intelligent design view Genesis for what it is: an ancient Babylonian myth.
Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg, UT 84082
Letter to Provo Daily Herald, December 11, 2006
Letter to Provo Daily Herald, December 18, 2006
Facts not difficult to access easily refute Michael Kelsey's justification of an unending Jewish Holocaust which he supports as violently and evilly as Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. For decades Jewish settlers--often at exorbitant prices--legally purchased plots of land in their former homeland. This influx of Jews alarmed Arab inhabitants of the region and Muslim religious leaders fomented hatred for the Jewish inhabitants that errupted into several wars in which the victorious Jews occupied additional lands.
"To the victors go the spoils" has a unique meaning for Muslims. In Islam, a waqf is any property that has been acquired by conquest, trickery or other means and thereby becomes God's (i.e., theirs) in perpetuity--not to be taken back by anyone. Accordingly, a large part of Spain and Portugal still belongs to Islam, centuries after the Christians finally pushed the invaders out of their territory for good in 1492.
What hypocrisy! The Jews must give up the relatively tiny territories that their valiant sons and daughters died for, yet huge chunks of the Iberian peninsula and the Balkans (including Greece), most Mediterranean islands and vast lands in Africa still "belong" to Islam, and fanatic Islamic terrorists are busily blowing up innocents as one of their evil approaches to taking back all of that plus new lands world-wide.
Israel will not be wiped off the planet, hateful Mr. Kelsey! Have you never held a precious, adorable infant in your arms? Do you favor wiping out innocents whose noses you're unfit to wipe?
Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg, UT 84082
A World War II combat veteran who would have given his life to
liberate
Jews in concentration camps and is willing to do so for them now.
Letter to the Editor, Deseret News, December 24, 2006 (Not published) Take the Christ out of Christmas
Was our Lord a Greek? His mission was accomplished among the only non-pagan people on earth: the Jews. Did Peter say, "Thou art the Christ"? No Israelite would ever say such a thing. He said, "Thou art the Messiah." This is just one more example of the perverse anti-Jewish prejudice that pervades society. "Messiah" is the English transliteration of Hebrew "Meshiach." Proper names should be transliterated, never translated. Hispanic Americans may render the surname Hall as "Vestíbulo" but only as a joke, always reverting to something sounding like "Hole" in serious conversation. No big deal? It definitely is. We should love the Lord with all our heart, soul, strength and mind. Messiah, Messiahns, Messiahnity and Messiah Day are the correct terms. Messiah Day, not Messiahmas. "Mas," meaning "mass," has Catholic connotations and therefore lacks universality.
Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg, UT 84082
Retired prof. of Foreign Languages
Letter to the editor, Salt Lake City Tribune, January 16, 2007
Romney and the Election (Not published)
Mitt Romney may be either too naive or too lacking in courage to be president of our beloved country. The answer lies in which edition of The Pearl of Great Price he accepts as part of the LDS Standard Works. Joseph Smith "translated" from the Bible what became known as The Book of Moses - Visions of Moses As revealed to Joseph Smith the Prophet, in June, 1830. His verbatim Biblical extracts (derived from an ancient Babylonian myth) repeat the story of a flood that didn't happen. That couldn't happen. No way could Noah and family herd earth's one to ten million species of animals onto a boat. No way could water cover the whole earth above the highest peaks for 11 months without destroying all its fauna and flora except for the clean and unclean animals on the ark. Romney would have to be pitifully naive to believe this.
Someone upstairs must have realized how farcical this story is and The Book of Moses was recently extirpated and replaced by Selections from the Book of Moses - An extract from the book of Genesis of Joseph Smith's Translation of the Bible, which he began in June 1830. No flood in it. Where was the cry of outrage? Where the violent demonstrations at LDS Church headquarters? Joseph Smith, the great prophet and seer of the last dispensation, who "has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world than any other man that ever lived in it," and the general authorities have arrogantly expunged his astounding sacred vision--shared by him alone with Moses, though with subtitles in King James English rather than Hebrew.
So will Romney be true to the testimony of all true blue Mormons that Smith was a true prophet of God? Will he have the courage of his convictions? Will he disavow the sacriligious act of his ecclesiastical superiors, who evidently have no dread of divine retribution and in whom the onset of fear and trembling has yet to set in? Unless he disassociates himself from their disloyal, contumacious tampering with holy writ, he will be unfit to run for the exalted office of president of the United States of America.
Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, January 30, 2007 (Not Published)
Adorable Little Navaho
The adorable little Navaho featured in Monday's Daily Herald brings to mind II Nephi 5:21-23 in the Book of Mormon. Regrettably, this little girl who sings and dances like the Lamanite maidens in Mosiah 20:1-5 most likely will never be enticing to a Nephite or any other stripe of God-favored, fair-skinned ite. For The Book of Mormon is true!
True, LDS revisionists claim that Native Americans' dark skin (and loathsomeness) came upon them not by way of a divine curse but through mixing their seed with that of Asians, who doubtless will be delighted to know this.
Darn! I forgot that every last one of those white, exceeding fair and delightsome Nephites got exterminated in the most thorough instance of genocide in history, which explains why none would be around to greet Columbus.
To accord their belief with hard, unyielding facts, Mormon apologists assert that not all Native Americans are Lamanites. How do they reconcile this with Helaman 3:8? "And it came to pass that they did multiply and spread, and did go forth from the land southward to the land northward, and did spread insomuch that they began to cover the face of the whole earth, from the sea south to the sea north, and from the sea west to the sea east."
In Doctrine and Covenants 54:8, God himself made reference to Lamanites (identified as Shawnees and Delawares). There can be no greater authority, so their DNA must be checked and compared with that of all the other thousands of look-alike tribes and individuals and, voilà, we've got ourselves a fine understanding of this.
When in Chile I had the honor of translating for Pres. Spencer W. Kimball, he pointed out to me the spot near Viña del Mar where Lehi landed. From that point they populated two continents from the sea south to the sea north.
Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg, UT
Letter to the Editor, Provo Daily Herald, April 14, 2007
Area Code for Local Calls
The 21st century is well under way, yet as we continue on with the same old obsolete alphabet and spelling, progress in other areas of communication has been fantastic. The marriage of phones and computers constitutes one of the world's greatest wonders. Our inherited orthography constitutes one of the world's greatest blunders.
Once upon a time, telephone numbers had alphabetical prefixes and names. I recall that our prefix was EXport. The moment is propitious for going alphabetical again, but with each letter functioning on an equal basis with numbers as an operative dialing unit.
In a world of over five billion inhabitants, a base-10 numerical system is woefully inadequate. Global satellite-wireless initiatives are already on their way to becoming a world-wide reality. Utilizing an alphanumerical base of 50, every inhabitant of Planet Earth could be reached by dialing a mere nine or ten digits.
Optimally selected base-50 sequences for subscriber, telephone central, area and satellite sector codes would leave many combinations available for other assignment (911, 411, etc.). Typical base-50 sequential units: x- (50 possibilities), xx- (2,500), xxx- (125,000). Theoretically, xx-xxx yields 312,500,000 possibilities; in base-10 a hopeless 100,000. (Actually, 99,999, etc., subtracting 1 in each instance.) Combinations of x-, xx-, xxx-, etc. quickly yield billions of potential codes.
A look at today's slim, trim cell phones and TV remote controls shows that a similar configuration with one more row across and the same number down (5 x 12) could readily accommodate the 50 numbers and letters plus REDIAL, STORE, etc. This would be for hunt-and-peck dialing, but full-size keyboards for telephoning will soon be available everywhere (including an ingenious compact folding one), inasmuch as TCI (Telephone-Computer Integration) is advancing so rapidly. "Touch-voice" systems, of course, bypass buttons and keys.
With a base-10 system of dialing, the potential to meet projected demand does not exist. With an alphanumerical base-50 system (0-9 plus the 40 letters required to make English spelling phonemic) all of earth's inhabitants could easily have their own relatively short and snappy numbers. Local calls would not have to exceed five digits: RJ-AT2 (Romeo Juliet Alpha Tango Two), for example.
One acclaimed proposal for English spelling reform--spelled NuSpel in the new spelling--may be viewed at www.nuspel.org/literacy.html. The additional letters required are taken from the revised International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), so the new system would be international, not just for English.
Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg, UT 84082
Retired professor of Linguistics
Letter to the Editor, Provo Daily Herald, April 28, 20007
A Heavenly Visit from a Spelling Quirk
Despite the archaic language it employs and the fact that more modern translations are available, the King James Version of the Bible remains very popular. It has undergone a number of revisions, significantly in 1952 when the revised Standard Version was published.
The publishers have recently announced a new modification: "In keeping with the design of the present work, the King James spelling of untranslated words is retained, although made uniform throughout. For example, instead of the spellings Isaiah and Elijah in the Old Testament, and Esaias and Elias in the New Testament, Isaiah and Elijah now appear in both Testaments."
The Book of Doctrine and Covenants, Section 27 indicates that sacred keys were committed to Joseph Smith by both Elias and Elijah. The King James publishers must revise their recent revision. No way could Joseph Smith have received a heavenly visit and glorious keys from a King James translators' spelling quirk. Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg, UT 84082
Retired professor of Linguistics
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, Monday, May 14, 2007
Self-important views bury testimonies
Richard Dutcher's valedictory editorial touched a special place in my heart -- a place reserved for self-important LDS artist-intellectuals who manage to bury the simple, clean faith of their youth in a thousand layers of torturous philosophical musings. Plus, I'd just like to slap him. What a waste.
Diane B. Christensen,
Provo
Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, May 15, 2007 (Not Published)
Self-respecting Views
Diane B. Christensen derides "self-important views." What's more important than the self? We may not be much, but we're all we've got so we should respect this important self and have self-respecting views. Is a "testimony" that Native Americans have been cursed by God with dark skins and caused by him to be loathsome "simple and clean"? (2 Nephi 5:19-23) Oh, no! Dark skins! How horrible, how ghastly! Makes you shudder. How can a self-respecting person accept such noxious nonsense as the word of God? (LDS Article of Faith No. 8)
Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg, UT 84082
Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg
Lyle E. Shomo's Letter to the editor, Provo Daily Herald, May 16, 2007
LDS films must not betray values
I have not yet produced a Mormon film that I would put in the "classic" category. I have yet to see a "classic" film by any producer, director or writer in the LDS Church. I do not mean to offend any of my friends, for there are many talented filmmakers and storytellers in the church.
We seem to have forgotten what makes a truly great film. It is the message!
We must stand up and deliver a message that lifts us to be better than we are. It must be a message so well crafted that we need not compromise even one of the beliefs that we are so willing to die for.
When we are allowed within the inner thoughts of malleable souls, we enter sacred space. Filth, violence and all that which demeans will not provide anything worthy of God or worthy to be called great art.
John Heyman once said to me, "Your church will never produce a great film until they stop apologizing for who they are and what they believe."
May we reserve titles and praise until we see the kind of films the Maker would approve and say our work is good.
Lyle E. Shamo,
Letter to the Editor, May 16, 2007 (Not Published)
A Belief to Die For
Acceptance of the Book of Mormon as the word of God must be one of the messages which, according to Lyle E. Shomo, LDS filmmakers have no need to compromise--one of the beliefs Latter-day Saints are "so willing to die for."
2 Nephi 5:20-24 states that Laman and Lemuel, the Israelite ancestors of Native Americans, and their progeny were cursed by God with "skins of blackness" and caused to be loathsome. Oh, no! Dark skins! How repulsive and horrible! How ghastly!
Who wouldn't be so willing to die for noxious nonsense like this?
Wendell H. Hall
Wallsburg, UT 84082
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