Life After BYU — Blog — Daniel Embree

Why the Book of Mormon isn't what it claims to be.

Since I was a child learning how to read, I have been reading the Book of Mormon. I still open it and read it. But I have never studied it harder than when I was a missionary in California. It was in the last 6 months of my mission that I really started to look deep at it, and when I did, I kept finding things that didn’t belong. This bothered me... My initial doubts in the book started as a missionary because I was bothered by the persistent realization that the contents of the Book of Mormon served its author, Joseph Smith, and his 19th Century audience more than they served the characters in the text.

Commentary, Life After BYUDaniel EmbreeJanuary 20, 2017Book of Mormon, history, religion

My Garden Haven

I work on my garden every day. Every day. It needs to be watered daily--twice daily during those awful 90 degree days. The weeds never end. They always come up and need to be pulled, and just when I think I've pulled every last one, twelve more appear. But every day something is different. A new flower has bloomed. Another one doubled in size over night. Something I planted didn't like the summer heat and now its gone. A cat dug up something I need to fix. I've had to learn to work hard and be patient, because the payoff is delayed from the initial labor. I have to deal with disappointments. Sometimes something doesn't grow or doesn't turn into the flower that I wanted, but the garden is still beautiful. Really, these are the lessons that I needed.

Life After BYUDaniel EmbreeSeptember 9, 2016garden, New York City, Sunnyside