Religion Today

Every parent has at one time or another worried about their wayward children.  In this episode of Religion Today host Martin Tanner explains why every faithful parent has the promises of God's prophets from Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, to the present, that their wayward children will eventually return to the Gospel principles of goodness and truth.  Martin explains why this is so without violating the principle of free agency.

Are critics correct, who claim the Gospels and other New Testament books were constructed well after the time of Jesus, from hearsay and second hand information, which makes them unreliable? In this Religion Today episode host Martin Tanner answers the opposite is true.  There are details in the Gospels which only eyewitnesses would know, confirming the Gospels and other New Testament books were written from eyewitness testimony.  Listen to hear the fascinating details!

If there is a God why doesn't everyone see him?  If there is a God, why is there suffering in the world, especially of innocent children? If there is an afterlife, why can't we see it? If there is a God why doesn't he answer my prayers? In this episode of Religion Today, host Martin Tanner provides answers to these and other difficult questions.

Biblical, scientific and restoration era evidence you may not have considered for the existence of God and Jesus are presented by host Martin Tanner. These include, (1) how rare belief in resurrection was at the time of Jesus, and how little evidence for it is found in the Old Testament, (2) how many modern scientific disciplines are coming to the conclusion scientific evidence suggests the existence of God, and, (3) how restoration and near-death experiences independently describe God and Jesus the same way.

Mauricio Berger of Brazil claims the Angel Moroni appeared to him in 2007.  Berger also claims he has translated part of the "sealed portion" of the Golden Plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated by Joseph Smith. After reading Berger's purported translation, Religion Today host Martin Tanner concludes this is a poor hoax. Berger's description of the physical description of the sealed portion of the Golden Plates contradicts the description of Joseph Smith and the three and eight witnesses.  Also, the content of Berger's bogus translation contradicts what the Book of Mormon describes in the Book of Ether.  Also, two of Berger's witnesses to the angel and Golden Plates have recanted.  Hear the details in this episode of Religion Today.

Host Martin Tanner describes how Papias in 140 AD said "Mark . . . the interpreter of Peter, wrote accurately but not in order all" Peter told him about the life of Jesus. Luke's Gospel says he "wrote in order" meaning he corrected the order.  Luke also supplemented Mark's Gospel with additional information from "eyewitnesses" at a time when there were many accounts of the life of Jesus.  The earliest Christians called their religion the "New Covenant" or sometimes "The Way" of Jesus or as taught by Jesus.  "Christians" was a put down by outsiders, which over time became the new way the early Church was described.

In this Religion Today episode host Martin Tanner explains why scholars believe Paul's letters were written between 45 AD and about 60 AD, before the Gospels.  According to tradition, Paul was beheaded in 64 AD.  The Gospels were written between 65 AD for the Gospel of Mark, and about 95-100 AD for the Gospel of John. Paul's letters were written to give encouragement and to combat problems in the congregation to which each is addressed.  The Gospel of Mark was written by "John Mark" who was a missionary companion of the Apostle Peter.

When Jews heard Jesus say he was the fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1, and the Kingdom of God was at hand, they recognized him as the promised Messiah. Jesus was also recognized by thoughtful, well read, Jewish listeners as the promised Messiah when he instituted the Sacrament as the "covenant of His blood" which was shed for them. Listeners would have instantly thought of Moses making the sacrifice in Exodus 24 and then throwing the blood of the sacrifice on the people, as Jesus fulfilling in their day, this Mosaic covenant.  Jewish listeners hearing Jesus message about loving God and loving other people, as the Messiah fulfilling the prophecy of Jeremiah recorded in Jeremiah 31:31-34.  Host Martin Tanner describes in detail these and other ways Jews recognized Jesus as the promised Messiah.

Host Martin Tanner's guest, BYU Professor Kerry Muhlstein, PhD, answers the question "What is the Covenant Path" we are supposed to be on?  What covenants has God asked us to make?  What blessing await those who follow those covenants?  The Abrahamic Covenant, Baptismal Covenant, Endowment covenants, Sacramental covenants, and others are discussed. Promising to obey covenants does not restrict, but gives freedom.  Just as safety results when traffic laws are obeyed, obeying God's covenants yields blessings - far greater than can be imagined.  In his new book "Finding Promised Blessings on The Covenant Path" (available on Amazon, at Seagull Book, Deseret Book, etc.) Professor Muhlstein explains these concepts in greater detail and many others.

In this Religion Today episode host Martin Tanner quotes Matthew 24 and describes how the plain meaning of many of the signs described by Jesus were to happen during the lifetime of his Apostles.  The meaning of the "Abomination of Desolation" in the Book of Danial and in the Gospels is explained as the Roman destruction of the Temple and desecration by sacrificing pigs on the alter. Martin describes Joseph Smith's statement that the "last great sign" before the Second Coming of Jesus will be misunderstood by the world as "a comet or a planet."  Then he quotes from Orson Hyde's amazing October 24, 1841 dedication of the land of Jerusalem for the return of the Jews, the "building up of Jerusalem" and the rebuilding or "rearing a Temple" in Jerusalem.