Author: benspackman

Black Friday and Boston reports

Logos has two sets of study Bible notes I recommend on sale. I don’t know how long these will last: the Jewish Study Bible notes, and the Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible notes, both of which I highly recommend. Per the demo video on this post, you can link these (or others) together to whatever translation(s) you want for your daily reading.

As it turns out, you can legitimately download the former for free in PDF now, though the price is offset by the format. Go here and click on PDF.

Continue reading

Is the Endowment Best Understood as a “Gift”? And What does Incense have to do with Anything?

We LDS often say “endowment means a gift.” Yes, but that is both incomplete and not even the main or most important part! As it turns out, “endow” has several hundred years of financial/property/donation/gift ideas behind it, so it’s not surprising to hear that kind of meaning applied to the temple ordinances. This, however, is the tip of a very large iceberg, and all the interesting stuff is below the surface.

Continue reading