In the midst of a satisfying career in nanotechnology, my bus time, Sunday time and many evenings have been filled with my hobby—writing. Ideas come piecewise during my frequent drives to the ranch, while driving tractors and fixing fences, and during my morning shower. Siri has benefited my writing by allowing me to capture ideas in the middle of the night without turning on a light, though I can’t say that this doesn’t disturb my sleeping wife.
Inviting all–even the heavy laden–to come to Christ
The Spring 2019 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was my wake-up call to ponder and suggest a solution to the problem the church faces in institutionally showing Christlike love toward LGT parents and individuals who wish to seek Jesus’ salvation within the Church. How to love them unconditionally both in policy and in practice? Here are my suggestions in the form of questions: Railroaded to Heaven
Adam and Eve should be celebrated not for falling but for having the courage to repent and showing us how to do the same; returning to God through Jesus
Prior to relocating my career to New Jersey during the summer of 2018, the main topic of my passion has been to sort out the contradictions and paradoxes in the way my church has traditionally viewed “The Fall” of our first parents in Eden. But many other beautiful concepts flow from discarding the traditional view of Adam and Eve in favor of a paradigm based in first and only believing God. It is the primary path to come unto Christ: A Case for Coming to Christ
Here are a couple of brief, one-page overviews and statements of the problem: Reconsidering the LDS perspective of the Fall (May, 2016), God Never SInned Mar_15, 14_Summary of problem
It is said of Martin Luther that his theses are quite repetitive. Whereas Martin Luther used 95 restatements of essentially a single message: the church should not be selling indulgences; so in my case I use 95 theses to restate and repeat essentially one single message: the church should not be in the business of endorsing or advocating belief in Lucifer’s words in preference to believing God’s words at face value as heard spoken during our temple’s dramatic portrayal of Eden.
View 95 Theses Revisited as HTML with hoverable, hyperlinked text.
View 95 Theses Revisited as a webpage
Interested in a fresh, new perspective on the Fall-AdamEve?
SacredToSecret: Crossing the Line from Sacred to Secret: Seven Reasons Latter-day Saints Should Be Openly Discussing the Latest Temple Changes (23 February, 2019)
Order The Lineage of the Lie from Outskirts Press, Amazon or as an iBook
Order Satan Gets to Reign BAD THINGS HAPPEN God Gets the Blame from Outskirts Press, Amazon or as an iBook
All proceeds beyond marketing and publication costs from these books go toward humanitarian efforts at OURrescue.org.
Other materials on the same topic
A poetic meditation, “Whose is death?” with context: Whose_is_Death_essay
“Reconsidering the Three Pillars of Eternity Metaphor”, an essay included in a September, 2017 letter to President Russell M. Nelson while he was still President of the Quorum of the Twelve. I have no reason to believe it reached its intended audience. Also included in Part-I of the book “The Lineage of the Lie” as part of that book’s “Statement of the Problem”.
An unpublished essay intended to encourage my middle daughter to listen more attentively when interacting with Evangelical Christians as a missionary in the Southern States: TeachFromTheLittleBox
9 Paradoxes solved by CS Lewis: an analysis of the Fall wherein CS Lewis suggests, All this that we are now talking has been talked before. In fact, Lewis has imagined a world in which a tempter tried and failed to subjugate the first lady of that world. He has thought through and addressed these issues that are so paradoxical within LDS theology. (2016)
Modern References to the Fortunate Fall And The Garden Infertility Paradox (Prepared for my stake president, 23 September, 2016)
Foundational Principles: Shouldn’t we Believe God in the Temple, Rather than Lucifer? (Prepared for my stake president, November, 2016)
A conflicted temple experience when my youngest daughter prepared to receive her endowment (I met her in the Celestial Room after): AConflictedTempleExperience
An essay sent to the Ensign but declined for publication: Culling Sacred Cows from the LDS Hymnal . (2018)
10/2/17 Effort to notify the Ensign editors regarding Pres. Nelson’s (then President of the Twelve) errors in the footnotes he delivered to the press after speaking in Conference: Ensign_Nelson_17
Response to LDS Living’s May/June 2018 Issue “5 Things Every Mormon Should Know About Eve”. My Letter of May 3, 2018 said,
“Dear LDS Living Editor,
Today I met with a General Authority to discuss the fallacious cultural tradition that rationalizes the disobedience of our First Parents in Eden, using the article in your recent issue as a case study.
When I have submitted articles to LDS Living in the past, they have been rejected on the grounds that they pursue doctrinal topics and that they quote scriptures. I suggest LDS Living should adhere to that policy strictly as opposed to teaching false doctrine.
Please see attached rebuttal here, which I would be very happy to elaborate at your convenience.
Ask the right questions (2016) suggests a way for anyone to position themselves to receive true answers. It also explains why our leaders have so far failed to receive these answers related to the fall in Eden for themselves and for others.
Back to square one in the garden: Reflecting on the Potential Impact of Believing God in Our Temple’s Eden (2016)
“Well, Dr. Nibley, I Do Have a Suggestion: Always Believe God, Always Disbelieve Lucifer“, By Ian R. Harvey, Sunstone Magazine, Winter, 2016, issue 183. (Please let me know if you are otherwise unable to obtain a reprint of this article)
During the summer of 2017 I had the opportunity to present my two recent book projects at the Salt Lake Sunstone Symposium .
SunstoneHandout_17 including The Moral Agency Blueprint
Jesus heals broken hearts, broken spirits and broken relationships: SacMtg3_26_17_JoyToTheWorld
Princeton2nd_adversity is a talk I was asked to give on the 24th of July weekend in our sacrament service, 2018
On Becoming a Mormon Essayist (2016) will give the reader background on why and how I unsuccessfully attempted to break in to the Mormon Intellectual publishing club in order to raise awareness to the contradictions inherent in culturally celebrating the disobedience of our first parents in Eden. I am grateful for mentoring I received in my writing, but ultimately this and other essays never found favor among editors sufficient to merit ink.