User:Jgardner



My name is Jonathan M. Gardner.

I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I am trying to make good NPOV contributions there. I'm open to corrections of any manner -- NPOV, grammar, etc.... I hope I don't affend the other "branches" of Mormonism with my ignorance. If I do, please correct me. But I also hope I don't misrepresent the LDS church's beliefs, history, and practices. If I do, please correct me.

I'm a True Blue Mormon (sometimes abbreviated TBM). That means I literally believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, that Joseph Smith really was what he claimed he was, that the priesthood authority lies only in our church, and that the Book of Mormon is an actual, accurate record of people that lived on the American continent. There are some who try to water down their beliefs and maintain their membership in the LDS church; I am not one of them.

If you want the real deal on the church, you'll have to invite some missionaries to give it to you personally. (see http://lds.org/) Otherwise, you'll be stuck with my attempts to document the factual history of the church, which, unfortunately, is not a foundation for real faith. The foundation of real faith is hearing the word preached by those who have the authority to preach, and then acting upon those words. That means you're going to have to find real missionaries, listen to their lessons, and do what they ask if you want real faith.

I served a mission in Seoul, Korea and neighboring Kangwon Province from 1995–1997. That's where I picked up Korean as a second language. I've been back several times for various reasons as my wife is a native Korean.

I live in Federal Way, Washington, which is in King County, Washington.

=Politics=

If you're into that sort of thing, you can read about my Politics.

=Works in Progress=

I'm experimenting with stuff. See Works in Progress.

=Help!=

Open tasks I would like some help with:
 * Finishing all the boxes for apostles.
 * Listing of apostles
 * Chronology of apostles
 * Basic bios

Contact me on my talk page if you want to help out.

=Philosophy=

Part of what we are is our history. Wikipedia should be a historical record.

History is the study of three things:
 * The events that occurred.
 * The environment they occurred in.
 * The people that participated.

We should be documenting:
 * Chronologies - list events that occurred and the people that made them happen. Put each period into a frame of reference.
 * Events - The individual events of significance. What led up to the event? What happened? What were its aftermaths? What was the environment of the event? Who participated?
 * Biographies - The individual who make up history. Who were they? What was their life like? What did they do? What events did they participate in?
 * Geographies - The lay of the land historically. Take any geographical location, and ask: What happened here when? Who lived or passed through here? How was this piece of land different throughout history? What changes made this land what it is today?

People browsing Wikipedia should browse by following connections between events, people, places and periods.

=Style=
 * Mention the church in church-related articles at the top.
 * Members of the LDS church can be referred to as "Latter-day Saints", "saints", "members of the church", or "Mormons". I have been using "Mormons" but I think I will start to use "members of the church" more frequently.
 * Cite sources - Use the templates for books, magazines, newspapers, etc...

= LDS Stuff =

Wikiproject
WikiProject Latter Day Saint

Apostles
I am trying to document names and dates and events for each of The Quorum of Twelve Apostles. Please contribute! I'm not that good of a writer, so you're welcome to edit it beyond simple fixes.

Notice: I am going to pay 2 coins via User:Bank_of_Wikipedia to anyone who writes a good article about any apostle with little or no previous documentation. Facts that absolutely must be present in an apostle article:
 * Conversion story - Why did they join the church or how did they become strong members?
 * Education - What colleges (if any) did they attend? What degrees have they earned and when?
 * Career - What is their professional career and what significant contributions have they made?
 * Church Service - What callings have they held (that are known)? When did they first become a general authority?
 * When were they called, ordained, etc (ordaining being the most important fact)?
 * Why were they called (who died or left?)
 * Counselorship - When were they called as a counselor to whom and how long?
 * Were they president of the quorum? From when to when? Who died to cause them to become president?
 * What have they done that is significant as an apostle (like Orson Hyde dedicating Palestine)?
 * How did they leave the quorum?

When you sign up via User_talk:Bank_of_Wikipedia, be sure to mention that I referred you there, as I get a small finder's fee.

Don't Forget

 * Categories:
 * XYZ births
 * XYZ deaths
 * disambiguation page for last name
 * cat for callings
 * Remove LDS stub!

Chronology
I've set up a chronology that I am working on. Please contribute!


 * 19th century (Mormonism)
 * 20th century (Mormonism)
 * 21st century (Mormonism)


 * 1820s (Mormonism)
 * 1830s (Mormonism)
 * 1840s (Mormonism)
 * 1850s (LDS)
 * 1860s (LDS)
 * 1870s (LDS)
 * 1880s (LDS)
 * 1890s (LDS)
 * 1900s (LDS)
 * 1910s (LDS)
 * 1920s (LDS)
 * 1930s (LDS)
 * 1940s (LDS)
 * 1950s (LDS)
 * 1960s (LDS)
 * 1970s (LDS)
 * 1980s (LDS)
 * 1990s (LDS)
 * 2000s (LDS)

Significant years with lots of events may have their own year page. So far, the only candidates are 1830 and a few others.

Note: If fractional coins are allowed, I am going to give 0.01 coins for each event added to the timeline appropriately. You can add events while browsing the LDS history pages. Sign up for an account at User talk:Bank of Wikipedia, and be sure to mention I led you there as I get a small finder's fee.

Book of Mormon
I want to link the book of mormon throughout the site. I've put a few pages in the years/decades/century sections. There are a few links from significant historical or biblical events as well.

Doctrine
We can easily document the doctrines of the church, and link and such between them. Some work needs to be done to make it all useful.

Joseph Smith Revelation
I would like to see a section on the revelations of Joseph Smith. The one about the Civil War fascinates me. There are some other fascinating ones as well.

Anti-Mormon Stuff
Reading through some of the documentation, I see too often hearsay mixed in with fact. Example: Danites. They were only alleged to be instituted by Joseph Smith. Facts have born out otherwise. I am trying to uproot and remove these false allegations and speculations and set everything straight.

Korean
I peeked over at the Korean translations of the LDS pages and they are terrible! I'm going to get my Korean keyboard working and make some badly needed fixes. Maybe I'll be able to practice my translation skills and get some awesome articles.

Priesthood Articles
The priesthood articles are not very well correlated. Some ideas:
 * Consolidate the articles into one or two articles.
 * Try to keep separate the understanding of the various sects of Mormonism.
 * Illustrate the history of the organization of the priesthood, culminating in the March 30, 1836 (?) announcement by Joseph Smith, Jr. That it was completed.
 * Compare the Mormon priesthood organization with priesthood organizations of the primitive Christian church and with the church organized in the Book of Mormon and the laws of Moses.
 * Special articles only on the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve, and Quorums of the Seventy? Or should we consolidate this in the above article?

Prominent Members
I should also like to see more effort to unify articles on prominent members of the church. I can think of a few: Archibald Gardner (my ancestor), B. H. Roberts, J. Golden Kimball, Mitt Romney, George Romney, etc... See here

=Vandals=

These are vandals that I've caught.
 * 209.158.164.133
 * 217.237.151.99

These are pages I've seen vandalized.
 * First Presidency
 * Brigham Young

=People to Watch=

Apparently, Mørmøn is the same as Nunh-huh. See this edit for proof.