Today my maternal grandfather, Joseph Arben Jolley, will be buried in Vernal, UT; nearly all my family will be there. This is the third family gathering from just this past year that we haven’t been able to attend, and perhaps may not be the last. Living far away from extended family is hard–a hardship that, I think, Grandpa Jolley understood well.
Year: 2005
JEF Sunday School Lesson #1 (Studying the Old Testament)
JEF Sunday School Lesson #1 (More Background)
Features of an ideal family planning method
Before posting on natural family planning (NFP) or any other family planning methods specifically, I think it is worthwhile to consider a more general question: What would you consider the features of an ideal method of family planning? I am talking here about features, not about any specific method. For reasons that may become apparent below, I prefer the broader term “family planning” to the terms “birth control” or “contraception.”
One Million Readers (and Counting)
Times and Seasons’s received its 1,000,000th visitor yesterday, at approximately 7:19pm. (The server used was cox.net, based in Tustin, CA; the page viewed was this one. Was it you? If so, our thanks, and our congratulations.)
JEF Sunday School Lesson #1
Moses 1 For a variety of reasons, including having been heavily involved in BYU’s London Study Abroad program, I’ve been without the time to generate study questions for the Sunday School Lessons.
JEF Sunday School Lesson #1 (Background)
Some Reasons Why Reading the Old Testament Can Be Difficult
On being a bookkeeper in Zion
As a young missionary, the Lord saw fit to inflict on me one the greatest trials that can afflict a Latter-day Saint: He forced me to become educated about Church financial controls and auditing procedures.
No sex, please — we’re Mormons
On a T&S thread, someone mentions sex. TMI, cry a few bloggernackers. But are they the exception or the rule? The numbers tell the tale: Gordon’s limbo thread has currently drawn 4 comments; Joe’s sex thread 86. The readers have spoken unambiguously. But why? Why do we so like to talk about sex in the bloggernacle?
JMS Sunday School Lesson #1
[I plan on posting the notes for my Gospel Doctrine lessons this year; I’ll put my initials in the title so that there won’t be any confusion in the sidebar or archives with my lessons and Jim’s.]
An evening in Queen Creek
The Arizona bloggersnacker at Geoff Johnston’s was quite fun. But what exactly happened at the party? Perhaps our readers would like to guess.
Are sex and procreation connected?
First, I’d like to thank Matt Evans for the invitation to be a guest contributor to T&S. On the too few occasions that I’ve taken the time to look through T&S, I’ve seen a lot of interesting and often edifying discussions. I hope I can contribute constructively. For my first contribution, I’d like to address the question: Is there a connection between having sex and having children?
Discarding Limbo
My mother was born to a Norwegian Lutheran, who feared for her infant children, lest they die prior to receiving the ordinance of baptism. I never knew my grandmother, but according to my mother, her fear was genuine.
Read-gifting
So which books molted beneath your tree and emerged Christmas morning? Let’s have them all, the good, the bad, the remaindered and the regifted.
Guest Blogger: Joseph Stanford
We’re pleased to introduce our latest guest blogger, Dr. Joseph Stanford. Dr. Stanford is a professor at the University of Utah Medical School where his research focuses on fertility care. This year he’s on sabbatical at the National Institutes of Health to do epidemiologic research related to human reproduction. He recently finished a three year appointment on the FDA Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs. Brother Stanford is an advocate of natural family planning and published an article on the topic for the religious journal First Things in November 1999. (The article caused some controversy about whether a Mormon “should” publish in a journal that publishes articles by Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish scholars.) Joe and his wife Kathleen have seven boys, all of whom, minus their eldest son who’s serving a mission in Toronto, are spending the year in my Maryland ward. Welcome, Brother Stanford.
Midwinter in the City
I’ve never spent Christmas in New York, but Garrison Keillor has. Of course, he’s by no means everyone’s ideal guide to the Christmas spirit…but I think he’s on to something nonetheless.
December into May: Two Christmas Poems
The weather in Boston is positively balmy–sunny and 45 degrees. This, of course, reminds me of a poem:
When A Child Arranges a Nativity Set
Why I Hate Libraries (and Love Them)
I usually hate libraries (a) because there are too many books.
Holiday Bloggersnackers
At the very least, there will be one in Arizona on the 27th. It should be fun. (Among the planned festivities is Geoff J. performing the Riverdance.) Where is everyone else going to be over the holidays? Are there any more holiday bloggersnackers happening — or waiting to happen?
Book Review: David O. McKay Around the World
Every writer’s worst nightmare actually came true for Hugh J. Cannon: the only copy of his manuscript was “misplaced” by the publisher. . .
The Christmas Program
My ward is doing a musical Sacrament meeting this year. What is your ward doing?
Book Review: Early Christians in Disarray
Can you really understand what the Restoration is if you don’t have your mind around what the Great Apostasy was?
From the Archives: Navidad Sin Ti
In this time of the year, we hear lots of Christmas songs. There’s one song in particular that I’ve come to enjoy hearing around Christmas, though at one time I never thought this would be possible. The song is “Navidad Sin Tiâ€? by the Ranchera music group (essentially country music in Spanish) Los Bukis. (more…)
What the Smith Boys Said This Year
In 2005, Simon turned seven, Nathan turned four, and Truman turned one.
Why Jesus Will Not Save You: A Short Spiritual Autobiography
When I look at my life and pick out its most significant spiritual events, one that stands out is a night when, unbidden and unexpected, God told me that he was angry because I was reading the New Testament.
From the Archives: What Are You Doing on December 23rd?
When I wrote this post two years ago, its title was an open-ended question. This year, at least, there is a reasonably official Mormon answer.
Charitable Impulses in a Consumer Society
Start from the premise that we all want the world to be a better place. We want equity, justice, prosperity, security, etc. for everyone. Should we pursue those goals through our purchasing decisions?
Falls, Gardens, Deaths
In New Mexico the weeks before Thanksgiving are High Fall, autumn in abundance, all gold colors and fruits. Thanksgiving is the high point of that season, and also its end. Then its sand hill crane season, Christmas, and winter.
Christmas Cigarettes
Imagine that universally-respected researchers had determined that most of the people in your community eat far more sugar and fat than they should, and are at serious risk of developing diabetes, hardened arteries, and other ailments associated with poor diet and inadequate exercise. If you were to live in such a community, how much sugar-filled and fat-laden goodies would you give your neighbors at Christmastime?