It’s a vexing question, asked frequently and nearly always plaintively. President Boyd K. Packer asked it rhetorically this week, supporting and strongly affirming the church’s stance on sexuality and marriage. He stated: We teach the standard of moral conduct that will protect us from Satan’s many substitutes and counterfeits for marriage. We must understand that any persuasion to enter into any relationship that is not in harmony with the principles of the gospel must be wrong. From The Book of Mormon we learn that wickedness never was happiness. Some suppose that they were pre-set and cannot overcome what they... Read more »
LDS Newsroom
- Funeral Services for Frances J. Monson Announced May 20, 2013
- Frances J. Monson, Wife of President Thomas S. Monson, Passes Away May 17, 2013
- Elder Dallin H. Oaks Honored for Championing Religious Freedom May 16, 2013
- Mormonism in the News: Getting It Right| 15 May 2013 May 15, 2013
- Rendering of Meridian Idaho Mormon Temple Now Public May 15, 2013
- Mormons Around the World: Country Newsroom Websites |14 May 2013 May 14, 2013
- Mormon Delegation Encourages Religious Dialogue at International Conference May 14, 2013
- Church Donates More Than 1 Million Pounds of Food to Top Hunger-Relief Organization May 9, 2013
- Mormons Around the World: Country Newsroom Websites | May 9 May 9, 2013
- Mormonism in the News: Getting It Right | 8 May 2013 May 8, 2013
Blog Archives
Credible Criticism
This weekend the interweb exploded with a post at Mormon Matters entitled Elder Marlin Jensen Apologizes for Proposition 8. In the ensuing discussion there, and in numerous discussions on Facebook, a debate erupted over whether the headline and the conclusions were warranted, or whether it was being spun into something that could be used by advocates for change. (For a good reflection of what actually happened in the meeting, refer to Carol Lynn Pearson’s comment at Mormon Matters, and her published notes of the account here.) Particularly relevant is that the debate about the tactics used was largely confined... Read more »
Confessions of a Shopping Mall Santa
Christmas Season, 1989. I was a freshman at the University of Utah, my first year away from home. As a poor student I was looking for extra holiday cash, and the Help Wanted ad for a shopping mall Santa seemed like just the thing. Despite my 18-year-oldness, the manager was desperate to fill the big chair, so I walked out of my short interview with a prosthetic belly, a red suit, a wig, and some bells. Christmas had lost its luster a decade before, the day I had gone searching for my swimming mask and snorkel in our... Read more »
First Presidency Christmas Devotional Ticket Giveaway
In the spirit of the season, Times and Seasons is giving away three sets of tickets to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. The event is on Sunday, December 6th, at the Conference Center, and will feature the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square. These tickets are in high demand and only offered by the Church in a random distribution. Fortunately for our readers, scheduling conflicts prevent us from using these. We are offering them in a random drawing to be held on Monday, November 30th at 10:00 PM. To Enter Simply leave a comment on this... Read more »
Writings in the Stone
Some years ago I sat in a Gospel Doctrine class taught by a physician. I mention his profession because I think it matters, as he took the opportunity to deviate from the lesson and condemn in the strongest terms the theory of evolution. He labeled it a satanic concept, one that we must avoid, one that destroys faith. I took a deep breath and then spoke up. I pointed out the numerous statements and scriptures supporting learning from the best books, and pointed to Brigham Young’s statement that Mormonism embraces all truth. It wasn’t the most uplifting class. I... Read more »
Our New Look
So, Times and Seasons is sporting a new look. But rest assured, while the packaging has changed we are not tinkering with the secret formula that creates the sweet, slightly acidic, but oh-so-refreshing content inside. This new design is - a bit lighter - a bit wider - aimed at featuring more – and more frequent – content By moving to a magazine-style layout, we still show the most recent post in a full and prominent position. But by breaking from a traditional listing format, we are able to show more headlines on the screen and include more posts... Read more »
Charter for Compassion
In February, 2008, noted religious author Karen Armstrong was awarded the TED Prize, and her wish for the world was to gather a council of Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and other spiritual leaders to draw up a “Charter for Compassion.” 1 person likes this post. Like Unlike Read more »
The Road
The persistence of love between a father and a son. Our most cherished relationships, our strongest commitments, laid bare in a book and a movie. Read more »
My Teen Swears in the Name of Art
They immersed themselves in the characters and, by so doing, opened the door to deeply significant conversations between the cast, their parents, and the community. Artistic explorations have the power to touch us deeply, in ways that detached discussion about concepts cannot. Read more »
Joseph Smith Papers Book Signing – October 1
This new volume is the second overall in the Joseph Smith Papers, but is the first of the Revelations and Translation series which will provide transcripts of many of the earliest manuscripts of Joseph Smith’s written revelations and translations... Read more »
Corianton – An Unholy Review
Short review of Corianton: By today's standards, it wasn't a very good movie. But by 1931 standards? Well, it wasn't a very good movie. Read more »
Spiritual Pickpockets
Does God want you to be rich? Certainly! If you believe Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, preaching their form of Prosperity Theology. They are the focus of an August 15 article at the New York Times. (H/T BCC) Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
Liveblogging Symposium – Stay-at-home Moms: On the Record
EDIT: Emily Jensen has a great article on this at Mormon Times, and offers a much better (and more readable) synopsis. See it at http://bit.ly/GOEdq Approximately 30 people in attendance, an engaging and personable panel: Moderator/ CAMILLE AAGARD, former account executive at a public relations agency; cleaned out her desk two days before giving birth to her first child in 1998 and began a new career at home rearing five children, ages one to 11 Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »
8 Seconds
I entered a rodeo once (and if you know me, you know how absurd that is). I rode a bull in the very arena that we watched the bull riders this weekend. It was my only rodeo, and I dominated that bull for the full 8 seconds. Read more »
Brotherhood. Friendship.
Key to this is our ability to strip ourselves of pretense; to lay bare our faults, our doubts, and our struggles. It is a refreshing - and frightening - experience to be completely candid, to trust the others within the group to listen and respect our experiences, even as they candidly respond and criticize. It can be brutal at times, but behind that brutality is always a sense of love and friendship. Read more »
Musings on Drifting Faith
The question becomes not if our policies and teachings will adapt, but rather how. And further, what statements are we making today - strident and bombastic - for which we will be judged tomorrow? Statements and positions that our future generations will be pressed to reconcile, to explain, or to disavow? Read more »
Speaking of Faith
Religion can be divisive. We read of historical confrontations and we witness the divisiveness in the world around us – between major world religions and among the sectarian branches they foster. But while religion and faith claims can be divisive, it needn’t be this way. There are ways to approach faith and differences of faith in constructive, expanding ways. One example is carried on over 200 public radio stations each week, a program called Speaking of Faith. The host, Krista Tippett, explores faith in a narrative approach that draws out the complexities of, the power in, and the wisdom... Read more »
The Ninety-Nine and the One
It isn’t easy to be inconvenienced, especially when we are asked to tolerate the views or the actions of the other, and love them too! It would be easier to ignore them, cast them out, keep things easy and pure. But that isn't the plan. Read more »
Conferences and Events
- American Society of Church History Annual Meeting
- American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting
- Communal Studies Association Annual Meeting
- Society for the Scientific Study of Religion/Religious Research Association
- Western History Association Annual Conference
- Utah State Historical Society Annual Meeting
- Center for Studies on New Religions
- Mormon History Association
- European Mormon Studies Association Conference
- Sunstone Symposium