A Mormon Image
Cornucopia
Mirth in Marriage
The other night as we were getting ready for bed, my wife said, “You know Dane, I really miss laughing. I don’t mean like little *he he he* laughs, I mean deep, cleansing laughter.” And she’s right. Between children, school, and the pressures of responsible adult life, laughter kind of got lost somewhere. I don’t... Read More »
OT Lesson 12 Study Notes: Genesis 40-45
Genesis 40 Verse 1: How long do you think “after these things” might represent, a long time or a short time? Why do you think we hear nothing further about Potiphar’s wife and what became of her? Verse 2: Note that “butler” is probably better translated “cup bearer,” and “baker” is probably better translated “royal scribe.” These are... Read More »
Soul Work
Norbert at BCC recently shared this reminiscence about his wilder days at BYU. What struck me most was the conversation in the comments between Norbert and his friends and acquaintances from those days. I caught glimpses of magical people from a mystical (or mythical?) time. Read More »
A Thing to Grasp
Havelock Ellis said, "It is only the great men who are truly obscene. If they had not dared to be obscene, they could never have dared to be great." I think the word "obscene" here denotes not mere prurience or crudeness, but more generally the will to defy social expectations. It is in this... Read More »
The Test
When asked why life is hard, the Sunday school teachers of my youth replied, “Life is a test. It’s supposed to be hard.” The scriptures support the life-as-test perspective — a “probationary state” where we “prove” ourselves. Of course, if life is a test, then that means it’s designed to prepare us for what comes... Read More »
Organizational Management in the Church
I’m sitting in my organizational management class right now. That (combined with having just finally finished Lengthen Your Stride, which opened my eyes to the challenge of managing a global organization) has got me thinking about why the church is structured the way it is. Many attributes of the church that we like to complain... Read More »
Easter Conference
I love General Conference. And not just because I get to have Couch Church. I love everything about it. We generally spend a couple of weeks in our family revving up for the semi-annual event. We’ve found lots of ways to make General Conference memorable. I love holidays. Every single one. Even Labor Day. I... Read More »
Gospel Principles Lesson #5
Chapter Five: The Creation 4 people like this post.Like Read More »
Nibley vindicatus; or Göbekli Tepe: a personal view
I fell in love almost simultaneously, as a junior in high school, with historical linguistics and Hugh Nibley. 10 people like this post.Like Read More »
Answering Nate
"Once upon a time, numberless spirits inhabited the vast chaos of space and unorganized matter. They exercised their minuscule powers to organize little creations, but these quickly vanished in the swirling chaos, like sand castles against the tide. Having spent an eternity without achieving any lasting accomplishments, these spirits mostly just despaired and drifted. One... Read More »
My God
I love my God. He loves me. Sometimes I suffer, and sometimes there is nothing He can do about it, and I love that. I love my God because He is limited, like me. He prepares my way to eternal joy, but He does not put me there. Why not? Is it because He chooses... Read More »
Suckers and Monsters
We human beings don’t handle technological progress very gracefully. Those of us who have spent years doing things “the hard way” can feel cheated when suddenly someone invents an easy way. Take, for example, the ballpoint pen. This little invention (and its immediate predecessors) essentially obsoleted centuries of tradition in penmanship, calligraphy, and pen care.... Read More »
Heresy and Adding Upon
Many Mormons find that many Christian discussions are compatible with Mormon belief. We cheerfully borrow from C.S. Lewis, for instance, simply adding a Mormon gloss to Lewis’s statements; we happily listen to Switchfoot or Joy Williams. The idea of adding upon a Christian foundation has become popular in missionary discussion, as well.... Read More »
Lineage: A Troubling Concept
Here’s a quote from Lesson 7, “The Abrahamic Covenant,” that caught my attention in Sunday School: The great majority of those who become members of the Church are literal descendants of Abraham through Ephraim, son of Joseph. Those who are not literal descendants of Abraham and Israel must become such, and when they are baptized... Read More »
Friendship is Unnatural
I love the interactive nature of blogging. I had planned to close this series with a post neatly tying everything together, but all of your contributions have challenged my premises and preconceptions to the point that I can't do it. I started this series with some really good ideas, as well as some very... Read More »
How to make Mormon literature great
Glenn Beck, the soapbox orator of cable television, has done more, save Sheri Dew only, for the greatness of Mormon literature, than any other person that ever lived. 3 people like this post.Like Read More »
How Christian were the Founders?
That’s the topic of this fascinating NYT article. The article probably spends a little too much time poking fun at the backward Texans (though it’s so easy); but also does a good job of laying out the complicated question of deciphering just how Christian the founders were. My favorite quote: Or, as Brookhiser... Read More »
Community Considerations – or – Nine Reasons “40 Acres and My Friends” Is a Bad Idea
This isn't to discourage anyone from trying the "forty acres and my friends" approach. However, the beautiful vision of "let's get all my friends together, buy some land, and live happily together forever" has a tendency to gloss over some of the very real issues that communities have to deal with. Here are a... Read More »
Just One More Cigarette
This story is going to make Wilfried wince, because he’s heard too many like it, but I finally need to tell it to someone besides myself. 14 people like this post.Like Read More »
Dispensations
While the occurrence of a general apostasy is a matter of belief and not observable by historical inquiry, dispensations are born with a burst of documentary evidence. 4 people like this post.Like Read More »
5 things to do while waiting for Feminist Mormon Housewives to return
Feminist Mormon Housewives is one of our favorite bloggernacle blogs, with a strong core of bloggers, a variety of smart and lively posts, and a great community. Unfortunately, FMH has been down for the past two days, a victim of the patriarchy — err, of a server crash. Lisa is optimistic that the blog... Read More »
Scholars Testify
If you haven't yet done so, take a look at the discussions over at Mormon Scholars Testify, where a set of fascinating and often familiar voices, including Jim Faulconer, Wilfried Decoo, Richard Bushman, Kevin Barney, Blake Ostler, David H. Bailey, and dozens more, describe the foundations of their beliefs. It's a great project,... Read More »
Building Your Own Green Hill
If you're feeling moved upon to bring together a community of your own, here are some approaches you might consider. I've divided them into two sections: organic and venture. Organic approaches to community building grow fairly naturally out of everyday living. They may sound mundane -- you're probably already doing some of them -- but... Read More »
Putting the Sunday in the Super Bowl
Some time ago on T&S, I survived a discussion on the history of Sunday (got no t-shirt though). That knock-down drag-out event included some talk of sports, but overall was pretty general. In light of the upcoming Super Bowl I thought it might be fun(?) to look at the rise of Sunday sport more... Read More »
The Tebows and Other Good Omens
I never expected to see the day that Kate Michelman, past president of NARAL, would write, “all sorts of well-educated and progressive people are comfortable calling themselves pro-life.” Michelman’s opinion piece in the Washington Post is fascinating not only for her openly acknowledging the eroding support for her movement (she says recent polls... Read More »
Reading lessons: interfaith, intertext, intersect
Last Saturday morning I attended an interfaith Torah study session, warmly hosted at the Shaare Emeth congregation and jointly led by LDS and Jewish presenters. The discussion focused on the week’s Torah portion, parashat bo, which recounts the story in Exodus 10 of the plagues visited on Pharaoh at his refusal to free... Read More »
Abstinence Education Works, Study Says
A new study finds that abstinence education works. 0 people like this post.Like Read More »
Testimonies of the Bloggernacle
A friend asked whether I was aware of any good collections of testimony or “Why I Believe”-type posts in the Bloggernacle. Nothing really sprung to mind, so I thought I’d issue a call for people to share their favorites here. I’ll compile a running bullet-point list below of the suggestions. 3 people like this... Read More »
Gospel Principles Lesson #3
RS Lesson #3: Jesus Christ, Our Chosen Savior and Leader 20 people like this post.Like Read More »
Program
Programs and lifestyle are the main repositories of culture in a community. Programs are optional. Lifestyles are not. The person who declines to participate in a program still gets to sit in the audience at the awards ceremony. The person who declines to participate in a lifestyle is excluded from the flow of community... Read More »
Links
- Official LDS Church Site
- A Motley Vision
- A Soft Answer
- Beginnings New
- Book of Mormon Flooding
- By Common Consent
- Clobberblog
- Crunchy Conservative
- Dave’s Mormon Inquiry
- Dialogue Paperless
- Equality and Social Justice
- Exponent II Blog
- FAIR Blog
- Faith Promoting Rumor
- Feast Upon the Word
- Feminist Mormon Housewives
- Junior Ganymede
- Juvenile Instructor
- Keepapitchinin
- Kulturblog
- LDS Newsroom Blog
- Messenger and Advocate
- Michael Otterson, On Faith
- Millennial Star
- Mormanity
- Mormon Matters
- Mormon Mentality
- Mormon Metaphysics
- Mormon Momma
- Mormon Mommy Wars
- Mormon Scholars Testify
- Mormon Stories
- Mormon Times
- New Cool Thang
- Nine Moons
- Patheos
- Segullah Blog
- Straight and Narrow
- Sunstone Blog
- Things of My Soul
- Today in the Bloggernacle
- Waters of Mormon
- Zelophehad’s Daughters
- Our Blogroll Policy
Conferences and Events
- - Utah State History Annual Conference (Sep 9, 2010)
- - SVU Education Conference (Jun 4, 2010)
- - BYU Women's Conference (Apr 29, 2010)
- - Marilyn Arnold: "Nibley on the Book of Mormon" (Mar 25, 2010)
- - John W. Welch: "The Lasting Legacies of Hugh W. Nibley" (Mar 11, 2010)
- - Helen Whitney's "The Mormons": Reflections and Analysis on Religion and Film (Feb 12, 2010)
- - Grant Hardy: "Reading the Book of Mormon" (Feb 19, 2010)
- - Eric Huntsman: "Nibley and Classical Scholarship" (Mar 18, 2010)
- - Daniel Walker Howe: "The Transformation of America, 1815-1848" (Jan 30, 2010)
- - Daniel Peterson: "Nibley as Apologist" (Feb 4, 2010)
- - Church History Symposium (Feb 26, 2010)
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