- Ben on 19th-21st Century Biology Disciple Scholars : “Perhaps Michael Whiting, who had the cover story on Nature for his evidence that phasmids evolved wings twice.” Aug 14, 13:53
- on Faith Is a Hope, by Alma the Younger (Alma 32): “Here’s a question that arose for me when reading verse 23 this time: What form(s) might be used by angels to use to impart God’s word to men, women, and children? Since this was not a 21st century Christian audience he was speaking to their understanding of the translated English word “angel” would most definitely meant something different than what we hear today. Perhaps their definition would have been closer to the Native American traditions than ours: “In Native American traditions, lesser spirits and animal guides are not separate from nature, but are part of a deeply interconnected universe where everything—plants, rocks, rivers, and animals—possesses a living spirit. Rather than being viewed as “servants” of a distant god like biblical angels, these entities are seen as relatives, teachers, and powerful neighbors.”” Aug 14, 12:53
- on Tangled Assets and Legal Erasure: Emma Smith’s Fight for Financial Survival: “Yeah, real life is complicated. It is overly simplistic to broadly say that people who leave the church are sinners, lazy learners, casual disciples, too-easily-offended, and so forth. Sometimes there might be real and compelling reasons, and sometimes we might not deal well with those reasons. To the affected persons, those reasons are realities. I appreciate efforts to re-visit history and to add to the richness of our understanding.” Aug 14, 10:10
- on 19th-21st Century Biology Disciple Scholars : “I wasn’t aware of Chardin, interesting guy. The disciple-scholar series doesn’t have much in terms of a systematic methodology, and I’m actually less familiar with the LDS biology landscape (Stephen Peck? Kent’s wife?). Beyond people who talk about religion and science, is there an LDS-background biologist who’s sort of a counterpart to Thomas Hales, Henry Eyring, or Kipp Thorne? Somebody who’s reached the absolute tip-top of the field? ” Aug 14, 07:48
- on Responsibility in our Meetings (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday), 8/9: “In sacrament meeting, a sister who joined the Church a few years ago told us about her spiritual journey, both before and after her baptism. The remarkable thing is that several of her stories directly addressed issues discussed in the ward council meeting just before. That cannot have been a coincidence. Our Elder’s Quorum lesson went badly off the rails and we ended up discussing the Book of Joshua and the other times the Old Testament has God commanding large-scale violence. (This was clearly not what the instructor had intended but, honestly, he should have known the material he brought in was going to take us there.) I eventually brought up that many biblical scholars and archeologists doubt the violence described in Joshua ever happened, and it wouldn’t affect my testimony if it didn’t–Stephen F would have been proud. I got no pushback. I was surprised and amused that the missionaries were eager to talk about it afterward, and brought up the theory that the Deuteronomists had warped the Old Testament histories. My ward is definitely not representative of the Church as a whole, but in it there’s room both for people who take the Old Testament as accurate history and those who don’t, and we get along just fine.” Aug 14, 01:20
- on Faith Is a Hope, by Alma the Younger (Alma 32): “The opposite of following Alma’s counsel isn’t going to the synagogue too often, it’s doing what the Zoramites were doing: going to the synagogue on the Sabbath and then ignoring their religion for the rest of the week. Alma and Amulek teach that the gospel should change everything we are and do, but they also emphasize regular spiritual practices, especially prayer. (Alma 32-34 is one sermon.) They don’t talk about the temple: temple worship would have been very different in Alma’s day, and it’s not clear what role it played in the Nephites’ lives. But modern temple worship seems very much in line with what Alma and Amulek are encouraging us to do.” Aug 14, 01:02
- on Responsibility in our Meetings (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday), 8/9: “ji: “This isn’t my feel for our general church culture…” I must admit that I hear the complaints mostly on the bloggernacle (do we still use that term?) and othe online discussion forums. I have not heard it in GC or from leaders, nor from all members at church. I hope I didn’t give the impression that I thought it was everyone. I think it’s a vocal minority. You also said: “but I also think that our leaders have some responsibility for our church culture” Oh, I agree completely. My ideas are meant to help those who are struggling with church until such time as things improve or they are in a place where they can influence change, I think that the change sought will take a while. We need something to help in the meantime. And we need better and more detailed ideas to persuade leaders of the changes needed.” Aug 13, 19:39
- on Responsibility in our Meetings (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday), 8/9: “jader3rd: I love how that worked out!! We don’t need to be afraid of controversy!” Aug 13, 19:25
- on Responsibility in our Meetings (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday), 8/9: “Not a Cougar: “What do you do with or say to the people who either don’t have the capacity or don’t have the desire…” Well, I don’t want to stereotype anyone into a particular understanding of the world — people do change at least a little. And often that change comes because of outside influences—cultural factors that make it uncomfortable to not change. I suspect that a lot of the reason that some people don’t look for meaning in what happens in life (and therefore in church also) is cultural—we are essentially taught that we don’t need to look further than our surface impressions. You seem to think I have some grand plan worked out for how to spread these ideas beyond what I am doing here. I don’t. I guess I just hope that showing a few people a good idea will let that idea spread. Regardless, I hope by doing this I can help a few people—kind of like the guy who was throwing stranded starfish back into the ocean. When someone pointed out that he couldn’t save all the starfish, he said, as he threw another one into the water, “well, I can save that one.” I think these ideas work and can help at least some people. The process of writing these posts and reading comments has helped me think through these ideas better. Maybe that will lead to something more.” Aug 13, 19:22
- on 19th-21st Century Biology Disciple Scholars : “rogerdhansen is right. Chardin is important. I’m also confused about why you haven’t included any LDS scientists. What is your methodology? If I knew I would suggest my wife, but…” Aug 13, 18:07
