- JLM on Beyond the King James Version: The Church’s New Handbook Policy on Bible Translations: “I’ve been using the NRSV Cultural Background Study Bible for several years now. I have found the footnotes about the cultural context of many passages quite helpful.” Dec 17, 08:35
- on Beyond the King James Version: The Church’s New Handbook Policy on Bible Translations: “REC911, I heard that there was once a time when the Church’s magazine team (I think it was for the Ensign at the time) reached out to a BYU professor to write an article to explain KJV-style English to help people with praying or reading the Bible. He went through and did what they asked, keeping things as simple as possible. The article wasn’t printed on the grounds that it was too technical and difficult for an average reader. That wasn’t the professor’s fault, though – it’s just an artifact of how different English was 400 years ago. Anyway, yes, I hope we don’t have to pray in Jacobian English to be heard by God (or that we don’t have Church leaders arrogant enough to tell God what language He is allowed to accept).” Dec 17, 08:24
- on Beyond the King James Version: The Church’s New Handbook Policy on Bible Translations: “I think the newer translations can help us understand some passages better, but I still think the KJV should be the “daily driver” bible for members. I have a hard time feeling tingles with “The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing.” I got some pushback for this, but I still hold by it: https://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2024/09/why-the-king-james-version-is-the-best-bible-translation/” Dec 17, 08:17
- on Beyond the King James Version: The Church’s New Handbook Policy on Bible Translations: “can we now take out the thee, thou and thy of our KJV-style true and only way to pray, mormon prayers? Maybe God will still not hear us unless we use 17th century English.” Dec 17, 07:56
- on Beyond the King James Version: The Church’s New Handbook Policy on Bible Translations: “From the revised handbook entries on Artificial Intelligence, it seems the leadership is also concerned about people using AI to create readable versions of modern scriptures.” Dec 17, 07:35
- on Your Reactions to Church Yesterday, 12/14: “Here are my reactions to Sunday’s meeting: – There was a baby blessing. My heart filled with joy when the mother carried the child to the front, then she sat on a chair in the middle of the circle of men, the father placed his hands on the child’s head to give him a blessing. A welcome inclusive event. – A young deacon shared his experience of the priesthood in such a simple and humble way that I feel more understanding of the priesthood than ever before in my life. – An expression of gaining a testimony as a process like learning and growing appreciation and confidence in nature from simple walks in the woods to camping skills and wilderness survival was positively poetic. True worship and rejuvenation.” Dec 16, 22:24
- on Sociology of Religion Terms and the Restored Gospel: “Hoosier: That’s definitely part of it. For us TBMs we do have a monopoly on that, to continue with the metaphor. A Turtle Named Mack: Of course! How could I forget that one. The sect/religion transition is also a fruitful analytical lense, especially since a lot of our history can be described as us trying to be seen as a “legitimate” mainstream religion, but I don’t know if we’ll ever shake our “cult in the desert” image, and I wouldn’t expect God’s religious community to be any other way. I also like your startup analogy. We’re definitely past the startup stage where things are swinging hard back and forth hard and nobody knows if we’ll be around tomorrow. We’re here to stay, which is more comfortable if less exciting in a way. RL: I agree, on the high tension/low tension continuum I feel like we operate at a very unique location: being as high demand/tension as possible while still being “in the world.” It’s quite the balancing act creating Zion where we are instead of doing the closed off, intentional community thing. RLD: Good point. Conjuring up “collective effervescence,” maybe an intense version of what we’d call “the spirit” is hard. As a seminary teacher I could talk all day about the interesting aspects of this or that Old Testament book, it’s not that hard, it’s not even that hard to make it enjoyable and fun, but to teach it and have the spirit in the air is hard.” Dec 16, 19:34
- on CFM 12/22-12/28: Poetry for “The Matchless Gift of God’s Divine Son”: “Thank you, Kent. These are lovely and grand. Merry Christmas” Dec 16, 14:44
- on Sociology of Religion Terms and the Restored Gospel: ““Collective Effervescence” has not been part of my vocabulary, but it is exactly what I’m trying to produce whenever I conduct a church choir. I think I succeeded last Sunday (our Christmas program). But it’s my experience that only the choir members really get the resulting “electricity,” so if you want it you know what to do.” Dec 16, 14:07
- on Sociology of Religion Terms and the Restored Gospel: “On how we are unique at least in an American context I think the idea that we seem to like everyone else way more than they like us and makes us a unique worldview. We serve a place for folks who feel comfortable in this space. We also are participating in the largest private wealth transfer from the wealthy to the poor I can think of of and voluntary institution. I feel like our community identity is weaker than it was but still stronger than anything available in the Protestant sphere at least in the US. We stand out for our mission work in that it requires a temporary high commitment from those going out. On the convert side I think a lurking secondary variable of joining besides religious transformation is the desire for social transformation as it seems converts are either trying to find community or trying to find social mobility as outcasts. My ancestors in part joined to get out of poverty and move up and many current converts are doing this too. We the Church are focusing our efforts on this demographic with pathways.” Dec 16, 13:57
