- Southern Saint on Joseph Smith as a 19th Century L. Ron Hubbard: “I’ve heard it all: Mormonism is “19th century Scientology.” Mormonism is “Islam for white people.” The Nation of Islam is “Mormonism for black people.” And so on. It’s all very reductionist and juvenile.” Sep 22, 08:46
- on Joseph Smith as a 19th Century L. Ron Hubbard: “My one starting and ending beef with Scientology is its universal opposition to all psychiatric medication. I used to live in Hollywood and went to the anti psychiatry museum and ended up arguing with there visitor center person when they tried to sell me on their view. While psych med prescriptions isn’t always correct the message not to take meds is harmful to many who buy the take. They also seemed to be recording or monitoring visitors digitally when they visit, so it was kind of a creepy experience. I’ve never met a Scientology member in the wild, especially in the places I’ve lived in flyover country. I don’t like being compared to Scientologists or Evangelicals in general but I can see why people do it.” Sep 22, 07:31
- on Judging in our Meetings (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday), 9/20: “Annual Primary Program; the one time a year when (it’s basically assured) that one will “feel the Spirit”. Not to be missed. Otherwise, on most weeks, once the Sacrament has been taken; it’s simply bland drudgery and pablum; on endless repeat.” Sep 22, 07:18
- on Judging in our Meetings (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday), 9/20: “I am Sunday School President and I noted yesterday that our teachers (in Sunday School and R.S. and E.Q.) all struggled and seemed frustated by the shorter lesson time. Setting up some main points, covering a verse/quote or two and fielding comments in 20 minutes is a tough job. I jokingly told the Bishop that we should have cut the high council speaker. I wonder if Salt Lake is aware of the difficulty? We also discussed Chrsitofferson’s talk. Our discussion turned to Grace and how it transforms human hearts. We did have our monthly linger longer, which is one of the best things our ward has ever done. It is where I was able to get additional feedback from our teachers while munching a brownie (or two).” Sep 21, 18:43
- on A Review: The Diaries of Carol Lynn Pearson: Mormon Author, Feminist, and Activist, Volume 1: 1956–1990: “Wow, thanks for this. I am also hoping for something that will make BKP more three dimensional. I remember him speaking in the MTC and using the “Thimble and Umbrella” analogy, and listening to a talk about a newly married woman saying “my troubles are finally at an end”, to which her mother replied, “yes, my dear, you just don’t know which end.” He had a certain wisdom that needs to be acknowledged.” Sep 20, 19:42
- on Judging in our Meetings (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday), 9/20: “Here’s a few of my thoughts in reaction to what I experienced in Church yesterday (9/20): Our Bishop himself announced tithing settlement in Sacrament Meeting, emphasizing that the tithing declaration was a minor part of meeting with him — instead he said the purpose is to meet the ward members. Fifteen seconds of tithing and ten to fifteen minutes of getting to know you. I think that’s exactly what Bishops should be doing. I hear too many people saying that they don’t know or trust their Bishop — and that seems like a tragedy. In Sunday School the teacher pointed out two things about Isaiah that are commonly not known: 1) Quotations of and paraphrases of Isaiah make up about 35% of the Book of Mormon — so, do you think the BoM authors thought that it was important? And 2) Isaiah is a poet — the book is almost all poetry. The poetry in the Old Testament is made up of parallel metaphors, and it occurred to me that this form of poetry, by giving two metaphors for the same idea helps us to triangulate the message, and zero into ideas that aren’t explicit in the text, and may not be things that can be easily stated explicitly. Our priesthood lesson looked at Elder Christofferson’s talk “The Character of Christ”, in which he suggested that character is rooted in the motivations in our hearts. But it seems to me that even if our motivations are the same as those of Christ, we still have the difficulty of figuring out how to apply those motivations to specific situations. For example, when dealing with a wayward child, is it best to establish strict rules, or allow the child to make choices? A lot depends on the child, and what is best for their personality and view of the world, which makes the decision difficult. Any particular approach could be loving or could be harsh. ” Sep 20, 19:13
- on Judging in our Meetings (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday), 9/20: “In case it’s not clear from the OP: Let me emphasize that this is NOT a place to criticize what is wrong with church or your fellow congregants. The point is to post what you learned because of what happened at Church or how that led you to think. It’s about the good things we can get out of Church, not the negative things that disturbed or upset us. It doesn’t have to be orthodox, traditional or even on topic.” Sep 20, 18:56
- on Do Any Latter-day Saint Wards Own Handbells?: “Two posts forward in this series, I’ll talk more about the handbook, but they’ve given local leaders a lot more leway in deciding what instruments are apropriate at church. I suspect that African drums were one of the cases they had in mind for that shift. Though, I also wonder if there will be a lingering stigma on percussion instruments (well, other than piano).” Sep 19, 21:21
- on Do Any Latter-day Saint Wards Own Handbells?: “Looking internationally, it would be great if the Church encouraged the use of local instruments. I’ve attended SM in several African countries. The integration of drums into church services would reduce the neocolonial feel of the meeting. In East Africa, the ngoma drum is widely available and quite inexpensive. I’ve purchased them for Branches to use in their youth activities. But it would exciting to see them integrated into the regular service. In Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru, their locally made flutes have a beautiful and haunting sound. They would be a wonderful addition to Church music. Like African drums, they are quite inexpensive.” Sep 19, 14:58
- on The Glasses of Twenty Five Years: “I’m not sure how you are getting the idea that I think anyone is being forced. As you quoted, I said they were being “pushed.” I don’t see pushed and forced as the same thing. I think influence is a kind of spectrum, going from light suggestion on one extreme to coercion on the other. Our society has a HUGE influence over us, determining a lot of what we are “encouraged” or “coerced” (depending on your point of view) to do. For example, like it or not, in most places in the US you travel between places by car. Public transportation is not available everywhere, or is so infrequent that using it is difficult or impossible. So most people in the US are influenced to own and use a car to get around. This is also true about a lot of the things we believe and think. We are repeatedly told things and rarely or never given another option about how to think. The author David Foster Wallace explained this idea in his commencement speech at Kenyon College several years ago (see https://fs.blog/david-foster-wallace-this-is-water/ ) So, while I do believe we ultimately have choices, those choices are often limited by society, making it much more difficult to go against them. And sometimes those choices are event morally wrong (but I don’t believe that God will hold that against us—for it to be a sin, we have to knowingly choose to do it — there has to be a real choice).” Sep 18, 21:21
