Conference this past weekend (and the lengthy list I made during it of all the ways I need to change) got me thinking about a conversation I had with a recent law school grad in our ward who was studying for the bar this summer. He’d been complaining to me about having no time and had asked me how I went about trying to balance family, work, Church, and the constraints of the billable hour.
Author: Marc Bohn
Marc is an attorney and a graduate of the George Washington University Law School, where he co-founded and chaired the GW National Religious Freedom Moot Court competition and co-chaired the national LDS Law Student Conference. He received his undergraduate degree in political science from Brigham Young University. He’s a blogger himself, and the originator and primary source of the natural phenomenon known as Bohnspam. Marc has a smart and beautiful wife — careful, she’s a blogger too — as well as adorable offspring. In his rare breaks between e-mails about politics, Marc works doing document review and other junior associate drudgery.
General Conference Open Thread
It appears as though we’ve neglected an old institution here at Times & Seasons, the General Conference Open Thread. All apologies.
The Epitome of Not Forgetting
I linked to an article earlier that I have since decided is to good to leave just to the newsfeed. It’s from a Chicago Tribune religion reporter who is Jewish with Mormon relatives. In it, the reporter describes a rift that formed in her family after her great-uncle Al married a Mormon and then later converted to Mormonism himself. To a deeply Jewish family, this was difficult news to absorb, and, as a result, each side of the family ended up imputing bad motives and intents on the part other, leaving bitter feelings that took decades to reconcile. In the wake of all of this, the reporter writes about learning recently that her late (and staunchly Jewish) grandfather had been baptized in proxy by her Mormon relatives and her struggle to come to terms with this revelation: “I imagined my grandfather downright mad at the arrogance of presuming he would abandon what he had devoted his life to preserving. But when I told my mother about the baptism and braced myself for a flood of emotions, she surprised me. “Mom and Dad felt that any blessings bestowed upon them . . . long distance couldn’t hurt a thing,” she said…. My cousin said the baptism was done out of love, as a way to honor my grandparents. “It is the epitome of not forgetting somebody,” he said. It does come down to choice. We have the freedom to choose whether…
Three Million Strong (and Growing)…
A little more than a year ago, Russell wrote a post commemorating Times and Seasons 2 millionth hit. A feat he said wasn’t bad “for a blog that doesn’t feature kittens or porn.” Looking back, he also noted that while “We’ve weathered storms and squalls, and some people have gone overboard… Still, old Times and Seasons lumbers onward.” Fifteen months, a few new shipmates, and another million readers later, it’s still plowing onward (with the occasional hiccup). Whatever success Times and Seasons has enjoyed along the way is due in large part to all of you who peek in on us once in awhile. So, to echo Russell once more, thanks… “to our [three] millionth reader, and our first, and everyone who has come in between.” Hopefully, we can keep you coming back for more.
Hot Mormon Gossip
Has the Church really made an unsolicited offer to buy Facebook (see here which spun off to here)?
The Reality of Satan
I heard a story on This American Life a couple of weeks ago that has had me thinking about the reality of Satan and just what that means for us in our lives.
Interesting P.R. Approach
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve encountered an interesting banner link in my gmail account:
iTunes Gospel
So my colleagues have caught on to my secret plan to convert them all.
Church halts sending North American missionaries to Russia
Last week BYU Newsnet posted and then pulled offline an article announcing that North American missionaries were no longer being called to serve in Russia. The move left many wondering about the state of the missionary program in Russia with some tempered hope that perhaps the Newsnet article had jumped the gun on a situation that was being resolved. Unfortunately, however, the news now official. The Deseret News has confirmed that the Church is no longer sending North American missionaries to Russia “due to new, tougher visa laws.” North American missionaries currently in-country will stay, but those newly called missionaries and those currently in the MTC have both been reassigned. The Church clearly hopes to resolve this situation, but the reassignment of these missionaries suggests to me that it isn’t expecting a solution anytime soon.
When The Prophet Speaks
Dave’s Mormon Inquiry has a post up about a new article in Meridian Magazine today that likens the brewing battle over gay marriage in California to the War in Heaven. The comments of the post link to an editorial from the Daily Universe editorial board this week that I found pretty shocking. The money quote: Consequently, “active Mormons†know that when the prophet speaks, the debate is over. No matter how diligently someone reads their scriptures, attends church or pays a full tithe, unless they sustain President Monson, his counselors and the other 12 apostles, [by supporting the proposed amendment to legally define marriage as a union between a man and a woman] they are not “active Mormons.â€
The Leader of the Band
A song that is synonymous for me with Father’s day is Dan Fogelberg’s Leader of the Band.
FAIR One Ups The Tanners
Score one for FAIR. Last week, in Utah Lighthouse Ministry v. Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit rejected an appeal by Sandra and Gerald Tanner’s anti-Mormon ministry over its claims of trademark infringement, cyber-squatting, and unfair competition that arose out of a parody website created by the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR).