Category: Features
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A Mormon Image: Grandparents
This photo was taken the week before we moved across the country and left all of our family back home. Just a warm summer evening, feeding the ducks with Grandma and Grandpa, and enjoying the experience. I never understood why people said it was great to be a grandparent, until I became a parent myself. …
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OT Lesson 13 Study Notes: Exodus 1-3, 5-6, 11-14
Before looking in detail at the scriptures for this week, consider the following possible chiastic parallels between the story of Moses’s life and the story of Israel’s experience. Of course parallels are what we make of them. Some may see these as more tightly like one another than others do. Some may be skeptical about…
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A Mormon Image: Joy On A Cattle Truck
This is a group of mostly single Latter-day Saints from D.C. and elsewhere who are on their way to volunteer in a remote Guatemalan village in the Polochic Valley– one of the poorest in the world. Many of the villagers from this area are themselves Latter-day Saints. The volunteer work done be this group consisted…
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T&S Introduces Dane Laverty as its Newest Blogger
Almost two months to the day that we invited him to guest, Dane Laverty has continued to blog with us at a prodigious pace. We are now happy to report that he is a guest no longer, but will be joining T&S as a full-time blogger. Dane is a resident of Salem, Oregon and Sacramento,…
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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…
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OT Lesson 11 Study Notes: Genesis 34 and 37-39
Genesis 34 What was the sin of Dinah’s brothers? Was it that they took vengeance? Reread the Abrahamic covenant to see what it promises, and think about that covenant as it relates to this event. Did they violate that covenant? How does this chapter portray Jacob? Beyond the rape, what does Shechem do, through his…
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OT Lesson 10 Study Notes: Genesis 24-29
I will concentrate my questions on Genesis 25:19-34 and 27:1-45, and I will add Genesis 33:1-20 to the reading because I think it rounds out the story of Genesis 27. Chapter 25 Verse 19: We expect a genealogy to follow when we are told, “these are the generations of so-and-so,” but here none follows. What…
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OT Lesson 9 Study Notes: Abraham 1; Genesis 15-17, 21-22
I repeat the reminder: these are notes for study rather than notes for a lesson. Of course study notes can help one prepare a lesson, but my intention is less to help teachers prepare lessons (though I have no objection whatever to them finding my notes useful for that purpose, if they do) than it…
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A Mormon Image: Sweaters for the Penguins
The sweaters that these penguins are wearing are designed to save their lives after oil spills off of the Australian coast. They were knitted by Aussie Relief Society sisters. Who says that LDS service projects aren’t fun? (And as Nate asked last time: Who got to put them on the penguins?) (Picture courtesy of LDS…
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A Mormon Image: Weighing Eternity
An oft-quoted passage from our Bible Dictionary states that “only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness.” This statement has been concretely validated in the birth of our children. No experience I have ever had has compared in holiness with our experiences of welcoming our children into this world and into our home.…
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OT Lesson 8 Study Notes: Genesis 13-14, 18-19
Chapter 13 Verses 1-2: Are there elements in Abram’s journey to Canaan that typify Israel’s later exodus from Egypt? If there are, what would be the point of that parallel? Verse 1: Notice the difference in the way the families are described in Genesis 12:5 and here. Does anything in these verses suggest a change…
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Mormons and Prosperity
The Prosperity Gospel (which the linked Wikipedia article defines as “the notion that God provides material prosperity for those he favors”) is often associated with Evangelical megapreachers. [Note 1.] But we all know there is a Mormon variation of the Prosperity Gospel lurking behind the ubiquitous references to blessings and how to earn them that…
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OT Lesson 7 Study Notes: Abraham 1:1-4; 2:1-11; Genesis 12:1-8; 17:1-9
Abraham 1 Verse 1: Why does this work use the name “Abraham” for the person in question when we know from Genesis that his name was as yet still “Abram”? What does it tell us that Abraham says “the residence of my fathers” (plural) rather than “the residence of my father” (singular)? Why did Abraham…
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OT Lesson 6 Study Notes: Moses 8:19-30; Genesis 6:5-22; 7:11-24; 8:1-22; 9:8-17; 11:1-9
Moses 8 Verse 9: The Hebrew of Genesis 5:29 shows us that Noah’s name means “rest.” How does his father, Lamech, explain the name? Is Noah’s name significant to the story of the flood? Verses 19-21: Why don’t the people listen to Noah? What do the things they say about themselves tell us about them?…
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OT Lesson 5 Study Notes: Moses 5-7
As always, remember that these are questions for studying the reading assigned more than for planning the lesson itself. Even then, you are certainly going to find more questions here than you can deal with in one study session, though not, perhaps, more than you can deal with in a week. However, that said, the…
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Letting Go
Thanks so much for all the fun. Before departing, I leave this layered perspective on parenthood and then return you to your regular T&S, already in progress.
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Sacred Spaces, Holy Ground
We, the children of our Heavenly Father, naturally make places where we can draw closer to Him. Almost all of us do it- in some way- all over the world. The thoughts and efforts we put into these holy places reflect our theology, values, hopes and desires.
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OT Lesson 4 Study Notes: Moses 4; 5:1-15; 6:48-62
These notes focus on Moses 4, giving less attention to the other scriptures for this lesson. However, the other readings are necessary to understanding chapter 4. (The study questions for Moses 4:1-4 were part of the materials for lesson 2. I repeat them here so that they will be convenient.) Note that if Moses 2…
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Vanity, What Is It Good For?
Several months ago, I temporarily transfered from a place where personal vanity is refreshingly low (Vermont) to a place where it is remarkably high (Northern Virginia) and it has caused me to ponder the following question: is there such a thing as righteous vanity?
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Underwhelming Thoughts on Correlation
I confess that I am not a regular reader of the Church News, but I did happen to run across this recent piece, “Using proper sources.” I will note a couple of quibbles I have with the piece (which, as an unsigned post in the “Viewpoints” section, I take to be essentially a staff editorial),…
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Dinner, Old Testament Style
Middle Eastern foods are my favorite. So at the risk of totally overstepping the bounds as a T&S guest blogger, I offer the following to enhance one’s study of the Old Testament and further an appreciation of ancient culture. May you have your meal with gladness and health!
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Times and Seasons 2009 Mormon of the Year: Harry Reid
Times and Seasons has selected Harry Reid as Mormon of the Year for 2009. During 2009, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was the most visible and influential Mormon politician in the world, shepherding Democratic legislative proposals through the U.S. Senate after the party’s victories in the 2008 elections, including a landmark health care bill that…
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Light Thoughts
Light and shadow are the essence of photography. Where light and shadow are together, there is something to see and an image can be made. These polar opposites make up the visual part of this life; they are both required in order to see anything. Opposites are necessary in order to understand. I believe that…
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OT Lesson 3 Study Notes: Moses 1:27-42, Moses 2-3
A reminder about these notes: They are intended to help people study the assigned material for this week’s Sunday School lesson. They are not intended as an outline for how to teach that lesson, though I assume that by studying the material a person might get ideas about how to teach it. And a note…
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OT Lesson 2 Study Notes: Abraham 3; Moses 4:1-4
Abraham 3 Verses 1-19: Why did the Lord reveal these things to Abraham? More important: why did he think it important to reveal them to us? Verse 1: Why is it important that Abraham tell us that he received the revelation that follows through the Urim and Thummim? Verse 2: Assuming that the throne of…
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Vote for Mormon of the Year
This post opens the voting for Mormon of the Year. Votes will be taken until midnight Eastern Time on Thursday, January 7th, at which time the voting will close. The voting mechanism will attempt to restrict votes to one per person. The order of the choices is set at random, and is different each time…
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OT Lesson 1 Study Notes: Moses 1
As the title of this post says, these are notes for studying the lesson rather than for teaching it, though presumably one who studies the lesson will have material from which to teach it.
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Studying the Old Testament
What are the scriptures for? How should we use them? How do we use them? “Proof-texting” is a procedure that begins by assuming we know the doctrines and then searches through the scriptures to find something to back up the belief. Because it begins with what we assume we know rather from what the scriptures…