Category: Features
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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…
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Understanding the Old Testament
Don’t expect Old Testament writers to have written their histories the way we would have written them.
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What is the Old Testament?
The version of the Old Testament used by Protestants and Jews today contains 39 books. Catholic Bibles include 9 more books, as well as 2 additions to Daniel and 1 to Esther. At least some of those 9 additional books were used as scripture by Saints of the 1st century AD. For various reasons (mostly…
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An Overview of Genesis
It is daunting to be posting anything about scripture when Eric Huntsman is posting alongside. It ought to be daunting in any case, but it is easier to ignore the fact that I am a mere dabbler when my posts stand alone. In any case, I will be posting revised versions of my study questions…
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Nominate the 2009 Mormon of the Year
Its that time of year again. The media are already reviewing the important news stories of the year, Time has selected its Person of the Year; so we should get busy selecting the Mormon of the Year. For those who don’t remember, last year at this time T&S selected Mitt Romney as the Mormon of the…
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A Mormon Image: Newport Beach Temple Wedding
or, an untraditional Mormon couple in traditional clothes. After the ceremony while I was walking through the temple halls, people were coming out from all over the place to gawk at my dress. I think most of them had never seen formal Vietnamese wedding regalia before. What’s funny is that the Vietnamese traditional dress (ao…
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A Mormon Image: The View from the Roof
Here’s an image from ‘The Roof’ restaurant in the Joseph Smith Building. It’s a family tradition to eat there for special occasions, this one being my mission call. I always love the view. Submitted by M. Dean Egan
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A Mormon Image: Waiting by the Earthstone
This is a picture I took of my eldest son and daughter, waiting outside the Salt Lake Temple after my niece’s wedding. As it was a Friday in June, there were many people waiting outside for wedding pictures. My children, while not exactly reverent and not at all quiet, certainly found plenty to keep them…
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A Mormon Image: Life, Mundane and Sacred
This image shows my great-grandmother Sarah Day Hall standing at her front gate in Manti, Utah, in the 1930s. In her workaday clothes, behind her sagging fence, the life of this Mormon matriarch would seem not to have changed much from her earlier sharecropper’s life in Alabama. The second image, though taken in her inelegant…
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A Mormon Image: Turkey Bowl
Isn’t that a great catch? Now take a look at the whole set of photos, as photographed by a beautiful woman (who knows the photo series coordinator):
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A Mormon Image: Smiles
“…make the world a better place by smiling all the while.” (Primary Song #267) From the author of salt lake architecture and green mormon architect blogs.
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A Mormon Image: Memorial
from Bill of Wasilla, who writes: Dad is the man who lies in this flag-draped coffin. I will not say too much about him for now, except that he was a good father and that, thanks to him, and many more like him, most of them gone now, the evil dream of a man named…
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A Mormon Image: Guardian Angel
This is a statue of an angel in the cemetery where my first baby is burried. I like that she’s smiling. Death is heartbreaking but it’s not only sad. I am also filled with hope when I think about my son. He is alive and happy and we can be an eternal family. It has…
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A Mormon Image: House of Learning
My sister studies outside the John Taylor building on the campus of Brigham Young University- Idaho. “..seek learning, even by study and also by faith.” D&C 88:118 by Blake
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A Mormon Image: Preparing for the Wedding Reception
Photo by L-s Sus, who writes: The picture is of my wife and son and was taken at my sister’s wedding. It captures many themes that resonate with my concept of Mormon identity: Family, Motherhood, Nurturing, and Beauty. It also reminds me that we have benevolent heavenly parents who reach down and give assistance, and…
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Photo Series: A Mormon Image
In an effort to increase the beauty-to-blather ratio around here, we’d like to kick off a new series of posts featuring photos and other images which carry meaning to us because they resonate with our Mormonness. And we’d like to include all of you in this project. That is, we’re inviting you all to send…
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Holland and the gap, again
Leaving aside disagreements about Elder Holland’s tone and speculations about the talk’s effect on believers and skeptics—not that those are unimportant, but that they’re being vigorously played out elsewhere—I want to make a narrow point about the philosophical underpinnings* of his talk.
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Sunday Afternoon in a Nutshell
President Uchtdorf conducted the Sunday afternoon session, featuring talks by Elder Holland, Elder Cook, Elder Neilson, Elder Renlund, Elder Ringwood, Elder Sitati, and Elder Christofferson, followed by closing remarks from President Monson. Direct quotations (based on my notes) are given in quotes; phrases without quotes are my summary of the remarks given.