335 search results for "hell part 2"
What the Smith Boys Said This Year
For previous installments, see here and here. Simon turned eight, Nathan turned five, and Truman turned two this year.
St. Martin’s Day
Or, Notes from a modern theocracy Continuing the periodic series on Holiday Envy, November 11 is St. Martin’s Day.
Healing the Breach between Feminists and Non-Feminists
One of the hardest things for me to deal with when it comes to feminism and the church is not directly related to any of the hot button feminist issues (i.e. not having the Priesthood, worrying about polygamy, etc). Instead, I have a tendency to get upset about the tension-filled relationship between feminists and non-feminists* in the church and how that affects my ability to be honest about my own life journey with other church members.
Gravity (4 of 5)
In an attempt to establish a new life, Teresa enrolled in a self-realization program. There, her new spiritual advisor directed her to “face her childhood values” by attending, just once, an LDS sacrament meeting. And so, for the first time in many, many years, Teresa showed up at a ward in Denver, Colorado intending a short, perfunctory visit. The Bishop, however, invited her to talk. The gentle conversation that followed ended: “Teresa, you’ve done nothing for which you can’t be forgiven–please come back.”
Mormon in the Congo
Moroni 8:14 never used to sit well with me:
Waiting Between Earth and Eternity
Barbara Kirkham Jolley, my mother’s mother, died on Monday. She was 86 years old. Grandma Jolley’s husband, Joseph Arben Jolley, died eight months ago, and by all reports, she had put little effort and had even less interest in living ever since. Just days ago, she fell and broke her hip; when she heard that she would have to receive surgery, she was happy: “I hope,” she told my mother on the phone, “that I will go to sleep, and never wake up.” Which is exactly what happened. Her body didn’t quite come out from the anesthesia, and was put on life support. Her children, including my mother, unanimously decided to take her off the respirator; “she’d hate us if we kept her alive artificially,” was one son’s conclusion. The doctor suggested she could remain alive in that state for days, weeks, even months–but as it was, she died in minutes. Obviously, she’d made up her mind to leave.
Sunday School Lesson #33
Lesson 33: Jonah 1-4; Micah 2, 4-7 This is another long set of study notes.
Tempted to Violate the Word of Wisdom
When we think of temptations related to the Word of Wisdom, we usually think of, you know, being tempted to violate the WoW. But I can think of a few different WoW-related temptations.
Structural apostasy
Off the top of my head, I think that in the Church we generally mean one of three things when we use the word “apostasy”:
Lots of Questions for Greg Whiteley
“Probably the only people who are more lonely in an LDS ward than musicians who used to be almost-famous are filmmakers who never were”–Greg Whiteley, director of New York Doll.
Bloggernacking for Newbies
The nacle has been around for some time now, and a culture of inside jokes and insider language has sprung up with terms like monkeys, peaches, fondue, chupacabras (chupacabrim?), and Bannergate. Nacle newcomers may find the local patois a bit off-putting. This post, intended as a basic field guide, may serve as a starting point for newbies.
How quick we are to condemn
In Notes from all over a link was added to a news item claiming that the latest Dutch spelling reform requested that the name “Christ” be written with a lower-case “c”. That information was spread on various American news channels and blogs. Flurries of comments ensued.
Some Excerpts From My Mission Journal
I was browsing through my mission journal a bit ago and decided to copy a few excerpts for your reading pleasure (or boredom). A few observations: 1) I was extremely moody/emotional. 2) The first half of my mission all I talked about was Shelley, my pre-mish girlfriend who I wanted to wait for me, who was there when I got back, who I didn’t marry. 3) 95% of what I wrote is embarrassing to read. 4) I was a little kid. 5) I grew a lot. 6) The mission isn’t nearly as romantic when you’re going through it as it is when you look back on it. Friday, August 16th, 1996 …I don’t know if I’m feeling the Spirit enough.
Mark 14:3-9: The Anointing at Bethany as Markan Christology
This [very, very, very long] post is, basically, my masters thesis. I’ve had a few requests for it, so I thought I’d post it.
An Interview with Todd Compton
Independent scholar Todd Compton is the author of the much acclaimed volume In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith (hereafter, ISL) and three forthcoming books: Victim of The Muses: Poet as Scapegoat, Warrior and Hero in Greco-Roman and Indo-European Myth and History (Harvard University Press), Fire and the Sword: A History Of The Latter-Day Saints In Northern Missouri From 1836 To 1839 (Greg Kofford Books), and Cyril of Jerusalem: Initiatory Lectures (translation and commentary, FARMS).
JMS Sunday School Lesson #1
[I plan on posting the notes for my Gospel Doctrine lessons this year; I’ll put my initials in the title so that there won’t be any confusion in the sidebar or archives with my lessons and Jim’s.]
Discarding Limbo
My mother was born to a Norwegian Lutheran, who feared for her infant children, lest they die prior to receiving the ordinance of baptism. I never knew my grandmother, but according to my mother, her fear was genuine.
Book Review: Early Christians in Disarray
Can you really understand what the Restoration is if you don’t have your mind around what the Great Apostasy was?
An Unnatural Birth Advocate
There are plenty of natural birth advocates out there–I know because I keep having to plaster a vapid smile on my face when they spout half-truths and didactical opinions at social gatherings. I’ve yet to meet an avowed unnatural birth advocate, so I’ve decided to take up that mantle for myself. So, if you are pregnant, or might be some day, here are some thoughts on why you might not want to have a natural childbirth.
Julie’s Conversion Story
[I’m reposting my conversion story here to round out our week of conversion stories.]
Two coalminers
Their story would have made an agreeable Ensign article were it not for that later development that ruined its beauty. Oh, believe me, I was tempted to censor the second part. But it would feel like cheating. Besides, the aftermath carries the morale of the story.
My Conversion Story
The reason that I don’t like to tell my conversion story is that it is boring. If I were to appropriate the famous Joseph Smith line, I would have to modify it thusly: “No man knows my history. . . . I don’t blame any one for not staying awake through my history. If I had not experienced what I have, I could not have stayed awake through it myself.” So don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Book Review: The Parenting Breakthrough
You just gotta love any book that has a picture of a seven-year-old boy cleaning a toilet on the cover.
Flannel Board Lust
Who knew when I started reading salon.com’s new column ‘Object Lust’ that I would fall victim to this deadly sin? Who could have predicted that the object of my attraction would be a flannel board?
Iago and Godly Creativity
Early last year, I discussed an idea that I called “the Iago problem.” I argued that one answer to the question “why are there no Mormon Shakespeares” was that church members may lack the skill to breathe life into a truly evil character like Iago. Recently, I rethought the question. And now, I’m not sure that the Iago problem is really much of a problem.
Book Review: Qualities That Count: Heber J. Grant as Businessman, Missionary, and Apostle
Heber J. Grant’s insomnia may have been the best thing to happen to the study of early twentieth century Church history.
Book Review: Back to the Well: Women’s Encounters with Jesus in the Gospels
This statement from The Blog of Happiest Fun got a lot of links from other female bloggernaclites: I would like to spend more time discussing the lives of strong women in the scriptures. Women like Hannah, Deborah, Jael, or Anna the prophetess. There are so many women that I find interesting, and I don’t hear about them enough. I’d like to study their lives some more.
Time for a Link War
In a blog comment at BCC, Ronan points out a disturbing fact. A google search for “Mormon Temple” is likely to be one of the first things a curious non-member does; but when you google the term Mormon Temple, the first site that comes up on the list is an ex-Mormon site. In fact, the first four sites listed on the front page are ex-Mormon sites. Of the 10 sites on the front page, five are ex-Mormon, two are links to LDS.org, one is apologetic and two are neutral. So the first page for Mormon Temple is 5-to-2 anti. Exacerbating the issue, the particular lds.org links that google gives for Mormon Temple are likely to be confusing or unhelpful to a nonmember. This is particularly aggravating since there’s already an easily accessible online resource for non-members. The site http://www.ldstemple.com is church-owned and redirects to a page at the also church-owned mormon.org. It will almost certainly be a redirect to the appropriate church site for the foreseeable future. (And it’s not even in the first 100 results for the google search Mormon Temple!). What to do? Well, google builds its database by noting which websites are linked by other websites. So it’s time to start linking, my friends, to rescue Mormon Temple from google hell. Here’s how to participate:
Here and There in Mormon Art
Last month I kindly provided my husband some uninterrupted bonding time with his children and flew to New York City for a few days. On the recommendation of a friend (bloggernacle personality D. Fletcher), I stopped by Lane Twitchell’s current art show, “Here & There,” at the Greenberg Van Doren gallery in midtown.