Lesson 30: 2 Chronicles 29-30; 32; 34
Camels, Needles, Heaven
Rich people who pay tithing are, by all accounts, still losers compared to the poor. Or, anyway, though their ten percent is a lot more money, it is money that had little effect on their life and so is not a very impressive sacrifice. Thus their salvation is put in jeapardy by diminishing marginal returns! How does the Kingdom deal with this?
On the Value of Doubt
“A faith that has never been doubted is not as valuable or authentic as a faith that has been doubted.”
Wishing Well, Penny
A dear friend of mine recently wrote to me, confiding that she’s been coming to the slow and vertiginous realization that she’s never had a strong testimony of the gospel, despite a life of exemplary activity in and service to the Church. With her permission, I’ve shared my response to her letter below.
Constitutive v. Regulative Rules in the Church
Are the rules of Mormonism constitutive or regulative?
A Publication I Would Like to See (but won’t…)
There are two “religious” magazines that I like to read fairly regularly. Neither is Mormon.
Persecution and the Art of Mormon Writing
This is a post about Mormonism and Leo Strauss.
The Language of Scripture Alone
I can think of at least three different ways in which one can read the scriptures.
Defining the Bloggernacle
What is the bloggernacle? Good question. People’s views are likely to differ, and the quest to define the nacle is bound to be an ongoing one. It’s a fun question, but for now I’m just going to point out a significant new post on the topic: DMI Dave has been around long enough to have a better grasp of the community definitional issues than just about anyone else, so when he weighs in on the topic, it makes sense to pay attention. The don’t-miss-it nacle post of the [week? most-recent-short-period-of-time?] is Dave’s “Defining the Bloggernacle.”
How Wrong is it to Compare Yourself with Others?
A growing body of research (mine own included) in various social sciences finds that people report higher happiness levels when they do better than the people around them.
Broken Confidence
Simon, 5, loves this little boy. His family is a little bit too Conspicuous Consumption for me, but how can you deny a five-year-old his best friend? Which is why I’m spending an afternoon at his 500$ birthday party at the karate studio.
Could the Restoration have Happened Elsewhere and Elsewhen?
The common answer heard today in the Church is no. A variety of reasons are usually given:
The Smell of Tobacco in Church
On the whole, I am in favor of the smell of tobacco in church, but it is a tricky question.
Rationales for continued male priesthood exclusivity
A prior thread examined rationales for extending priesthood eligibility to women. This thread will examine the opposite question: If you believe that women should not receive priesthood eligibility, why not?
Rationales for womens’ priesthood
Some of our readers and participants have expressed a belief that eligibility for priesthood ought to be extended to women. I’m curious about the reasoning underlying different participants’ acceptance of this argument.
Cornucopia, Essential Texts in Mormon Studies, Life in the Church, Mormon Studies, Social Sciences and Economics
O’Dea’s The Mormons Part II: The Edited Volume Retrospective
The Mormon Social Science Association, under the direction of editors John Hoffman, Cardell Jacobsen, and Tim Heaton of BYU’s Department of Sociology, is currently putting together a volume of essays that retrospectively assess O’Dea’s 1957 classic The Mormons.
Sunday School Lesson #29
Lesson 29: 2 Kings 2, 5-6
Church History, Cornucopia, Essential Texts in Mormon Studies, Mormon Studies, Social Sciences and Economics
O’Dea’s The Mormons Part I: Strain and Conflict in the Church
Thomas F. O’Dea’s The Mormons (1957) is a classic text in Mormon studies. So much that the Mormon Social Science Association is currently putting together an edited volume
Taking the Book of Mormon Seriously
Over at BCC Taryn has an interesting post on the Book of Mormon and socialism. Her basic claim is that the Book of Mormon endorses socialism. At one level, I think that she is absolutely correct, on another level I think that the claim is vacuous.
Endowment Effects, Women, and the Priesthood
“If you gave women the Priesthood and then took it away, would they be less happy than if they’d never gotten it to begin with?”
“But for that, Walt. But for that…”
I always find it interesting to hear what people think of as being central and peripheral to Mormon experience. Take sex for example.
Quote—Preside—Unquote
In the comments to Julie’s dialogue with Randy B. on the meaning of “preside” in Mormon discourse, she issued (and re-issued!) a challenge to any interested reader: find a statement from a 20th-century Church leader showing that our concept of presiding has teeth. Never one to pass up a challenge—particularly one that will allow me to both avoid unpacking my suitcases and escape the frustrations of potty-training my son, at least for a few minutes—I spent some time with my LDS Library 2006 CD-ROM this morning.
Making Money off the Mormons: Sacrament Butt-pads
When I was a senior in college, I worked at Seagull Book and Tape, an LDS book and trinket store across the street from the LA Temple. (The pay was lousy, but working with books was fun. So it turned out to be a decent job.) I was amazed by all the stuff that Mormons buy just because it has some sort of Mormon reference or connection.
Domesticating Peepstones
I like Michael’s post about seer stones.