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King Benjamin teaches us that we “should not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition . . . in vain.â€? This is not merely passing advice we can choose whether to follow or ignore without consequence. In fact, Benjamin warns that those who stay their hand in the face of such requests have “great cause to repent and except he repenteth of that which he hath done he perisheth forever and hath no interest in the kingdom of God (Mos 4:18). According to this text, giving money to the beggar on the street is a duty, required of us… Read More
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I am very pleased to introduce our newest guest blogger, Jed W. Besides being the Scoutmaster in my ward, Jed is a third-year doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin, where he is studying the history of education on his way to a dual degree in American history and educational policy. He is originally from Bountiful, Utah and his undergraduate degree is from BYU. While there he worked for three years as an editor at BYU Studies and another year on the Papers of Joseph Smith project, which was run through the Joseph Fielding Smith Insitute for Latter-day Saint History.… Read More
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9 responses
The Thanksgiving holiday distracted us from thanking Clark Goble for his guest-blogging stint. It was a honor to have Clark join us at the same time we celebrated our first anniversary; his blog, Mormon Metaphysics, has long been and remains one of the very finest in the whole Bloggernacle, and the man himself is one of our all-time comments champs. While with us, Clark shared that blogging talent by way of inquiring about the political lessons of Mormon history, the relationship between science and Mormonism, the importance of Thanksgiving, and much more, including a rant about dating in Provo. Many… Read More
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81 responses
One last post, before my non-philosophical blogging stint is done. One thing I’ve thought of with recent events in the middle east was the parallels to the Book of Mormon. I know that’s not exactly an original point to make, but I think the Book of Mormon has a lot of parallels both regarding our enemies as well as how we act towards our enemies. Dan Peterson has long written about the strong parallels between the Gadianton movement and various guerilla movements and insurgencies. I’ve listened to him describe extensive parallels, for instance, between Mao’s insurgency in China and events… Read More
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In my class on Law & Entrepreneurship, I teach a section that focuses on franchise agreements. We just completed that section last week, and it occurred to me that the Church is a lot like McDonald’s. Read More
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It’s one of my favorites, and particularly applicable during the Thanksgiving season (so of course I didn’t think to post it until now): Read More
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As I sit another day in my office, feeling strangely detached from the world — a feeling that I seem to have more often these days — a verse from the book of Jacob comes to mind. Read More
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Her name was Sister Pooters. Petite, energetic, single. She was around seventy when I, a young convert, met her at our local Mormon branch. Read More
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As part of my on-going attempt to convince myself that my chess reading is not a complete waste of time (even for my chess-playing ability!), I offer the following thoughts on the important relationship between chess strategy, computers, and spiritual knowledge. Read More
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9 responses
Over the past few days, I have been engaged in some much-needed family immersion. Among other things, I rediscovered the joys of eating jello pudding with children, playing an impromptu “turkey bowl” football game (with players ranging in age from eight to forty-something), and whipping some teenagers at the board game Risk. Read More
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15 responses
Now that I finally have a child, one of my enjoyable activities with him is to read to him before bed. The one problem I face is not in selecting poetry I want to read, but learning how to read it properly aloud. I’ve scanned Google for some suggestions. They all tell me what I already know. Don’t put too much emotion in it (over acting). Don’t pause at the line breaks – it makes it choppy. Basically they tell me not to do the thing I can’t seem to keep from doing! Read More
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Following a string of spam attacks, I’m tinkering with the settings to try to allow it to catch more spam. I’ve tightened a few controls to “wait list” comments that might be spam. (These aren’t deleted, but they’re kept in a queue until they can be individually approved). I’m trying to keep the settings right, and I don’t think that I’ll be catching many legit comments, but there’s a chance that your comment will be put on a wait list, as I figure out how best to work with spam fighting tools. I’m not sure if this particular tool is… Read More
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Yes, it’s that time of year again: Time to figure out what to do with half a turkey, a big pan of stuffing, and a lot of surplus pumpkin pie. Read More
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In the switch to WP, certain threads lost some comments. I’ve just fixed all of the threads that lost any comments. Read More
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What I’m not good at is keeping a journal. What I am good at is writing down in my planner the funny things that my kids say and then printing them up to put in our Christmas card each year: Read More
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First, Luke Skywalker chopped off Darth Vader’s hand. Read More
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I confess, having grown up in Canada that I still have a hard time thinking of this week as Thanksgiving. To me it was back in October. (That’s Columbus Day for you Yanks) Since my parents lived way out in Nova Scotia I never went home for the US Thanksgiving either. So my memories of Thanksgiving consist either of going hiking or climbing, joining in a “joint-sorrow” dinner of singles trapped in Provo, or else driving up to Alberta to hang out with my brother, eat pizza and ice climb. Now that I’m married and with a bride who has… Read More
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193 responses
I’m a little behind — I just saw this fascinating article (via Speak Up For Truth). The title of the story alone (on BeliefNet) speaks volumes: “‘We Have Sinned Against You’: A leading evangelical speaks at the Mormon Tabernacle and says evangelicals have spread lies about LDS beliefs.” Read More
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Last year, at this time, I shared my favorite Thanksgiving hymn. This time around, let’s go with a much humbler song, but one no less appropriate to the day: Read More
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When I was younger, I used to entertain fantasies of forcing my children to listen to all of Milton’s Ode on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity before letting them open their presents. I’ve never done it, but I do make them listen to a paragraph of a John Donne sermon before Thanksgiving dinner: Read More
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I think that there are basically three ways in which law and Mormonism can shed light on one another. Read More
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It’s “as though millions dozens of voices cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced.” Yes, I’m talking about the radical changes at everyone’s favorite blog-child, By Common Consent. The changes are said to be “massive.” They are: (more…) Read More
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With many other Christian traditions, we share the admonition to plainness in speech and other aspects of life: “Let all thy garments be plain, and their beauty the beauty of the work of thine own hand” (D&C 42:40) Read More
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Lesson 46: Ether 7-15 These notes will concentrate on Ether 12. Read More
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22 responses
So my visiting teachers came over today. I love them; they take good care of me. One of them told me that they were asked on Sunday (I wasn’t in Church this week: sniffly kids) to check in with their visiting teachees and see how they are doing in meeting the challenge that the ward has set for the opening of the San Antonio Temple. Read More
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I’m not usually this speculative in my interpretation of scripture, but I thought I’d send this out as something of a trial balloon. I am intrigued by this idea but not necessarily convinced by it. Read More
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A recent story (yes, it’s safe for work, home, etc) highlights what is apparently a problem for online p0rn* retailers: Their “product” is a bundle of ones and zeroes, and other parties (such as search engines) often make the same “product” available for free. Read More
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When Samuel anointed Saul, he anointed a man of kingly stature, handsome and tall, but who thought of himself as the least important man of Israel. Saul said, “Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? Read More
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In response to Gordon’s post below, I am going to sketch out some of my thoughts on how one might bring Mormonism and legal thought together. The first step, I think, is to become aware of the attempts that have already been made to do so. Read More