- Sute on Your Reactions to Church Yesterday, 2/8: “The bishop Spoke earnestly Sincerely testifying of Jesus The baby cried Frantically, desperately For an extended period The woman Behind me Muttered Annoyingly about pacifiers My eyes closed Silently praying please Help that troubled soul Stillness The crying stopped” Feb 9, 15:25
- on Brave Like Eve Art Exhibit Open in Bountiful, Utah: “Eve was the original feminist. She was willing to risk her life for the sake of gaining knowledge. How many people do we know who exemplify such courage?” Feb 9, 08:22
- on Your Reactions to Church Yesterday, 2/8: “Here are a few of my reactions to my Church meetings yesterday (2/8): I close my eyes during the sacrament to meditate, and this time I heard the aural environment during the sacrament—the movement of the deacons, the noises of infants and children, the coughing and rustling. In a way its a kind of music, maybe a background to how we experience the ordinance. One speaker gave my favorite quote of the day: “In our efforts to be obedient, too often we forget to look up!” I agree. As important as rules are, the obsession with following them can get in the way of higher things. Another speaker inadvertently talked about being embarrassed about using a crumpled and ripped dollar bill. While not intended, there’s an interesting metaphor there —— few people actually care if a dollar bill is crumpled or even ripped. The value doesn’t change. External appearances don’t change inherent values. During the class, one comment was about the trials we go through in life, observing that the process of proving steel requires, in some cases, being bent hundreds of times. I think our trials tend to recur — over and over and over again. I wish trials didn’t repeat so much! After church, I noticed the kids movements around the building, another kind of dance. ” Feb 9, 01:55
- on The Church and Polygamy…In Africa: “I’d really like to hear comments from those in Africa who face these problems. I’ve been a couple of times to Africa, but didn’t have a chance to talk to anyone who faces this. I’m sure its a difficult problem in some cases, but if we aren’t familiar with such situations or the cultural issues in those situations, isn’t this just speculation? I would like to know more.” Feb 7, 16:57
- on Your Reactions to Church Yesterday, 2/1: “Please remember that this is about your reactions to church and what you got out of church, NOT your opinions on how to make things better. Other posts here and elsewhere discuss the problems, so please comment there, or submit a guest post that we can post here. For this post, if your reaction is about how YOU can change in the future, that’s great. Or if you gained a spiritual insight, despite something that seemed to go wrong, wonderful. Let’s find ways of seeing church that show what we can learn despite the problems, instead of focusing on the problems.” Feb 7, 16:51
- on Your Reactions to Church Yesterday, 2/1: “Nice thoughts Bobby. I love the gospel, but I feel the church no longer loves me. I am unwell and care for 2 sick people. I can do nothing for the church and unable to attend due to my caring responsibilities since my ward meetinghouse has been mothballed and the ward moved to a meetinghouse 20 miles away. Both the people that I care for are members, rarely my husband is contacted by a member. He continues to volunteer in the non church community. I see no one from church and nobody contacts me, I do contact me ministering sisters. I listen to church every Sunday and hear frequently about ministering to one another. That was my experience on Sunday.” Feb 7, 16:17
- on The Church and Polygamy…In Africa: “There are plenty of good people who can’t get baptized. I can’t see this policy ever changing unless some crazy catastrophy brings back plural marriage.” Feb 7, 00:59
- on Brave Like Eve Art Exhibit Open in Bountiful, Utah: “This looks great. Thanks, Chad.” Feb 6, 09:07
- on The Church and Polygamy…In Africa: “Yeah, it’s complicated. It isn’t a pure missionary or gospel doctrine question, but African cultures have to be considered. Generally, in some ways African cultures are VERY patriarchal and VERY conservative. Divorced women may suffer real harm. Letting a polygamous man who desires to affiliate with an American church divorce and abandon his excess wives could be very problematic for the church and for those women. I’m not the decision-maker in any sense, of course. My only point is that the decision needs real consideration of African cultures — a normal Salt Lake City mindset, with a missionary goal or church doctrine considerations, will be unable to come to the right solution. There is a real risk of unintended social, political, and other consequences. An absolute ban on previously- or currently-polygamous men might be the right answer, even if it would seem unkind to deny baptism to those men.” Feb 5, 17:27
- on The Church and Polygamy…In Africa: “ji: I suppose that’s an alternative. I think a blanket lifetime ban on baptism might be a case of cutting the nose off to spite the face, unlike the November/current polygamy policy it’s not a wait until you’re X years old to be baptized, but essentially a wait until the hereafter, and categorically denying somebody baptism regardless of their actions and intents seems categorically iffy. Not a Cougar: Thanks for the historical info! I don’t know why I didn’t think about the analogies to our own post-Manifesto situation, but those are some interesting points.” Feb 5, 16:28
