- Alma the Youngest on Judging in our Meetings (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday), 9/20: “Who are we to judge what is “unrighteously” or “unthinkingly”? I say, “Live and let live.”” Sep 28, 12:19
- on From Obscured to Omnipresent: Jennifer Champoux on the Evolution of Latter-day Saint Portraits of Jesus: “I realized many years ago that I do not like “portraits” of Jesus — Jesus never sat for a portrait. I only like Jesus art when the art tells a story from the scriptures.” Sep 28, 01:11
- on From Obscured to Omnipresent: Jennifer Champoux on the Evolution of Latter-day Saint Portraits of Jesus: “In one apartment on my mission I found a file box with a set of photocopied “discussions” for member visits. I got the impression that they dated to the previous mission president, so mid-to-late 1980s. One of them was titled “The Portrait Discussion” and went through the faith promoting rumors about the Del Parson portrait described in the interview–it was still pretty new at the time. The child was supposedly trapped for several hours after a car accident, and recognized the man in the portrait as the person who stayed with them the whole time. I’m sure whoever put it together meant well, apparently trying to convince members that Church leaders had seen Jesus and could describe him accurately. But we need to be more careful–teaching falsehoods doesn’t pay in the long run.” Sep 27, 15:17
- on Joseph Smith as a 19th Century L. Ron Hubbard: “Yes, we all know the soundbites. Even if you were to take the most uncharitable interpretation of polygamy (which again, Hubbard cleared before breakfast), all of Smith’s immediate family were believers in his mission and character, and Smith sincerely cared about his family, and that’s a fairly fundamental distinction with Hubbard, however much a particular angle on Smith-era polygamy might disgust some people.” Sep 27, 13:05
- on Judging in our Meetings (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday), 9/20: “Perhaps I am, Alma the Youngest. Am I judging unrighteously? Should we defend those who judge unthinkingly? I should add that a lot of this judgment is built into our culture — we all do it unthinkingly. I have been trying to remove a lot of this unintended judgment about things (describing things with the word “good” when I really mean “I like”, and its quite difficult. Its built into our normal conversational patterns. But I think a lot can be fixed by simply being aware of what we are doing.” Sep 27, 11:18
- on Joseph Smith as a 19th Century L. Ron Hubbard: “I would just like to echo everything Not a Cougar said. They are spot on.” Sep 27, 10:25
- on Judging in our Meetings (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday), 9/20: “It strikes me that you are judging those who judge. Instead of judging, maybe share what you learned from those judgments. As you can see, it is difficult to suspend judgment, and it is impossible for one to do it objectively. Our ancestors have survived due to judgment (safety, trustworthiness, etc), and we turn that off at our own peril.” Sep 27, 09:19
- on Judging in our Meetings (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday), 9/20: “Turns out Elder Teixeira also talked about his photography at BYU-Idaho’s graduation in April, and the Newsroom article on the Church website includes a sample. Stunning.” Sep 26, 12:36
- on Are Handbells Only for Christmas?: “My first reaction to the post title was “What? Why would anyone think that?” I learned to play handbells at a boychoir summer camp. Then I remembered that the only time I’ve played them as an adult was indeed in a ward Christmas program.” Sep 26, 12:03
