- Seth on Mormon Studies Books in 2026: “Any idea on when the William Clayton Journals will be released?” Jan 20, 13:20
- on Your Reactions to Church Yesterday, 1/18: “This year I did something I’ve never done before: I read Genesis without any reference to modern science. (I’m the son of a biology professor who grew up in the waning days of the evolution wars, so that was in my mind from an early age.) I pretended I was an ancient Israelite who thought the world was flat and the sky was a transparent dome with water above it (that’s why it’s blue, duh), and God didn’t have to correct any of that before I could understand his message–any more than he needs me to know what “dark energy” is before I can understand it now. And it was great! The poetry was beautiful, the ordering made sense, and I was able to feel God’s message more strongly than ever: I made this world, I made it for you, and I made it good because I love you. By the end of this week’s reading we’ll know why he made it, what we’re here to accomplish, and that being here won’t be pleasant, so starting with that message of love is important. Fortunately, my Sunday School class supported my approach. Our teacher is a creative writing professor, so we started by talking about origin stories: why we tell them and what we learn from them. Then we applied what we discussed to the world’s origin story, and came to the same kinds of conclusions I had arrived at on my own, including some I hadn’t considered. The question of *how* the world was created never came up. It’s not very important, so God is happy to let us try to figure it out on our own.” Jan 20, 12:40
- on 17 Thoughts About Resistance: ““When 20 million some odd people take to the streets to protest George Floyd’s death and nary a tumbleweed blows by in token of the 70-80% fatherlessness rate in the inner cities–then we’ve got a real problem.” Ah yes, the fantasy world where that rate of fatherlessness has no connection whatsoever with the racialized carceral state and its police killings. To quote Jonathan, “If you can’t see this, you’re not seeing the other side of the screen. You’re staring at a blank wall, not reality.” Thank you once again, Jonathan, for continually making this case. It’s heartening to hear from others seeing the same thing.” Jan 20, 11:37
- on Your Reactions to Church Yesterday, 1/18: “In Sunday School, during the lesson on the creation, the teacher had class members read the various versions of it in Genesis, Moses, and Abraham. The discussion was terrific, imo—good-natured, speculative, acknowledging all that we can’t possibly know. We live in an affluent, well-educated stake. When a med student pointed out that “the firmament” includes argon, nitrogen, and hydrogen, another person said, “these descriptions of the world’s creation are not a science lesson” (both statements are true). Someone said they didn’t think there were any differences among the versions (!) and someone else said, those first four “days” are just a blur— how could vegetation be placed on earth before the sun and moon? No one got riled up—those who were paying attention at all nodded, some laughed, because really, how could it? These were questions we all had. Someone said, maybe God put it all together before he sent it into orbit. Again, some laughter, some acknowledgment that we have no idea, that trying to make Genesis correspond to geology is more work than we seniors have energy for. Symbolism and mythmaking were brought up. Some fun discussion in the hall afterward. But nobody was bent out of shape. When I got home I found I’d lost an earring, which my dear friend gave me for Christmas and which I’d only worn one other time, so I was pretty dismayed, and that was about as riled up as I got about church yesterday. My favorite thing might have been learning Shawna Edwards’s rollicking Primary song, “The Creation,” about the hawks and the hippos and the honeybees, oh oh oh. Do we really need to take it any more seriously than that?” Jan 20, 10:57
- on CFM 1/26-2/1: Poetry for “Teach These Things Freely unto Your Children”: “These are timely for me, the Snow poems especially, and I appreciate them much.” Jan 20, 10:53
- on Your Reactions to Church Yesterday, 1/18: “Re: Anon The best answer of course is to ask both of them but its presented as-if you can only choose one.” Jan 20, 10:10
- on Your Reactions to Church Yesterday, 1/18: “In Sunday school the teacher asked, “if you had a question about a ferrari, would you ask a dentist or the creator of the ferrari?” While I get what he was driving at, no pun intended, sometimes the creator isn’t answering. (The ferrari guy is dead by the way). I did not put my two cents in as someone else chimed in with something similar to what I was thinking, (if you can’t find the creator, try the mechanic that works on the ferrari). I am trying to attend after years of skipping so I will take keeping myself quiet as a win.” Jan 19, 20:25
- on 17 Thoughts About Resistance: “Regarding #3 above: There aren’t just 3 categories. There are four. The fourth is successfully pushing back. Right now, many who are pushing back successfully in the courts. ICE has been successfully blocked and chased out of certain areas. TACO, just like other bullies. Why is t this an option? Re: #14- if the church were to be like Abinidi and didn’t want to call out Noah or Trump, why doesn’t it call out its own bishops and people for teaching false doctrines? There are so many MAGA bishops, stale presidents, etc.” Jan 19, 18:16
- on 17 Thoughts About Resistance: “@Jack-The “destruction” of the family has been going on since pre-earth life when 1/3 of God’s children chose Satan, besides God instituted polygamy and look at that whole mess. We should be grateful that temples exist to unite families” Jan 19, 17:03
- on 17 Thoughts About Resistance: “Critchlow, I was talking about the destruction of the family–not SSM per se–as a response to the idea that the prophets aren’t talking about the things that really matter. When 20 million some odd people take to the streets to protest George Floyd’s death and nary a tumbleweed blows by in token of the 70-80% fatherlessness rate in the inner cities–then we’ve got a real problem. As sad as George Floyd’s passing was–we’ve really got things turned upside down. Used to think that perhaps the worst was in the past–what with the mid-twentieth century behind us. But I don’t know anymore–I’m worried that the worst is yet to come. And that if we continue to place the wants of adults ahead of the needs of children the West will implode. Maybe not today or tomorrow–but certainly in the not too distant future. Sounds apocalyptic I know–but there it is.” Jan 19, 16:37
