- dlc on A Review: Rise Up and Speak: Selected Discourses of Eliza R. Snow: “@rl, as an aside, it appears this is avail on amazon as well as deseret book web site itself. no need to travel or wait!!!!” Mar 4, 12:08
- on Cutting Edge Latter-day Saint Research, February 2026: “My anecdotal mission experience lines up with Alexander Poulsen’s findings” Mar 4, 07:59
- on What We Can Learn from Visions of Glory, Part 3: “Perhaps, if we collectively could keep a humble perspective, and treat visions as a form of symbolic, reflective or parabolic learning, rather than as a literal or even partially-literal transcription of the future, then it could benefit us to share them widely. We could compare and contrast and perhaps gain greater light. At the least we would have uniting insights, windows into each others’ souls. But if we’re sharing for attention or gain, or if we’re sharing with those with whom we don’t have a close personal connection, then we’re losing 99% of that potential value. Is a vision from God, or from the deep folds of our brains and the contours of our experiences? That distinction doesn’t matter much if our primary goal is humility, learning and love. Alternately, the corpus of literature, the body of the Word, is but a collection of visions.” Mar 3, 22:02
- on A Review: Rise Up and Speak: Selected Discourses of Eliza R. Snow: “Thanks for the review, will pick up when I visit Utah next.” Mar 3, 21:06
- on What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday, 3/1?: “Our Sunday School teacher focused on covenants in general and the Abrahamic covenant in particular as a relationship of trust rather than a contract that’s null and void as soon as it is broken. The Old Testament is the story of God relentlessly pursuing his covenant people despite their sins (while not protecting them from the consequences of those sins). I liked that because we’ve got so many people who are afraid that they’ll lose their relationship with God if they fall short. But for me personally, it got me thinking that if I am more mindful of the loving, one-on-one relationship I have with Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Parents I’ll probably do better than I am now. A note of support for your overall project here: In 2 Nephi 32, Nephi follows up on his exhortation to “press forward” and “endure to the end” by turning to the question of what specifically we should do. But he refuses to answer it, because we need to get those answers ourselves from the Lord. He famously tells us to “feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.” We usually take that as an exhortation to read the scriptures, but the words of Christ he’s referring to are *spoken*, not written: “Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ.” I’m firmly convinced that a big part of the Lord’s plan for our gradual progression is our going to church each week and listening to people speak by the power of the Holy Ghost and tell us what we should do (something that happens more often in our meetings than some people think, if not as often as it should). Even if they fall short, if we listen with the intent of learning what the Lord wants us to work on and to do that week, it’s my experience that the Spirit will bring something to our minds, even if it’s only peripherally related to what’s said. We take our church meetings and what’s said there far too lightly. Thanks for trying to remedy that.” Mar 3, 13:20
- on What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday, 3/1?: “After reading your reminder in the comments to last week’s post, I will now repent and finish my “new way of thinking.” After hearing these disconcerting responses, I raised my hand to respond. The question of being more righteous reminded me of my mother whose outlook was always, how can I make someone’s day better or burden lighter? The teacher and many women quickly agreed and expanded and the discussion turned to a serving and relational question rather than an obedience and receiving blessings issue. Thank you for encouraging me to reframe my experiences.” Mar 3, 12:36
- on What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday, 3/1?: “I always enjoy hearing testimonies as a way to know my fellow congregants. Sunday School, on the other hand is an exercise in tongue-biting. To claim to study Genesis yet only referring to 1-2 verses as proof text for PoGP is very frustrating. But most distressing were the answers to “what does it mean to you to desire to be more righteous?” Most answers from the men sounded to me like: An opportunity to gain more blessings; or, to attain a higher eternal status; or other acquisitive outcome. Transactional or prosperity gospel, anyone?” Mar 3, 12:18
- on A Review: Rise Up and Speak: Selected Discourses of Eliza R. Snow: “They do not attempt to sanitize Snow’s voice to fit modern sensibilities. The introductions and notes candidly address her defense of plural marriage, her exercise of charismatic spiritual gifts (such as healing by the laying on of hands and speaking in tongues), her perspective on the Fall and Eve, and the cultural biases typical of Americans in her era. Absolutely, some of the best church scholarship along side the JSP.” Mar 3, 11:11
- on What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday, 3/1?: “Here are a few of the things I thought about because of attending Church meetings yesterday (3/1): I was visiting a different ward, because I was traveling, and I immediately noticed that the hymns were played much slower than I’m used to, whether because of the organist’s preference or inability to play faster. But it occurs to me that there are advantages to slower hymns—for example, you have more time to focus on and think about the words you are singing. Or, the slower tempo may give the hymn a different flavor or even a different meaning. One of those who got up to speak in testimony meeting talked about timing, saying “God takes his time—It’s ok to slow down.” I agree. Our society today seems to always push us to move quickly. We can slow down. Another speaker was an artist who said he had given out prints of one of his paintings to all the members of the ward. That seemed very unusual — for a visual artist at least. In contrast, we see musicians giving out their work to the members of their wards all the time, and don’t think about it. So I’m now wondering about giving of ourselves: How much are what we give dependent on our cultural understandings of what should be given away? What talents or skills do we have that should be given away like musicians often give away their talents? Perhaps the most impactful statement yesterday was the speaker who said “I’m not perfect, I’m not that kind of musician.” I think there’s a world in that statement. While no musician (or anyone) is perfect, many try, and some musicians are technically perfect, and in that perfection take the life out of what they play. I think that can be extended to our lives. We can focus so much on being perfect that we loose what is worth living for in the process. ” Mar 2, 00:50
- on Will the Community of Christ Die Off?: “When I was in college I could go up to Orem and visit Sunday School with the Reorganized folks to see what they believed. Back then, they did believe in things. Now, the building isn’t even there. To the extent it believes anything, the CoC believes in being nice. That’s not enough to sustain it.” Mar 1, 22:31
