- Em on Did you bring an Umbrella? (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday, 3/15)?: “Your post reminds me of a talk by Elder Scott (To Acquire Spiritual Guidance) where he contrasted two classes (one where the teacher was humble and the other where the teacher was more in performance mode) and how God flooded him with impressions because he came ready to receive them. I’ve started taking notes more intentionally to seek to be receptive, regardless of what is happening with the speaker/teacher. It’s been a cool experience (and also helps me stay awake on those Sundays when I need a nap). :)” Mar 17, 02:36
- on Did you bring an Umbrella? (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday, 3/15)?: “Your Packer quote seems transposed or adapted from McConkie’s Seven Deadly Heresies https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/bruce-r-mcconkie/seven-deadly-heresies/ “We come into these congregations, and sometimes a speaker brings a jug of living water that has in it many gallons. And when he pours it out on the congregation, all the members have brought is a single cup and so that’s all they take away. Or maybe they have their hands over the cups, and they don’t get anything to speak of. “On other occasions we have meetings where the speaker comes and all he brings is a little cup of eternal truth, and the members of the congregation come with a large jug, and all they get in their jugs is the little dribble that came from a man who should have known better and who should have prepared himself and talked from the revelations and spoken by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are obligated in the Church to speak by the power of the Spirit. We are commanded to treasure up the words of light and truth and then give forth the portion that is appropriate and needful on every occasion.”” Mar 16, 20:19
- on Did you bring an Umbrella? (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday, 3/15)?: “What I thought about was how easy it was to help the Primary kids not be distracted by the one child who has a lot of trouble sitting still (at that moment kept running up to the chalkboard at the front and writing on it, followed by a mad dash of the a Primary Presidency counselor). I saw the kids were watching the chaos, and simply moved myself to the back half of the room and said, Stand Up, turn around, and let’s sing this way. And they did, just fine. No more distraction. Of course, these were 3-6 year old children, so I didn’t draw the comparison to Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, but *I* thought about it. (While I’ve got your attention, I notice the Church Newsroom is utterly silent on the devastating fires in Nebraska… one of which, if maps and past news reporting about the north half of Garden County being almost entirely owned by the Church through Farmland Reserve, is correct, must have affected an awful lot of future Bishops’ Storehouse beef. Why no news?)” Mar 16, 19:51
- on Did you bring an Umbrella? (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday, 3/15)?: “While discussing Joseph, it occurred to me that we usually think about him mostly as a divine interpreter of dreams, but what people in Egypt noticed about him was his management skill. While Moses’ prophetic calling was to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt, Joseph’s calling was to help Egypt thrive despite a famine, even though pharaoh was not a particularly righteous ruler.” Mar 16, 19:30
- on A Review: Chosen Land: How Christianity Made America and Americans Remade Christianity: “American is not necessarily Christian nation. The native americans were here thousands of years ago. They weren’t Christian. The Europeans brought Christianity. Some assert that the founding fathers were Christian. But many were not. Jefferson edited the NT to takeout the miracles. Many were Unitarian theists. They clearly wanted separation between religion and government. President Oaks wants religious freedom. Freedom from government interference. Others want freedom from religion. A government that is free from religious interference. Theoretically the 2 should be allies. But the bone of contention is social issues. Religion wants a say in areas it has no business being in. And secularists are too strident. Right now the conservative religious right has the edge. An amoral President is pandering the conservatives. He’s stacked the Scotus with political hacks. And has a rubber stamp Congress. Hopefully, the pendulum will swing back. America the beautiful is multicultural.” Mar 16, 10:50
- on Latter-day Saint Where’s Waldo and Stephen Biesty Cross-Sections: “The historian/illustrator David McCaulay published some amazing books that illuminate historical activities and explain how things work: gothic cathedrals, Medieval castles, ancient Rome, etc. They are very enlightening. They demonstrate the power of illustration. Years ago, in college, I was interested in social history. At the time the field was in its infancy. Since that time, a wide variety of fields have expanded our knowledge of how people lived, including archeology, nutrition, engineering, etc. AI will help bring these diverse studies into a coherent whole. And AI illustrations will certainly be an important ingredient in this activity. What did ancient Rome look like What did Medieval London look like. We need to remember that AI is in its infancy. What is possible in the future is pretty unimaginable. We will move past slop.” Mar 16, 06:36
- on What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday, 3/8?: “Kent, you are right, I shouldn’t have taken the shot at Elder Packer. He and I had different views of the world, and that’s fine. As an aside, a while back I attended a F&T meeting in Africa. Some nonmember friends wanted to attend with me. I was a little concerned that this would be their first introduction to Mormonism. But I needn’t have worried, they seemed to enjoy the meeting.” Mar 16, 06:02
- on Did you bring an Umbrella? (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday, 3/15)?: “Here are a few of the things I thought about because of attending Church meetings yesterday (3/15): I attended a packed memorial service on Saturday for a young stake member who died in a motorcycle accident. Speakers spoke about his exuberance and unfiltered love and excitement for life — which both made him difficult and beloved, charismatic and reckless. I was impressed with how all of this was discussed, and how loved he was despite the difficulties. In many ways I felt more inspired by his life because of his struggles. For me, when I hear examples, being human is more important than being perfect. Then in Sunday School, we discussed Joseph, his coat of many colors and his stay in Egypt. I wondered if Joseph wasn’t also a bit unfiltered, or, as someone said in the class, ‘unencumbered with humility.’ I think we put Joseph in a kind of box when we present him as perfect, instead of reading the story carefully to understand his whole character. Our discussion also talked about the family dynamics of Jacob and his household. Joseph was the 2nd youngest, and the favorite, leading to plenty of speculation about how that might have influenced how he acted. In the midst of this I wondered about family dynamics in the family of our Heavenly Parents. Do they treat their children differently depending on some dynamic like birth order or personality, simply because that is what we need? Is our assumption that equal treatment in all things is the way to be fair correct? Is that something we need to learn how to navigate to become like Them? ” Mar 15, 16:15
- on What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday, 3/8?: “Roger, why are you posting here a criticism of F&T meeting? I don’t think the OP called for that. You cited Elder Packer, but you don’t tell us what YOU got out of a F&T meeting. Nor do you tell us why you are focusing on what others did wrong, instead of how YOU reacted. Please, complaints about how the meetings work appear in MANY different places. I think everyone has heard them. Instead, we’re asking here about how to take what does happen and get something out of it. It is every bit as much our responsibility to mold what happens into something we benefit from, as it is for the speaker/testifier to provide good material. Elder Packer’s own example suggests this. He talked about speakers who only bring a thimble full of good material AND about audiences that used umbrellas to avoid getting wet. You are complaining about the speaker only bringing a thimble full, and ignoring the question of your umbrella.” Mar 15, 15:28
- on What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday, 3/8?: “President Packer stated that a testimony should contain 5 things with no storytelling. In fact, Deseret book sold a glove for the Primary kids to remind them of the 5 elements. Sort of the ultimate in Mormon kitsch. The most memorable F&T meeting I attended involved a member grieving over the loss of a grandchild. He filled about 15 minutes. But it didn’t matter. The members felt they were assisting with the grieving process. Storytelling and short doctrinal talks would be interesting. Maybe poetry and musical numbers. As long as the presenter stayed away from politics and the mysteries. A 2-1/2 time limit might be nice. That could be waved in special circumstances. I don’t think the current format for F&T meeting works.” Mar 15, 14:23
