- rogerdhansen on 19th-21st Century Biology Disciple Scholars : “You omitted Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Jesuit priest, scientist, paleontologist, mystic, and deep thinker. Interested in the interplay between religion and evolution. Believed that Genesis is allegorical.” Aug 13, 13:31
- on Faith Is a Hope, by Alma the Younger (Alma 32): “Hi, Not a Cougar, Great question. I think that even though temple attendance encouragement is stronger than ever, so is home-centered study and worship. And we are still, of course, encouraged to go to church each week where we covenant to “always remember Him” (not just while at church or in the temple). As Latter-day Saints, I think it is helpful to look at our sacred spaces (temple, church, home, other) and realize we connect with the Divine differently in each. There are things we do in the temple that we cannot do on a nature walk, but there are divine promptings we may feel while ministering to a neighbor that we don’t get sitting in church. Different places can serve different roles for us spiritually.” Aug 13, 11:55
- on Responsibility in our Meetings (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday), 8/9: “jader3rd, I substituted in youth Sunday School, and I shared that neither Ezra nor Nehemiah were prophets; rather, they were political appointees — and that their books contain no prophecy, only history. I also pointed out that the forced divorces were driven by Ezra as a man, not by God — indeed, Malachi the prophet lived during this period and he opposed the divorces.” Aug 13, 11:35
- on Faith Is a Hope, by Alma the Younger (Alma 32): ““What myths about worship did Alma challenge, and how can those insights change the way we live our faith today?” Mike, with the incredibly strong emphasis on temple attendance today, might Alma say to us, “Do ye suppose that ye cannot worship God save it be in your temples only?” I know that suggestion might result in a General Authority throwing a rock at my head, but it’s a sincere questions. Given the frequency with which temple attendance and “temple worship” are now mentioned in General Conference these days, has the Zoramite synagogue been replaced with the latter-day temple?” Aug 13, 08:26
- on 19th-21st Century Biology Disciple Scholars : “I actually didn’t know that Collins had any other books. Thanks for the heads up!” Aug 13, 06:06
- on Responsibility in our Meetings (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday), 8/9: “This post doesn’t make me think of church from this past week, but the week before that. Two days before the Gospel Doctrine teacher texted me, and asked if I could teach because they were coming down sick. I’m not an officially called substitute teacher, but I was happy to help. In the earlier part of the lesson I made it clear that I was going to introduce a controversy. I felt that Zerubbabel was wrong to not let the Samaritans help rebuild the temple. I honestly thought that I wasn’t going to get a response more than a couple of people shaking their heads as they thought about it. I was wrong. So many comments. Nothing heated. This isn’t anything that anyone has sacrificed anything in their lives about. After sufficient time spent on it, I moved the lesson on. I received a lot of positive feedback about the controversy part of my lesson at the end of church. I ran into ward member whose only living with his parents until school starts again, today, and he went out of his way to mention how much he liked the controversy that I introduced in the lesson from two Sundays ago. Even as a class members, being responsible enough to read the lesson, and share opinions, is a responsibility of the class members.” Aug 12, 23:38
- on Responsibility in our Meetings (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday), 8/9: “Kent, I have one response that fits within the framework you’ve set up and then one question that doesn’t. We had several youth talk about their experiences with Trek (Handcart Trek for the uninitiated). I appreciated the one girl who, though she made it clear that she didn’t have a good time, was able to point out the parts of the experience that were nonetheless meaningful to her. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to be able to express our less-than-full enthusiasm for Church events from the pulpit, and I thought she did so in an appropriate and faith-promoting way. On to the question. What do you do with or say to the people who either don’t have the capacity or don’t have the desire to do the spiritual heavy lifting of engaging with and finding meaning in an otherwise boring talk or lesson? Our congregations are full of these kinds of people. Moreover, besides posting here on Times & Seasons which will reach, at most, a few hundred committed, mostly middle aged or elderly Latter-day Saints (apologies for the assumption and feel free to correct it), how does your prescription for making the boring meaningful get implemented with youth and the mentally checked-out? Are the readers expected or encouraged to evangelize this approach to the wider Church? Have you approached your ward leadership about this? If so, how did it go?” Aug 12, 11:49
- on 19th-21st Century Biology Disciple Scholars : “I think I’d heard of Francis Collins before, but not a lot about him. I just went and placed holds on the three books of his that our library system has. Looks like good reading.” Aug 12, 09:33
- on CFM 8/17-8/23: Thoughts and Poetry for “The Lord Is My Shepherd”: “I agree. Now if we could just get people to use our poetry in church!!” Aug 12, 00:25
- on CFM 8/17-8/23: Thoughts and Poetry for “The Lord Is My Shepherd”: “Love “Ode to Earth. Animism at its finest. Mormonism could use a strong infusion of respect for Mother Earth or Pacha-mama. As for poetry, the Book of Ecclesiasties has some of the finest verse ever written. Ask Pete Seager and the Byrd. “All is Vanity.”. Gilgal Gardens in SLC has a wonderful tribute to this OT’s book.” Aug 11, 18:45
