{"id":292,"date":"2004-01-14T19:04:00","date_gmt":"2004-01-15T02:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=292"},"modified":"2006-06-01T15:07:30","modified_gmt":"2006-06-01T19:07:30","slug":"ts-has-been-excommunicated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2004\/01\/ts-has-been-excommunicated\/","title":{"rendered":"T&#038;S Has Been Excommunicated!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At least from the blogrolls over at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.doctrinal.net\/index.php?m=200401#post-21\">Doctrinal.net<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hughroper.com\/archives\/000163.html\">Hugh Roper<\/a>.  Both Hugh and Doctrinal.net cite to <a href=\"http:\/\/library.lds.org\/nxt\/gateway.dll\/Magazines\/Ensign\/1989.htm\/ensign%20may%201989.htm\/follow%20the%20prophet%20.htm\">a talk<\/a> by <a href=\"http:\/\/personal.atl.bellsouth.net\/w\/o\/wol3\/pacegl1.htm\">Elder Glenn L. Pace<\/a> condemning \u201cexcessive intellectualism.\u201d<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nElder Pace goes on to say:<\/p>\n<ul>While it would seem the search for and discovery of truth should be the goal of all Latter-day Saints, it appears some get more satisfaction from trying to discover new uncertainties. I have friends who have literally spent their lives, thus far, trying to nail down every single intellectual loose end rather than accepting the witness of the Spirit and getting on with it.<\/ul>\n<p>From the context of Elder Pace\u2019s talk, it is not clear what the antecedent of the \u201cit\u201d we are to be getting on with is.  I am assuming that he means something like living gospel centered lives, following counsel from the prophets, and serving in the church and community.  If what he is saying is that how we live is more important that what we abstractly think, I agree.  I also agree that it is a mistake to postpone a faithful life until we have \u201cnail[ed] down every single intellectual loose end.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, I have to confess that I enjoy exploring the foundations, implications, and meanings of Mormonism.  For a variety of institutional reasons \u2013 which I happen to think are quite valid \u2013 the church in its teaching and curriculum tends to focus on only the most basic and elementary teachings.  As it happens, I think these tend to be the most important facets of our religion.  However, they are not the only ones.  Furthermore, I take it that we are rather explicitly taught that Sunday School is not to exhaust our engagement with the gospel.  \u201cVerily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; for the power is in them wherein they are agents unto themselves.  An inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.\u201d (<a href=\"http:\/\/scriptures.lds.org\/dc\/58\/27#27\">D&#038;C 58:27-28<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/personal.atl.bellsouth.net\/w\/o\/wol3\/roberbh1.htm\">B.H. Roberts<\/a>, a long-time President of the Seventy, once said, \u201cI love the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It satisfies me completely.  It appeals to the intellectual side of my nature, and offers me priceless gifts.  Gifts worthy of a God and worthy of a son of God to receive!\u201d  One of the reasons that I believe in Mormonism, one of the reasons that I love the Restoration, is its capacity to throw up fun, exciting, and fascinating intellectual knots.  Such \u201cproblems\u201d as polygamy, authority, spirit fluid, and the precise location of Kolob are part of what makes the church true for me.  It is part of what makes being a Mormon so dang much fun.  The Lord\u2019s table is filled to over flowing, all are invited to the feast, and there are good things to eat for all.<\/p>\n<p>I think that we&#8217;ll keep the link to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.doctrinal.net\">Doctrinal.net<\/a> on the blogroll.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At least from the blogrolls over at Doctrinal.net and Hugh Roper. Both Hugh and Doctrinal.net cite to a talk by Elder Glenn L. Pace condemning \u201cexcessive intellectualism.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-doctrine"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}