Timothy Ferris concludes his book on cosmology, The Whole Shebang, with a “Contrarian Theological Afterword.” Here, he writes that if God is omnipotent, then He must have free will. And if so, He was free to make the universe in any conceivable way. But if God was constrained in some way in making the universe, for example if He could only make it in the most reasonable way, or a way that promoted human existence, then God can’t be all-powerful. ... Read more
Gospel Doctrine Lesson 22 presents students with an invitation to see others in the way God sees them, by looking carefully at the human soul rather than a person’s physical appearance. The lesson title derives from the story of the anointing of David as king over Israel, when the Lord declared unto the prophet Samuel, “Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth;... Read more
By EmilyU I learned to pray from my parents, not that I remember it. I don’t remember my first prayer any more than I remember my first word. I assume I learned to pray the same way I learned to speak – by listening and imitating. My parents undoubtedly instructed me to repeat their words, showing me how to begin and end a prayer, and giving me examples of what goes between the bookends of a prayer. I learned to... Read more
Another one! We just keep coming. As always, if you like it, share it. Tell your Gospel Doctrine teacher, your family, those poor people stuck in Primary and Nursery who crave mental stimulation, etc….. [audio:http://media.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/Media/MormonPodcast5.mp3] Right-click to download here. Here are the notes and references which turn out to be relatively short today. They may not make much sense without the podcast itself. (more…) Read more
I’ve never enjoyed home teaching. (more…) Read more
[audio:http://media.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/Media/MormonPodcast4.mp3] Hit play above, or right click here to download. I present for your intellectual stimulation… Ruth. And it’s a good one. By skipping lessons 18-19, I hope our podcasts now match up with most lesson schedules. See below for notes and references. (more…) Read more
The Book of Mormon claims to be a record of some of the ancestors of current Indigenous Americans (American Indians, Native Americans). This aspect of the book was especially important to early Mormons. What is the relationship between the Lamanites of the Book of Mormon and Indigenous Americans? How does modern DNA science help answer the question? Different Latter-day Saints (and critics) have answered these questions in radically different ways. Some argue DNA studies support the claims of the Book of... Read more
(If you’re coming from LDS.org or the RSS feed, please click here for the proper post. Edit: I see that breaks the Podcast plugin. Stay here, then.) [audio:http://media.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/Media/MormonPodcast3.mp3] Handy dandy player! Just click play! To download the mp3, right-click here and choose “save link as” I’m still working on issues of settings and audio quality, as well as production times. The next podcast will cover Ruth (Lesson 20), and is already written and being recorded. Look for it later today... Read more
A few weeks ago, I got sick. It came on steadily throughout the day. I felt tired and miserable. My body ached. When DH got home, he sent me to bed. As I laid there, I started identifying where I felt pain. My waist hurt. My toes hurt. My belly button hurt. My elbows hurt. My knees and wrists hurt. All the places in between hurt. As I was lying there feeling sorry for myself, my thoughts broadened. Some people... Read more
(If you’re coming from ldsblogs.org or the RSS feed, click here to see this page in its normal environment.) Yes, I KNOW you’re all doing Malachi this week… I’m stubbornly posting my podcast on Lesson 15 anyway, because some people might still want to listen to it and I spent too much time re-recording after a system crash and data loss to just let it go. Next time, I’m combining several lessons and perhaps skipping one in order to get... Read more
One Eternal Round
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