“Our Father in heaven is not an umpire who is trying to count us out. He is not a competitor who is trying to outsmart us. He is not a prosecutor who is trying to convict us. He is a Loving Father who wants our happiness and eternal progress and everlasting opportunity and glorious accomplishment, and who will help us all he can if we will but give him, in our lives, the opportunity to do so with obedience and... Read more
It’s Friday. Here’s what’s happening around the internet. What’s traffic look like at the official LDS websites? This guy knows (or did.)- Link Keepa looks at a time when you could be paid for doing names in the temple.- Link Mormon Mommy Blogs appear to be very popular among young feminist educated atheists.- Link Ken Jennings loses to Watson- Link A story of healing, at BCC- Link Christopher Hitchens v. the Mormons- Link More responses to the NYTimes “Single, Mormon,... Read more
Title: Faith, Philosophy, Scripture Author: James E. Faulconer Publisher: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship Genre: Philosophy/Theology Year: 2010 Pages: 254 ISBN13: 9780842527781 Binding: Paperback In the 1983 film “A Christmas Story,” little Ralphie wants nothing more than a Red Ryder carbine-action two hundred shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and “a thing which tells time.” Parents, teachers, even Santa Claus himself respond to his pleading with the same refrain: “You’ll shoot yer eye... Read more
“No one knows anything about Christ’s work simply by being born a member of the Church, and often he knows little about it after years of unmotivated exposure in meetings or classes. He must learn. And learning involves self-investment and effort. The gospel should be studied ‘as carefully as any science.’ The ‘literature of the Church’ must be ‘acquired and read.’ Our learning should be increased in our spare time ‘day by day.’ Then as we put the gospel truth... Read more
Exodus. It’s a story as old as the scriptures that has been replayed in America many times. The Pilgrim’s journey from Great Britain is an exodus tale, as is the Mormon’s journey across the Great Plains. For African Americans, the civil rights movement was their exodus story. Segregation, disenfranchisement, and racism were their Egypt. Today we remember the Moses of the civil rights movement – Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1963 King was jailed in Birmingham, Alabama for violating a... Read more
Not a lot has snagged my attention this week. John C. at ByCommonConsent offers up thoughts on the NYTimes article about Single Mormon Thirtysomething leaving chastity behind. Dan McClellan explains why elohim is a plural but treated like a singular. Mormons Apologetics and Discussion Board has decided to stop apologizing, becomes Mormon Dialogue board. New URL to match, http://mormondialogue.org [corrected] Darius Grey to speak on Martin Luther King Day Loyd asks (somewhat defiantly)- What would Eugene England Do? Spreading the... Read more
I just came across an Ensign article on a topic I never expected to find in that magazine – the environment. Not our spiritual surroundings, but the actual great outdoors. Titled “Our Deteriorating Environment” and written by A. B. Morrison in 1971, the article describes in detail the pollution of our air, water, and land. While the information is a bit dated (lead pollution in the air has been wiped away with the use of unleaded gasoline, and Lake Erie... Read more
Since we don’t have a sideblog here, Fridays will now see a catch-all buffet post appear. Mormon stuff Thanks, but That’s Not a Compliment– By labeling thinking as “deep” we can avoid feeling like we need to do any. BCC hosts a variety of views on What Mormons Think About Glee The Mormon Women Project highlights Elisabeth Krider: Mormon, mother and Chemistry PhD. Joe Spencer’s lengthy and useful thoughts on Teaching Seminary, Early Morning or Otherwise: Seven “Hints” and Hopefully... Read more
I teach Relief Society and last week I taught a lesson on Richard G. Scott’s General Conference talk “The Transforming Power of Faith and Character.” The most meaningful part of the talk for me was a quotation from Hugh B. Brown: “Wherever in life great spiritual values await man’s appropriation, only faith can appropriate them. Man cannot live without faith, because in life’s adventure the central problem is character-building—which is not a product of logic, but of faith in ideals... Read more
The January Ensign (not available on-line yet) includes “The New Testament: The Historical Context” by BYU prof Thomas Wayment. PhD from Claremont, focused on textual criticism (as I recall), Wayment is one of the young movers and shakers at BYU. He co-authored Jesus Christ and the World of the New Testament, which garnered all kinds of positive press from lds blogs. (more…) Read more
One Eternal Round
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