"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 humility and faith and patience".Elder Richard L. Evans, October 1956 GC … [Read more...]
Archives for January 2011
Around the Internet
January 21, 2011 by Leave a Comment
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.)- LinkKeepa looks at a time when you could be paid for doing names in the temple.- LinkMormon Mommy Blogs appear to be very popular among young feminist educated atheists.- LinkKen Jennings loses to Watson- LinkA story of healing, at BCC- LinkChristopher Hitchens v. the Mormons- LinkMore responses to the NYTimes "Single, Mormon, Alone piece" … [Read more...]
Review: James E. Faulconer, “Faith, Philosophy, Scripture”
January 21, 2011 by Leave a Comment
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: PaperbackIn 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 sam … [Read more...]
Quotes of Note- Marion D. Hanks and Theological Illiterates
January 17, 2011 by Leave a Comment
“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 to work in daily life, we will … [Read more...]
Lift Every Voice and Sing
January 17, 2011 by Leave a Comment
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 city court … [Read more...]
Around the Internet
January 14, 2011 by Leave a Comment
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 DayLoyd asks (somewhat … [Read more...]
Spirituality and the environment
January 12, 2011 by Leave a Comment
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 has been largely cleaned up), many of t … [Read more...]
Around the Internet
January 7, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Since we don't have a sideblog here, Fridays will now see a catch-all buffet post appear.Mormon stuffThanks, 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 GleeThe 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 a Dis … [Read more...]
On character and ideals
January 2, 2011 by Leave a Comment
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 and sacrifi … [Read more...]
