Exodus 20:7: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Euphemism: 1. the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt.
Monthly Archives: January 2009
Are We Cross at the Cross?
As I was getting ready for church one Sunday, I went to put on a necklace. I looked at the cross that a non-LDS family member gave me a few years ago. She knows I’m a Christian and I’m sure she thought it would be a nice gesture (which it absolutely was!), but I opted for the heart necklace instead. I’ve worn my cross out in public many times and I personally have no problem with it. But I’ve yet to wear it to church. This got me thinking about something I’ve never been quite sure about. How do...
Authority Problem? Why not morality?
About a week ago (if I’ve got this newfangled blog software system set up and can submit this article correctly this time, that is ), Hawkgrrrl wrote about The Problem with Morality. In it, she raised that oft-repeated idea that Mormons are so unquestioningly obedient to their authority leaders that “when the prophet has spoken, the thinking is done.” She raises this up in a somewhat negative light (and haven’t you seen it brought up in a...
Why Is It So Hard for Many Ex-Mormons to Join Another (Traditional) Christian Denomination?
I had a job a long time ago as the Training Manager at a company that was going through the ISO 9000 certification process. For those who are unfamiliar with that process, it is an auditing system that focuses on the internal working of a company – looking not at whether a company is involved in “best practices” but rather whether a company is articulating and following clearly defined practices and procedures. I summed it up at the time as being able to do three things: 1) Say what you do. 2) Do what you say. 3) Prove it.
Why I Like the Correlation Committee
I am going to state what is bound to be a wildly unpopular opinion: I really like the Correlation Committee.
False Doctrine, the Neverending Story
I’ll get back to folk doctrines and unsubstantiated rumors in a little bit. Right now I’m going to write about one of the most enduring of the false doctrines.
Horus Bible Parallels
Recently I saw Religulous here and he touched on Horus here and a few of the parallels between the story of Horus and Jesus. Many Mormons when they start delving and unravelling events in our history also delve into what they can find out about (possible origins)
Sunday School As Ritual
“Read your scriptures” “Go to Church” “Watch Saturday’s Warrior” (heaven help the Sunday School who has a Saturday’s Warrior faction) “Sunday School answers” generally do not receive very good press from many Latter-day Saints, especially those of the blogging ilk. Instructors beg, plead with their students: “Let’s dig a little deeper, shall we?” The typical response is either befuddled silence or a massaged version of the above. Normally, it is explained in the context of a personal experience…after all, we note, this means we’re applying the doctrine (note the almost elixir-like aura surrounding the word apply–as though all applications...
Is God a Mormon?
NOTE: This is another post from our newest author – Faithful Dissident. Whether we’re Mormon, Baptist, Catholic, Jewish, or Muslim, we all believe that God is on our side and that we are doing His will. Could it be that God really is on all our sides, as long as we are doing what is “good” and “praiseworthy?” For the Catholic nun who is visited by The Virgin Mary; for the Baptist who receives the miracle he asks for; for the atheist who one day has a spiritual epiphany and becomes a born again Christian; if God is a...
Glorifying “The Good Old Days”
I think it’s fascinating to watch people justify their angst over prophets by pointing out all the “weird” stuff about which prophets used to speculate, then turn around and criticize the current church leaders for being “boring” because they won’t speculate any more. I also think it’s fascinating that most of the people who long for “the good old days” rarely mention that those “good old days” included INTENSE persecution, death and incredible hardship – or the that “bad new days” include explosive growth and much more of a “rolling stone” appearance than the “good old days”.
The Problem with Authority
Mormons are sometimes criticized for their unquestioning obedience to authority. Statements like “When the prophet has spoken, the thinking is done,” and the Primary song “Follow the prophet” come to mind as well as the belief that even if leaders are mistaken, we should follow them. Do Mormons have an unhealthy respect for authority?
There Are Too Many Books about the Church
As I sit at the computer in my office, my back is to the 400 or so books I have about the Church in my library.
Anomaly
This post edited to clear up confusion caused by careless and clueless use of language. Some miracles seem to be reliable. As a missionary, I found that if people would read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, they would feel the Spirit. However, some miracles just seem to happen, and it is, perhaps, counterproductive to generalize from those miracles. Like the dear member who invited us to teach his best friend. After we had taught a lesson and given him a Book of Mormon and encouraged him to read and pray, the member told him to ignore...
The Age of (Un)Accountability
NOTE: This is the first post for a new Guest Author – The Faithful Dissident. We look forward to many more to come. Growing up with younger siblings, I always had a hard time believing that Satan couldn’t possess kids under the age of eight. And that goes for myself too, since if what my parents have said is true, I was a bit of a devil child. But, in all seriousness, I have some questions that make it hard for me to not see conflicts between the doctrine of the Age of Accountability and other Church doctrine.
Why I Almost Went on a Mission
I hear there’s a Primary song — “I hope they call me on a mission.” I’ve never actually heard it sung, but I vaguely know that it does exist and that there are some members who have their kids sing it enough that they internalize it. I never grew up with that, of course. Missions just never seemed for me. At first I was apathetic to the concept, and then I was doubtful. Then, I became opposed to the concept. Why should I derail my life? (The answer of: “Because it’s what the Lord wants you to do” or...
In Search of the Historical Joseph…
If you think the title tips my hand, hold onto your hats. Indeed, I am consciously borrowing from Albert Schweitzer’s famed work, In Search of the Historical Jesus, itself the culmination of a century of scholarship that had essentially denied the Messianic nature, instead promoting an entire movement of scholarship that promoted the Gospels as an ex post facto radical recreation of this Jewish charismatic, social revolutionary’s mild-mannered teachings. Given the paucity of evidence concerning him, these scholars concluded, we might as well give up on ever getting into Jesus’ head in any traditional sense. Schweizer’s summation, as goodly...
Conservative Evangelicals & Liberal Mormons: Are They Really Similar In Ways?
The following quotes are excerpted from an article written in 1989 and quoted by the Fundamental Evangelists Association. (The entire article is an interesting look into the factions within evangelism.) I was struck by the concerns expressed within a couple of the statements and simply want to explore them here as they relate to Mormonism. (The higlighted parts are my emphasis.) “Calling the whole church to take the whole gospel to the whole world.” This was the ecumenical theme of the Second International Congress on World Evangelization, held July 11-20, 1989 in Manila, The Philippines. Commonly referred to as the...
Stop Baptizing Our Dead!
The LDS doctrine of Baptism for the Dead is unique within Christianity. The explanation for the doctrine and additional references on the LDS Church website can be found here. There is also a fairly lengthy explanation on Wikipedia here. It is a controversial doctrine and many groups have protested this vicarious work for the dead, including Jews, Catholics and others. I find a certain ironies in their protestations.