Today’s post is by The Chorister. I just read a book called In the land of invisible women: A female doctor’s journey in the Saudi kingdom by Qanta A. Ahmed, M.D. Absolutely amazing read. I’ve been recommending it to everyone I know. Qanta is a British-born Muslim physician, trained in the U.S., who takes a position at a hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She goes to Saudi Arabia feeling pretty comfortable. Not too worried about how it will feel to live there because, after all, she is a Muslim. However, once she gets there, she quickly discovers that many...
Monthly Archives: May 2009
Who’s #2?
I’ve been listening to some podcasts (here is the iTunes link) from the Covenant Theological Seminary on Ancient and Medieval Church History. Apparently they offer a Master of Theology Degree, and most of the classwork can be done online. Of course, if you want a degree you have to pay tuition, which I’m not doing, so basically I’m auditing some of the classes for free.
An Explanation of My Reduction in Participation
For the past two years (almost), I have been an active blogger – to say the least. (*grin*) Actually, to be more precise, I have been a VERY active blogger. OK, that is an understatement. That has changed over the last three weeks.
Interfaith International British DJ
OK Paul technically isn’t exactly an international DJ, not unless you consider that you can listen to his interviews on line.
Worship or Whine?
This post was inspired by David Stout’s series of posts on LDS Worship, Part II and Part III as well as HawkGrrrl’s post entitled “More Christ at Church.”
Mormon Masks
Often people have a hard time with intimacy (intimacy = “into me see”) because they feel vulnerable. They would rather deal with ideas than people, and they don’t want others to see who they are. They might feel insecure or care what others think of them. People who feel this way wear what we call social masks to hide who they are and present a facade instead of their true self to others. And sometimes, the mask people wear is the church.
Mother’s Day
As you know by know, I often like to talk about history. So, I thought I would try to learn a little about Mother’s Day. While there have been various movements over the centuries, in the United States, it seems the first Mother’s Day movement began just after the Civil War with Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870. Julia was a poet, writer, journalist, women’s suffrage activist, and abolitionist.
Why do we act?
So, the church has a lot of commandments, pieces of advice, laws, words of wisdom (both the specific one and ones more generic). You might say that the church is…I dunno…demanding? So why do we keep up with it? Why do we persist?
When the Ward Splits
Since I have lived in Colorado Springs (almost 6 years), I have witnessed a phenomena at Church I hadn’t experienced before while living in San Jose. Ward Splits and Stake realignments.
Botched Hymns
We are all familiar with this phenomenon. You’re listening to a song you’ve heard many times, and you think you know the lyrics, but you don’t really. And often our mistaken lyrics radically change the meaning of the song.
Resentment and Gratitude
Resentment and gratitude both have a role in our faith in Christ. Together they teach us a great deal. Not only is “resentment like taking poison and expecting the other person to die” Christ warned us that if we are wronged and hold on to our resentment instead of giving forgiveness, we would have the greater sin. Compared to anything that can be done to us, resentment is a greater sin. Why?
Marie Osmond Supports Gay Marriage
Wow. Marie Osmond openly supports gay marriage. First Steve Young’s wife. Now this. Will announcements like this eventually impact broader LDS opinion going forward (at least in the U.S.)? Will it make some LDS members think twice, or feel emboldened to disagree w/ the mainstream church on this one issue? Should be interesting if this keeps happening.
Defining Lust and Chastity
Matthew 5:27-28 includes the statement: “Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” Rather than debate that statement, although I am open to discussing it here, I want to focus on an underlying issue within something to which we refer frequently as the “Law of Chastity”. My primary focus is on the injunction regarding eliminating “lust” – and particularly how it can be avoided no matter one’s surroundings and exposure. This a result partly of the long, interesting discussion we had recently about “naturism” – but I don’t want...
Debunking the Spaulding Theory
In my previous post about Unconventional Book of Mormon Geography Theories, Doug G made a comment claiming that the Book of Mormon is related to the Solomon Spaulding Manuscript, so I want to address this theory. Andrew Ainsworth did a post in February on the Curious Case of Solomon Spaulding, which talks more about the legal aspects of proving plagiarism. Andrew is a lawyer, and I found his perspective interesting.
Dancing Through the Sidebar
Comment on any of the following articles – or anything else from the sidebar – or any other article of interest to this forum that we missed. LOLcats, Naked and Not Ashamed The LDS Church is Committed to Building Green The Force is Strong with This One Mormons Really Are Devil Spawn How to Make a Baby (Short Educational Film)
April 2009 General Conference – Word Stats
Based on word count, what was the focus of April 2009 General Conference? Before you scroll down, see if you can guess the top 3 words that were used.
Who Should Go to Church, Anyway?
So over at T&S they’ve been having this discussion about the recent media report about the majority of America’s drifiting faith issues. And I know, you’re about to say, “Dude, this isn’t T&S. We do things differently at Mormon Matters,” and I understand. And while I discussed this a bit at my blog, I most definitely know we do things differently here than there. So I wanted to try to approach the subject differently here and add some value (well…perhaps I won’t be so successful at this latter endeavor.)
Why are the 12 tribes of Israel important?
The LDS Church has a list of 13 general beliefs, which was composed by Joseph Smith in the 1830’s. It does not cover everything the church believes, but is a good guide. In the 10th article of faith, it states, “We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes”.
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