One of the most controversial aspects of Joseph Smith’s early life—and one not especially well known among most Mormons—is his adventures as a treasure-seeker. His father was likely a treasure-seeker before the family moved to New York from Vermont, where divining rods were the common medium in the search. Sometime in the early 1820s, Joseph was introduced to seer-stones, a common scrying device in western New York. Joseph quickly developed a reputation as a talented seer, and was known to peer into his stone to direct fellow treasure-seekers in their hunts. When Joseph was gaining...
Monthly Archives: October 2009
White Noise
Everybody blogs, right? Why not me? Looking for my niche, my angle, and the one thing that seemed to make me stand out in my corner of the world. I found it: Being single. And 40. And Mormon. In a family ward. In a town where EVERYONE is under 30, sealed in the temple and constantly reproducing. The best humor is found in our painful life experiences. Read about mine and laugh with me. Or at me. Whichever. singlemormonchick
So you want to be an improver?
There are two types of people who try to improve organizations from the outside of hierarchies. Those who volunteer and those who are asked for their help. As to volunteers, if you think the pure mass of blog commenters is overwhelming (think how many people make a suggestion or have comments that are ignored on T&C or BCC), any large organization has such a crescendo of people with ideas that the flood of ideas tends to merge into a huge wall of static from the organization’s perspective. Not to say that every outside voice is not heard. Which is...
Mormons, Free Exercise, and Unrighteous Litigation
John Boyle was offended that his country club scheduled golf tournaments on Sunday. He was a Mormon who kept the Sabbath day holy. So he sued. Boyle v. Jerome Country Club, 883 F Supp 1422 (D.Id. 1995) Christina Axson-Flynn was studying acting at the University of Utah. A Mormon, she was uncomfortable that the school’s acting exercises required her characters to utter some dirty words. So she sued. Axson-Flynn v. Johnson, 151 F Supp 2d 1326 (D. Utah 2001). Boyle and Axson-Flynn both claimed that their First Amendment rights were violated. That part of the Constitution, in addition to...
Did Elder Holland Denounce or Carefully Avoid the “Inspired Fiction” Theory?
If someone can find something in the Book of Mormon, anything that they love or respond to or find dear, I applaud that and say more power to you. That’s what I find, too. And that should not in any way discount somebody’s liking a passage here or a passage there or the whole idea of the book, but not agreeing to its origin, its divinity. . . . e have many people who are members of the church who do not have some burning conviction as to its origins, who have some other feeling about it that is...
Ardi and the Rise of Mormon Symbology
With the advance of science and the study of more and more artifacts such as Ardipithecus ramidus, believing Mormons are faced with a challenge which becomes stronger with each discovery.
A Jungian View of the First Vision
The First Vision is often viewed as a literal visit from two Heavenly beings during Joseph Smith’s waking hours. Yet, he consistently refers to it as a vision. Often, visions in scripture are vivid dreams with meaning that is applied to the larger organization rather than just the individual. What if the First Vision is more like a dream, a foray into the subconscious mind of Joseph Smith?
Common Consent: Democracy or Prophetocracy?
At 10:00am on a brisk August morning in 1844 Sidney Rigdon addressed the Saints. Brigham Young spoke briefly before the break and at length in the afternoon, at which point they voted for a new leader. Arrington notes that the response was almost unanimous, but the subsequent disaffection from the Church shows that not all was well in Zion. This experience raises interesting questions for me about the role of Common Consent in the Church. Seeing this is General Conference weekend (and we have just had a sustaining vote), I ask: Have we moved from a democracy to prophetocracy, and...
Saturday Session Thoughts
These are just a few quick observations from today’s sessions, not every talk, though, nor every observation. I also want to direct attention to the excellent notes by Mme. Curie.
Feminist Conference Matching Game–Updated with Answers
Do you know your Apostles’ wives? Bonus points if you can give first/maiden names in the comments. (Don’t cheat–only make a guess if you didn’t have to look it up!!) Katherine Jessop Christofferson
MM Guide to What to Wear to Conference 2009
SATURDAY SESSIONS: Readers, we know that most of you will be home using the internet or other media wonders of today to keep abreast of General Conference. And if you’re at home with the fam, by all means make yourself as comfy as possible. On Saturday, PJ’s are perfectly acceptable. Here’s what the well-dressed Mormon will be wearing if they’re viewing at home.
Mormons and Intellectual Property
One might think that property, a uniquely secular notion, has no truck with ecclesiastic authorities. After all, there’s supposedly no property in Heaven. Instead, everything is free up there, and there’s no such thing exclusive use and the right to refuse. Jesus said …. never mind. To show how daft the notion of property is to matters of religion, consider a case I stumbled on recently. In it, the court said: Plaintiff, God, claims that Defendant university is infringing his copyright by using his “autobiography,” namely, “Bible,” without paying him royalties. Complaint at 2. Plaintiff seeks 9.3...
Do We Know How to Be Loving Critics in the Church?
Several years ago I heard former Secretary of Defense William Cohen lament the sad state of affairs in American politics where, as he put it, “the Democrat and Republican parties seem to have stopped being loving critics of one another. Instead, we seem only to find uncritical lovers of their own party, and unloving critics of the opposing party.” I’m sure many of us sometimes wonder whether we are witnessing a similar polarizing trend in online discussions about the Church, and possibly even see ourselves as being part of the problem but are unsure of what to do about...
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