According to Arrington and Bitton, “most individual responses of modern Mormons involve a kind of tie with the past”[1] . Hist
ory is central to the Latter-day Saint faith. Stories from Latter-day Saint history reverberate out from their local settings and have a global impact in the lives of many, for both good and ill. How and/or why does this happen? Continue reading…
I’ve been reading Terryl Givens book, By the Hand of Mormon. While acknowledging archaeological data isn’t as strong as other aspects of the Book of Mormon, Givens seems to feel Mormon academics have made some impressive contributions. I posted a longer version of this on my blog. Givens starts with Hugh Nibley on page 118:
No one in the history of Mormon scholarship has done more to establish rational grounds for belief in the Book of Mormon than Hugh Nibley. Acquiring impressive scholarly credentials (summa cum laude from UCLA and a Berkeley Ph.D. dissertation written in three weeks in 1938) before heading off to war….
I just loved John Dehlin’s latest interview with Shawn McCraney. I’ve followed both of their work with great interest for years. They bring up the age-old grace vs. works issue, which always compels me to speak, because I don’t ever hear my point of view quite verbalized. I’m interested in the thoughts of this very thoughtful crowd.
SHORT VERSION: If all we do is get in the boat, Christ will row us to the other side. But if we’re anxious to meet God face to face, there is an extra oar in the boat with our name on it. Continue reading…
I would like to use Genesis 12 (and an interesting post by Aaron B from BCC) to examine the inverse of Elder Oak’s famous talk ‘Good, Better and Best’. Simply stated Abraham was married to Sarai (who was apparently pretty hot!) and Pharoah was going to want to marry her. His choice: either die as her husband and have his wife forced into marriage (in effect raped) or live as her ‘brother’ and have his wife forced into marriage (and in effect raped). What to do? Continue reading…
OT SS Lesson #9
This story is so very, very familiar to us that I think it’s important to look at it with a fresh perspective. So in this post I am including some pieces from media and the arts that force us to think about Genesis 22. I promise you in advance that some of these might be disturbing to you. Probably you will disagree with the portrayal of Abraham’s sacrifice in at least one, if not all, of these pieces. I hope you will share your reactions in the comments. Continue reading…
In a February 2, 2008, cover story in New Scientist, Jim Giles asked whether political leanings were genetic:
“…Across the land, liberals and conservatives are slugging it out, trying to convince each other that their way of thinking is right. They may be wasting their breath.
“According to an emerging idea, political positions are substantially determined by biology and can be stubbornly resistant to reason. ‘These views are deep-seated and built into our brains. Trying to persuade someone not to be liberal is like trying to persuade someone not to have brown eyes. We have to rethink persuasion,’ says John Alford, a political scientist at Rice University in Houston, Texas.
Last month, one of the RS/PH lessons was about the nature of God. Since the lesson was only about a page and a half long, the discussion in RS ended up raising the question whether God is still progressing or whether, being God He has arrived and is no longer progressing. Read and and share your views. Continue reading…
Hold on to your hats and glasses, folks; this week’s query is bound to be a wild one.
Dear Mormon Girl:
I’ve noticed a lot of my gay and lesbian friends seem to love the show Big Love? Why?
Signed,
JKL
First, JKL, a true confession: I don’t watch Big Love. I know Mormons who do watch it. I know Mormons who love it. And I know Mormons who hate it, especially since the show televised to the whole stinking world portions of sacred temple ceremonies reserved only for the most dedicated members of the faith. Yup, that really bothered me.
Continue reading…
I want to take a lead from Hawgrrrl, who recently posted on the value of Sex Education in trying to reduce the rate of unwanted pregnancies and instil values of chastity in young people, but approach it from a different avenue. I recently attended a seminar which presented results from an investigation into the relationship between self-esteem and sexual activity for people in their teens. Her results showed that having high self-esteem (perhaps to the point of being arrogant) actually serves a protective function against having sexual activity. Simply stated: having high self-esteem means that you are more likely to have sex later in life. However the results are not quite that simple. Continue reading…
I posted a longer version of this on my blog. Last month I had the most unusual experience I have ever had in regards to home teaching.
Before I was baptized LDS, I had a college boyfriend with whom I was sexually active. At the time, I was under enormous pressure from him and my 
entire circle of friends to be intimate with him. My friends told me that after a year of dating, he really “deserved” more intimacy from me than he was getting. But the fact was that I wasn’t attracted to him physically. After our first physical encounter, I cried for several days. This went on for some time, until I was emotionally numb from the experience. It was pretty traumatic, but I didn’t really think much of it at the time other than that I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Continue reading…
Bishop Bill back with more. We’ve had fictionalized situations in the last two installments with a YW and a YM. Now, let’s have a situation with an adult. Continue reading…
A large problem some people have is unanswered prayer. I got to thinking about it again when Jen was writing about someone she knew and how they complained (and probably believed) that their efforts had not resulted in answers, yet Jen knew, from knowing her, things that were the real problem.
So why do we have unanswered prayers?
OT SS Lesson #8
“The Genesis passage is very clear, that the sin of Sodom that brought on the destruction of the city was indeed linked to homosexuality.” (R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Seminary)
“Saying that the last recorded acts of the Sodomites — the demands for same-gender sex — are proof that they were destroyed for homosexuality is like saying that a condemned man cursing his guards on the way to his execution is being executed for cursing the guards. Sodom was judged worthy of destruction before the incident with Lot and the angels.” (Inge Anderson, “Sins of Sodom“)
One of the prominent themes in this week’s Sunday School lesson is the story of Lot and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. But in Christian thought there has been some controversy over how closely the story should be linked to homosexuality, as the quotes above indicate. There are several points that are up for grabs, and I’m not sure either side has a complete understanding yet. Read on, and let me know what you think! Continue reading…
My House Burned Down. I Saw The Moon. (Buddhist Poem.)
Last week I asked about perspectives on suffering and how they translate into culture. This week I want to talk specifically about what can be learned from hard times. Abraham Lincoln said, “I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.” This sums up nicely the roll I think adversity plays in our lives. When everything around us seems to change, we are left to notice what is unchanging. Loosing everything only shows us what can’t be lost. When disabling health challenges take away the sense of meaning we get from what we contribute, we are left with the possibility that the inherent value of a soul is not measured by what we do, but is established by our very being. Continue reading…
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