A few years ago I wondered what it means to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I wondered: is …
Rules, Principles, Seeds & Shells: Part II
Last week, I began to sketch out the relationship between rules and principles. For the CliffNotes: faith is a process of applying correct beliefs that …
Rules, Principles, Seeds & Shells, Part I
I sometimes wonder where the 32nd chapter of Alma would rank in a list of most iconic scriptures in the entire Book of Mormon. It …
Doubting My Doubts
I’ve occasionally heard a curious phrase…”Doubt your doubts.” “Be skeptical of your skepticism.” I have wondered what these phrases could mean and of what import …
The New Mormon.org
Do you ever visit the church’s website for members (at lds.org)? I must confess, I rarely do. It seems so…austere. And somewhat…inorganic. So, I have …
How tech-savvy is your faith?
I understand that we cannot text message faith. I remember hearing a lesson (at least a couple times over the course of six years of …
Bloggernacle Performance Art
As an outsider and newcomer, I must admit that there are just some things about the Bloggernacle that I cannot even begin to grasp. One …
Church history and our quest for the Great Mormon Novel
About two years ago, Carter Hall wrote an article on this very site comparing and contrasting the types of heroes that Superman and Spiderman represent, …
Should truth be simple, easy to comprehend?
OK, friends and pals of MormonMatters…let’s play a game. (You just can’t get this at any of the other blogs, btw.) Some of you may …
What is your relationship with Mormonism?
This is a question I just had for everyone…because if there’s one thing I’ve learned from all this blogging, it’s that people have such widely …
What is the Final Destination for Apostates and Ex-Mormons?
I’ve always taken it as a given that Mormonism’s view of the afterlife shuffle has always been more universalizing than most of the other alternatives. …
Eternal Progression and The Evolution of God
As part of a discussion group, I have been reading Robert Wright’s The Evolution of God. My group isn’t anywhere near finished (the “heart” of …
Taking control of the Mormon conversation — Another Look at Ballard
A few days ago (depending on when I get to publishing this), we had a rather lively discussion about Elder M. Russell Ballard’s Engaging Without …
The Book of Mormon and the Prosperity Gospel
So, it seems that some of the other sites in the Bloggernacle have already sidebarred something about this little article from the New York Times …
How do we earn our morals?
A while back on my blog, Seth R (usually of 9 Moons fame) posted a lengthy and detailed comment about the deficiencies of liberal religion …
What’s good in a Bible Translation?
In the church, it seems to be a written rule (or perhaps it’s just one of those pesky unwritten orders of things) to use the …
Who is a Cultural Mormon?
First, Happy Independence Day (yay)! …so I was digging through classic Mormon Matters and found Clay’s discussion asking: how much does church activity has to …
Alma 32, A Thought Experiment
Actually, we will begin with verse 28, but I don’t want to copy and paste everything…so I assume you all have scriptures (or can follow …
If someone should get only one thing out of the church, what should it be?
In an ideal world, we would like everyone to be members of the church (actually, this is just a generalization that I’m going to write …
The consumer model of religion — A look at a BCC post
I was reading BCC the other day, and I came across this post that just seemed like this tremendous threat to me. I know John …
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 …
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, …
Deconstructing Christian chain mails
I know my mother has better things to do at work than to forward generic Christian chain mails to everyone in her address book…my problem …
Why B,B-S-W A-As Who Support Extension of the Priesthood to W-w-l-P are Depressed
I decided to spare everyone the full title of this article: Why Bearded, Blue-Shirt-Wearing African-Americans Who Support Extension of the Priesthood to Women who love …
Coming out of the closet
A while back I was reading an article by Seth Payne (and I blogged about it on my personal blog from a slightly different perspective)…and …
What all can we do, anyway?
One of my fencing coaches often relates a story about how she despises the parents of little fencing kids. And this is not isolated. Soccer …
Every exmember a missionary
And now, dear friends at Mormon Matters, is your regular report from the Dark Side of the Moon. I was reading a comment in another …
On the perfect smile
I really don’t know if it’s just me, but have you ever noticed that there are a lot of LDS dentists? I mean, sure, we’ve …
Celibacy and Sexuality
As they say, sex sells. The church has had a lot to say about sex and sexuality. It’s been on a winding path, but over …
Story Time: A Thought Experiment
Names and identities have been invented and caricatured as necessary. Miller is a member of the church. He magnifies all of his callings, does all …
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 [what’s …
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 …