Author Profile: Stephen Marsh
Author Archive for Stephen Marsh
Joseph Smith found language terribly important, and was clear that no translation into English could be perfect because of the limits of the language. Brigham Young expounded on the theme a number of times, that all revelation that came through prophets, all scripture and all records had flaws because of the weaknesses of the language, the impact of culture and other overlays that create the connotations we live with and the sub-texts of our lives. My first memory of a devotional at BYU was of Spencer W. Kimball quoting Brigham Young on how we would go astray if we relied on him for truth. Brigham Young believed in the errant nature of language, scripture and revelation that came through men.
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?
In the classic Old Testament, Eve has her first child, then her second and one (Cain) kills the other (Able). Cain is cursed to wander. Cain’s first concern thereafter is that the other humans on the Earth, not children of Adam and Eve, will kill him as he wanders. The Pearl of Great Price does give us a different source for those humans. However, later, Noah’s great grandson, before the Tower of Babel, will divide the land between his brethren and the gentile peoples, according to their languages (Genesis 4:14, 10:5). Translations changes, in some editions, obscure that language. So, are we all children of Adam the same way that we are children of Abraham (i.e. mostly by adoption)?
According to the recent lesson manuals, the founding fathers, including Benjamin Franklin, were inspired. All things denote (not connote) that there is a God, and, to quote Mr. Franklin, beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
Discuss how your discussion of the first lesson in the manual went.
Oh the vanity and frailty and foolishness of men, for when they are learned they think they are wise …
I’ve been reading translator’s notes and development comments on the NET Bible. The section on gender accurate vs. gender inclusive has been interesting, since they finish up with some examples of what Paul wrote.
I was looking at a news item.
Canadian School of Peacebuilding Research studies verify what experience tells us: the majority of Christian congregations endure internal conflict. At any given time, one fifth of congregations are engaged in serious conflict. Conflict is a fact of congregational life that can be skillfully or awkwardly managed. This course will examine the “firest…orm” of faith-based conflict. We will survey problems that typically lead to conflict, unique dynamics of healthy and unhealthy group interactions that commonly occur, and creative ways of using conflict in faithful, lifebuilding ways. We will use didactic methods, which include personal reflection, academic investigation, case study, and a variety of resource materials.
Location:Canadian Mennonite Unviersity, Winnipeg, Manitoba, CANADA
Course taught by Lois Edmund, in collaboration with Congregational Peacebuilding Partners
Made me think about how peace and conflict differ in LDS congregations compared to other groups.
My word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.
I always read that to say that it did not matter if God fulfilled his words directly, or through his servants, it was the same.
I was reading and I came across the following, years ago, and then again recently.
We need complete freedom to express our honest feelings [to God]
…
Freedom is an essential factor in the healing process because recovery is based on the practice of honest with ourselves and with [God].
In sacrament the speaker told a story about a young man who stood up, eventually, against his friends for a disabled schoolmate. That made me think about my oldest child, sweet and mild mannered. She did the same thing, though on the first event when her social clique was planning a nasty trick. Unlike the boy in the story, whose friends came around, her group threw her out and then hounded her mercilessly. For a young girl, in a new town, two years after the latest death of a sibling left her an only child, it was devastating. I’m only glad she had not heard the story we heard in sacrament meeting.
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 what this post is about.
Some people know that my wife spoke one year at the conference. What they usually don’t know is that they found my wife because the person in charge knew us from the BYU law school, where the person in charge was an assistant dean. She was kind enough to spend time talking with us about the process, the conference and President Hinckley’s goals. I’ll discuss his most significant goal first.
History seems like a collection of facts, but in reality, most history is a collection of stories that we use to give context to the facts. Often the story details contain more conjecture than fact, but narratives or stories are the way we are able to understand and remember facts.
Without narratives, we don’t have history that matters. The problem with narratives is that it is easy for people to use them to decide that someone else’s facts are false.
One of my grandfather’s hobbies was the study of ancient mystery religions, especially Eleusis and Eleusinian Mysteries. One thing that was striking in reading his work was how much we don’t know. The rites continued for thousands of years, but the initiates kept confidences. They abided the social covenant [http://adrr.com/adr2/ethics2.htm]. The same is true of the sacred mysteries of the early Christian Church which were completely lost by the third century A.D. or so.
I’ve a friend in the simulations industry, and it almost drives him crazy when he hears about the “force of history” or about how history is cyclic. The one theory is that trends will always move towards the more enlightened position, the other theory is that everything repeats. Both seem to be demonstratively false.
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