Author Profile: Faithful Dissident
Author Archive for Faithful Dissident
A Christmas message, by today’s guest poster, mormongandhi.
A child is born in Bukavu
A child is born in Bukavu, and sadness fills his mother’s heart… Bukavu is not the city of David. It is a town in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. War has been ravaging the country for years. Ever since Kabila invaded the former Zaire with military support from the US. It is a war that no one speaks of – but it has cost the lives of millions of people and caused unimaginable suffering.
“To what degree should the principle of ‘respect for life” be extended to bird and animal creations? What do the scriptures, Joseph Smith, and other early Church leaders teach about the grand design and purposes of God’s non-human creations? Does having “dominion” over the kingdom of creatures mean we are their predators and exploiters or does it suggest a “stewardship” relationship in which we become their caretakers in order to help them “fulfill the full measure of their creation?” If the scriptures teach, “woe be unto man that sheddeth blood or wasteth flesh and have no need,” and “the blood of every beast will I require at your hands,” what rationale could be used to explain Church-owned, revenue-generating enterprises such as Deseret Land and Livestock and the Westlake Hunting Preserve? Do these operations constitute sacrificing principle for profit?”
- Sacrificing Principle for Profit: Church Wildlife Enterprises and Hunting Preserves, Sunstone Magazine
When I was growing up, there was an elderly couple in my ward. The wife had been a faithful, active member for years and the husband, a non-member, attended church with her faithfully every Sunday until he died. From what I remember, he was well-received and well-liked by the people of the ward, but it was a known fact that he never became a member himself because of his smoking habit. He tried, but just couldn’t kick the habit. So he could never be baptized.
I know we’ve already had a good discussion here at Mormon Matters about euthanasia. But as this subject has been on my mind lately, due to the news I got recently that my grandfather has terminal cancer, I was struck by what seems to me as a huge inconsistency on the Church’s part if we compare its policies on euthanasia and abortion.
The following must not be interpreted as petition to the Church. It’s simply a summary of some thoughts I have had that I would like to hear other perspectives on. Criticisms are welcome, but let’s keep it respectful, compassionate, and understanding.
This post isn’t about marriage. It isn’t about sex.
Some of you may be following the story of Colleen Hauser and her 13 year-old son, Daniel, who has Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and needs chemotherapy in order to survive.
“What if you weren’t a Mormon?” For some reason, this is something that I often wonder to myself. And this post is about how I would answer that question.
I’ve always been under the impression that premeditated murder is an unforgivable sin. Is it?
Someone mentioned in a blog post that I read recently about how accessible materials and information about the Church are for us these days: blogs, books (official and unofficial), news, the internet in general. I couldn’t agree more. There’s a wealth of information about the Church at our fingertips and goodness knows that many of us spend hours reading, analyzing, discussing, and debating it all. I’m often surprised that more Mormons don’t take advantage of it.
There is one problem, however. This wealth of information is NOT equally available to members of the Church.
A while back, some of us had an interesting discussion on my blog called “The Faith Gene.” We were examining the possibility that certain people were born with such a gene, while others weren’t. Continue reading…
This got me thinking about something I’ve never been quite sure about. How do we Mormons really feel about the cross? Continue reading…
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