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.
Blog Archives
Is The Church Sacrificing Principle for Profit With Hunting Preserves?
“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...
Should Observance Of The Word Of Wisdom Be Necessary For Baptism?
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.
Euthanasia vs. Abortion: Is The Church Inconsistent?
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.
Can Love Be A Bad Thing?
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.
Freedom of Religion vs. Death
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?
“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.
Murder: As Bad As We Think?
I’ve always been under the impression that premeditated murder is an unforgivable sin. Is it?
International Ignorance
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.
Born To Believe
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.
Gender: A State of Mind
This is a post written initially on my own blog. It was reprinted on Feminist Mormon Housewives a while back. It created a very lively discussion and even got some comments from a few people who had personally been through a transgender operation. I have edited the original post to make it more up-to-date and to include some of the comments it generated. ————————————————————————– Sometimes I find it hard to reconcile certain Church teachings with real-life stories. I was reminded about this after catching an old episode of Oprah a few weeks ago.
Are We Cross at the Cross?
As I was getting ready for church one Sunday, I went to put on a necklace. I looked at the cross that a non-LDS family member gave me a few years ago. She knows I’m a Christian and I’m sure she thought it would be a nice gesture (which it absolutely was!), but I opted for the heart necklace instead. I’ve worn my cross out in public many times and I personally have no problem with it. But I’ve yet to wear it to church. This got me thinking about something I’ve never been quite sure about. How do...