accountability

Apostate = someone who fails to honor his own conscience

August 3, 2009
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Apostate = someone who fails to honor his own conscience

The third ward verses the seventh ward. Us verses them. Insiders verses outsiders. My buddies and I were third warders. We were full of ourselves. But why wouldn’t we be? Our ward display case was full of softball trophies. Our scouting program was full of Eagle scouts. Our report cards were full of A’s. And our bulletin board was full of missionary photos. By comparison, the guys in the seventh ward had few of those things. I needed those guys, but only to remind me how low they were. The lower I made them out to be, the higher...

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The Institutionally Unforgivable?

July 29, 2009
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The message of the Gospel of Christ could be encapsulated in a few adjectives, such as: love (Charity), repentance, forgiveness and service.  But how should we forgive?  Should we follow the example of God, who promises his saints that when they repent he will remember those sins no more (D&C 58:42).  The Church as an institution does not seem to think so as it seems to have a pretty good memory when it comes to the sins of its members.  Is this consistent with the Gospel message?

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Heroes Are Hard to Find

July 2, 2009
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With the recent revelation of unfaithfulness of some of our politicians (not that this is all that surprising), it seems that the circle of people that we can look up to is getting smaller and smaller.

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Adam and Eve: the First TBM & NOM

June 29, 2009
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Adam and Eve: the First TBM & NOM

There have been several attempts over the years to categorize Mormon “belief-styles”: Orthodox Mormon versus Liberal Mormon, Iron Rod Mormon versus Liahona Mormon, and so on. In the online world of LDS blogs commonly called “the Bloggernacle”, Mormons are often categorized as being TBMs (True Believing Mormons) or NOMs (New Order Mormons). One evening when my wife and I had the opportunity to reflect on the timeless story of Adam and Eve, it struck me that their different responses to God’s commandments, and to Lucifer’s “temptation”, perfectly exemplified the different mindsets of TBMs and NOMs, and symbolically portrayed the...

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When the Spirit leaves……

June 25, 2009
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We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, repentance; third, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Articles of Faith 1:4)

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The Power of Choice

June 18, 2009
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One of the most important doctrinal points of the LDS Church is the power of choice, called agency or free agency in the Church.  In many ways, the entire Plan of Salvation hinges on the power of choice.

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Learning and Understanding Vs. Winning Arguments

June 17, 2009
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Why do you read and comment on blogs? What is your goal? Do you want to make points and debate with others? Is it more important for you to reach mutual understanding and learn from each other? Can both happen at the same time? This is an adaptation of a post my good friend Ron wrote. He is Catholic, so with his consent I have modified some of it to fit the audience here, as well as added some of my own thoughts. It was inspired by some of his encounters with a “rather nasty Fundamentalist Christian” who was...

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The Facade of Activity

June 5, 2009
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The Facade of Activity

You see them every week at Church, attending their meetings, performing their callings, shuttling their children to this or that activity.  They are active in the Church by every definition.  But are they really ACTIVE in the Church?  Are they ACTIVE in the gospel?

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Please Respect the Rules of Common Decency

May 25, 2009
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This is an administrative post that is irrelevant to most of you.  For that, I apologize.  However, we have had a surge recently in comments left by dedicated anti-Mormon activists – comments that have NOTHING to do with the posts on which they appear and that contain NOTHING constructive or enlightening. We also have had a few comments by believing members that have come perilously close to crossing the lines of common decency, and one in particular that crossed those lines.

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Good Man Gone

May 21, 2009
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A week ago, I attended the viewing and funeral of a man in our stake who died of an unexpected heart attack.  He was in his 50′s, had just been to the doctor and been pronounced fit as a fiddle, was losing weight and feeling great. He was the Bishop of his ward, and his wife had been cancer free for just over a year.  His son flew home for the weekend, after which he returned to finish his mission.

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Worship or Whine?

May 12, 2009
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This post was inspired by David Stout’s series of posts on LDS Worship, Part II and Part III as well as HawkGrrrl’s post entitled “More Christ at Church.”

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Defining Lust and Chastity

May 5, 2009
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Matthew 5:27-28 includes the statement: “Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” Rather than debate that statement, although I am open to discussing it here, I want to focus on an underlying issue within something to which we refer frequently as the “Law of Chastity”.  My primary focus is on the injunction regarding eliminating “lust” – and particularly how it can be avoided no matter one’s surroundings and exposure. This a result partly of the long, interesting discussion we had recently about “naturism” – but I don’t want...

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Is Accountability a Good or Bad Thing?

April 28, 2009
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I am struck regularly by how many members fail to focus on the life of Jesus and, thus, fail to realize that there are incredible lessons (particularly in the Gospels) about specific things we can do to become more like Him – things that can lessen the effects of our sins and actually help decrease the frequency of those sins – thus bringing internal peace and a measure of calmness to our lives in the here and now, regardless of the storms that rage therein. I believe we sometimes buy into the apostate obsession with the afterlife – as...

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