Archive for the 'adultery' Category

The Virgin and the Whore: Thinking Beyond Dinah and Potiphar’s Wife


Avatar-BiVOT SS Lesson #11

Lesson 11 in the Old Testament manual employs several stories from Genesis 34-39 to develop the theme of sexual morality. Joseph’s actions embody the “Lord’s standards” for morality and are contrasted with the actions of Shechem, Reuben, and Judah. You may notice that the featured characters in the lesson are all male. What shall a woman do with a lesson like this? I think the idea is for women to identify with Joseph — to be virtuous when facing temptation. But Joseph is a man, his responses are male-oriented, and intentionally or not this approach will tend to render the women in your Sunday School classroom invisible.  Consideration of the female archetypes found within these chapters may yield some surprising insights. Continue reading…

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Brother Brigham Brother Young


corb lundRecently I drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon with my brother and nephew.  This is the canyon in which many of your ancestors pulled out  the granite for the construction of the salt lake temple. As soon as we passed the granite facings on the side of the canyon my nephew played a song on his iPod by Corb Lund Brother Brigham Brother Young and it brought mental flashes into my mind of men working on the side of the mountain blasting granite out of it.    It made me think of the struggles that men and women had even back then with the faith in many ways very similar to our day. From what I have read Mr Lund isn’t LDS but has relatives that are. Im assuming one of his relatives is a historian buff? Its probably safe to presume this song will never be played in a chapel :) but I can’t help liking it!  You can listen to his song Here Continue reading…

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The Institutionally Unforgivable?


the-institutionally-unforgivable

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? Continue reading…

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Poly-What?, or, a Contemporary View of LDS Plural Marriage


poly-what-or-a-contemporary-view-of-lds-plural-marriage

Being from England, we do not really have a Polygamous Pioneer heritage like some from the US.  However, we do have something a little more contemporary.  A few months ago I was speaking to a single woman, who had a few children and had been divorced for some time, about the Church’s history regarding polygamy.  It was fairly routine until she began explaining some of her past experiences with people who had approached her regarding whether she wanted to practice Polygamy, but in a slightly different way. Continue reading…

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Women are from Venus, Men are from Kolob


women-are-from-venus-men-are-from-kolob
Based on my experience, I would guess that the majority of LDS women under age 65 would say that polygamy is NOT an eternal principle and that it doesn’t require any earthly worrying as a result.  While the men are probably not worrying about it (although any of them who are married to me should think twice about expecting additional wives in the future), my impression is that a higher percentage of them believe it is an eternal principle that will be practiced long term. Continue reading…
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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.

Continue reading…

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Defining Lust and Chastity


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 to rehash that discussion here.  Rather, I want to focus on one of the underlying currents that seemed to flow beneath the discussion. Continue reading…

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Families Forver Naked and Not Ashamed


Mormon Matters Motto is Exploring Mormon culture in a balanced way- so bare with me on this one (excuse the pun). Continue reading…

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Big Love -Big News


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Nipples, Sexism and Racism


nipples-sexism-and-racism

There was an interesting article in Time recently about Facebook’s censorship of pics with nips, specifically eliminating pictures of breastfeeding moms (and, in their defense, a few of topless women who just happened to be holding babies).  But, this brought up an age-old question of Mormondom:  why are there no nipples on the Nephites in the BOM vids? Continue reading…

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Is Pornography Adultery?


The following article is interesting and asks a fascinating question.

Is Pornography Adultery?

Coincidently, the following is excerpted from a post I wrote independent of the above article on my own blog two weeks ago (September 6), entitled “Becoming More Chaste in Thought and Deed“.

Continue reading…

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