We are all familiar with this phenomenon. You’re listening to a song you’ve heard many times, and you think you know the lyrics, but you don’t really. And often our mistaken lyrics radically change the meaning of the song. Continue reading…
Archive for the 'education' Category
My home teacher (who is very cool) came by yesterday to drop off some starter cables for my car and as one does in that short interlude we discussed the celestial kingdom and being Gods after this life. He believed that those who don’t make it to the highest kingdom in the Celestial Kingdom won’t have any sexual relationships and if you don’t have sexual relationships their will be no need for sexual organs.
“Faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time, for one will dispel the other.” Continue reading…
Mormon Matters Motto is Exploring Mormon culture in a balanced way- so bare with me on this one (excuse the pun). Continue reading…
When I served a mission in eastern Canada in the early 90s, there were many things I was grateful for (warm boots, wool suits, fairly normal food). But above all, I was grateful that I was sent to a region with very few black people, as I was not looking forward to having to defend something in the Church’s past that had deeply troubled even a relatively immature teenager with a limited knowledge of Church history and doctrine.
Continue reading…
In the next month or so I will be teaching a six-week Sunday School course based on “Strengthening Marriage: A Resource Guide for Couples” from LDS.org.
Has anyone taught or been in this class (or any class in the church on relationships) before?
What worked? What didn’t? What was interesting? What was boring? Continue reading…
From the misguided and ill-conceived to the hurl-worthy, why is there so much bad Mormon Art? Do Mormons have worse artistic taste than non-Mormons? Or just on par? You be the judge. I’ve included various works of art below, all by Mormon artists. Some I like and some I don’t. See what you think. Continue reading…
I’ve been thinking about Levi Peterson’s The Backslider lately (SPOILERS AHEAD). Continue reading…
As I sit at the computer in my office, my back is to the 400 or so books I have about the Church in my library.
“The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health” (Add Health),
- Found that conservative and evangelical Christian teenagers are more sexually active than mainline Protestants, Jews, and even Mormons. On average, white evangelical Protestants begin having sex shortly after turning sixteen, which is sooner than most other groups. Continue reading…
We should gather all the good and true principles in the world and treasure them up, or we shall not come out true Mormons. Joseph Smith
How do we create and maintain unity at church while valuing diversity and avoiding conformity? Do we have to embrace the diversity of those who value conformity? Do we have to unify with those whose diversity gives us the heebie jeebies? Continue reading…
Mormonism has a focus on gaining knowledge that is unique in Christendom, largely due to the emphasis that Joseph Smith placed on learning. Joseph’s total open-mindedness to both revelation and all forms of learning are central to the Mormon religion; this open-mindedness had potential for both good and bad outcomes. The lesson discusses two main concepts: what is “knowledge,” and how do we gain it? Continue reading…
Who wrote this, and why wouldn’t the Correlation Committee allow it to be published today?
Every teacher is obligated by his responsibility to others to become a scholar in the gospel. Continue reading…
BH Roberts predicted that if church leaders did not address the historical problems of church origins and possible anachronisms in the Book of Mormon, these problems would eventually undermine “the faith of the Youth of the Church.
Here’s another quote from a discarded Church manual predating Correlation. Who said it and why wouldn’t it fly in today’s Church?:
The pragmatic or experimental view of life has penetrated widely into the educational program of America, in the form known as Progressive Education…Most teachers who accept some of these ideas would indignantly reject any suggestion that the universe is naturalistic or Godless, that there are no fundamental moral truths, or that man is really an animal in the ultimate sense. Continue reading…
What is the church to you? A family you must learn to love? A path you must follow? A checklist of items you must do to be saved? Today’s post talks about the church as a tool and is from guest poster Jordan Turner. Continue reading…
Are you ever nervous about turning your friends over to the missionaries? Do you fear you may be subjecting them to a high-pressure time-share sales presentation? Continue reading…
This post is another installment in my “5 Cool Things” series. Today I’m giving a list, again in no particular order, of some things I would love to see happen in the LDS Church (which I attend actively). I’m not presenting this list as a set of demands or to declare what is wrong with the church. Its just a handful of things I think would be pretty cool.
Hi everyone,
Welcome to my new series where I provide you, the reader, with an excerpt from an LDS church manual, uncited, which I LIKE. That means no Journal of Discourses nonsense like blood atonement, racism, or Adam-God for starters. (Sorry to disappoint some of our readers with that caveat).
You can guess if you want, such things as the author (the Church used to have individual authors stand behind their words), the title, the era, or which church program the lesson was used in. But that’s all trivia, really, compared to this: You get to list ALL THE MANY REASONS why the excerpt I give you wouldn’t make it past the Correlation Committee today!
Here’s our first one:
Young people sometimes doubt the truth of the Gospel or some part of it, and feeling the worthy desire to be sincere, they cease to be active in the Church. Continue reading…
What do you do when you learn about something shocking that you did not previously know in Church History? Freak out? Retreat into a stupor of thought? Pray for comfort? Shrug and say “who cares what happened to dead people over a hundred years ago”? Search anti-Mormon sites to get the “real deal”? Talk to your bishop? Call Ed Decker to see if he’s hiring? This post comes from guest blogger Matt. Continue reading…
