Archive for the 'Folklore' Category

In the Shadow of the Temple by Guest


Temple poster

A close friend of mine who wishes to remain anonymous recently saw in the shadow of the temple his story follows

In October, I was fortunate to attend the Portland, Oregon, screening of the movie, In the Shadow of the Temple. http://www.intheshadowofthetemple.com The screening was hosted by the producers, Karen Di Millia and Dennis Lavery. Prior to the screening Dennis and Karen spoke for 10 minutes and explained how they started this project. After the screening they took questions and answers for roughly 30 minutes.

Lavery and DeMillia, who are not–and never have been–LDS, originally planned to make a movie about people who had left the religion of their youth. They attended a meeting of the Portland Humanist Society, explained their project, and asked if anyone had such stories they would be willing to share. In the course of discussing the project with members of the society, they were told that who they really needed to talk to was Sue Emmett, who had left the LDS church. After talking with Sue and others with whom she put them in touch, they decided to re-focus their project on the experience of those who have left the LDS church. Continue reading…

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Articles of Faith of Mormon Culture


My only regret is that I cannot take credit for this wonderful bit of humor! They were originally posted by an author found here.  Please enjoy! Continue reading…

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Great Expectations: What Are Your Hopes and Predictions for General Conference?


pres monson chair“It’s the MOST WONderful TIIIME of the YEARRRRRR.”  The leaves are starting to change color. The evenings and mornings are a bit crisper. Even the birds’ singing suddenly sounds sweeter than ever.

General Conference must be coming this weekend.

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Edward Cullen as Porn Addict


edward-cullen-as-porn-addict

Hear me out. :)

I was talking with a friend recently about addictions. Things like alcohol, caffeine, meth, and heroin (among many other substances) all seem to rob the addict of their free will to some extent. At some point in the conversation we started talking about mythology, and he mentioned how vampires could be viewed metaphorically as heroin addicts. (There is even a movie with the vampire/heroin metaphor, “The Addiction” staring Christopher Walken as a vampire who abstains from blood through fasting and meditation.) Continue reading…

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Obama and Elvis are cousins


elvis-presley

President Barack Obama met with President Monson on Monday in the Oval Office, thanking  President Monson for a thorough history of the first family. Continue reading…

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Interfaith International British DJ


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paul-32

OK Paul technically isn’t exactly an international DJ, not unless you consider that you can listen to his interviews on line.

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That We Could All Be Like – Satan?


Today we have a guest post from Bishop Mike T. Young of the Spanish Fork 401st Ward.

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Are we going to be Eunuchs after this life?


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.

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Deconstructing Christian chain mails


I know my mother has better things to do at work than to forward generic Christian chain mails to everyone in her address book…my problem is I can’t convince her of that. And so, every day, I receive a treasure trove of faith-promoting Christian stories that make me — a nonbeliever — cringe.

I couldnt resist one of these

I couldn't resist one of these

And while I ranted on my blog about how offensive I found various parts of one recently received email…I realized too that I found a strange comfort in realizing that it was just a generic Christian chain mail. This served to be one of the times when I was deeply thankful that we Mormons are a peculiar people — I realized that some of the ‘pop’ doctrines espoused in this email would be uncharacteristic for an LDS email. So, I wondered…what if we could deconstruct Christian chain mail and come up with LDS orthodox counterpoints?

So, the email, and some points to lead our discussion after the break!

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The Untold Story of Black Mormons by Guest


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.
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Battlestar Galactica Series Finale Review: SPOILER ALERT


battlestar-galactica-series-finale-review-spoiler-alert

OK, I realize that the majority of our regular readership are probably not BSG watchers; however, since the reimagined series is based on the original late-1970s series created by Glen Larson, who used it as a vehicle for Mormon themes and theological musings, it’s likely that there are Mormons (beside me) who followed this much bleaker (and a gazillion times better) version.  This post is ONLY for those who have seen the Series Finale; it not only contains spoilers but is incomprehensible if you haven’t followed the show or watched the finale.  If this isn’t you, go rent the DVDs first, and we’ll see you in a few months.  EXTREME SPOILER ALERT. Continue reading…

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Filtered Visions by guest Reuben Collins


I’ve been thinking about Levi Peterson’s The Backslider lately (SPOILERS AHEAD). Continue reading…

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Revelation & Things


Today’s post comes from The Teacher.  Section 8 of the Doctrine & Covenants refers to “another gift” Olivery Cowdery had, called at different times “the gift of Aaron” or “the rod of nature.”  Several commentators recognize this gift as related to Oliver’s use of a divining rod. Continue reading…

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Horus Bible Parallels


Recently I saw Religulous here and he touched on Horus here and a few of the parallels between the story of Horus and Jesus.

Many Mormons when they start delving and  unravelling events in our history also delve into what they can find out about (possible origins)

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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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