OT SS Lesson #10
Though it’s only an “additional teaching idea” in Lesson 12, Jacob’s ladder has captured my imagination due to some conversations I’ve recently had with Christian evangelicals.
Guest Post by Non-Arab Arab
BiV’s recent post “Sod, Seed, Salvation: Abrahamic Covenant and the Claim to Palestine” brought me out of my normal lurking. Modern Palestine and what I firmly believe to be the erroneous interpretation most members of the church have regarding events there always riles me up. Usually I do the smart thing and bite my lip, but every once in a while I choose to enter the fray in full combat mode. As I’ve found on most issues of debate, it doesn’t really matter how right I think I am the noise of the argument rarely does more than highlight who already believes what. So my wish here is not to re-argue the questions of Palestine which I’ve already done enough of on this blog. Instead, I’d like to talk about shoes. No, not the famous Arab shoes, rather walking a mile in another’s shoes. Continue reading…
OT SS Lesson #7
Sod, seed, and salvation — it’s how I like to describe the Abrahamic Covenant. There were three promises in the covenant. The first was a land promise, where the Lord gave Abraham and his descendants the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession. The second was the promise of a great and numerous posterity. And the third was the blessing of the everlasting Gospel: the priesthood and the promise of exaltation, to come to the world through Abraham’s lineage. (see Genesis 17) But just look at how often the covenant was renewed! Continue reading…
A recent post by Cr@ig on Main Street Plaza caused me to reflect on the strength of interfaith marriages. I had hoped to generate a follow-up post on 
this topic at MSP. However, since the comments on the Cr@ig’s post devolved into a blame game of whether the believer or non-believer was more responsible for marital dissolution, I decided it was probably best to avoid a second opportunity for mud-slinging.
Differences in religious belief can be the death knell to a marriage. For that reason, many organized religions strongly advocate against being “yoked with unbelievers”. This is not only a Mormon phenomenon; you see this in any faith tradition that teaches that they alone have exclusive access to God. Even before marriage, it is rare for the unmarried, devout Mormon to even consider dating (let alone marrying) a non-Mormon; most LDS women raised in the Church are taught from an early age to make a temple marriage to a returned missionary their primary goal. Continue reading…
This is the second guest Post from FireTag, a member of the Community of Christ (formerly known as RLDS). As he mentioned in his previous post, the Community of Christ is going through the process of canonization of a new revelation. Here’s his latest installment of the process.
CofChrist Prophet: Baptism in Christ Transcends Culture
“5 It is imperative to understand that when you are truly baptized into Christ you become part of a new creation. By taking on the life and mind of Christ, you increasingly view yourselves and others from a changed perspective. Former ways of defining people by economic status, social class, sex, gender, or ethnicity no longer are primary. Through the gospel of Christ a new community of tolerance, reconciliation, unity in diversity, and love is being born as a visible sign of the coming reign of God.”
With these words, the Prophet/President of the Community of Christ delivered to the church for its consideration as divine counsel on January 17 a document that changes the relationship between its sacraments and its people. Copies of the documents are already posted at http://www.CofChrist.org.
Most stunning to readers on the bloggernacle, the document places resolution of pressing issues of marriage, sexual identity and roles, Continue reading…
(Mormon Matters gives a hearty “Welcome!” to our latest Permablogger: Joanna Brooks. You can read more about Joanna on her web site, and on her new blog “Ask Mormon Girl“. Joanna is head of the English Department at SDSU, and has recently been featured on Radiowest and writes occasionally for Religion Dispatches. Welcome again, Joanna! So happy to have you aboard!!!!)
So, Mormon Matters readers, there I was: my askmormongirl@gmail.com account barely three months old, when it arrived from uncharted reaches of the internet universe–a bonafide query about the Mormon world I know and love.
“Hello Mrs. Brooks,
I have a 16 year old mormon friend, and I am attracted to her. I am 15, and I am not a Mormon. I am, however, a Christian. She knows that I like her, and I think that she likes me, too. I don’t know what I should do, because both of those things can create some problems if I ask her out. I turn 16 in April. Should I wait until then to ask her out? Any advice that you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
L.M.”
Now, readers, you may imagine how it felt to be the recipient of such important questions straight from such a young and tender heart. And who exactly am I to answer such a query? A lifelong member of the Mormon Church. A profesional scholar of religion and American culture. A writer. A Mormon woman writer who has gotten used to being the only Mormon woman in the room, in the company of non-Mormon people with a thousand burning questions they never dared ask before. A bossy older sister. A cosmic mother hen. And, could it be, as they would say in the Yiddish of my husband’s grandmother, a would-be yenta: an absolute sucker for the prospect of greater ecumenical understanding, teenaged love, and exceptionally thoughtful fifteen year old boys who research the faith traditions of their would-be crushes on the internet.
So I took a deep breath. Click-click-click went the keyboard. And here is what I said:
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…
I don’t know why, but I love to learn about archaeology, especially religious archaeology. A few years ago, Simcha Jacobovici came out with a documentary and book called The Jesus Tomb. In it, he makes a claim that the bones of Jesus may have been located in a tomb unearthed in Jerusalem. Of course, the Da Vinci Code, while fiction, makes a claim that Jesus and his wife, Mary Magdalene were actually buried in France. A few months ago, I watched a documentary called Bloodline, which actually goes further, and makes the case that yes, indeed, the bones of Christ and Mary are found in France. (You can learn more at the official website.) I just came across a third source, which claims that Christ’s bones are actually located in India. See this website.
Today’s guest post is by Kate from Myriad Mormon Musings. Here is a brief introduction, in her own words, followed by her post:
“My name is Kate. I was raised Catholic, but converted to the Mormon church in 1999 in a hippy branch at Cornell University. Since leaving that branch, I have struggled to find my voice within the LDS world. Where does a politically liberal, PhD-holding, working mom fit in? I created the Myriad Mormon Musings blog in an attempt to find my niche as I struggle with LDS culture versus doctrine.”
Continue reading…
The ICM poll of 10,000 people in the USA, UK, Israel, India, South Korea, Indonesia, Nigeria, Russia, Mexico and Lebanon was carried out for the BBC Continue reading…
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 “more interested in winning an argument, rather than learning.” These points, however, may be applied to anyone who wants to prove other people wrong rather than understand or learn.
“After spending years debating James White, I have noticed common tactics employed by people who want to win at any cost rather than seek a mutual understanding of the facts or even work toward a mutual disagreement. Ann Coulter is a good example of a political satirist who engages in this sort of rhetoric. Let’s take a close look, shall we?” Continue reading…
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. Continue reading…
The church has a history of high level leaders making sweeping pronouncements that are later deemed incorrect, speculative, or unauthorized, yet in each case, church leaders are reluctant to make public correction of those presumptions. This tolerance sometimes results in dogmatic voices flourishing, drowning out those same tolerant voices that have graciously granted them access to the open mic. Continue reading…
Today’s post is by The Chorister. I just read a book called In the land of invisible women: A female doctor’s journey in the Saudi kingdom by Qanta A. Ahmed, M.D. Absolutely amazing read. I’ve been recommending it to everyone I know. Qanta is a British-born Muslim physician, trained in the U.S., who takes a position at a hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She goes to Saudi Arabia feeling pretty comfortable. Not too worried about how it will feel to live there because, after all, she is a Muslim. However, once she gets there, she quickly discovers that many of the Saudis are practicing a different kind of Islam. She doesn’t fit in. She rubs people the wrong way. She is puzzled by their beliefs, practices, and customs. She feels like she’s suffocating underneath the abbayah. Continue reading…
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