repentance

Churches are Made for the Ninety and Nine… What About the One?

September 17, 2008
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Churches are Made for the Ninety and Nine… What About the One?

Believers and non-believers. The faithful and the doubters. Religious conservatives and religious liberals. TBMs and NOMs. These are ways we describe the differences in our faith and activity in our religious tradition. These variations are not unique to Mormonism. The patterns of faith development have been documented across all religions and cultures. How does an institutional church serve and support both groups? How does it care for the ninety and nine, without neglecting the one? Can it go after the one without neglecting the ninety and nine?

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Is Pride the Only Sin?

September 12, 2008
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Is Pride the Only Sin?

Can all sins be reduced to just one sin:  pride?  Is pride essentially the root cause of all sins?

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Common Scriptures in Review: Mosiah 3:19

September 10, 2008
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Mosiah 3:19 was the subject of a post recently about how we view our children in the Church. I wanted to comment more extensively in that thread, but I realized it would have required a comment longer than the original post. Therefore, I decided to tackle it in this format instead.

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Virtual RS/PH #17: The Great Plan of Salvation

September 7, 2008
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Virtual RS/PH #17: The Great Plan of Salvation

A unique facet of Mormonism is our view of God’s plan for his children, or our purpose in life.  Today’s lesson focuses on what JS restored regarding this plan.

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An Act of Violence

September 5, 2008
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And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God and another book was opened, which is the book of life And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. -Revelation Ch. 20 (vs. 12-15) Love is a burning thing and it makes a fiery ring. Bound by wild desire, I fell into a ring of fire. -Johnny Cash In the LDS church, members are written into the book of life with their baptism and confirmation. For some, the love affair with the gospel can truly become a fiery...

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How Active Are You? How Orthodox Are You? A Self-Assessment

September 4, 2008
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How Active Are You? How Orthodox Are You? A Self-Assessment

Take this assessment and find out: (Taken from D. Jeff Burton’s For Those Who Wonder : forthosewhowonder.com. Similar to a Correlation Department survey on Religion and Life conducted among LDS Church members in the mid-1980s)

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Virtual RS/PH #15: Establishing the Cause of Zion

August 10, 2008
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Virtual RS/PH #15: Establishing the Cause of Zion

Okay, last week I said the death lesson was going to be tough.  Frankly, I think a Zion lesson is no picnic either.  I’m looking ahead though, and there are some better ones on the horizon, so hang in there, teachers!

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What Judgment Day Might Be Like?

August 8, 2008
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There is a lot of information given in the scriptures and the revelations concerning our next life and how the final judgment will take place. But is there really enough information present to draw ourselves a good picture of what will really happen? I don’t think so. So, as a consequence, much speculation has occurred over the years about what happens to us when we die. I am not intending to present any of that information here. I want to cover one aspect of our judgment that I believe will happen to us when we are at the Judgment...

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Common Scriptures in Review: “Come Unto Me”

July 29, 2008
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While pondering the concept of spiritual poverty earlier this year, something struck me that I hadn’t considered previously quite in that way. I have believed the central principle for some time, but considering how salvation (being saved from something) applies to this life is something I have not put into words previously. Here is what struck me:

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Confessions of a Coffee Heathen

July 26, 2008
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In the past, I consumed large amounts of Mountain Dew and “energy drinks.” I’m getting older now (almost 40). My insides just can’t tolerate the sugar and chemicals. I won’t consume aspartame. It’s an awful substance. So “diet” is not an option. I recently started drinking plain, black coffee at work. Not only do I feel better, IT’S FREE! The company I work for provides it in the break rooms. I love being thrifty.

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Foundations of Becoming: Thoughts on Spiritual Poverty

July 22, 2008
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Matthew 5:3 says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” As I was pondering the phrase “poor in spirit” recently, it hit me pretty hard that, in our modern society, we so marginalize and disdain poverty that we probably miss much of the meaning embedded in the phrase “poor in spirit” as a **desirable** trait. Therefore, I started thinking about the implications of poverty – what it means not as defined in the dictionary, but rather in practical terms. Iow, what does it mean to **BE** poor – particularly in ways that can...

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The Genetics of Sin

July 15, 2008
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The Genetics of Sin

There is a lot being done in the medical field to help patients understand their genetic predisposition toward certain ailments.  Isn’t the same true for spiritual ailments?  Don’t we inherit some of these same tendencies from our parents and their parents and so on? 

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Praise, Honor & Glory Be to God

July 7, 2008
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I have been struck for a long time by the different ways that people interpret and speak of praise, honor and glory – particularly how they use these terms to describe our relationship with God. Each has a distinct meaning, separate from the others, but they get conflated and used interchangeably all the time. First, consider the following foundational facts:

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Rethinking Repentance

June 1, 2008
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A guest post by our friend Ray: The Bible Dictionary defines “repentance” as: “a change of mind, i.e., a fresh view about God, about oneself, and about the world”. It goes to say, “Since we are born into conditions of mortality, repentance comes to mean a turning of the heart and will to God, and a renunciation of sin to which we are naturally inclined.” That is absolutely fascinating, since it describes repentance without mentioning any particular “process” at all. It leaves it simply as the turning of our heart and will to God.  In that light, I submit the...

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