Sometimes, I have to say to my creedal Christian friends, in all sincerity: We really do worship a different Jesus than you do. I mention sometimes to my family and friends my frustration over certain song lyrics and how they influence how we view Jesus, his mortality and His perfection. I realize it bothers my wife that I obsess over two particular phrases, from two particular songs, but they represent to me much of what is wrong (even “abominable”) about the perceptions and teachings that have come down to us through the ages. These phrases are: “Little Lord Jesus,...
spiritual progression
Persecution Complex
Today’s guest post is from The Captain. The urban dictionary defines the term persecution complex as follows: One of the top fifteen factors that can transform a reasonable, amiable, friendly person with reasonable, friendly beliefs and ideas into a ranting, screaming, judgmental zealot with poisonous, nauseating, self-righteous dreck for beliefs.
When Is Your Ox in the Mire?
You probably know the Primary song about Sunday observance by heart: Saturday is a special day It’s the day we get ready for Sunday We brush our teeth and we go to the bathroom So we don’t have to do it ’til Monday Well, that’s how my sister and I used to sing it anyway. So, how liberal or orthodox is your interpretation of Sunday observance?
What is a Testimony?
Ironically, some of you with “strong testimonies” may think that those struggling with their testimony make only a small percentage of us here today. The converse is also true; many of you who are “struggling” yourselves may believe that you are the only one in the ward that thinks or feels what you do or that there are only a few of you at best. The truth, however, is that most of us, if not all of us, are struggling to some degree—(admittedly, some more than others). For although many of us stand at this pulpit once a month...
Nature of The Person
As part of my graduate program in counseling I have to write a personal theory, which includes process and goals of therapy, explanations for personality, psychopathology, etc. The first part, however, forms the basis for everything else: the nature of the person. I have been working on it for a while, trying to pin down exactly what I believe about the human race, and what is true about people across time and cultures. Here is what I have, with brief explanations:
Freak Out! Handling History
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.
Virtual RS/PH #18: Beyond the Veil: Life in the Eternities
This week’s lesson might sound like a repeat from the previous lesson on Plan of Salvation, but it is much more specifically focused on one of my favorite aspects of our theology: the 3 degrees of glory.
Feeling Guilt: Repentance or Excuse?
Here is an idea that has been kicking around in my head for many years. I thought I would see if I could really articulate it and get some feedback. Premise: Feeling guilt is an excuse for not repenting.
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?
Merging with God
We talk all the time in our Church about returning to God some day. Everything we do in life is to gain experiences, and then to return. If we are pure and righteous, we can live with Him once more. What does this mean though? I think a lot of people picture us going from where we are to some distant place, like it is a separation by location, a journey from here to there. We go to the heaven. That is up in the sky somewhere right?
The Sunstone Report
I attended the Salt Lake Sunstone Symposium on Friday, August 8th. I hadn’t been to Sunstone in ten years. The last time I came, I was a young, single, childless university student. The world was my oyster, and Mormon Studies was, for me, a new phenomenon. I went to celebrity-gaze. Whether I would continue to be involved with the Church was an open question for me.
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!
What Judgment Day Might Be Like?
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...
What it Really Means to Live the Gospel
I think if you did a survey of LDS Church members and asked the question: “What does it really mean to live the gospel?” You’d get a variety of answers. You get many who would give what I would call the standard answers, which I will list below. But you also get some very thoughtful answers which I hope this is one.
Virtual RS/PH #14 – Words of Hope & Consolation @ Time of Death
A word to the teachers out there. I know what you are thinking. Something like, “Ugh. I got the death lesson?!” So, if you have a family event in another ward that might precipitate trading this week, always a good plan. But for you unlucky suckers who drew the short straw, here goes!
Foundations of Becoming: Thoughts on Spiritual Poverty
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...
Obedience: Virtual RS/PH #13
Welcome to the second virtual co-ed 3rd hour. This week’s lesson is a topic that is often a seething hotbed of Mormon Matters controversy: “Obedience: When the Lord Commands, Do It.”
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