Mormon Heretic’s post on forgiveness from a few weeks ago touched me deeply, but I needed time to get my thoughts together about it before I could respond. I once had the neighbor from hell. I use the expression with theological intent. Smart and relentlessly treacherous, he was somewhere on the spectrum from malignant narcissist to full-fledged sociopath, and I had no desire to observe closely enough to find out where. I do not know what horror had befallen him — if anything more significant than a stray cosmic ray hitting the genome at the wrong time — but...
spirituality
all decisions are emotional
I always have to laugh when people claim we Mormons (or even believers in general) make our decisions based on “feelings.” What they don’t realize, is EVERYONE makes EVERY decision, at least in part (and often mostly) due to their feelings.
If They Tarry…
D&C 137 records a vision of Joseph Smith “in the temple at Kirtland, Ohio, January 21, 1836. HC 2: 380–381. The occasion was the administration of the ordinances of the endowment as far as they had then been revealed.” . There are 2 important pieces of Mormon doctrine to consider here: (1) baptism for the dead, and (2) children that die before the age of accountability (and baptism at age 8 ) will inherit the Celestial Kingdom. Since it is a short section, let me quote it entirely. This section is only in the LDS version of the D&C,...
Uplifting Non-LDS Music
I really like music. I like just about every kind of music. I like to choose it according to my mood to help me achieve a goal. Perhaps it is to relax, or maybe inspire me. Sometimes it’s nothing more than a distraction. Sometimes it moves me deeply in a very spiritual way. I really like most LDS hymns and children’s songs precisely because they move me spiritually. Nevertheless, there is a plethora of non-LDS songs that lift me spiritually as well.
Charity: Self-Analysis Tool: Do I Vaunt Myself; Am I Puffed Up?
My New Year’s Resolution this year is taken from I Corinthians 13:4-7. In a nutshell, it is to become a little more charitable this year. I am studying and trying to practice one of the manifestations of charity listed in Paul’s passage each month. This month, the focus is on charity “vaunting not itself” and not being “puffed up”. I write each Saturday about this resolution on my personal blog, and I want to share something with all of you that hit me as I was preparing to write my post for last Saturday.
Committing Spiritual Murder: Analysing Alma 39
Michael Ash in a Sunstone article entitled ‘The Sin “Next to Murder”’ has argued that Alma’s exhortation to his son Corianton (who had ran off with an woman of ill-repute), that ‘these things are an abomination in the sight of the Lord; yea most abominable above all sins save it be the shedding of innocent blood or denying the Holy Ghost’ (see Al 39:5), is not speaking about breaking the law of Chastity. Ash argues that Corianton’s sin is ‘causing the spiritual death of others’. Aside from this being an interesting article, it raises the question of what is...
Gregory House and Emmanuel Levinas: Finding Meaning in Suffering: Part 2
A few weeks ago I wrote a post on suffering. Resulting from a thoughtful critique of that post, by Andrew S, and a recommendation (in the following discussion) to read Emmanuel Levinas’ essay on ‘Useless Suffering’, I have decided to present a re-formulated version of my comments; because my thinking has moved on. I hope that this is not redundant, it certainly has not been for me. I actually hope to write a third post based on a more detailed survey of Levinas’ arguments but that will be in the future.
Really Elder McConkie? You think Education is Worship!
From an outsiders perspective, Mormon worship services may be perceived as lacking actual worship. We spend two and a half of our three hours in classes or listening to sermons. We have (maybe) half an hour of singing (most of it – in my ward at least – resembles a death march) and ordinances. Even our public prayers center around the teacher and the student receiving the Spirit. Where is our Worship? In a BYU devotional entitled ‘Lord, Increase our Faith’ Bruce R. McConkie taught that he believed that the highest form of worship is when someone spoke by the...
Anish Kapoor on Spirituality
On the BBC, there is a great series of Art documentaries entitled ‘Imagine’. Alan Yentob, a Television Executive, presents them and in the most recent, as of 18th Nov 2009, Yentob interviews and discusses the work of Anish Kapoor. People will recognise his sculptures without necessarily remembering his name, perhaps the height of fame for an artist. Having recently finished reading Givens’ ‘A People of Paradox’ I have been considering the relationship between Art and Spirituality and during this documentary Kapoor made some interesting comments which resonated with me.
Secular Learning and ‘Correlation’
In a 1926 Improvement Era the M.I.A. reading course included four books: ‘The Book of Mormon, 50c; by mail, 60c. Prophecies of Joseph Smith and Their Fulfilment, by Nephi L. Morris, $1.50; by mail, $1.50. Hugh Wynne, a novel, by S. Weir Mitchell, $1.25; by mail, $1.35. Wild Life in the Rockies, Enos A. Mills, $2.50; by mail, $2.60.’ (Priesthood Quorums, Improvement Era, 1926, Vol. Xxix. July, 1926 No. 9 .) The ’Joint Advance Senior Class’ had two manuals to choose from ’1. Heroes of Science, by Dr. F. S. Harris and N. I. Butt. 2. Rational Theology, by Dr....
Vagueness as a Gospel Principle
“For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward. Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;” (D&C 58:26 – 27)
Approaching Isaiah 58: Fasting as a Spiritual Practice
Sometime ago Jana Reiss wrote a column for Sunstone entitled ‘Mormonism as Praxis’ in which the writers attempted to explore what Mormonism means in terms of ‘spiritual practices’. Jana, in a Sunstone podcast with Dan Wotherspoon, has explained that one of her main interests is trying to understand how these spiritual practices can become effective through a Mormon context. This post is a feeble attempt to think in that same vein. I wanted to try and understand how fasting is a spiritual practice.
A Personal Interpretation of Elder Hafen’s Remarks
At the Evergreen conference held September 18-19, 2009, Elder Bruce Hafen gave a talk regarding homosexuality. The talk was reprinted on the official LDS Church Newsroom website. I will not synopsize the talk here but I suggest reading it yourself. Within a very short time, for obvious reasons, the bloggernacle was dissecting and analyzing the speech. These actions generated some interesting discussions here, and one permablogger at FMH did a good job of challenging the less-than-spectacular research here.
Expounding on Light
This is a guest post from Heber13. As a guest author, a brief introduction is appropriate. I am a direct descendant from members of the Martin Handcart company of mormons, however, despite the efforts of my ancestors to make such sacrifices to walk across the plains to get out west, my parents decided to take a plane ride back to the East Coast where I was born and raised in the church my whole life. I attended BYU, served a state-side mission, and now am married with 4 kids that are the center of my life.
The Word made Flesh: Poetry, Spirituality and Scripture
I find some poetry immensely moving and even spiritually satisfying. Even though I am not ‘well read’ I still sense that there is a vast reservoir of literature that could provide other channels of communication with God. For me poetry has been one of those channels, especially when it comes to considering my fear of death, I have found it helpful and liberating (check out ‘Aubade’ by Philip Larkin). In addition I have discovered a changing relationship with God through poetry.
Adam and Eve: the First TBM & NOM
There have been several attempts over the years to categorize Mormon “belief-styles”: Orthodox Mormon versus Liberal Mormon, Iron Rod Mormon versus Liahona Mormon, and so on. In the online world of LDS blogs commonly called “the Bloggernacle”, Mormons are often categorized as being TBMs (True Believing Mormons) or NOMs (New Order Mormons). One evening when my wife and I had the opportunity to reflect on the timeless story of Adam and Eve, it struck me that their different responses to God’s commandments, and to Lucifer’s “temptation”, perfectly exemplified the different mindsets of TBMs and NOMs, and symbolically portrayed the...
The Facade of Activity
You see them every week at Church, attending their meetings, performing their callings, shuttling their children to this or that activity. They are active in the Church by every definition. But are they really ACTIVE in the Church? Are they ACTIVE in the gospel?
What Bothers Me, and Why I Still Believe
I am an active member of the church, and a believer. I am well aware of most of the controversial issues (Book of Abraham, DNA, Book of Mormon historicity, polyandry, etc.). Some of them occasionally bother me. Others do not. Although according to statistics I am very educated, I probably could not win an argument defending the church on any of those points. I could not support the church on Prop. 8, (if you want to specifically comment on that, please go here). I will probably never understand in this life why we are discouraged from praying to our...
The consumer model of religion — A look at a BCC post
I was reading BCC the other day, and I came across this post that just seemed like this tremendous threat to me. I know John C had nothing in mind and really, I’m just writing this for the melodrama, but as an ex-mormon atheist, it seemed to hit close to home. John just had it out for those militant atheists, but I guess they do enough to deserve some of it. I wanted to make a qualification and…perhaps…a defense…of what he lambastes as a “consumer model” of religion…especially since recently on my blog, I’ve been talking about the need...
Good Man Gone
A week ago, I attended the viewing and funeral of a man in our stake who died of an unexpected heart attack. He was in his 50′s, had just been to the doctor and been pronounced fit as a fiddle, was losing weight and feeling great. He was the Bishop of his ward, and his wife had been cancer free for just over a year. His son flew home for the weekend, after which he returned to finish his mission.