Posts Tagged ‘ Belief ’

Josh and Susan Powell, and an LDS Ultimatum — “Get Active, or I’m Leaving With the Kids”

December 24, 2009
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Josh and Susan Powell, and an LDS Ultimatum — “Get Active, or I’m Leaving With the Kids”

(This post has been updated) Just saw this blurb in the Deseret News this morning: When Josh and Susan Powell were first married, both were very active in the LDS Church, Petersen said. They were sealed in the temple. But once they moved to Utah, Josh Powell stopped attending church. Petersen said the Powells’ marriage counselor instructed Susan Powell to set specific goals. Susan Powell told her husband that her goal was for him to become active in the church again by the end of 2009 and to have his temple recommend again by their anniversary in the spring....

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Prosperity vs. Religion

August 24, 2009
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There was a great article in Newsweek called (Un)wired For God.  It was a follow up on a prior article that had talked about the theory that people are hard-wired for religious belief (pre-disposed through our brain structure to believe in God, the supernatural, etc.)

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This Won’t Make It Past Correlation!

October 15, 2008
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Another week, another great uncorrelated quote from an LDS Church manual that would never see the light of day in today’s church: Every discussion of faith must distinguish it from its caricatures. Faith is not credulity. It is not “believing things you know ain’t so.”

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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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Analogies of Belief: Expecting the Polar Express

July 16, 2008
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Analogies of Belief: Expecting the Polar Express

What does it mean to say you believe something or “believe in” something? Would a child say they believe in Santa Claus? Or would they simply act and react to situations as if Santa Claus existed? That is, if their parents took them on the Polar Express would they expect to meet Santa Claus tucked away in a cozy brick house at the North Pole checking his naughty/nice list and getting fist-bumps from Mrs. Claus before he gave rousing speeches to the elves? Is belief as expectation the best way to understand religious belief in general?

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