Bishop Bill back with more. We’ve had fictionalized situations in the last two installments with a YW and a YM. Now, let’s have a situation with an adult. Continue reading…
Tag Archive for 'revelation'
While there are moral truths that all religions tend to share (don’t kill, don’t steal, be nice to people, etc.), religions also include “bizarre” differentiators to distinguish each religious community (often in food prohibitions, clothing choices, or supernatural beliefs). These “bizarre” elements hedge up the community and create borders between the religious group and those not in the religion. Without these “fences,” a church would cease to be a community. But a negative byproduct of these “bizarre” elements is that they are indefensible on grounds of logic or “truth.” So, what elements of Mormonism are “true” and which ones are merely “bizarre”? Continue reading…
Welcome to “You’re the Bishop,” a new installment at Mormon Matters. My name is Bishop Bill. Once every few weeks I’ll post a situation that I had while I was bishop, and let you decide how to handle it. Everybody gets to play, even the ladies out there. After a week, I’ll add a comment with what I did in the situation, and how it turned out. Let’s play! Continue reading…
Obedience to the Word of Wisdom, it is commonly known, was not always a requirement for entering the Temple or 
advancement in the Priesthood. What is less clear from the historicl record is when this principle moved to become a requirement. President Joseph Fielding Smith believed the change occurred in 1851, but an excellent article by McCue has shown this cannot be the case [1]. Others have argued that it occurred under the Joseph F. Smith administration (he seems to have been the first to have said it was a commandment – but it was only made a test of fellowship in extreme cases and informally in a letter dated Dec 28 1915 [2]). Contrastingly Thomas Alexander argued that it happened under President Grant. I agree with Alexander, but there is even confusion about when it was made official, was it early 20’s or early 30’s and what led to these changes?
Where do you see the Church in 20 years? Today’s guest post is by David Heap. Continue reading…
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 spirit and another person received by the spirit so that both were edified. This idea is clearly rooted in D&C section 50, but is this really a form of worship? If it is a uniquely LDS form of worship then what does that tell us about the ideals we value most in the Mormon Church? Continue reading…
Today’s guest post is from Reuben Collins who also blogs at Single Speed. Continue reading…
Do you believe in ghosts? Have you ever had a ghostly encounter? If you do believe in ghosts, what do you think they are doing? Why are they hanging around? Continue reading…
In a lecture entitled ‘A Historian’s Perspective on Joseph Smith’, Richard Bushman shows an interesting trend in religious cultures that surrounded Joseph Smith. This trend centers around the tension between the Charismatic gifts and the Bureaucracy which contain them. I had an experience six months ago that made me realise that there is, in my view, a centralised view of the Spirit in the LDS Church that may restrict the spirituality of our local meetings. Continue reading…
The First Vision is often viewed as a literal visit from two Heavenly beings during Joseph Smith’s waking hours. Yet, he consistently refers to it as a vision. Often, visions in scripture are vivid dreams with meaning that is applied to the larger organization rather than just the individual. What if the First Vision is more like a dream, a foray into the subconscious mind of Joseph Smith? Continue reading…
At 10:00am on a brisk August morning in 1844 Sidney Rigdon addressed the Saints. Brigham Young spoke briefly before the break and at length in the afternoon, 
at which point they voted for a new leader. Arrington notes that the response was almost unanimous, but the subsequent disaffection from the Church shows that not all was well in Zion[1]. This experience raises interesting questions for me about the role of Common Consent in the Church. Seeing this is General Conference weekend (and we have just had a sustaining vote), I ask: Have we moved from a democracy to prophetocracy, and is this a bad thing? Continue reading…
These are just a few quick observations from today’s sessions, not every talk, though, nor every observation. I also want to direct attention to the excellent notes by Mme. Curie. Continue reading…
Does the church discourage birth control? Are couples encouraged to breed as quickly and frequently as nature allows? Take this poll to share your feelings on the subject. Continue reading…
Does the church teach that we are saved by grace or that we are saved by works? This is one of the most oft-repeated criticisms of the Mormon church by other churches, that we don’t correctly understand the atonement of Jesus. Continue reading…
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.) Continue reading…
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