The seventh commandment, Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy (Exodus 20:8) seems like a fairly simple statement on the surface. But, in practice, …
Resolving the Conflict between the TBM and the ExMo
Today’s guest post comes from Ulysseus, a frequent commenter at Mormon Matters and elsewhere in the b’nacle. His website can be found here. To take …
A Non-Historical View of the Book of Mormon
Perhaps the time has come in the church to recognize that some members want to openly espouse a non historical view of the Book of …
Pharisaical Observation
I wrote a post some time ago on whether they Pharisees were given a bad rap in the New Testament. It can be found here. …
Comparing Religious Observance: Mormons and Jews
I thought it would be interesting to map the religious observance of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) and the Jews. I’ve …
Virtual PH/RS Lesson: Elder Eyring’s talk and the New Year
I was asked to teach the lesson in Elder’s Quorum on Elder Eyring’s General Conference talk from October: Our Perfect Example (click here for video.) …
Death to the World!
In my endless search for connections between faith and music, I came across a stark and beautiful sight last month. First of all, I finally …
To Those Struggling In Their Faith
There are many within Mormonism who struggle daily with their faith. They have been exposed to historical information they were not aware of, they were …
Great Expectations: What Are Your Hopes and Predictions for General Conference?
“It’s the MOST WONderful TIIIME of the YEARRRRRR.” The leaves are starting to change color. The evenings and mornings are a bit crisper. Even the …
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 …
Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up?
David W. Bercot, a Texas attorney and Evangelical Christian, embarked on a quest to discover what Christians believed and practiced before the Nicene Creed. What …
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 …
Women are from Venus, Men are from Kolob
Based on my experience, I would guess that the majority of LDS women under age 65 would say that polygamy is NOT an eternal principle …
The Problem with Tolerance
The church has a history of high level leaders making sweeping pronouncements that are later deemed incorrect, speculative, or unauthorized, yet in each case, church …
An Explanation of My Reduction in Participation
[Please pardon the personal nature of this post, but I want to take the opportunity to write this personally.] For the past two years (almost), …
Interfaith International British DJ
OK Paul technically isn’t exactly an international DJ, not unless you consider that you can listen to his interviews on line.
Worship or Whine?
This post was inspired by David Stout’s series of posts on LDS Worship, Part II and Part III as well as HawkGrrrl’s post entitled “More …
Mormon Masks
Often people have a hard time with intimacy (intimacy = “into me see”) because they feel vulnerable. They would rather deal with ideas than people, …
Who Should Go to Church, Anyway?
So over at T&S they’ve been having this discussion about the recent media report about the majority of America’s drifiting faith issues. And I know, …
More Christ At Church
The mission of the church is to bring people to Christ (it is not the tri-fold mission of proclaim the gospel, perfect the saints and …
Are we going to be Eunuchs after this life?
My home teacher (who is very cool) came by yesterday to drop off some starter cables for my car and as one does in that …
LDS Worship – Part III
David Stout is a Disciples of Christ minister. This is the third and final installment of his insightful commentary on LDS Sacrament Meeting Worship. To …
LDS Worship – Part II
The following is the second part of the series written for us by David Stout, Disciples of Christ minister, about his perception of LDS worship. …
Symbolism Of the Passover Points to Jesus Christ
The traditional Jewish celebration of the Passover, which started Thursday night, can illustrate the rich symbolism found in the Old Testament and show how the …
Faith vs. Doubt
“Faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time, for one will dispel the other.”
Why Mormon Doctrine Is NOT Mormon Doctrine
Many people both within the Church and outside the Church think that Bruce R. McConkie’s book, Mormon Doctrine, is the official declaration of LDS church …
Shipbuilding: Tasks or Vision?
Spending a week in the Pacific Northwest on vacation, surrounded by boats and the vastness of the sea, when I read this quote from Antoine …
Where would you go?
A few posts on MormonMatters got me thinking once about my relationship with other faith groups. For instance, a recent post on why it seems …
Horus Bible Parallels
Recently I saw Religulous here and he touched on Horus here and a few of the parallels between the story of Horus and Jesus. Many …
Abstinence= Don’t think the colour red! Don’t think the colour red!
“The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health” (Add Health), Found that conservative and evangelical Christian teenagers are more sexually active than mainline Protestants, Jews, and …
Can you be a Unitarian and a Mormon at the Same Time?
We should gather all the good and true principles in the world and treasure them up, or we shall not come out true Mormons. Joseph …
Temperance Movement and The Word of Wisdom
For almost two centuries the Word of Wisdom is solid proven evidence to many members that the Church is true.
Unity, Diversity and Conformity
How do we create and maintain unity at church while valuing diversity and avoiding conformity? Do we have to embrace the diversity of those who …
Betting on the House!
“What do Catholics, Jews and Mormons have in common?” “Catholics don’t recognize birth control, Jews don’t recognize Jesus, and Mormons don’t recognize each other in …
Should we have listened to BH Roberts?
BH Roberts predicted that if church leaders did not address the historical problems of church origins and possible anachronisms in the Book of Mormon, these …
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 …
This Won’t Make It Past Correlation!
Here’s another quote from a discarded Church manual predating Correlation. Who said it and why wouldn’t it fly in today’s Church?: The pragmatic or experimental …
The Church as a Tool
What is the church to you? A family you must learn to love? A path you must follow? A checklist of items you must do …
This Won’t Make It Past Correlation!
Hi everyone, Welcome to my new series where I provide you, the reader, with an excerpt from an LDS church manual, uncited, which I LIKE. …
Hedging Your Bets: Refusing to Leave the Church
Two men pull up to a house they’ve never been to before. It’s dark, but a few lights appear on. They slowly get out, not …
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 …
Pharisees: Bad Guys or Bad Rap?
One of things that bothered me when I joined the church and started studying the New Testament was the way the Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes …
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 …
In Defense of Apologists
The term “apologist” is often used derisively like the terms “lawyer,” “statistician,” or “telemarketer.” Why are apologists so derided? Is it warranted or just a …
Virtual RS/PH #16: Revelation & the Living Prophet
Finally, a lesson that really makes you think! This is probably my favorite JS lesson this year (no one dies or has to move to …
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 …
Spiritual or Just Religious?
Is your spiritual journey the same as your religious journey, or is religion just one of the facets of your spiritual life?
Becoming a Moderate Mormon
We’ve established that there are conservative Mormons (obviously) and there are liberal or “new order” Mormons. Taking the politico-religious rhetoric to its next logical conclusion, …
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 …
Proof Texting for Fun and Prophet
Recent articles got me thinking about the practice of Prooftexting, which Wikipedia defines as follows: Prooftexting is the practice of using decontextualised quotations from a …
Paul: Apostle, Misogynist?
“I’m not bad. I’m just drawn that way.” Jessica Rabbit Plenty of criticism is heaped on post-restoration church leaders. There seems to be a tendency …
The Bright Night of My Soul
Andrew wrote a beautiful and moving post recently – “Dark Night of the Soul“. In reading that post and the subsequent comments, I had an …
Our Foundation Stories Part II: The Meaning of the First Vision
Now that we’ve discussed the nature of the First Vision, what did it mean? There are many meanings, the most vital being those which each …
Our Foundation Stories Part I: The First Vision or the First Visit?
Do you believe that God the Father, the Son, and maybe even the Holy Ghost visited Joseph Smith in the spring of 1820? Or did …
Offenders for a Word, Part 2 – Do Mormons Worship Jesus?
In my last post I wrote about how we are all forced to take a thought and translate it into words and that this is …
People Who Helped Me Stay Mormon Part I: Jeff Burton
Before John Dehlin, there was Jeff Burton.
Liberal Mormonism III: Prognosis
Count up all the liberal Mormons you know. Now, compare that number to the number you knew ten years ago. Now multiply the difference between …
What Do Joseph Smith and Gladys Knight Have in Common?
When I was a kid in Southern California, it was obvious to me that there were two kinds of people in the world: Mormons and …
Neo-Fundamentalism Part 3: LDS Premillennialism
Mormons in 1830 were in league with a slew of millennialist faiths (Shakers, Campellites, and Adventists) on the brink of actualized utopia after the resurgence …
The Book of Mormon: Paving the Way for the Doctrine & Covenants
In my last post I discussed one possible view of the Book of Mormon as a basic doctrinal text and thus a foundation for Mormon …
Reconstruction Part 2: Abandoning “Being Right” In Search of “Having Joy”
In part one of this reconstruction journey, I talked about how being hyper-focused on being right intensifies the impact when you come to see that …
Joseph Smith, On His Own Terms
In studying Joseph Smith in the 1970s I was struck by how often Joseph Smith would remind the brethren that they did not know as …
The Only Truly Creedless Church on the Face of the Whole Earth
“[Unlike the Latter-day Saints] Methodists have creeds which a man must believe or be asked out of their church. I want the liberty of thinking …
Family Concerns
Today’s post is by Wade Nelson. Apart from a brother who has been inactive for many years, I come from a family whose members have …
What’s Wrong with the Creeds of Christendom?
After nearly 1800 years of silence, the heavens at last reopened. The boy prophet knelt before God the Father and the Son, who told him …
Episode 8: A Review of “States of Grace” and “Orthodox Paradox”
In this episode we are excited to have Rosalynde Welch as our producer/moderator!!! The 2 main topics are: A review of Richard Dutcher’s “States of …