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 …
Mormon.org FAQ: Women & Priesthood
Last week we looked at some of the cool profiles on mormon.org that are part of a new effort to make members real and accessible …
Mormon.org FAQ: Polygamy
The church has initiated a new online profile campaign on mormon.org in which those interested in the church can “meet” actual members who’ve posted pictures …
Why Do People Struggle? (With Poll!)
Through my time in the church, I’ve known many who have left the church, many others who have seemingly never had an issue, and a …
Spiritual Guidance: A GC Talk Review
I wanted to try a new feature – going through some of the previous GC talks to discuss some of the ideas put forth. I …
Understanding the Atonement
The atonement is to Christianity what enlightenment is to Buddhism: the foundational concept. How do you feel about the atonement? I admit to some mixed …
Faith, Knowledge, Belief, and Stochastic Theory Part 4: Finding Truth – An Optimization Problem
In part two of this series I discussed Bayesian inference. Specifically, I discussed how Bayesian inference provided us with a mechanism for deciding in what …
Wandering Mormons as Nephites
More than two years ago, the Holy Spirit began insisting that I re-read the Book of Mormon. Of course, I didn’t immediately recognize the impulse …
Faith, Knowledge, Belief and Stochastic Theory Part 3: Putting It All Together
In part one I introduced the problem I see with our current understanding of faith, introduced some basic statistics, and weakly drew a comparison to …
Faith & Doubt
Today’s guest post is by Glenn. When I was at BYU, I got interested in the study of folklore – the way that traditional culture …
Faith, Knowledge, Belief, and Stochastic Theory Part 2: Inductive Reasoning
Deductive reasoning is a form of reasoning in which the conclusion can be drawn directly from the premises. The idea is to show that the …
Faith, Knowledge, Belief, and Stochastic Theory Part 1
Faith has always been a perplexing topic for me. The definitions we hear in church, and in the scriptures seem to come up short. Furthermore, …
Mixed Belief Marriages
What should a church member do if their spouse is a non-believer? This is something that many couples encounter, either because one spouse ceases to …
Then I Will Believe
Our guest post today is by SilverRain, who blogs at The Rains Came Down. When Jesus was suffering on the cross at Calvary, those who …
AZ Immigration Law vs. LDS Interests?
A recent article in the Arizona Republic highlights the negative impacts to the LDS church of the new Arizona law that steps up enforcement of …
Church History: Principles
There has been a lot of discussion in the b’nacle about what the church can do from a practical standpoint to address the thorny issues …
Mormonism and Catholicism: Who Can Mock This Church?
There was a great article in the New York Times this week: Who Can Mock This Church? While it was about Catholicism reeling in the …
Raising the Bar: The Honorably Excused
The church decided to “raise the bar” in 2002 on entry requirements for missionaries, effectively preventing those with a history of serious sin from repenting and …
Symonds Ryder and a Crisis of Faith
Once again, the story of Symonds Ryder has been misused to illustrate a point about leaving the Church over something inconsequential. Undoubtedly there have been …
Temple Recommend Assumptions
Maybe it was an upcoming family wedding. Or maybe it came out some other way. Have you ever been in a situation when you became …
Mormon Myths as Transferable Charisma
Richard Bushman has recently given a presentation on ‘Joseph Smith and the Routinization of Charisma’. One of Bushman’s arguments seems to be that Charisma was …
Jacob’s Ladder: More on Faith Vs. Works
OT SS Lesson #10 Though it’s only an “additional teaching idea” in Lesson 12, Jacob’s ladder has captured my imagination due to some conversations I’ve …
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 …
“They Don’t Really Belong” – The Story of Doubting Jews Caught In Between Worlds.
I recently came across this story on the BBC Website and felt that I had to return to Mormon Matters to write a few comments …
Dysfunctional Families or Church?
Exit stories are the tales told when someone leaves the church. The internet is full of these stories, and in many, there is drama in …
Obedience or Natural Law?
There is an interesting character on Youtube who calls herself “The Non-Muslim Hijabi”. She wears a head scarf even though she’s not Muslim. I felt …
On Failed Patriarchal Blessings
Some time ago I spoke to someone I knew about a Patriarchal blessing they had received which seemed to have failed to come to pass. …
Follow the [blank]: A Poll
In the church, we learn how to be good followers. There are many things we are told to follow: the prophet, good examples, our parents’ …
Richard Dawkins, God and Santa Claus: Belief as a Form of Abuse
Between Christmas and New Year I had the opportunity to meet with some friends and at one point during the evening we began discussing the …
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 …
EQ to HPG: Rites of Passage
Whether you are 18 or 88, married, single, widowed, or divorced, with or without kids, and regardless of your socio-economic status, if you are an …
‘Christmas’ or ‘Winter Festival’: I’m not sure I care!
This must be the the third year that I have heard people bemoan government plans to change the name of Christmas to ‘Winter Festival’ or some …
The Church in 20 Years
Where do you see the Church in 20 years? Today’s guest post is by David Heap.
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 …
Mormon Blogs – What’s OK?
What should be acceptable for a blog to be considered a “Mormon” blog? All Mormon content? Only that which is respectful to the church (not …
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, …
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 …
“Knowing” It All
Mormons love to use the word “know.” We say we know God lives. We say we know that Jesus is the Christ. We say we …
White Noise
Everybody blogs, right? Why not me? Looking for my niche, my angle, and the one thing that seemed to make me stand out in my …
In Praise of Elder Packer: ‘Let Them Govern Themselves’
It might just be the posts that I read, but Boyd K. Packer is not the most popular of Apostles in the Bloggernacle (or perhaps …
On Agency and Accountability: An Inter-dependent View
Jeff Spector wrote a post on Agency a few months ago which I enjoyed alot. The discussion led me down a slightly different path and I …
The Genius of Mormonism: Ordinances
This is the next installment in my series about what gives Mormonism staying power and makes it an effective religion at winning and retaining adherents.
Too Much of a Good Thing: A Birth Control Poll
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 …
Do Mormon Kids Understand the Atonement?
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 …
Insiders & Outsiders
When it comes to Mormonism, do you feel more like an insider or an outsider?
Belief vs. Action
Which is more important – belief or action? Is faith without action better than action without faith? Is belief without action better than acting despite …
Unleashing the Analyst. A Personal Story
As I have already posted a few times, I think it’s time I introduce myself. So, this is my story, Mormon Story style (only without …
Liars, Damned Liars and Statisticians
Is the church growing or shrinking? Is it even possible to measure church growth accurately? Is this a case of statistical confirmation bias? Read on …
Is Prayer About God?
What does prayer mean? What is its purpose in our lives? Today’s guest post is from jmb275.
Science vs. Religion: A Poll
When there is a seeming conflict between science and religion, people tend to make a mental choice that either favors religion or science. Which is …
The Doctor Is IN: An Interview with The Mormon Therapist
Natasha Helfer Parker is a licensed therapist who has counseled the LDS community for 12 years. In 2009, she began a blog called The Mormon …
Early Mormonism in Context
We tend to view Mormonism in the context of its current contemporaries: Baptists, Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, and atheists (among many others). But how does Mormonism …
The Genius of Mormonism: Israel is Back, Baby! (POLL incl.)
One of the attractive components to Mormon theology was the notion that Mormons were a chosen people, and both figuratively and literally part of the …
Mormon Dating Sites – What the Heck?!?
In a church that requires chastity but a world in which random hookups are the norm, what about the plight of single adults who are well …
I Have Seen the Axe
Alice Walker, who wrote about the heartbreak of female genital mutilation quoted an African proverb in the beginning of her book Possessing the Secret of …
David Foster Wallace
Totally worth the read if you haven’t read it before. http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/story/david-foster-wallace-in-his-own-words It’s a commencement speech given a few years back by a famously gifted author …
Groupthink
“Groupthink” is what naturally happens when a group becomes sedentary and sluggish. When change is introduced or new people are introduced, they challenge the “groupthink.” …
Spirituality, Rationality, Mentality, Duality
Today’s guest post is by jmb275. In my first guest post, I talked about intellectualism and faith. A few of the commenters pointed out that …
Looking Forward to the Good Life
I’ve spent some time over the years thinking about questions that remain in regards to the logistics of the afterlife.
Family First?
In a pro-family church, why doesn’t family always come first? We state that family comes before church, and yet there seem to be many in …
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, …
Intellectualism and Faith: A Would-Be Marriage!
It is easy to think yourself out of a testimony. It’s as simple as saying “well I can’t prove God exists, or doesn’t exist, therefore …
Why Faith Needs Reason
The tragedy of 9/11 had a big impact on my views about the relationship between faith and reason. As I watched the video footage of …
This Won’t Make It Past Correlation!
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 …
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. …
The Book of Mormon: A 20th Century Text
There are many positions on which century the Book of Mormon originated in, but most seem to fall into two general camps: the book was …
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 …
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 …
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 …
People Who Helped Me Stay Mormon Part II: Roger Keller
There are BYU professors, and there are BYU professors. Brother Keller is in a class by himself. His life story alone fascinates me. Converted to …
People Who Helped Me Stay Mormon Part I: Jeff Burton
Before John Dehlin, there was Jeff Burton.
Liberal Mormonism II: Why I am a Liberal Mormon
I was raised in a household of faith. My parents are believers who encouraged discussion of religion in their home. I’ve asked around and found …
Liberal Mormonism I: Diagnosis
Let me be clear about a few things. First, I have been diagnosed as a liberal Mormon. Second, liberal Mormonism has been discussed before in …
Robert Millet & Krista Tippet Pt. 3: Robert Millet as a Budding “Sunstone” or “New Order” Mormon
As I’m sure you’ve discovered by now — my takeaways from this interview between Krista Tippet and LDS Theologian and BYU Religion Professor Robert Millet …
Reconstruction Part 1: Like a Wave, Driven and Tossed
Not so long ago I thought I knew certain things were true and wavering was a self-inflicted condition. I also really thought I was an …