Year: 2006
JEF Sunday School Lesson 5a
Lesson 5a: Moses 5-7
Dietary sundries
The quickest way to lose weight is to get sick. The easiest way to keep it off is to die.
On not Being a Rock Garden
Like many Mormons, I have a long and varied history with cognitive dissonance. We have a wonderfully boisterous, co-dependent, passive-aggressive kind of relationship, cognitive dissonance and I. My religious side wants to believe things based on faith, to see spiritual experiences, to feel connected to God. My analytical side wants to see proof, to analyze experiences dispassionately, and to call BS on things that just don’t add up. That’s pretty much the standard recipe for cognitive dissonance (double the almonds for some extra crunch, and don’t overcook).
JMS Sunday School Lesson #5
Where The Boys Are
There’s been a lot of talk lately about how boys are in trouble–falling behind in school, terrible discipline problems, etc.–and I take it all quite seriously; I’m concerned that boys receive the guidance and education they need to flourish in a changing world. I have to admit, though, that my concern is not entirely motivated by a purely charitable concern for future generations and the happiness of fellow children of our Heavenly Father. Rather, a major portion of my interest arises from the fact that I am worried about my daughters. I mean, who am I going to line them up to marry if all the boys out there tank?
Dear Jane
Dear Jane, I don’t know you—at least I don’t think I do—but I have been struck by your willingness to speak openly and honestly about your situation. My Sikh friends speak of “seekers.” You are genuinely a seeker and, so, a person deserving of respect, including the respect of response. However, I haven’t had anything to say in response until now when you ask, “Does the gospel make sense (comment 23)?”
Creation and Filicide
William Faulkner told writers to “kill your darlings” — that is, they should learn to excise lines of prose or turns of phrase that they had come to love like their own child.* A good creator is a willing filicide, always ready to kill her darlings. And who better illustrates this principle than God himself? The world’s great Creator is also its great Filicide.
The Mormon Problem
That is what they called it. The Mormon Problem. We no longer hear the reproach, though faint echoes still reflect from the rigid walls of religion and secularism. We can no longer see ourselves as we once were, but we paid a price before accommodating and it is that price that ransoms, in me, empathy and fear.
Around the Blogs: I Can’t, She Said
At some other blog, Elisabeth gives a thought-proving meditation on Wilfried’s recent post “I Can’t, He Said.” Her brilliant-glimpse-of-the-obvious post — how is it that no one had yet mentioned this, in 48 T&S comments!? — gives a vital lens through which Wilfried’s hospital story becomes even more relevant. Check out “I Can’t, She Said”; you won’t read Wilfried’s story the same.
Around the Blogs: DMI on Happiness
Bloggernacle old-timer DMI has a great discussion going on right now about a complicated set of themes: Should we be seeking happiness, or seeking knowledge? What can we do when our brain contradicts our heart? Is it really possible to find happiness or consistency (or both) in the church, and/or through the sometimes maddeningly inconsistent connect-the-dots of spiritual experiences? Current discussants include Dave himself and Jane Doe, whose recent comments at T&S highlighted some of these issues. Are you intrigued yet? (Or should I give up blogging and go work for Starbucks?) Go check out “Happiness” at DMI. UPDATE a few hours later (since my co-bloggers will kill me if I put up a third ATB post tonight): FMH-Lisa has a really good post on the same topic. A sample: “What kind of freak is happy all the time? . . . Wipe that smile off your face right now. Life sucks.” . . . “Rather than taking these moments of unhappiness as just a fact of life, because life sucks, we take them very personally. As a sign of our unrighteousness, our lack of faith, our personal weakness.” (Really good stuff, Lisa!) Anyway, what are you still doing reading my ATB post, reader? Go read Lisa’s post. (Or Dave’s. Or both!)
Thanks to Geoff J.
Before J. Stapley can get busy wowing us all, let’s take a moment and thank Geoff Johnston for a terrific couple of weeks. As the all-seeing Snarkernacle noted, Geoff’s posts laid waste to the competition here at T&S, such as it is. In five relatively short posts, Geoff generated 684 comments and counting. It’s been a long while since we had such a run of thoughtful, imaginative, doctrinally heavy discussions, and we owe it all to Brother Johnston. Our thanks, Geoff; we wish you could stay, but we know they missed you over at the Thang….
Guest blogger: J. Stapley
We’re happy to announce our latest guest: J. Stapley, a true bloggernacle fixture.
Restitution for Michael Lane
When Michael Lane confessed to his bishop that he had killed a two-year-old, PJ Watts, in 1990, his bishop told him the repentence process requires that he confess to civil authorities and accept the consequences of his actions. However, because Lane also sinned by lying about killing PJ when he was prosecuted for the homicide at the time, civil authorities are now unable to prosecute him, despite his confession, under the Constitution’s “double jeopardy” doctrine. Given that it’s wrong to receive less punishment for two sins than for one, how must Michael Lane pay restitution for his egregious sins — murder and lying to avoid responsibility? News stories are here, here, here, and here.
Deny Not the Gifts of God
I think Terryl Givens was right. I think a primary purpose of the Book of Mormon is to drive each of us toward real dialogue with the living God. And I think Moroni is right – that if we as Mormons are not experiencing some kind of regular dialogue with God we are denying the gifts of God.
I can’t, he said
I have on my desk a primitive pen holder in ceramic, about four inches high. The figurine, crudely shaped, shiny in its warm terra cotta coat, represents a little man holding a tiny bucket in which a few pens and pencils can be stacked. Many years ago, an eleven-year-old girl kneaded and baked the clay in the children’s activity room of a hospital, during her long convalescence. She made the figurine for me.
JMS Sunday School Lesson #4
A Really Bad Idea
It may be that pro-correlation forces have hacked into Sunstone’s website or it may just be a really, really bad marketing idea.
The Pious Bias
Perhaps we’ve put white hats on some people in the scriptures who don’t deserve them.
Eternal Progression and Retrogression
If there is progression, there may also be retrogression; if there is good, there may be evil. Everything has its opposite. (John A. Widtsoe, Rational Theology, Chapter 15)
Infertility
Infertility is a huge topic, as large in its own way as the topic of birth control. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to do it justice. I fully recognize that this can be an extremely sensitive issue for couples for many reasons. I absolutely do not judge any patients for making choices in dealing with infertility that I would not recommend professionally. I also fully celebrate the life of all children of God, regardless of how they were conceived. With this background in place, I wish simply to make three points.
Postfertilization effects of birth control methods
In considering options of which birth control method to use, couples have a variety of factors that they may consider.
Embryonic stem cell research
The issue of embryonic stem cells has been discussed in this forum before, here, here and here. Ongoing current events, however, make this issue salient for another examination.
Beginning of Human Life
When does human life begin? This phrasing of this question as it is commonly stated is imprecise and can be misleading. Let’s look at some more precise questions.
Gospel Doctrine Lesson 3… with an evolution twist…
Lesson 3 with a twist
Morning with those that morn
In Hell, there will be 9 a.m. Sacrament meeting.
JEF Sunday School Lesson 4
Lesson 4: Moses 4, 5:1-15, 6:48-62
The Spiritual Benefits of Sin
Over at LDSLF, Dave Landrith asks an interesting question: can sin ever profit the soul? This is a topic I’ve pondered at some length over the years. Contra Dave, I believe that sinful acts can have real eventual spiritual benefits.
Enlisting the Snarky Amongst Us
Several years ago I ran a marathon. As anyone who has run a marathon can tell you, training for it is a lot of work. I tend to be a pretty undisciplined person, so when I started training for the marathon, I decided that I needed some sort of commitment device to keep me on schedule. My solution was to tell all of my friends and family that I was training for a marathon, indeed that I would be running a marathon in the fall. That way I got my sense of shame to discipline me. If I slacked off and didn’t train, then I would be awfully embarrassed when I didn’t run the marathon in the fall. It worked. Fear of shame kept me on schedule, and I finished the Richmond Marathon. (With an absolutely abysmal time, I might add.) This post is a similar exercise. Blogging at Times & Seasons and reading and (sporadically) commenting elsewhere in the Bloggernacle has been taking up way too much of my time of late. I am behind at work. I am behind on other projects. I need to get caught up and spend more time with my family. So I am going to be taking a hiatus from the Bloggernacle for a bit. I am sure that I will end up coming back, but for at least the next month and a half, I will not be posting here. This isn’t…
Reminder: Summer Seminar on Joseph Smith
Richard Bushman and Terryl Givens are leading a seminar this summer on “Mormon Thought, 1850 to 1920: Dealing with the Joseph Smith Legacy,” at BYU. Applications are due February 15th