Year: 2010

A Mormon Image: Sweaters for the Penguins

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The sweaters that these penguins are wearing are designed to save their lives after oil spills off of the Australian coast. They were knitted by Aussie Relief Society sisters. Who says that LDS service projects aren’t fun? (And as Nate asked last time: Who got to put them on the penguins?) (Picture courtesy of LDS Newroom; originally linked in this prior T&S post.) This picture is part of our ongoing series highlighting Mormon images. Comments to the post are welcome; all comments should be respectful. In addition we invite you to submit your own images to the Mormon Image series. Other images in the series can be found here. Rules and instructions, including submissions guidelines, can be found here.

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Lineage: A Troubling Concept

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Here’s a quote from Lesson 7, “The Abrahamic Covenant,” that caught my attention in Sunday School: The great majority of those who become members of the Church are literal descendants of Abraham through Ephraim, son of Joseph. Those who are not literal descendants of Abraham and Israel must become such, and when they are baptized and confirmed they are grafted into the tree and are entitled to all the rights and privileges as heirs.

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A Mormon Image: Weighing Eternity

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An oft-quoted passage from our Bible Dictionary states that “only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness.” This statement has been concretely validated in the birth of our children. No experience I have ever had has compared in holiness with our experiences of welcoming our children into this world and into our home. For me, this picture captures a great deal of what my faith is. The baby, a few minutes old, is being weighed. In the mirror you see my wife (taking the picture), myself, our baby, and the midwife mediator who helped us bring our daughter into the world. It very much reminds me of the temple and our covenants. My own pose is for me a visual demonstration of what I hope I am doing as a father. In this picture, as in my life, there is no separation between my religion and my family, my God and family, my home and the sacred, our raising a family and our worship. Perhaps this is a luxury, even within Mormonism. But even without our fantastically blessed experiences, I think this would remain my ideal. by James Olsen This photograph is part of our ongoing series highlighting Mormon images. Comments to the post are welcome; all comments should be respectful. In addition we invite you to submit your own images to the Mormon Image series. Other images in the series can be found here. Rules and instructions,…

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Higher Education and Mormon Culture

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While discussing the development of Mormon culture at the recent Brazilian Mormon Studies Conference in São Paulo, Brazil, one friend told me that Mormon culture would really develop when there was an LDS University for members in Brazil to attend.

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Friendship is Unnatural

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I love the interactive nature of blogging. I had planned to close this series with a post neatly tying everything together, but all of your contributions have challenged my premises and preconceptions to the point that I can’t do it. I started this series with some really good ideas, as well as some very naive ones. In a year or so, as I’ve been able to sort between the two, perhaps I’ll come back with a follow-up series. In the meantime, let me close this series by touching on friendship.

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OT Lesson 8 Study Notes: Genesis 13-14, 18-19

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Chapter 13 Verses 1-2: Are there elements in Abram’s journey to Canaan that typify Israel’s later exodus from Egypt? If there are, what would be the point of that parallel? Verse 1: Notice the difference in the way the families are described in Genesis 12:5 and here. Does anything in these verses suggest a change in the family situation? If yes, of what sort? Journeys from Egypt to Canaan are said to be “up” and journeys from Canaan to Egypt are said to be “down.” We might use the same metaphors because of the way we have constructed the map of the world, with Canaan to the north of Egypt, but that similarity is misleading since they didn’t have maps or use the points of the compass as we do. So why would ancient people have used that language of up and down? Verse 2: What is the point of this detail? Does the comment about their wealth in verse 6 explain it, or is it here for some other reason? The word used for “rich” in Hebrew means “heavy.” It is used to describe Abram’s wealth and also the famine (Genesis 12:1). Any wealth that a nomad had beyond his flocks would have to be carried by camel and it would be a heavy for them, so the word makes sense. Was Abram’s wealth a burden to him in any other sense? Verse 3-4: Why does Abram go back…

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How Christian were the Founders?

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That’s the topic of this fascinating NYT article. The article probably spends a little too much time poking fun at the backward Texans (though it’s so easy); but also does a good job of laying out the complicated question of deciphering just how Christian the founders were. My favorite quote: Or, as Brookhiser rather succinctly summarizes the point: “The founders were not as Christian as [conservative activists] would like them to be, though they weren’t as secularist as Christopher Hitchens would like them to be.” (Also, the scary Texans do get really scary for parts of the piece.) What do you think of the article, and of the underlying issues?

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Mormons and Prosperity

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The Prosperity Gospel (which the linked Wikipedia article defines as “the notion that God provides material prosperity for those he favors”) is often associated with Evangelical megapreachers. [Note 1.] But we all know there is a Mormon variation of the Prosperity Gospel lurking behind the ubiquitous references to blessings and how to earn them that populate LDS books, sermons, and discourse. So when I started reading my review copy of What the Scriptures Teach Us About Prosperity (Deseret Book, 2010) by S. Michael Wilcox, I was hoping that at some point the author would distinguish the Mormon view of prosperity from the Evangelical version of the Prosperity Gospel. The Mormon View of Prosperity Alas, no. The book contains no explicit discussion of the Prosperity Gospel and no direct comparison of Evangelical and LDS views. The index offers no entries under Propserity Gospel, Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, Evangelical, or even Protestant. The best I can find is an entry for John Calvin, which leads to a passage on the value of work: “During much of European history, for instance, the upper classes did not work. … The laboring man was looked down upon. During the Reformation, however, John Calvin in particular struck upon Paul’s counsel to elevate work. All work was done for Christ; therefore, one should find contentment in it and take pride in doing one’s best. God would reward you.” (p. 74.) So, absent comparisons, what is the Mormon…

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Dispensations

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While the occurrence of a general apostasy is a matter of belief and not observable by historical inquiry, dispensations are born with a burst of documentary evidence.

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OT Lesson 7 Study Notes: Abraham 1:1-4; 2:1-11; Genesis 12:1-8; 17:1-9

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Abraham 1 Verse 1: Why does this work use the name “Abraham” for the person in question when we know from Genesis that his name was as yet still “Abram”? What does it tell us that Abraham says “the residence of my fathers” (plural) rather than “the residence of my father” (singular)? Why did Abraham think he needed to “find another place of residence”? (Compare Genesis 12:1 as well as Abraham 1:5-12 and 2:1-4.) What do you make of the dispassionate, deliberate character of Abraham’s language in this verse and, in the later verses, of his account of the Chaldean attempt to sacrifice him? Is that an artefact of translation, perhaps, or does it show us something about Abraham? Verse 2: What does Abraham mean by “the blessings of the fathers”? Verse 4 tells us that the phrase refers to the priesthood. Then why is it plural? If it does not refer to the priesthood in this verse, to what does it refer? What would it mean to have the right to administer the blessings of the fathers? Who were the fathers? Assuming that this verse is about the priesthood, how does possessing the High Priesthood make Abraham “one who possessed great knowledge”? Are having the priesthood and possessing great knowledge the same thing for Abraham? How would having this blessing that he desires make him “a greater follower of righteousness”? What do you make of this double repetition: Having…

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5 things to do while waiting for Feminist Mormon Housewives to return

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Feminist Mormon Housewives is one of our favorite bloggernacle blogs, with a strong core of bloggers, a variety of smart and lively posts, and a great community. Unfortunately, FMH has been down for the past two days, a victim of the patriarchy — err, of a server crash. Lisa is optimistic that the blog will be up and running again soon. (Crosses fingers.) Meanwhile, what’s an FMH reader supposed to do in the interim? Here is one list of ideas: 1. Go check out the FMH Facebook group, where a variety of fun and interesting FMH-related discussions are taking place, with FMH bloggers like mfranti and Derek. 2. Read some other LDS women’s blogs. The Exponent is a great place to start, with more topic and tone overlap with FMH than just about anyone else. Zelophehad’s Daughters offers a wicked-smart take on Mormon and feminist issues. And you can also check out the Feminist section of MormonBlogs. 3. Brush up on other sources. For instance, did you know that the entire text of Mormon feminist classic Women and Authority is available online? (What other books are you reading lately?) 4. Check out the individual blogs of community members, like mfranti’s blog, Shelah’s, Reese’s, Derek’s, Lessie’s, John Remy’s, Chandelle’s, G’s, CWC’s, and others. (Suggestions welcome) 5. Make comments at this open thread. We want to do what we can to support our blog-sisters; and we can’t personally fix a server; but…

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Building Your Own Green Hill

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If you’re feeling moved upon to bring together a community of your own, here are some approaches you might consider. I’ve divided them into two sections: organic and venture.

Organic approaches to community building grow fairly naturally out of everyday living. They may sound mundane — you’re probably already doing some of them — but that doesn’t mean the resulting relationships are any less rewarding. In contrast, venture approaches to community building take significant planning, time, and money.

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Putting the Sunday in the Super Bowl

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Some time ago on T&S, I survived a discussion on the history of Sunday (got no t-shirt though). That knock-down drag-out event included some talk of sports, but overall was pretty general. In light of the upcoming Super Bowl I thought it might be fun(?) to look at the rise of Sunday sport more specifically. So get out the nachos and dip. Or lace up the gloves, or whatever.

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The Tebows and Other Good Omens

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I never expected to see the day that Kate Michelman, past president of NARAL, would write, “all sorts of well-educated and progressive people are comfortable calling themselves pro-life.” Michelman’s opinion piece in the Washington Post is fascinating not only for her openly acknowledging the eroding support for her movement (she says recent polls shows 51% of Americans identify with the label “pro-life” and only 44% with “pro-choice”; the pro-life number would be a historical high), but by how hamstrung she feels defending abortion. She attributes the shift in public opinion primarily to technological progress: “[s]cience played a big role, making the fetus more visible. Today, the first picture in most baby books is the 12-week 3D ultrasound, and Grandma and Grandpa have that photo posted on the fridge.” Read that again. Michelman acknowledges that support for the pro-choice movement benefited from people’s ignorance of human development and the reality of the preborn person. This admission could scarcely be more heartening to those of us working for fetal rights. I’ve observed the phenomenon she mentions first-hand, and it is real. On two separate occasions at our former fetal imaging studio, Baby Insight, men who appeared to be in their 60s, who I assumed to be grandfathers of the new baby, came out of the studio where they’d spent 30 minutes watching their new grandbaby on a 70″ projection screen, and say to no one in particular, “Well, it really is a…

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Reading lessons: interfaith, intertext, intersect

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Last Saturday morning I attended an interfaith Torah study session, warmly hosted at the Shaare Emeth congregation and jointly led by LDS and Jewish presenters. The discussion focused on the week’s Torah portion, parashat bo, which recounts the story in Exodus 10 of the plagues visited on Pharaoh at his refusal to free the Israelites. It’s a challenging tale, both narratively and ethically, and Rabbi John Borak and Mark Paredes each shed some light on the special difficulties and rewards of those verses. As I listened to the speakers’ presentations, I was impressed, beyond any particular interpretive insight into Pharoah or Moses, by the fruitful differences between Jewish and LDS practices of scripture study. Rabbi Borak focused his discussion around the central moral problem in the story: the text states that God hardened Pharoah’s heart against the Israelites, implying that God is ultimately responsible for the suffering of both the Egyptians and the Israelites. From the Rabbi’s discussion handout: If we are reading this bit of Torah correctly, Pharoah is not responsible for the plagues and all the suffering that ensued from them—God is! It was God who ordained that Pharoah would not be swayed. And it’s not just the suffering of the Egyptians at issue here, but the suffering of the Hebrews as awell. This clearly seems to make God immoral. How can it possibly be that a moral, loving and just God would punish a people and their…

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Testimonies of the Bloggernacle

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A friend asked whether I was aware of any good collections of testimony or “Why I Believe”-type posts in the Bloggernacle. Nothing really sprung to mind, so I thought I’d issue a call for people to share their favorites here. I’ll compile a running bullet-point list below of the suggestions.

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OT Lesson 6 Study Notes: Moses 8:19-30; Genesis 6:5-22; 7:11-24; 8:1-22; 9:8-17; 11:1-9

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Moses 8 Verse 9: The Hebrew of Genesis 5:29 shows us that Noah’s name means “rest.” How does his father, Lamech, explain the name? Is Noah’s name significant to the story of the flood? Verses 19-21: Why don’t the people listen to Noah? What do the things they say about themselves tell us about them? (Compare verse 21 to verse 14.) Why does what they say focus on marriage and children? How is what they say a reply to Moses’ message of repentance? Do we see anything here about how they understand what it means to have dominion? Verse 22: Compare this verse to what God says of creation (e.g., Moses 2:10, 31). What has happened to creation? How has it happened? Verse 23-24: What does Noah promise the people of the earth if they will repent? How is the reception of the Holy Ghost a blessing? Verses 25-26: Why does the Lord decide to destroy the earth? In Genesis 6:6 the Lord says of human beings: “It repent me that I have made them.” The comparable verse of Moses (8:26) says “It repenteth Noah that I have created them.” What is the significance of that difference? Is it just a matter of Moses giving us a better version of the story, or is there a difference in what the two versions are telling us? Verse 27: What does it mean to be just? What does it mean that Noah…

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OT Lesson 5 Study Notes: Moses 5-7

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As always, remember that these are questions for studying the reading assigned more than for planning the lesson itself. Even then, you are certainly going to find more questions here than you can deal with in one study session, though not, perhaps, more than you can deal with in a week. However, that said, the lesson itself has turned out to be more than I could deal with in a week. I had most of the lesson revised by Sunday evening and thought I would be able to finish adding material for chapter 7 by Tuesday or Wednesday. I was wrong, so I’m posting the materials incomplete. Perhaps next time around. Chapter 5  Verses 1-2: How do these verses connect to the story we learned in Moses 4? Given what we studied in the last lesson, what is the point of the last sentence of verse 1? Does verse 2 suggest anything about how the Old Testament prophets understand knowledge? They aren’t squeamish about discussing things that we often would rather not talk about, so it is difficult to think that the use of the word “knew” is just a euphemism. But if it isn’t a euphemism, then how did Moses and other writers of the Old Testament understand what it means to know something? Does that have any implication for what we mean when we say things like “I know the Church is true?” Verse 16: Verses 2 and…

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Program

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Programs and lifestyle are the main repositories of culture in a community. Programs are optional. Lifestyles are not. The person who declines to participate in a program still gets to sit in the audience at the awards ceremony. The person who declines to participate in a lifestyle is excluded from the flow of community life.

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Church widget for Haiti

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Some earlier comments have asked what steps the church has taken to publicize Haiti relief. One promising sign is a new widget, suitable for blogs or other media like Facebook, giving readers a link to the LDS humanitarian services online portal. According to the widget, almost 25,000 people have donated so far. If your means allow, I’d encourage you to add to that number, or to donate through other channels.

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Space (How It Looks)

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Could we make zion building into a hobby? Like scrapbooking, except that it requires a little more money. And instead of gathering memories in a binder, you would gather loved ones in a community. Anyway, here are some visual examples of intentional communities that exist here in the United States and Canada.

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Church + Music = Fun

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Music is a wonderfully enriching part of church life, both in worship services themselves and in church culture generally. It’s a blessing in many, many ways—including ways that are light-hearted and fun. Forgive me, then, for sharing the following not-so-serious and rather random stories with a musical twist. (1) The ward where I grew up was blessed with a strong number of musically talented individuals, including organists, choristers, and singers. One of those in the chorister rotation was an older gentleman who was a retired professional musician. I’ll always be grateful to him for giving me one of my favorite church memories. Here’s the situation: the sacrament meeting went long, and the bishop announced that we would only sing one verse of the closing hymn. We sang the first verse of said hymn and everyone—bishopric, congregation, and organist—stopped and prepared for the closing prayer. Rather unfortunately, however, the chorister himself didn’t get the message. He loudly belted out the first word of the second verse entirely by himself. The split second it took for him to realize he was singing solo was probably one of the most awkward of my young life. He stopped singing with a horrified look on his face, that lonely note just hanging in the air. The poor man took his seat, crestfallen, as the congregation crackled with laughter. I would swear that even the bishop was chuckling during the closing prayer. (2) During a stake…

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Reviving the Hebraic

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Every four years we have a celebrated ritual during the second hour of church: it is the discussion by all members present on the topic of being uncomfortable studying the Old Testament. 

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Shape-Shifting Lizards — Could They Be in Your Ward?

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It’s been six years since we last warned our readers about the danger. Six years of danger, of vulnerability, of widespread ignorance. Six years for more innocent people to die — and to be replaced by the lizards. Yes, we have been remiss in our duties. But no longer. To quote noted herpetologist* Dan Peterson: For those who’ve wondered — and (let’s be truthful) who hasn’t? — whether the Church is actually controlled by demonic entities in the form of reptilian humanoids, or lizard men, you’ll find the evidence you’ve been seeking on this explosive Web site. Well, don’t just sit there — what more do you need? We encourage you to take action, read up on this threat, and to prepare for the lizard holocaust. Only then will your ward, your community, your family, be safe from the danger. Well, unless the lizards replace you, too. In which case they won’t. Cheers! — *Yes, herpetologist is a real word; no, it doesn’t mean that. (Really. It’s one of those words which is useful if you want to cast aspersions on someone’s character and then claim innocence.)

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