In Hell, there will be 9 a.m. Sacrament meeting.
Month: January 2006
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…
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
Snarker Unmasked?
With some help from a Random John, I have definitively pinpointed the Bloggernacle Snarker’s IP address. It is:
Notice: Joseph Smith at the Library of Congress
JMS Sunday School Lesson #3
God’s Foreknowledge or Lack Thereof
Foreknowledge vs. free will
Is it “just blogging”?
Is it “just blogging”?
A Modest Grand Narrative About the History of Hometeaching
I think that it is fairly well established that Mormonism has deep roots in the religious history of Puritan New England. Of course, how one parses out the relationship between Mormonism and Puritanism is complicated, but I don’t think that there is much argument as to the fact of a relationship.
Guest blogger: Geoff Johnston
We’re pleased to announce that Geoff will be guest blogging.
It is a truth universally acknowledged…
The setting: An experiment using speed-dates to determine what people want in a first date. These are brief, four minute interactions, after which you write down whether or not you’d be willing to go on a date with that person. The subjects: Columbia University grad students The results:
114
We sang one of my favorite hymns in church last Sunday, a hymn that describes a beautiful and intimate way to feel and know God.
“We did adequately apply oil to all the seats”
The confirmation hearings for Judge Samuel Alito begin today.
JEF: Sunday School Lesson 3
Lesson 3: Moses 1:27-42, Moses 2-3
NFP part 3- Interest and use
Natural family planning (NFP) Part 3- Interest and use
NFP part 2- Summary of methods and effectiveness
Natural family planning (NFP) Part 2- Summary of NFP methods and effectiveness
Natural family planning part 1- Medical overview
NFP is not a single method. Rather, it is a group of different “methods for planning and preventing pregnancies by observation of the naturally occurring signs and symptoms of the fertile and infertile phases of the menstrual cycle, with the avoidance of intercourse during the fertile phase if pregnancy is to be avoided.” (World Health Organization, 1982)
An Interview with Todd Compton
Independent scholar Todd Compton is the author of the much acclaimed volume In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith (hereafter, ISL) and three forthcoming books: Victim of The Muses: Poet as Scapegoat, Warrior and Hero in Greco-Roman and Indo-European Myth and History (Harvard University Press), Fire and the Sword: A History Of The Latter-Day Saints In Northern Missouri From 1836 To 1839 (Greg Kofford Books), and Cyril of Jerusalem: Initiatory Lectures (translation and commentary, FARMS).
On the Uses of the Doctrine of Apostasy
The doctrine of apostasy has come on hard times.
Praying in another language
“How does one pray in French?” one of my BYU students, visiting in my office, asked. The question took me by surprise.
12 Questions for Julian Bell
We have the opportunity to ask questions of Julian Bell, a member of the Church in England.
What’s in a name?
I am not Gordon Smith. My name is Doug. My father is Gordon. This is the story of why I am using his name.
Two Missionaries Shot in Virginia
Last night, two Mormon missionaries were shot in Virginia. Morgan Winslow Young of Bountiful, Utah and Joshua Heidbrink of Greeley, Colorado were shot, and Elder Young died.
The planets which move in their regular form
Do all things denote there is a God? Do the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form, witness that there is a Supreme Creator? Or is the argument for Intelligent Design bunk?
JMS Sunday School Lesson #2
JEF Sunday School Lesson #2
Lesson 2: Abraham 3; Moses 4:1-4
Tax control
The letter we received from the Tax Control Department was preprinted. Handwritten had been added a date, a number and the addressee: Kerk van Jezus Christus van de Heiligen der Laatste Dagen.
Book of the Mormons
OK, you finished it, or got close. Maybe you were done months ago, maybe you read 100 pages in the last day.*