Sir Poach-a-Lot: Is belief objective, or subjective?
What I Did Today
1. Four loads of laundry.
Little street vendor
She is a little street vendor who put up shop next to the entrance of the church with the long name.
Praising the man
“No, we don’t worship Joseph Smith,” I explained to the investigator. “We respect him as a prophet.” “You mean, like Mohamed?” he asked. “No, more like Moses, or John the Baptist.”
Brigham ‘n’ Ethel 4Ever
A woman — or, perhaps, a group of men and/or women — bent on a practical joke and signing her letter as “Ethel,” once wrote to Brigham Young from St. Louis to propose marriage.
Homework from Richard Bushman
This summer I had the chance to participate in a workshop at BYU put together by Richard Bushman. Bushman wanted to gather together Mormon academics working outside of Utah to discuss the question of how we explain Mormonism. My own sense is that when we explain our beliefs — even to one another — we often fall into the trap of repeating verbal formulations rather than actually thinking through and describing what it is about the Restoration that really drives our commitment.
A Homosexual Duty to Marry?
I know that this is controversial for some readers, but for purposes of this discussion stipulate that same-sex marriage in wrong. As an institutional shift it will damage the institution of marriage in ways that will harm society in the long run. Obviously, this is a hugely controversial claim, but for the time being just accept it. Notwithstanding this, however, a number of jurisdictions have adopted same-sex marriage statutes. Let’s also stipulate the homosexual conduct is sinful, a belief held by most Mormons and one that certainly seems to be church doctrine. Should Mormons who hold all of these beliefs, nevertheless believe that homosexuals engaged in sexual conduct have an obligation to get (same-sex) marriages?
“The most difficult of all the many subjects”
That is what B.H. Roberts called it when he reached the point in his monumental Comprehensive History of the Church where he had to confront the Mountain Meadows massacre, which occurred 150 years ago today.
Only in the Mormon Church
When we first moved to our current ward, for an initial stay of only a year, I was asked to serve as a counselor in the elders quorum presidency before I had attended a single sacrament meeting here. A year ago, we returned to the same ward, and yesterday we discovered that that previous elders quorum president and my wife are eighth cousins. And all this time we had assumed we were the exceptions in a ward and stake where everyone seems to be related to each other.
Dialogue Flood Article
I have a vague recollection of President Benson telling a story about how (not) to do missionary work: he compared it to trying to convince a young girl to replace the doll she had with the doll you were offering her. He pointed out that ripping the head off of her doll to reveal its inferior contents may not be the most successful approach; you would be far better off in extolling the virtues of the doll you wanted her to play with. Good advice. I wish White and Thomas had followed it in their recent Dialogue article.
A French View of Mormonism, 1941
I’ve referred a time or two to one of my heroes, Leon Fargier, the only Melchisedek Priesthood holder in France during World War II.
A modest proposal
In order to prevent inadvertent exposure of nursing mothers’ breasts during church meetings to the bishopric, or to the deacons passing the sacrament — and the related possibility of those men having bad thoughts — scarves or blankets should definitely be used to conceal the nursing from male eyes. Thus, effective immediately, all deacons and bishopric members will wear scarves or blankets over their heads.
Technology and Religion
Get Religion has posted a review of an interesting Wall Street Journal article examining how cell phones are affecting Hutterite culture. The GR post uses that example to touch on the larger issue of religion and technology, which is one of those rare topics that hasn’t been kicked around the Bloggernacle much. Christian radio, televangelism, and online churches come to mind for American religion in general. How has technology impacted the LDS Church?
Of (pea!)nuts, nipples, and freedom: Imposing individual needs on the community
Kage (err, KAGE) over at Tales posted recently about nut-free schools. She strongly supports the idea, given the possibility of an allergic reaction in vulnerable kids. Commenters have been even more adamant
Bushman to Claremont
Claremont Graduate University has announced: Professor Richard Bushman has been appointed as the Howard W. Hunter Visiting Professor in Mormon Studies.
Of Perfect Organizations
“No other organization is so perfect as the Mormon Church, except the German army.â€
Lines, Circles, and Time
Let’s think about lines, circles, and time.
The Number One Qualification
There are all sorts of characteristics one wants in a Bishop. Ideally he’d be kind, honest, obedient, a good people person, in-tune spiritually, good at administration and delegation, care deeply about the youth, doctrinally aware, and so on. But all of these pale in comparison to what I consider to be by far the leading qualification for Bishop.
I don’t even know if Maria is her real name!
My neighborhood erupted a little while ago. The issue was immigration. I found out about the eruption when I was doing my visiting teaching. I won’t go into the details of the neighborhood fight, just a few lines I heard as I prepared to do a typical visit. “Maria is illegal, you know. She has her sister’s social security number. I don’t even know if Maria is her real name.â€
Dialogue about gay marriage
This month’s Dialogue prominently features a discussion of gay marriage. Surprise number one: The lead article, by Randolph Mulhestein, is one of the best articles against gay marriage that I’ve read.
Cosmos: a personal view
In 1980, when I was nine, for thirteen weeks running, I watched Cosmos on Sunday nights with my father.
Generations
The tireless Kevin Barney is hosting a discussion of LDS apologetics for teenagers over at BCC, trying to get a handle on the tone, approach, and content of a fireside-type presentation to LDS youth on that topic. Reflecting on this, it occurred to me that one of the challenges is how the topics that get thrown at Mormons (and that therefore get discussed by LDS apologists) change from generation to generation and how this might be a problem.
Last Blast of Summer Reading
Hard to believe it’s the end of summer, especially with temps around here expected to top 100 again.
Resolution No. 1
It is the sense of Times and Seasons that the bowl system for college football makes no sense and that there ought to be a proper tournament of some sort.