Lesson 22: Doctrine and Covenants 89 Notice that this is the first revelation given after the School of the Prophets was organized. Is there a connection between that organization and this revelation?
A Gender Correlation to Topical LDS Group-Blogging?
Group blogging can be done in one of two basic ways: Topical or ad hoc. Ad hoc group blogs allow members to post at any time on any subject. Today Nate posts on sugar beets, tomorrow Jim writes about Heidegger, and the next day Kaimi is whining about gender issues. Topical blogs, as the name implies, stick with particular topics for a set period of time. The members agree beforehand that they will all write about faith in week one, repentance in week two, and same-sex marriage in week three. There are two topical group blogs in the bloggernacle. Both are run by women.
Sunday School Lesson 21
Doctrine and Covenants 29:9-29; 34:5-12; 45:16-75; 88:86-89; 101:22-34; 133
An Ethical Question from the Laws of War
Are executions in the town square less moral than air bombing? Consider the following hypotheticals from the international law of war.
Temples: Service, Education, Ward, or Remembrance?
Recently I’ve made some effort to go to the temple more often. The goal is to go multiple times a month, either to an endowment or initiatories. Since I live about 7 minutes away, this is actually a do-able goal.
Learn to Dance with Napoleon Dynamite
Quick, there’s still time before the next youth dance! Check it out! Hat tip to Metafilter.
Why I have a testimony
In my Belgian environment, I’m an oddity. A university professor who is a Mormon. Colleagues and students whisper about it. They can’t place me in the normal spectrum of the centuries old allegiances to our society. They wonder: how can this scholar believe the rigmarole of that foreign cult?
New LDS E-Journal
See here for the announcement.
Correcting Our Priesthood Leaders
Should members feel entitled to correct their Priesthood leaders, based on their own understanding of higher authorities?
Catholics and Protestants
Mormons are often dismissive of some Protestants, especially evangelicals.
About Those “Other Sheep” …
In 3 Nephi 16:1-3, Jesus proclaims: And verily, verily, I say unto you that I have other sheep, which are not of this land, neither of the land of Jerusalem, neither in any parts of that land round about whither I have been to minister. For they of whom I speak are they who have not as yet heard my voice; neither have I at any time manifested myself unto them. But I have received a commandment of the Father that I shall go unto them, and that they shall hear my voice, and shall be numbered among my sheep, that there may be one fold and one shepherd; therefore I go to show myself unto them. Is there any passage of scripture that has led to more bizarre speculations than this? Who are those “other sheep”? And should we care?
Spinach
An update on the Oman garden is in order.
Flags, Idols and Envy of the SPQR
Of late, I have been reading about the Romans, a group of exceptionally creative — if frequently cruel — lawyers with a really good army. What is not to like? It has got me thinking a bit about patriotism.
Book Review: Fire in the Bones and Prelude to the Restoration
This review contains good news and bad news. I’ll start with the bad news: Fire in the Bones is pretty disappointing.
R.’s First Talk
I’m the primary pianist, and so I’ve seen R. nearly every Sunday over the past few years. She’s a bright and polite young woman who comes to church regularly with her mother. She just turned 12, and graduated from primary into young women’s. And like a typical 12-year-old, R. is just starting to turn into a young woman. The boys aren’t, that I can tell, paying her any attention yet, which is probably a source of mixed frustration and relief. Meanwhile, she’s a month or so into YW, and valiantly trying to make that awkward social adjustment. Last Sunday R. and her mother were giving talks in Sacrament meeting. Excellent, I thought — a good chance for her to start the public speaking that most LDS youth experience. She stepped up to the stand and announced that she had been asked to speak on . . . the law of chastity.
Sex Ed
For me one of the enduring frustrations and perplexities of parenting children in public schools is the need to monitor sex education curricula. If you think that schools don’t need monitoring, you aren’t paying attention.
Family Fun: Temples
This Sunday is the dedication of the San Antonio Temple. My husband and I will get to participate in the dedication from our stake center, but it’s going to be one loooong day for my boys, who struggle with the Sabbath even when four hours of it is eaten up with Church meetings. So I’ve come up with a lengthy list of things they can do, with the hope of keeping them from eating the curtains and, oh yes, making the Temple dedication meaningful for them. I thought I’d go ahead and post the list for anyone looking for FHE or other ideas.
Stay-in-School Mothers
Recently a T&S reader emailed me asking for my advice on the graduate school questions: is graduate education a worthwhile option for a young woman who intends to have children? I wrote back to her (rather astonishing myself at how much I found to say), and I’ve posted here my reply.
Mormons and Markets, II: Information and the Failure of the United Order
Throughout the 19th century, Mormons tried various different communal economic arrangements that basically didn’t work.
On Pentecost, Without Fear
Today is Whitsunday, the Day of Pentecost, commemorating the day when the apostles “were all filled with the Holy Ghost,” as Jesus had promised they would be. I’ve written about Whitsunday before, about how I’ve never, to my knowledge, experienced any comparable spiritual manifestation or revelation, and also about those small gifts of belief that I yet hope are mine nonetheless. This year (coincidentally?), I find myself thinking about many related matters–about how much I yearn for some sort of clear answer or witness or sign or confirmation regarding what my family and I should do about this major decision which stands before us, and about what it would mean to not–perhaps to never–receive one. We’ve collected every bit of data we can; we’ve pestered friends and family and colleagues for advice and insight; we’ve prayed and fasted. And yet there it remains: a choice between paths which are both characterized by far more unknowns than knowns. If a choice is to be made, it will have to made without guidance from above. Well, we’ve made our decision: a change of job, a change of location, and perhaps, depending on how the next year works out, a change of our life direction entirely. It’s a big and frightening decision, and I continue to wonder if it is the right one. At the same time though, I find that I am without fear.
Book Review: David O. McKay: Beloved Prophet
I have mixed feelings about the very presence of Woodger’s David O. McKay: Beloved Prophet. On the one hand, as someone who wants to read biographies of all of the prophets of this dispensation, I’m always happy to see a new addition to the fold. While there are other biographies of President McKay, the pickings are pretty slim–and expensive (but see post below).
Book Review: David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism
Yes, I’m reviewing two books on David O. McKay. My original intention was to review them together (and explore the larger issue of writing faith-promoting as opposed to warts-and-all history), but I decided that wouldn’t be fair. It didn’t seem fair because David O. McKay: Beloved Prophet is a credible entry in the well-established subgenre of LDS biography. It does exactly what it is supposed to do. But David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism is a category killer.
Freakonomics
The pressure to give this book rave reviews is enormous. Everyone seems to love it (the Freakonomics website will lead you to plenty of positive reviews), and Steven Levitt is an undeniably brilliant economist — my hat’s off to anyone who wins the John Bates Clark Medal. But this is not a brilliant book. And not just because the title is stupid.
Saint Judas
Saint Judas by James Wright When I went out to kill myself, I caught A pack of hoodlums beating up a man. Running to spare his suffering, I forgot My name, my number, how my day began. How soldiers milled around the garden stone And sang amusing songs; how all that day Their javelins measured crowds; how I alone Bargained the proper coins, and slipped away.