The Grumpy Mormon – Thoughts and perspective on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other stuff.

Theophany Miscellany

In his closing remarks for the October 2019 general conference, church President Nelson suggested that we prepare for the spring session “by reading afresh Joseph Smith’s account of the First Vision as recorded in the Pearl of Great Price.” This is the best known account of the experience of the young Joseph and one that we should all be familiar with. There are also several other accounts that are similarly valuable.

Grow UP (and Down)!

You’re not as mentally grown up as you might think. In fact, you might be under the influence of developmental gravity and you don’t know it.

From the Audience: “Yep. It all started in third grade when I tried to jump out of the swing …”

Binding and Blinding

It is not uncommon to hear someone say: “All religions teach good principles.” Our response may be an outwardly, yet reserved, nod. But, internally we may be saying: “Yeah, but they don’t have all the truth like we do.” Or, silently append the platitude with “… but, they won’t be saved.”

Distinguishing Doctrine and Practice

It is my experience, both personal and observed, that we can create our own faith crisis by putting our faith in the wrong things. Some things must be unchanging, true, and good. Other may not be. Our faith is constructed from childhood with simplistic stories, but that which we can understand as a child is often much different than reality.

Faith Crossing – Part Two

In part one I describe a tension between the church and those in faith crisis and post-deconstruction stages. Assuming that we want to retain these people, the question is:

How can the church, as an institution, help people through a faith crisis or reconstruction?

I have a few ideas.

Faith Crossing – Part One

In several previous posts (Stages of Faith Part 1, 2, 3, 4), I discuss faith stages and ask how the church can meet the needs of those in different stages of their individual journey. However, we may actually need to address a different question first:

God on a Leash

“If you do what God wants, you will receive a reward. In fact, God wants to give you stuff.” This is known as prosperity gospel or prosperity theology and there is a uniquely Mormon flavor of it.

Wrong Question

We are still behaving as though “Which church is true?” is the question most people are asking.
But it no longer speaks to the questions young adults (in this culture, at least) are actually asking.

Seems Like Revelation

This is a topic that I have wanted to address for a long time. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we often speak of inspiration, revelation, or feeling. Of these, “revelation” carries the most weight. But, there are often unintended consequences.

Weeping Souls

As a child I remember listening to a particular sermon about the evils of depression, a tool of Satan, evil ingratitude. I don’t know why it struck me so strongly, maybe because I recognized a dark sadness within myself that convicted me.