Continue reading “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.
Category: Mormon Topics
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.
Continue reading “Seems Like Revelation”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.
Continue reading “Weeping Souls”The New Mormons – Part Two
In the spirit of the ever-popular Top Ten List of ________, I will start with some brief statements describing the results of the New Mormon Survey. You can then decide if you want to read more.
Continue reading “The New Mormons – Part Two”The New Mormons – Part One
This is a preamble to part two, an article on “The Next Mormons” by Jana Reiss.
The essentials of the Good News are that Christ was born into mortality, lived an exemplary life, and liberated all nature through His atonement, death, and resurrection. The Christian church, speaking generally, takes the Gospel message and asks the corporate question: Okay, now what?
Continue reading “The New Mormons – Part One”Saints, Vol 1 – A Hidden Message
I just finished the first volume of a new history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints called Saints. In many ways it is remarkable.
Continue reading “Saints, Vol 1 – A Hidden Message”Hi-ho, Home Teaching is Dead
To me home teaching has always been a classic example of tension between the ideal and practical. Continue reading “Hi-ho, Home Teaching is Dead”
Humanitarian Missions
Is There Better Missionary Service?
A week ago our family watched a movie called “The Letters.” It is a fascinating story of the work and life of Mother Teresa. It describes the challenges she faced in her desire to serve the poorest of the poor while simultaneously struggling with a personal spiritual insensitivity. Continue reading “Humanitarian Missions”
First Vision Accounts
Yes, I finished another book, Joseph Smith’s First Vision – A Guide to the Historical Accounts By Steven C. Harper.
It is a rather short book that I read in preparation for a Doctrine and Donuts discussion on first vision accounts.
A St. John’s Christmas
Wow, in looking over my last posts, it looks like I am jumping ship on Mormonism and joining the Catholic church. That is not the case, but why spoil a good pattern.
Christmas (non-)Traditions
The Mormon church is very efficient. Most new congregational buildings are uniform and optimized. Leadership practices are codified in handbooks. And, worship services are plain and simple. Continue reading “A St. John’s Christmas”