A close friend, Paul, and I have known each other since grade school. Even though we lived in separate communities, we managed to spend much of our summers together Continue reading “The Fish and the Forester”
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”
The Sacrament of the Blind Boy
In 1985, Krister Stendahl (1921-2008), a Swedish theologian and New Testament scholar, proposed what has become know as Stendahl’s three rules of religious understanding. These are:
- When you are trying to understand another religion, you should ask the adherents of that religion and not its enemies.
- Don’t compare your best to their worst.
- Leave room for “holy envy.”
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.
Stages of Faith – Part Three – Falling Upward
Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life
Falling Upward by Richard Rohr is a great complement to Kathy Escobar’s Faith Shift.
Rohr’s book is a meandering description of one’s (potential) journey of faith and is rich with hidden gems. Continue reading “Stages of Faith – Part Three – Falling Upward”
Stages of Faith – Part Two – Faith Shift
Faith Shift Overview
I finished reading Faith Shift by Kathy Escobar and have been struggling about how to present the book and the material.
Kathy Escobar was a dedicated Evangelical Christian that had a desire to serve in a greater capacity than her church allowed for women. She eventually received a counseling degree and involved herself in a large, nondenominational church. She soon realized that what was going on behind the scenes was nothing like the façade presented to the congregation; it was all for show.
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”
Catholic and Mormon
A few years ago I mentioned to one of my sons that if I were not Mormon I think that I would have to be Catholic. This was a bit of a shock to him at the time, but he is getting used to my “shocks” and they don’t trouble him anymore.
The principle reasons for making this statement are that only two churches, in my mind, have a claim to legitimate authority Continue reading “Catholic and Mormon”
The Mormon Cross
I recently finished reading Banishing the Cross: The Emergence of a Mormon Taboo, written by Michael G. Reed. The book traces the use of the cross as a symbol of Mormon Christian tradition from the time of the founding of the church (1830’s) to the late 20th century. Continue reading “The Mormon Cross”