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“It is a contradiction in terms and ideas, to call anything a revelation that comes to us at second-hand, either verbally or in writing. Revelation is necessarily limited to the first communication”
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- But what have you done?Stephen
- The Statistics of Gun ControlMormon Heretic
- Jeffersonian ReligionMormon Heretic
- Choose Higher GroundBonnie
- Taxes, Spending, and CornMormon Heretic
- Brad Wilcox, ContinuousBonnie
- Hold Your PeaceBonnie
- Homosexuality, Feminism, and the IntelligentsiaBonnie
- Family is the Plan of SalvationBonnie
- Sex as a SacramentBonnie
About: Jake
Website: http://jakespainfullynormalworld.blogspot.com
Profile: Spent his childhood eating books. As a teenager he fell in love with Indie music, tweed, and the smell of old books. Currently a PhD student in the history of philosophy and ideas at the university of Warwick he now likes to explore, play the guitar, and watch films. After stumbling into a philosophical dark hole one day he discovered the bloggernacle as a pillar of light to guide him out, for which he is ever thankful. He now resides on the borders of Plato's cave.
Posts by Jake:
Author Archive
The Devil Made Me Do It: Personal Responsibility and Satanic Inspiration
September 13, 2012
I always find it remarkable from sacrament how comfortable we are to ascribe diabolic motives and influence to the actions of others. Perhaps this is because there is a cosmic war between the devils and angels being waged in the air around us to which we are oblivious. If we are being deceived and are [...]
Can You Be Truly Happy Outside the Church?
September 6, 2012
This weeks Sunday School lesson was meant to start with a description of how Satan markets misery to people. As the manual says: “answers may include that he could make misery look appealing or that he could trick people into thinking that his product will bring happiness instead of misery.” Later in the lesson it [...]
Are My Preconceived Notions Blinding Me?
August 23, 2012
It is not often that I am prone to blog about scriptures and how they can inspire us. I generally find blogs that are a form of scriptural exegesis rather dull. If I want insipid spiritual thoughts full of sentimentality and devoid of substance I have the Ensign for that, or if I want to [...]
How Inclusive Is the Church towards Disabled People?
August 16, 2012
If you don’t walk like most people do, will members really walk and talk with you?
Social Roles and The Theatre of Mormonism
August 9, 2012
Our lives are governed by social roles. From the the minute we first speak we are indoctrinated in a set of social scripts that determine the way we behave and act in certain situations. Social roles are the set of expectations which are imposed upon us that we expected to play and conform to. As [...]
The Cost of Being a Mormon
June 27, 2012
Being a mormon comes at a cost. As Joseph Smith taught true religion requires sacrifice and implicit in the concept of sacrifice is a personal cost. Those who leave the church talk about the cost of leaving the church, in terms of losing friends, family and emotional upheaval. Others have pointed out to some of [...]
Young Single Adults Are Not Half-Humans
April 28, 2012
The church does not have a solid reputation of treating all people equally. Some unequal treatment is based on behavior (e.g. the heathen drinkers of alcohol), other distinctions are made for tribal reasons (e.g. other religions or unfamiliar backgrounds), and there are distinctions made for who people are inherently (e.g. one’s sex or sexual orientation). [...]
Who on Earth knows what the ‘Strengthening Church Members Committee’ is or does?
March 29, 2012
On Tuesday the BBC did a documentary called The Mormon Candidate. The aftermath resulted in every one of my member friends shouting (virtually, of course) that we should all complain about the programme’s misrepresentation of the church. By Common Consent even published an open letter to the BBC about the decontextualisation of the facts in [...]
Juana Ines De la Cruz: Nun, Feminist, and Intellectual Freedom Fighter
March 22, 2012
I may be a historian, and I may align with feminist thinking, but I am not a feminist historian. Feminist history usually involves digging up forgotten people (women) from the past, and then holding them up to show how they were oppressed, subjected by male patriachy, or silenced. In some cases it is important to [...]
Cognitive Dissonance, Self-deception and delusions
March 15, 2012
Anyone who has listened to the Mormon Stories podcasts, or spent any time around New Order Mormons, or any Ex-mormon site should be familiar (they are used often enough) with the terms cognitive dissonance, deception and delusions. It seems as if they have a particular traction amongst these groups. Personally I think they are over [...]
Thou Art a Whore
March 1, 2012
My 15 year old sister always gets told off by my mother when she prays. The reason for this is that instead of saying “Thee,” “Thou,” or “Thy” (referred to as TTT from now on) she uses “you” and “your.” My mother likes to quote these words of Spencer W. Kimball: “In all our prayers, it is well [...]
Substituting Religion for Sentimentality
February 23, 2012
A recent trend in sociology claims that there is a rise in sentimentalism, that increasingly we are substituting sentimentality for real emotion. Both religion and sentimentality end up failing to be what they seem upon closer inspection. It has been argued that if Christianity were inspected by the Trades Descriptions Act it would be found guilty of false [...]
Learning to See Beauty
February 16, 2012
The philosopher Goethe once said that we should every day see something beautiful when he said that: “Every day look at a beautiful picture, read a beautiful poem, listen to some beautiful music, and if possible, say some reasonable thing.” This year I have taken up that challenge and I am attempting every day to [...]
Oh, Ye, of Too Much Faith! (part 2 of 2)
February 9, 2012
Last week I talked about the results of John Dehlin’s recent survey that showed that a leading cause of people leaving Mormonism has become the ready access to church history information on the internet. Today I’d like to continue to evaluate the survey information. Oh Ye of Too Much Faith It seems that often those [...]
Does Studying Church History Lead to Apostasy? (Part 1 of 2)
February 2, 2012
Recent articles in the media have pointed to the study of church history as being key to the loss of faith. What role does it actually play?
What if God was your next door neighbour?
January 25, 2012
We often speak of God as a distant abstract entity, a being who dwells on a planet next to Kolob. At the same time we talk of a being who is intimately involved in our lives and helps us find our lost car keys. This dual process of distancing and bringing Him close in many [...]
Age of Accountability
January 12, 2012
The famous proverb states that if you ‘Train a child in the way of the Lord when he is old he shall not depart from his ways.’ If this proverb is right and childhood education has such a deterministic role in a persons life, then the education of that child should be considered carefully, lest [...]
Nazis and Mormons
January 5, 2012
“A number of interesting parallels can be seen between the church and some of the ideas and policies of the National Socialists [Nazis].” Deseret News, 1933