Profile: I could look up the exact "generation" of Mormon I am, but it's enough that I have ancestors born in Winter Quarters in 1846/1847. I've been an active member of the LDS Church all my life, serving a mission, marrying in the temple, etc. After majoring in Electrical Engineering, I went to medical school and am now a practicing physician. I have a wide interest in topics including science, world religions (especially Islam and Buddhism), language/writing, music, computer programming, travel, languages, history, etc. I have an amazingly talented and beautiful wife who tolerates my randomness and writing, and 4 wonderful kids. Wheat & Tares is the first place I've really written for online and I appreciate the invitation.
What is the Word of Wisdom? From Mormon.org, we read that “our bodies are precious gifts from God. We believe He has given us guidance about how best to take care of them. He revealed a law of health, called the Word of Wisdom, to Joseph Smith in 1833. The Word of Wisdom prohibits the [...]
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about some aspects of the new Mormonism 101: FAQ that were confusing. These seemed confusing in the sense that they seemed to change things that I thought were taught as doctrine in the church as I was growing up. While I pointed out some things I didn’t like [...]
14,433,880. That is my prediction for the number of members that will be announced in General Conference next week for year-end 2011. In case you missed last year, I made similar predictions then had a follow-up analyzing how close the estimates were in a post entitled Good vs Great: Iomega and General Conference Statistics. I [...]
Given the increased media interest in the Church over the past year, the Mormon Newsroom recently published a document entitled “Mormonism 101: FAQ” . Overall, the document does a good job of clearing up some misconceptions about the Church, and it is very well written, but I do have an issue with some of the [...]
Today’s post is a list of ten things I like about my ward. The impetus is a comment by Mormon Heretic to my post last week where he said, “It seems like many of the items in here are a bit like scab-picking to me, and seems to have a negative focus. I mean I [...]
There has been a lot of discussion recently about some comments made by Professor Bott at BYU. For me, seeing the discussions on race has been interesting, but I’d already resolved the issue for myself, much like Andrew S talked about in his recent post. To me, it was basically just institutionalism of the racism [...]
The impetus for this post is a recent report that a mission president in Oregon has told the missionaries in his mission that an investigator using medical marijuana cannot be baptized unless they first stop. From the outset, let’s be clear about what we are talking about. This is medical marijuana for which someone has [...]
There have been many “types” of Mormons discussed online and in other places. Sometimes these “types” have to do with one’s “faithfulness”. Other times they may have to do with someone’s level of participation on Sundays. Perhaps it is based on whether someone is primarily “spirit of the law” or “letter of the law”. Today, [...]
In my post last week on what we should do if we truly wanted to spread the gospel more effectively, there was some discussion in the comments on being spiritual vs being religious. Is one possible without the other? Is one “better” than the other? Is there a difference between the two? And, if so, [...]
While there is a decline in numbers in some denominations, one religion has been experiencing great success in the United States. It grew approximately 170% in one decade (1990-2001). It has grown nearly 10-fold in the past few decades. Is this religion that is “rolling forth like a stone” the LDS Church? Nope. It’s Buddhism. [...]
This past weekend was General Conference. Among other things, there were two topics that stood out for me. One was President Ucthdorf’s talk in the priesthood session on serving others. The transcript should be available soon on lds.org, but it was about the importance of true service. Paraphrasing, he said it didn’t matter how well [...]
Several recent studies suggest that there is a good chance that Homo sapiens (us) mated with Neanderthals in the past? Did Adam have Neanderthal DNA? Do we? What does this mean? The next few posts in this series will discuss evolution, different species, time lines, etc. In order to understand this better, this is a [...]
This past Sunday was the 10th anniversary of the events of 9/11. It was an emotional time for many people around the country. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir had a wonderful broadcast of “Music and the Spoken Word” with Tom Brokaw that morning. Various sporting games and other events had touching memorials throughout the day. It [...]
ADDITION (10/25/2011): This post was written when I actually did retire the “If I Were In Charge” Series. Like that of many sports figures,the “retirement” didn’t last long. The series is now alive. For an ongoing list of posts in the series, please see the Overview & Topical Guide. For a list of my other [...]
Being willing to give away what we have is essential. Christ told us that we need to be willing to impart of our possessions and to have charity towards others. Zakat (almsgiving) is one of the fundamental Five Pillars of Islam. Dana (generosity or giving) in Buddhism is essential to purify oneself and is one [...]
I know it seems a bit odd to explain the purpose of a series after the series has already started, but there has been some confusion and I think I perhaps haven’t explained my goal with enough detail. I’ve described various bits and pieces in the different posts, but here it is all together. At [...]
Lately, there has been a lot of use of the slogan “I’m A Mormon”. Yesterday, ABC did a news story about the “very savvy branding campaign” the Church just started in NYC with the “I’m A Mormon” campaign. In the ever-growing presidential campaign coverage, we hear about Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman and what Mormonism [...]
We belong to a rich church. Exact numbers are hard to come by, but the assets are likely worth tens of billions US$. While there are obviously a lot of assets in things like temples, BYU campuses, institute buildings, Church headquarters and buildings, chapels and other land, there are also a lot for “for-profit” assets. [...]
“Brothers and Sisters. I’d like to bear my testimony. I don’t know this Church is true…” Have you ever heard a testimony like this? And what would you think if someone got up next Fast Sunday and started their testimony like that? Before getting into what a testimony like this might really be saying, I [...]
In my field of medicine, I often see people in various states of undress depending on why they are there. I may see someone’s leg or shoulder or arm or back. And a lot of people have tattoos (even here in Utah). Over the years, I’ve come to truly appreciate tattoos. I almost always ask [...]
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