Faith

How much detail is appropriate in a confession?  When does a leader go from being helpful to being pruriently interested in the lurid details of a confessor’s love life?  Where do you draw the line? Discuss.

Who determines worthiness in the temple recommend interview?  The bishop?  The individual?  The questions? Other methods of discernment?  Can the bishop rightly withhold a temple recommend based on nothing more than a hunch or the Spirit even if probing reveals no wrong answers? I recently read a blog post written by a group of ex-Mormon [...]

Recently one of my online friends requested that I write about healing stories within the Mormon faith. My first thought was to share the traditional stories those of us who have been around the Mormon Church for awhile have all heard.  I’m sure there are many bloggers out there who are well more versed on [...]

I was exposed to this idea on a couple different occasions:  disaffected or disbelieving members share their experiences that led to their de-conversion in a group setting.  It made me really uncomfortable, essentially for the same reasons that Testimony Meetings make me uncomfortable. Here are a few hallmarks of both testimony and untestimony bearing: Pressure [...]

I have always been fascinated by the selection of the Pope by the Roman Catholic Church. And certainly over the last two weeks, it has been interesting to watch and listen as clergy and lay persons in the media have been speculating about how the selection would be made. In spite of our religious differences, [...]

A recent news story tells of a YW leader who was released from her calling for breastfeeding her baby in a room full of young women.  She has also been threatened with the loss of her temple recommend if she doesn’t leave meetings to feed her baby.  Scott Trotter, LDS media spokesperson, was caught off [...]

In a futile attempt to answer President Packer, this post will address the feeling of the Spirit via psychology and affective neuroscience.

I recently had a visitor in my Sunday School class, a young Beehive who currently lives in Bali, Indonesia.  I know from personal experience that there is no LDS branch in Bali.  This girl said that her family just attends another Christian church that is in their neighborhood.  This reminded me of when I was growing [...]

We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, repentance; third, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Articles of Faith 1:4) Another of the unique doctrines of the Church of [...]

Today’s post is by new perma and longtime commenter, Hedgehog.  On 10 January, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf addressed young single adults at the firstCES devotional of the year.  The title of his address is ‘What is truth?’.  This has also been addressed by David Taymon who was rather quick off the mark. Truth, as a topic, [...]

To many, “do you believe in the gospel?” means “do you cognitively accept this set of propositions to be a map of reality?”

We recently had a discussion about this on another thread. LDS Anarchist said:  “Now, we know that there is a law given in heaven and that He is the one who gave it. And we know that His law is based upon agency, not coercion. So, we have a law (created by God) based on [...]

Welcome back to class! How might Mormonism be viewed through Fowler’s descriptions of poly-, heno-, and monotheism. Or, why we’re probably all idolatrous.

Daniel faced a serious problem.  Darius the king had been tricked by his princes into outlawing prayer.  But Daniel felt beholden to pray to his God.  The society in which he lived restricted his personal freedoms more than his religious society did.  In fact, his religious community went underground due to the persecutions and restrictions of the [...]

For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward. Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own [...]

Dawkins: delusion. Freud: illusion. James: intuition. Jung: incontrovertible experience of an intensely personal, reciprocal relationship with an extramundane authority.

Quite some time ago I read Kevin Barney’s excellent article he wrote for Dialogue:  “How to Worship Our Mother in Heaven Without Getting Excommunicated.”  One of his references was a book by archaeologist, William Dever, called “Did God Have a Wife?: Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel” which I just finished reading.  The gist of the [...]

All Enlisted is at it again!  The latest movement is to petition church leadership to have females give prayers in General Conference.  After the pantstastic success of the Wear Pants to Church Sunday, they are motivated to tackle this next.  The church’s official response? “Decisions on speakers and prayers at General Conference were made several [...]

Today’s guest post is by Hedgehog.  How do you feel about obedience?  Not so long ago ago this post by Stephen resulted in a brief discussion about obedience.  “Obedience is the first law of Heaven” is a phrase I have heard most of my life, it comes up fairly frequently in lessons about the subject [...]

Are you truly honest in all your dealings?  What does that mean anyway? Discuss.