Freedom

I recently took an online test to determine if I am a helicopter parent.  Ironically, it was a helicopter quiz!  After every question, it gave me immediate, condescending feedback about whether my opinion was right or wrong.  And with several of the questions, I didn’t like ANY of the options; they were all too helicopter-y [...]

How much is too much?  How much is not enough?  How often do you go to the temple?  Do you think you should go more often?  Why or why not? Discuss.

Last week, Stephen Marsh at Wheat and Tares posted about how arguments about Guns and Gays are similar.  Steve specifically said “people post disputed statistics for the harm caused by the parties they wish to regulate or deny. In both cases, those opposing regulation point to contrary statistics showing how good either guns or gay [...]

We’ve been cleaning the chapels in most areas (except where it is not feasible) for many years now, although most of us remember a day when the church employed professional janitors to keep the building sparkling.  With so many people out of work, should the church change back to professional help? Discuss.

I just watched a documentary called Jefferson’s Secret Bible.  (You can download it for free on iTunes or watch it at the Smithsonian website.)  The documentary discusses the restoration and some of the theology behind Thomas Jefferson’s rewriting on the Bible.  In his day, Jefferson was called an atheist by his detractors; he wasn’t really [...]

1 Sam 8:18-22 18  And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day. 19  ¶Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; [...]

Feminism makes some men very nervous.  They are afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing and being labelled a sexist.  They may feel like outsiders, unclear of their own standing as these conversations unfold.  Men and women alike may not be sure what feminism entails, but it can seem like a daunting list, one [...]

In the 1980s, a talk counseled members not to attend R-rated movies.  Of course, they didn’t say anything about M16 or M18.  They didn’t mention M15 either.  Did this counsel affect your movie-going practices? Which R-rated movies do you consider “must see” if any?  What movies did you hate?  Which did you love? Discuss.

Mormons are often accused of having simple answers to life’s questions, answers that don’t hold up to scrutiny or that don’t fit all scenarios.  ”Correlation does not imply causation” (cum hoc non propter hoc, Latin meaning “with this, not because of this”) is a phrase used in statistical analysis to emphasize that correlation between two [...]

When I was 15, I had a crush on a boy named Brian from the other ward that shared our building.  His sister told me liked me, and he asked me to meet him (along with a bunch of kids from the other ward) at Rick’s Place, a dance club in nearby Lancaster.  Before I [...]

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 [...]

Last March, Jake wrote a post discussing the Strengthening Church Members Committee (SCMC), following the BBC documentary The Mormon Candidate.  The BBC programme was my first introduction to the existence of such a committee in the LDS church.  I don’t want to go over old ground with this post however, but rather widen the discussion. [...]

Have you ever received a call to buy insurance from someone who could only have gotten your information from the ward directory?  Been asked on a date by someone you don’t really know personally but have seen at church? Members are asked to use the ward directory only on ward business.  How have you used [...]

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, [...]

I recently read an article in The Nation called “I’m Not Mother First.”  I also just finished reading Betty Friedan’s well-known tome, The Feminine Mystique, a book that turns 50 years old this year.  As I read the Feminine Mystique, there were several times when the cultural observations seemed anachronistic to me.  I have sometimes [...]

About 3 ½ years ago, I wrote a post for Mormon Matters entitled “Prooftexting for Fun and Prophet.” As explained, prooftexting is using quotations from a document to establish a point or prove something whether or not that quotation is in context or not. While its use is pretty universally applied in many areas of [...]

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 [...]

Mystery guest number 1 was never a practicing Catholic. Mystery guest number 2 never believed in Temple rites. Now, there’s a good conspiracy theory. Sometimes a conspiracy theory turns out to be true. There is even a class of crime for which people go to jail that starts out “conspiracy to commit…”. But the conspiracy theories [...]

We’ve heard the talks to the priesthood about Peter Pan syndrome:  grown men who still play video games and live in their parents’ garages, not taking adult responsibilities seriously, and not taking the initiative to get married.  Likewise, there have been posts in the bloggernacle about the infantilisation of women in the church:  male leaders and [...]

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 [...]