Posts Tagged ‘ LDS ’

What does it mean that the church is a restoration?  As I grew up in the church, I always thought of restoration as implying stuff fell out that had to be put back in.  Things that fit into this category included: the role of prophets and apostles, translation capabilities (including that pesky Urim & Thummim that someone mislaid a [...]

“Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”  Mark Twain Every so often, the idea that there’s nothing new to talk about in Mormon internet discussions comes up.  Someone will state that we’ve said all there is to say, the audience is waning, people have worked out their opinions, etc.  What do you think?  And [...]

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.

I considered myself unpopular at BYU.  My hair was very short, kind of a punk rock ‘do with bleached bangs.  I often wore tie-dyed jeans and a men’s thrift store blazer with a concert tee underneath.  In Pennsylvania, I never had a shortage of guys who were interested in me, including lots I thought were [...]

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.

The ordain women movement is focused on asking why females should not be ordained.  Let’s flip that around and ask why males are ordained. Discuss.

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.

Pending the birth of Princess Kate’s baby, Lady Cosima Rose Alexandra Windsor is currently 24th in line for the British throne. Lady Cosima is the nearly three-year-old great granddaughter of a grandfather of the current queen. I didn’t know that, and I really wouldn’t care, but I did easily look it up, and I could do [...]

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 [...]

The Ten Commandments was one of the first Biblical epics to command a mass audience, and so my parents took me into downtown Detroit as a boy to be sure I saw it in its full widescreen glory in one of the few theaters capable of so screening it. The movie was well worth the [...]

How should leaders contact the youth?  Through any means necessary?  Are parents overprotective or rightly cautious in their desire to protect their kids from personal contact with leaders?  Should we get with the times and use technology to perform our callings? Would your answer differ from how you think adults should contact each other?  Discuss.

For some people, coffee is a religion.  For others it’s a right.  Most Mormons have heard this joke:  A priest and a Mormon bishop were sitting next to each other on a plane.  The priest asked the Mormon bishop if he had ever in a moment of weakness tasted coffee.  The Mormon bishop confessed that [...]

Human brains naturally use locations in space and time to make sense of events. Why should we expect eternal spirits to follow that protocol? The question has always bothered me. What follows is speculation about a different way of looking at the relationship between the physical and the spiritual than the Restoration faiths adopted in [...]

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 [...]

I participated in temple sealing recently.  For those not familiar with a “Sealing” ordinance, Mormons believe that we can be bound to our spouses and families for not only this life, but the next life as well.  I participated in an early morning session and there was just one sister there, so she had to [...]

Pope Benedict 16th stunned the world last week when he announced his resignation due to “lack of strength of mind and body.”  Geoff over at RationalFaiths modified the pope’s statement, writing if as if President Monson made a similar announcement, and then discussed the history of emeritus status in the LDS Church.  Geoff writes, In [...]

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, [...]

There is a saying that the LDS Temple is the University of the Lord.  Unlike a traditional university, there is no opportunity to ask questions, do homework, or take tests to evaluate if we are learning.  The learning in the temple is supposed to be personal.  What would you say are the biggest things you [...]

2013 has seen the launch of new lesson manuals for the youth:  YW, YM and Sunday School.  People have long been requesting that the youth manuals be updated.  But there has also been criticism that the YW manuals are all written passively in comparison to YM, to reinforce sexual stereotypes.  The manuals are also much [...]

What is the role of bishop in confession?  What should it be? Discuss.