Food storage is a good example of the divide between liberal and conservative schools of thought. Not all LDS believe in keeping a three months’ supply of food, of course. While it’s been discussed as recently as 2007, I think food storage was always a “soft” commandment. Like journaling and genealogy, some LDS keep a ...
Three months before his assassination in 1844, Joseph Smith gave a speech that is referred to today as the King Follett discourse (named after an Elder Follett). In that speech, Smith laid out the idea that God was once a man and that all human beings have the potential to become gods and goddesses themselves. ...
Over at the faithful Mormon blog Faith-Promoting Rumor is a discussion enticingly titled “Do Relationships Make the Church True and False?” This post is a short enough one that you should just go over there and read it, but I guess I will still highlight some points here…when I was reading it, I will say ...
Recently I saw a (small maroon) book with a title like “What to say when: answers for latter day saints”. I’ve searched popular search engines, online book retailers, LDS church publisher websites to no avail. So I can’t post a link. But I thought it was an interesting idea/concept. It had gems of wisdom including ...
We’ve discussed before how difficult it is to determine official mormon doctrine. Policies and guidelines seem to change with the generations, with geographical area or with personal revelation. I’ve heard from two different sources that someone very high up in mormon priesthood and corporate leadership drinks coke on a regular basis. So since I’m not ...
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! My sources indicate that many people in Outer Blogness did! Just see for yourself! Views: 1436 ...
I heard this story this morning- about an exhibit at the Jewish Museum in New York: An exhibit at the Jewish Museum in New York looks at some of the many ways people are re-imagining Jewish ritual. From “green energy” synagogues to a prayer shawl that doubles as an apron, many of the works are ...
I know it’s only December sixth, but it seems the “War on Christmas” starts earlier and earlier every year! As usual, the Christmas-warriors are trying to ruin everyone’s jolly holiday with their death-worshiping kitsch. Then there’s one of my personal favorite holiday traditions: lamenting how commercial Christmas has become. Rosalynde Welch gives us some historical ...
Religion has a lot different facets that different people find appealing: identity/community transcendence/awe/altered states of consciousness rituals tradition/culture purpose/guidance belief in the supernatural And surely many others. It’s my impression that people tend to focus on a few of their favorites among these components and ignore the rest. It’s just as true of the devout ...
Recently, I got a chance to experience the missionary/salesperson perspective first hand. I was asking various people to sign a petition. For privacy reasons, I’m not going to say what the petition was for, except that it may or may not be related to my work. You might question how this relates to Mormonism. Well, ...
I stumbled upon this smaller blog that was talking about “Cultural” Mormons. …I’ve noticed the strangest phenomenon. Many people view cultural Mormonism as the extra-doctrinal, hyper-faithful parts of the church that make it seem so unbearable, rather than the mere culture of growing up in such a peculiar church. So cultural Mormonism, rather than being ...
…Sometimes, these blog entries just take too much time to set up…anyway, I was reading Mormon Matters and getting into the discussion there, and Bruce had said something that I found intriguing: …John Dehlin suggested that it was a mistake for modern Mormons to down play what he calls “19th century doctrines†(as he interprets ...
In my family, growing up, we had a tradition that on Christmas Eve, we’d sit together in the living room beside the Christmas tree and read a Christmas story or two. Sometimes it would be something explicitly religious — like the Christmas story from the New Testament — or semi-religious, like The Best Christmas Pageant ...
I was reading somewhere on the internets (not linked to protect the innocent) where someone wrote that they were surprised to find out recently how happy some former mormon friends of theirs are. They were a little shocked (and embarassed of themselves) for realizing that former mormons’ lives aren’t that bad. Surprisingly, for many former ...
Is anyone doing this “Trunk or Treat” thing? I’d never heard of this as a kid (maybe it’s new or something), and I’m glad. Really, are your neighbors that scary that you can’t let them give candy to your kids? When I was growing up, we went out trick-or-treating around the neighborhood every year (except ...