I took the advice of Henry Eyring yesterday – imagining the talk that I needed and wanted to hear. I’ve linked to the best and last part below, for your viewing pleasure.

We need to meet him today, with the dust of the street on our shoes and in our souls.

A court has ruled that paying back taxes is a higher priority than paying tithing – for one LDS businessman. I expect, for many, this will be viewed as an outrageous breach in the fabric of religious freedom. However, when does paying tithing become irresponsible? (more…)

Mormons like to beat themselves up for not giving enough value to the man they call prophet. And there may be something to that, for a variety of reasons. However, the practice goes off the rails when we start throwing in historical prophets as a comparison.

“We would all sit up a little straighter if it was Moses right?” And on and on about the complacency of modern life and the ease in which we receive the Word. Its true, many of us do live a more comfortable life than our forebears. And for many in history, scripture (or information of any kind) was terribly hard to acquire. But those are not the reasons that we value some prophets more than others. (more…)

Imagine for a moment a Northeastern urban ward. The average age is 32, a large number of RMs/temple married, both men and women college educated and the most common political affiliation you would find is “moderate”. (more…)

If the stars align just so, my first novel will be released this summer. Needless to say, I’m excited.

It’s been a two-year labor of love. I love the story and I love the people in the story. I can’t even bring myself to call them “characters”. They’re certainly more real to me than half the people I know on Facebook.

The book, while not a Mormon book per se, is awash in Mormon questions and Mormon answers. Polygamy, gay marriage, and the meaning of love and faith and family in the wake of the end of oil. It also asks what happens to a global, hierarchal Church when the wells go dry …

So what do you do with a hard-won global empire when the global low fuel light is flickering? Do you call everyone home? Do you shutter operations and pray for a miracle? Cold fusion, perhaps? The Second Coming, maybe? The answer came, one Sunday morning, five years before the oil stopped flowing. In a letter translated into 180 languages and read from every pulpit.

Brother Husband, Chapter 5

Want to hear more?

Chapters 1–4 are available as an audio preview on Soundcloud:

You can also like Brother Husband’s fanpage on Facebook.

But here’s the question for you: how do you imagine the end of oil might affect the Church? Assume the end of oil also spells the end of reliable electricity … how do wards change? How does worship change?

A group is asking Mormon women to wear pants to church this Sunday as a sign of support for gender equity. I support the idea of gender equity and I am supportive of this effort, though I don’t know anything about the group that is behind it. It’s causing an uproar of sorts, and some backlash, even though the Church has stated that it does not officially take any position on the question of whether women should wear dresses or pants to church meetings:

“Generally church members are encouraged to wear their best clothing as a sign of respect for the Savior, but we don’t counsel people beyond that.”

-Scott Trotter, Church Spokesman (more…)

We’ve been hearing for a while now about the so-called “Mormon Moment,” a singularly insipid moniker for the period of time beginning roughly around the start of Mitt Romney’s candidacy for president in 2008 and probably now drawing to a close with his defeat this year. His non-stop candidacy over those years, combined with his role as a faithful Church member and leader brought unprecedented attention to the Church. This led directly or indirectly to all kinds media spotlights on the Church and gave rise to or influenced other cultural touchstones including political issues, a broadway musical, television shows and documentaries like The Mormons on PBS. Arguably, the attention even may have influenced some changes in longstanding Church policies and/or practices. (more…)

Check out this hilarious clip from SNL’s weekend update and let me know what you think. Just when you think you know what they will do, SNL goes a whole other direction.

A fragment of a book written in Coptic has now been discovered which suggests that early Christians of about the fourth century believed that Jesus was married. This may not be earth-shattering news, but it does raise some interesting questions. For myself, I have always believed that Jesus was most likely married, despite the paucity of evidence on the subject. It just seems more likely to me that he would have set an example of being the perfect husband (and perhaps father?), along with the other things he did perfectly.

What about you? Do you have any beliefs or assumptions about Christ’s mortal marriage or lack thereof? Does the importance of marriage in our doctrine play any part in your assumptions? Does this new discovery impact your belief one way or another? Should this have any impact on those who practice or believe in celibacy?

Here’s another great version of one of my favorite hymns:

Brightly Beams Our Fathers Mercy A Cappella from Jamez on Vimeo.

The Lower Lights // I Saw The Light from The Lower Lights on Vimeo.

The Lower Lights is a group of amazing musicians and performers who have taken it upon themselves to rework some of our hymns in a style that is newer and somewhat less, well, churchy and starchy than we may be used to. The style of their albums is folky and bluegrassy, yet still spiritual and perhaps even more meaningful than the original arrangement, at least to some. We’ve talked about them before, when their first album came out. I’m happy to let you know that their second volume of hymns came out last month, and even happier to tell you that it’s even better than volume 1 (which is saying something). (more…)

The intellect of man is forced to choose
Perfection of the life or of the work,
And if it take the second must refuse
A heavenly mansion, raging in the dark.

-William Butler Yeats

Discuss.

We have been studying the book of Jacob in the Book of Mormon in Gospel Doctrine class recently, as are you, most likely. As I have mentioned before, Jacob is one of my favorite prophets and writers, so I have been enjoying this part of our class. One of the comments that the teacher made about this book that stuck with me is that Jacob mentions this in the beginning of his book:

Nephi gave me, Jacob, a commandment concerning the small plates, upon which these things are engraven. And he gave me, Jacob, a commandment that I should write upon these plates a few of the things which I considered to be most precious…

Of course, Jacob follows this commandment, but the things he writes (allowing for possible editing by Mormon) apparently took up only seven chapters. Although one of these chapters is the longest chapter in the Book of Mormon, this is a relatively small contribution, possibly due to Nephi’s instruction to limit himself to “a few of the things which I considered to be most precious.” (more…)

I checked out the conference at UVU today (Joanna Brooks! Ardis Parshall! Kristine Haglund doing interpretive dance!) and met up with Kristine and Ardis and we decided that we couldn’t live without a Bloggersnacker in SLC this weekend. The time is following the last session of conference and the location is the Peery Hotel in downtown SLC. Other details have yet to be determined, but there are rumors that the esteemed Ronan Head (or some other large british head) will be in town and we will make every effort, including actual kidnapping, to ensure his attendance. Also, Kristine has graciously agreed to perform her now-famous rendition of ABBA’s classic “Dancing Queen.” Good times will be had. Autographs will be available. Email me if you want the deets: MarkCQuinn at Q dot com.