I usually wake up at 7:30 and right before I leave for work at 8:30 I wake up my wife. Last night she said she needed to get up at 7:30 and leave by 8:15 so she could make her doctor appointment. I knew then that she wouldn’t actually get up at 7:30 and this morning when I rolled out of bed alone at 7:30 I also knew for a fact that we’d both be leaving together at 8:30 (rather than her at 8:15 and me at 8:30).

This is knowledge, folks. You know, like the-sun-rises-in-the-east kind of knowledge.

I don’t know exactly how God’s knowledge works but instances like this give me a better idea. Just because He knows what we’re going to do doesn’t make us do it. It just means He knows us pretty well.

It’s especially fun when people have goofy online screen names. I’ve had conversations very similar to this:

“Are you Bloodplasm? I’m qsysue. This is Sparklemama, Anchovie, and sludgeking2004.”
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For those of you who have just finished pondering the alleged correlations between Mormons and depression, and Mormons and Bankruptcy, here’s a new one for you - Mormons and payday loan joints. According to the Consumer Law and Policy Blog, a new study is showing disproportionate numbers of payday lenders in the Bible Belt and in the Mormon West. The study will be outlined in a forthcoming issue of Catholic University Law Review, but is available for download in PDF format from the Social Science Research Network here (all 97 pages of it). (more…)

This picture and only the caption “Don’t forget Stake Temple Day is February 29th! All day long!!” was sent in an email from our Elders Quorum president today. (more…)

The ward meets on the wrong side of Division Avenue. The poor side. The side with small, run down old houses, whose thin walls offer little protection from the harsh elements outside. There is a house nearby with peeling paint, a sagging porch, and a yard full of old Harley Davidsons. Another house, painted bright mint green, is covered with dirt and grime. The neighbors refer to it as the dirty house, instead of what it really is. A crackhouse.

The old and the very young are huddled around propane space heaters someone has placed in the back of the chapel. Long cylindrical tubes with big blue flames inside them, they blast out a cloud of warm air, but they don’t do much to warm the building. The chapel has no other heat, and very little, if any, insulation.

Those sitting in pews don’t feel any benefit from the heaters. But they’ve come prepared with thick winter coats and with blankets. They make do.
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While I was in Japan in the mid-1990s, a new translation of the Book of Mormon to Japanese was completed. This was a very big deal. The original Japanese translation had been around a long time. And it was almost unreadable by normal Japanese people. (more…)

Last week I watched This Film is Not Yet Rated, Kirby Dick’s exposé about the American movie ratings board. I’ve always disliked the ratings system, especially since Mormons are so inclined to use it as a measuring stick of righteousness (”the prophets say no R-rated movies” is a hallmark of the American Mormon vernacular regardless of the fact that it’s not true*). I was excited to see this film, if for no other reason than to solidify my arguments against the broken system and its zealous adherents.

Except that it did just the opposite. (more…)

This morning, I came across a post at Ex-gay Watch (hat-tip: Northern Lights) that mentioned the passing of President Hinckley. Several dozen comments followed, including one commenter who wished President Hinckley “good riddance”.

I replied, of course, at length… but the salient part of my comment was this:

My own life [out, celibate, and active] very much reflects the positive influence that President Hickley had on the Church in this area, and I don’t wish him good riddance, but happy trails and fond reunions with his wife and parents.

It’s true, really. In the last 15 years, the strides made by the Church with regards to embracing its gay members have been marked. And for that (among many things), I can’t thank President Hinckley enough.

Are we really getting that fat that we need this? Or are we that lazy?

What’s your take on the changes?

Well, technically, I guess they can.

I wonder what they think of it?
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I know I check the blogs less than I use to. I guess for me it’s hard to think of something new to post. (more…)