I love the Articles of Faith. They plainly and concisely lay out some of the fundamental beliefs that define our religion. Of course, we’re taught all our lives that the Articles of Faith are not a comprehensive statement of our beliefs. Putting such a comprehensive statement together would probably be impossible, not to mention the fact that it would go against our deep-seated aversion to creeds.

But I think it would be pretty cool if the Articles of Faith were expanded to include more of the beliefs that define us. (more…)

If you had to marry either a divorcee or a widow/widower, which one would you choose?

Once again, highly sensitive topic so be nice.

I’d been on YouTube, looking at a couple movie clips. On a whim, I typed in “Band of Brothers” and watched a couple clips (more…)

It’s off to non-mormon bible study tonight. I have a difficult time understanding what the non-mormon world – born agains etc. – believe about why man was created. (more…)

If there were a prenatal treatment that prevented homosexuality in your children would you do it?

Just so you know, my “delete comment” button is highly sensitive for this post for obvious reasons.

We in the bloggernacle love to talk about how much we like or dislike being at church. Bad speakers. Too long. Bad teachers. Boredom. Kids. etc. I have trouble reading these types of comments without getting a wee bit annoyed. Don’t get me wrong, these are all valid points but these complaints just seem a little too much “what am I getting from church?” and not enough “what am I giving at church?” (more…)

Do you ever look at people around you, strangers or acquaintances, and wonder about their history? What experiences have led them to where they are, made them who they are?
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So I was recently listening to John Dehlin’s very first podcast in which he brags about all the kids he baptized on his mission in Guatemala. Er…I mean in which he tells of other missionaries who baptized large groups of kids after having played soccer with them and then “cooled off” in the water. I probably wouldn’t believe this except that I was there 8-10 years later to witness the aftermath. (more…)

Did anyone else get the email going around asking us to attend the temple the week of President Hinckley’s birthday?

I got it twice in the past few days. (more…)

Note: Thanks to the work of people who are way better at this kind of thing than I am, I learned that I was way wrong in discounting the time value of money in this analysis. I don’t have any experience with these kinds of problems, so my sense that the $800k gap in total contribution over 60 years would stand up even if we did take the time value of money into account was wrong. In the real world, the present value of the gap in contributions is probably actually closer to $100k.

Does having children early in marriage, perhaps even before you can take care of them without some outside assistance, cause one to add to society’s burden? In the short run, of course the answer is yes. What about the long run?

Consider two young Mormon couples, the Freeloaders and the Smugs (sorry—couldn’t resist). They have typical, Proclamation-friendly Mormon values. They are identical in the following ways: (more…)

Yesterday we had our annual (and what I’ve decided to call) Hymn Sunday. The gist of the program is that rather than regular speakers there is a small handful of members who come forward and tell the congregation one of their favorite hymns, explain why, and then we all sing the hymn. Oh, and we decided to have it all accompanied by the piano rather than the organ.

It’s a Spirit-filled meeting that is one of my favorite Sacrament Meeting programs of the year.

Yesterday the meeting went as follows: (more…)

My son and I drive 40 miles roundtrip every Tuesday night to attend a non-mormon Bible study. The “minister” is well know in the born again Christian community. He has produced commentaries on most every book in the Bible, has a regular radio spot and produces CDs on various religious, political, and Israel related topics.

When I’ve told members that I’ve purchased most of his O.T. commentaries and attend his lectures weekly I’ve gotten some results I didn’t expect. (more…)

I’m judgmental about people who are judgmental. I find myself thinking all sorts of uncharitable thoughts when confronted with someone being judgmental. Things like:
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Devyn at Mormon Mentality has a post asking something that gets a fair amount of airtime around the LDS blogs: Married Mormon Graduate Students On Welfare – Is It Right? As seems to happen quite a lot when this issue arises, there are some commenters slinging around some pretty heavy (and silly) condemnations. For some reason all the WordPress blogs, including this one and that one, decided today that I’m a spammer, so I can’t respond to the arguments being made there, so I’ll do it here. I refuse to be silenced by the iron Akismet fist. (more…)

I didn’t play high school sports, largely because I had church sports. Why would I go to practice for three hours a day, running lines/miles killing myself off to maybe get a chance to play a couple minutes in a game a few days a year all in the knowledge that there’s no chance that I’ll be able to take it to the next level or even think about becoming a professional athlete? In church sports our practices consisted of scrimmages, I played the majority of time in the majority of our games, and I was considered one of the better athletes. Plus I had my everyday afternoons to tool around with friends and avoid homework. Easy choice. (more…)