I really enjoyed the Banner of Heaven retrospective that Scott B at BCC put together (most of it appears here), and I have been thinking about it and gathering my thoughts ever since it ended. 

Mostly, I think the retrospective was an interesting historical look back at a time and an event that was an important watershed in the bloggernacle.  It’s something that will always engender some controversy and both good and bad feelings on the part of those who were participants in the drama, and also those who got involved after the fact.  I thought Scott did a good job of presenting all sides, but there was something missing in the end.  I would like to hear from people about the answers to a few questions that were raised by the final podcast with Steve Evans and which I posed over in the thread following the podcast at Bloggernacle Times.  No one really bothered to try to answer them there, so I’d like to try it over here to see if we can get a more relevant discussion going ( I swear I will delete any references to the Song of Solomon).  Here are the questions (feel free to add to this list if you want) and my answers: (more…)

I love top-5 lists as much as anyone, but this post only serves up the problems without offering any practical solutions. So let’s pretend that part of your stake calling is to strive to improve the quality of speaking in Sacrament meetings across the stake. What do you do?

A few points to consider:
- You hold no authority over the speakers nor those whom are primarily responsible for the quality of Sacrament meetings (bishops/bishoprics).
- Generally (those who are willing) adult members each speak around once a year.
- This isn’t about music, it’s about speaking.
- This isn’t about teachers, it’s about speaking.
- The wards are diverse in culture, language, age, knowledge, experience, and speaking ability.
- Bishops/bishoprics aren’t necessarily the best speakers in their wards.

Ideas? Solutions?

My brother sent me this email – I thought maybe some of you had some thoughts and insights!

“Sunday, in HP’s group, I taught the lesson and stated that Christ had the power to raise himself from the dead…and he did (see John 10:17-18 and paragraph 2 on page 61 of the GP manual). Monday at our old fogies FHE one of the guys said he had always thought that God the Father had raised Christ from the dead, and then cited/quoted several NT passages that confirm that. He asked me to research it and see what I could find. Here are several references (there are many more): Acts 2:32; 4:10;10:40; I Cor 15:15; I Peter 1:21; Romans 4:24….Well, I’ve been looking and, except for the ‘logical’ explanation that Christ had the power to lay down his life and pick it up again and that would make him the Redeemer/’Atoner’ and he received that power/authority from his Father (Luke 10:22); or argue that ‘as far as the Bible is translated correctly’ and the KJV was ‘translated’ by those who believed in the Triune godhead, I can’t find anything very concrete! Checked NT Commentary by McConkie, Answers to Gosp Quest by Jos Fielding and looking on line but not finding anything at all…I’m stumped. Suggestions? I’m open to your scholarship!!!”

I was yelled at early this morning by a fellow runner. Running at me. Uphill. Something about me not moving out of my lane for him. He had already begun yelling, 20 feet away, before I even noticed him in my lane (90% of runners go counter-clockwise around the Prospect Park loop, including me, which means he was essentially like a driver going down a one-way street honking and yelling at cars to get out of his way). My friend and I laughed as he passed us and I remarked at how much energy he just wasted that he could have put toward his uphill climb. So much energy, such poor allocation. (more…)

I have a confession to make: I don’t like the moniker, “The Plan of Happiness.” I much prefer “Plan of Salvation.” When did they change it, anyway? Or was it always the alternate title? The Plan of Happiness sounds too much to me like something Deepak Chopra or Suzanne Somers would use. The Plan of Happiness Laguna Beach Diet. The Plan of Salvation sounds like a road map to heaven. The Plan of Happiness sounds like a pitch. When I hear it, I cringe, like when someone begins their testimony with, “Brothers and sisters… Aloooooo-haa!”

(more…)