Posted on November 10, 2009 by Joe O.
This site has been quiet for some time and it makes me wonder if we’ve stopped “thinking in a marrow bone.” I haven’t stopped thinking, but I’m not sure if I’m doing much thinking that’s worth anything. So instead, I’d like to issue a challenge and have you do the thinking for me: someone help [...]
Filed under: Mormon Doctrine, Science | Tagged: Mormons, Resurrection, death, LDS, LDS Church, evolution, creation, intelligent design, creationism, Science and Religion, Garden of Eden, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Two Great Commandments, carbon dating, age of earth, eternal matter, natural selection, "survival of the fittest" | 29 Comments »
Posted on October 4, 2009 by Dennis
I always feel spiritually rejuvenated after General Conference, and this conference was no exception. Here are some of the dominant themes and highlights I noticed, along with some of my own thoughts:
1. Fresh ways of looking at the “fundamentals”
I sometimes grow tired of the way the “fundamentals” in the Church are sometimes talked about by [...]
Filed under: Mormon Doctrine, Scripture | Tagged: Africa, Atonement of Jesus Christ, Book of Mormon, Boyd K. Packer, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, conversion, Dale G. Renlund, Dallin H. Oaks, David A. Bednar, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Gospel of Jesus Christ, heart transplant, Henry B. Eyring, Holy Ghost, Jeffrey R. Holland, Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, Joseph W. Sitati, LDS, LDS Church, Michael T. Ringwood, mighty change of heart, Mormon Church, Mormons, Neil L. Andersen, Richard G. Scott, Richard L. Bushman, Robert D. Hales, Rough Stone Rollling, South Korea, testimony, Thomas S. Monson, Two Great Commandments, Vicki Matsumori, Yoon Hwan Choi | 2 Comments »
Posted on July 11, 2009 by Joe O.
My five-year-old daughter came home from Primary one Sunday and told us all about her lesson the Word of Wisdom. Her teachers had creatively made pictures of things that were “bad” so the children could throw them away. They threw away images of cigarettes, alcohol, tea, and coffee – all the things that are restricted [...]
Filed under: Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine, Scripture | Tagged: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Latter-day Saints, LDS, LDS Church, LDS Primary, Mormon health, Mormons, Word of Wisdom | 5 Comments »
Posted on April 5, 2009 by Dennis
We had another great General Conference! Some of the dominant themes were faith and endurance amidst trials, temple worship, and unselfish service. Here are some highlights, with some of my own thoughts (and at least one soap box.)
Filed under: Mormon Doctrine | Tagged: Atonement, Celestial Kingdom, Christian service, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, consumerism, Dallin H. Oaks, David A. Bednar, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, distractions, economic crisis, exaltation, Facebook, family budgeting, financial planning, Gary E. Stevenson, general authorities, General Conference, God, Henry B. Eyring, intergenerational connectedness, Internet addiction, Jeffrey R. Holland, Jesus Christ, Latter-day Saints, LDS, M. Russell Ballard, me generation, Mormons, name of Jesus Christ, Neil L. Andersen, new and everlasting covenant, pornography, pride, pride cycle, Quentin L. Cook, Richard C. Edgley, Robert D. Hales, salvation, selfishness, temple worship, Thomas S. Monson, unemployment, universal salvation, Zion | 11 Comments »
Posted on March 26, 2009 by Joe O.
Things are quiet on the blog lately, so I figure it’s a good chance to make an appearance. Perhaps few people will read this entry and then I can likely avoid being blacklisted.
I applied to teach at Messiah College in Pennsylvania recently and part of the application was affirming the Apostles’ Creed. I affirmed the [...]
Filed under: Mormon Doctrine, Theology | Tagged: Apostles' Creed, Christianity, creeds, First Vision, God, Joseph Smith, Latter-day Saints, LDS, Mormon Doctrine, Mormons, orthopraxy, Theology, Trinity, truth | 16 Comments »
Posted on October 5, 2008 by Dennis
I thought I’d take a minute and discuss what I consider to be the highlights of this weekend’s semiannual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Filed under: Mormon Doctrine | Tagged: "I stand at the door and knock", "lift where you stand", "no poor among them", "one heart and one mind", "poisoned by degrees", "yoke is easy", 178th Semiannual General Conference of the Church of Je, Adam-Ondi-Ahman, Alexander Pope, As You Like It, charity, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, courage, D. Todd Christofferson, Dallin H. Oaks, David A. Bednar, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Elaine S. Dalton, Faith, Far West Missouri, General Conference, Gerald Klause, gospel teaching, gratitude, Great Apostasy, Henry B. Eyring, Henry David Thoreau, here and now, hope, Independence Missouri, Jesus Christ, Kansas City, L. Tom Perry, Lawrence E. Corbridge, LDS, LDS Church, Lehonti, meaning in suffering, meaningful prayer, meekness, Mormons, mouths of babes, Parley P. Pratt, Philadelphia, Poverty, priesthood callings, Quentin L. Cook, Restoration, Restored Gospel, Richard G. Scott, Robert D. Hales, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Empire, Rome, sacrament, sacrament meeting, scriptures, Shakespeare, suffering, temple worship, temples, The Morning Breaks, Thomas S. Monson, unity, virtue, Walden Pond, Wendell Berry, William D. Oswald, Zion | 4 Comments »
Posted on September 24, 2008 by Joe O.
Whenever I hear people talk about the kingdom of God, it seems like it’s always referred to in the future tense. Lately, I’ve begun to wonder if the kingdom of God isn’t already all around us.
Filed under: Mormon Doctrine, Relationships, Theology | Tagged: Mormons, Theology, Scripture, Jesus Christ, God, Mormon theology, Gospel of Jesus Christ, LDS, Love, Book of Mormon, Kingdom of God, Two Great Commandments, Holy Ghost, Gift of the Holy Ghost, children of God, sons of God, baptism, Christ's visit to America, Doctrine of Christ | 10 Comments »
Posted on September 18, 2008 by Jeff Thayne
Many of us compartmentalize our lives in a way that would seem strange to scholars of past centuries. We talk about our religious lives and our academic lives as though they were two separate things, divided in a way that protects one from the effects of an error in the other, as a bulkhead on [...]
Filed under: Mormon Doctrine, Philosophy, Science | Tagged: apostasy, Carl Rogers, compartmentalization, Dallin H. Oaks, Great Apostasy, knowledge, Neil A. Maxwell, Philosophy, potter's clay, progression, Restoration, Restoration of All Things, Restored Gospel, Richard Williams, sacred, Science, Scripture, secular, truth, turning of things upside down, unconditional positive regard | 16 Comments »
Posted on June 29, 2008 by Dennis
A recent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life study, in which over 35,000 Americans were interviewed, had an interesting result. According to this Time article, the Pew Forum study found that
70% of respondents agreed with the statement “Many religions can lead to eternal life.” Even more remarkable was the fact that 57% of Evangelical [...]
Filed under: Comparative Religion, Mormon Doctrine | Tagged: agnostics, atheists, Buddhists, Catholics, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, eternal life, Evangelicals, femininity, Gender, Gospel of Jesus Christ, Hindus, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jesus Christ, Jews, Latter-day Saints, LDS, masculinity, missionary work, Mormons, Muslims, one true faith, Pew Forum, Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, Priesthood Authority, Protestants, religious pluralism, religious tolerance, Rodney Stark, Sandra Bem, Scripture, Theology, three degrees of glory, tolerance | 19 Comments »
Posted on June 10, 2008 by Dennis
Last Sunday (June 8, 2008), a member of my ward, Whitney, gave an excellent talk in sacrament meeting in commemoration of the 30 year anniversary of the revelation on the priesthood (the formal announcement of). With Whitney’s permission, I am including a written version of his talk here. It is an excellent talk, which speaks [...]
Filed under: History, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine | Tagged: anti-slavery, Brigham Young, Bruce R. McConkie, Cain, Chicago, compassion, curse of Cain, Darius Gray, Deseret, Elijah Abel, endowment, First Presidency, George Q. Cannon, Gordon B. Hinckley, Gospel of Jesus Christ, Jeffrey R. Holland, Jesus Christ, Joseph F. Smith, Joseph Smith, Journal of Discourses, LDS Church, long promised day, love thy neighbor as thyself, Margaret Young, Melchizedek Priesthood, Mormon Doctrine, Mormons, neutrals in the war in heaven, Orson Hyde, pre-existence, Priesthood, Quorum of the Twelve, Race, Racism, Restoration, revelation, revelation on the priesthood, slavery, Spencer W. Kimball, Temple, Walker Lewis, Zebedee Coltrin | 3 Comments »
Posted on May 2, 2008 by Dennis
The following is a paper I wrote a few years ago in a history class about Joseph Smith from Grant Underwood at BYU.
Released in 2005, Richard L. Bushman’s Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling has been hailed by many as the definitive biography of the Mormon founder. It is only natural, then, to put the book [...]
Filed under: History, Mormon Doctrine | Tagged: biography, Book of Mormon, Fawn Brodie, First Vision, History, Joseph Smith, Knopf, Mormon Doctrine, No Man Knows My History, plural marriage, plurality of gods, prophets, psychobiography, Richard Bushman, Rough Stone Rolling, Scripture, Theology | 22 Comments »
Posted on April 7, 2008 by Dennis
I thought I would take a moment and express what I consider to be some of the highlights of General Conference. I encourage others to leave a comment and do the same.
Of course, the major highlight is President Thomas S. Monson.
Filed under: Mormon Doctrine | Tagged: born again, D. Todd Christofferson, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, General Conference, Internet addiction, Jesus Christ, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine, Mormons, prayer, Priesthood Authority, proclaiming the Gospel, Quorum of the Seventy, Quorum of the Twelve, revelation, Scripture, sexual abuse, Theology, Thomas S. Monson | 5 Comments »
Posted on March 27, 2008 by Dennis
This post might only make sense after reading this post or this post.
To help concretize the essential need of an open folk belief (OFB) LDS community, I will illustrate a case example regarding a theological issue for which there are substantial gaps from authoritative Latter-day Saint sources. For this fictional example, imagine two individuals, Susan [...]
Filed under: Folk Theologies, Mormon Doctrine, Theology | Tagged: agency, Bobby Fischer, Folk Theologies, foreknowledge, God, Mormon theology, Mormons, William James | 13 Comments »
Posted on March 27, 2008 by Dennis
As I have mentioned before, I am giving a presentation tomorrow afternoon (Thursday, March 27) at the University of Utah, for the Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology conference. My presentation is entitled “Toward a Latter-day Saint Theology of Possibilities.”
The basic logic of the underlying problem I tackle in my presentation is that (a) there [...]
Filed under: Folk Theologies, Mormon Doctrine | Tagged: Atonement, Folk Theologies, Isaac Watts, Jesus Christ, Joseph F. Smith, Mormon Culture, Mormons, piercings, pragmatism, Resurrection, Scripture, Spencer W. Kimball, tattoos, Theology, William James | 4 Comments »
Posted on March 2, 2008 by Dennis
The following post is slightly modified from a comment I left in answer to a reader’s question, in the comments from the Why Mormons Should Consider Backing Obama post. The question was concerned with illegal immigrants being able to have temple recommends (as well as, in some cases, high-level local leadership positions), considering the Latter-day [...]
Filed under: International Relations, Mormon Doctrine, Politics | Tagged: Civic Duty, Ecclesiastical Interviews, Immigration, Mormon Doctrine, Mormons, Politics | 4 Comments »
Posted on February 10, 2008 by Dennis
In today’s leadership training meeting, Elder Holland said, “We cannot live in fear in this Church.” Elder Oaks added, “Perfect love of the Lord casteth out fear.”
Amen. Amen.
Filed under: Mormon Doctrine | Tagged: fear, Love | Leave a Comment »
