Mormon Bloggers

Excommunication is defined by the LDS church as “A disciplinary process used only in extreme situations. This includes removal of an individual’s name from the records of the Church“.  From my experience (which isn’t that extensive) with excommunication, one is removed for serious, repeated sexual sins or by having a very rebellious attitude towards the Church of Jesus Christ. Throughout the years, I’ve often heard LDS members of the church say that the worst thing you can do is be excommunicated because the gift of the Holy Spirit is removed from you and you’re left to your own devices. I believe that that statment is a falsehood designed by Satan to put despair into the hearts of those who are excommunicated. I’ll share a story with you as to why I believe it is false that the Lord removes his Spirit from those who are excommunicated. We were alone in a room in a church building.  The young man in front of me had just been excommunicated from the... Read the rest of this entry »

-Lisa Jan South,  Ensign, Febrary 2011  Read More →

That’s what my husband said to me last night.  I had just told him I was really unhappy and felt like I was being punished for 15 years of selfish decisions.  He saw it differently.  This is what he had to say: We have two incredible children.  The older is brilliant and funny and incredibly hard to lead.  He lives life with complete emotion and isn’t easily swayed to do what he knows is wrong.  The younger brought to earth the joy of heaven and a smile that can brighten even the darkest day.  They are both supported by the love of their Heavenly Father and my role is to raise them righteously.  As strong as they are, they will still need a mother who can teach them how to love and serve and rely on the powers of the Atonement in hopes of returning to live with their Father in Heaven. The devil is aware.  He knows the struggle it’s going to be to get at my children and attacks the target he sees as weak.  That’s me.... Read the rest of this entry »

Recently, one of my church friends and I had a long discussion.  I had noticed tension in his relationship over the past couple years, but he hadn’t openly discussed it with me until the other day.  He told me he wasn’t sure if he knew what love for his wife was anymore and went on to discuss how they had entertained the idea of getting a divorce. Divorce is something I do not take lightly.  My parents fought throughout their 10 years of marriage and I constantly worried as a young child if they would get a divorce as I would listen to them fight when they thought we were asleep.  My world was crushed when at the age of 9 my parents were divorced.  Over the 25 years since their divorce, I have seen personal heartache and struggle, struggle and conflict with my siblings, and my parents have been affected emotionally and physically as a result of it throughout the years as well.  I’m positive some within my family are not over it. In addition to my own experiences... Read the rest of this entry »

My girlfriend emailed back a question in response to a quote. Here it is: Q. …So what I am getting out of this is when we want to control people we are in a sense acting like Satan. I think that it is hard to allow people to do wrong to us, like allowing someone to break one of the ten commandments against us. But what are we supposed to do? Just allow them to make wrong choices and know that God will be their judge in the end and they will have to answer to him not us? But why would we want to enable others to keep making wrong choices that hurt us others and themselves when we could help them to see that what they are doing is wrong? I welcome any feed back! A. I’ll take a shot at this. Without knowing the details, I’m guessing this is a tough situation, like one of those Tar Baby kinds. There are several gospel principles to keep in balance here: Love of Christ, love of thy neighbor and love of yourself. Elder Uchtdorf just reminded us in conference how important... Read the rest of this entry »

This is a powerful video about Chris Williams who lost his wife, an unborn child, an 11-year-old son and a 9-year-old daughter in a car accident. They were killed by a drunk driver. Chris talks about the power of prayer, of brotherly love, of letting go of anger and forgiving. He beautifully expresses how God has listened to his prayers, and how choosing not to direct anger and grief at the person who caused the pain has made all the difference…how letting the Savior take that pain has allowed the Savior’s healing power and love to flow to him as well as to the young driver and his family. One of the family’s church leaders says, “There is Jesus’ way to resolve problems, to address situations, to handle sorrow, and then there is some other way.” This leader felt that Chris made the decision long ago to turn to the Savior in hard times, so that when this heartwrenching experience came, he was able to make that choice, even in the moment of the accident,... Read the rest of this entry »

“One of our sons was spending a few days incarcerated in a local facility to ‘pay his debt to society.’  As I looked at his sorrowful countenance behind that glass wall, my heart nearly broken, I only wished I had held and rocked that baby boy.  I couldn’t, as hard as I tried, think of a specific time when I had held him on my lap and kissed his head, face, and ears and held him close to my heart. I had washed that boy, scolded him for misdeeds, sent him to school, even taken pictures of him, but I couldn’t remember putting my lips next to his ear and whispering tender, loving, happy words that might have echoed in his memory when he needed them.  When my arms couldn’t get to him through that terrible glass barrier, I wanted to remember how it felt to hold him and I wanted him to remember how it felt to be held and loved by his mother. So, if I could go back, I would hold and rock and sing and whisper love to my child every single day.” ... Read the rest of this entry »

A few weeks ago I read an article explaining that time does not stop or change at the New Year, only humans do.  At the time I thought to myself, “Who cares?  Resolving to make myself a better person isn’t a bad thing.”  Now, though, I’ve lived through another New Year’s and I’m understanding more clearly what the article’s writer had been imbibing. The truth is, I am not a better person than I was three days ago and I don’t feel the motivation or desire to be so.  This New Year’s Eve found me more mad at the world than I can remember ever being and that mood hasn’t left me.  I know we’re individually responsible for making our own happiness, but I haven’t made it work before and the dead cold dark of January isn’t really the time I see myself finding motivation to make this time successful.  So, with an apology to my husband and my kids who take the brunt of my self-imposed misery,... Read the rest of this entry »

“…do not forget to pray.  Each time you pray, if you do so sincerely, there will be the flash of a new feeling in it, and a new thought as well, one you did not know before, which will give you fresh courage; and you will understand that prayer is education.  Remember also: every day and whenever you can, repeat within yourself: ‘Lord, have mercy upon all who come before you today.’  For every hour and every moment thousands of people leave their life on this earth, and their souls come before the Lord—and so many of them part with the earth in isolation, unknown to anyone, in sadness and sorrow that no one will mourn for them, or even know whether they had lived or not.  And so, perhaps from the other end of the earth, your prayer for his repose will rise up to the Lord, though you did not know him at all, nor he you.  How moving it is for this soul, coming in fear before the Lord, to feel at that moment that someone is praying for him, too, that there... Read the rest of this entry »

Be forewarned: This essay contains references to masturbation and other sexual acts.  Once again by assignment, I examine the social impact of a controversial book first published over forty years ago, at the height of the sexual revolution.  I’ve noticed a trend among most of the short stories and books that we have considered this year in our American Literature classes: many of them contain material that would be considered to be shocking or offensive to more conservative readers.  Portnoy’s Complaint is no exception.  In fact, if Ginsberg hadn’t broken the indecency barrier with his poem Howl a decade earlier, I am certain that Philip Roth would have been charged with breaking some sort of obscenity law.  As it was, attempts were made to prohibit the distribution of the book in some countries and many U.S. libraries banned the book as too vulgar.  Of course that was in 1969.  Today it is considered an American classic. I would like to address in this essay just what it... Read the rest of this entry »

My last post contained a record of my observations regarding Nephi’s character as I have observed it. It was as follows: “At this point I would like to interject a possible concern. There have been times when I have wondered how the same incidence, if told in the perspective of Laman and Lemuel, might have differed. Since this record is that of Nephi, I have felt at times that he seems to make sure the record is really slanted in his favor. This perspective changed for me when I realized that Nephi had, I believe, already at this point in his history, progressed to the point that he had received the sealing power. The understanding that I have of this power allows me to now view Nephi quite differently. Suddenly every word that Nephi speaks is as if the Lord himself were speaking. No longer do I view Nephi as boastful, but as a representative of God in every word and deed. This exchange between Nephi and his brothers, or the rebellious, has become a way for me to understand the... Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve shared for nearly 3 years now, the purpose of this blog is to share my experiences in life as I grow “grace for grace” in the Lord.  This past year, I have felt moved to become politically active.  As I feel that my political views are a part of my development, I shared my views.  However, after reading some of my readers’ comments and also an article in BYU magazine, I thought I would apologize not for my views, but for the attitude in which I wrote my article on being a Christian and Democrat. Ross Spencer, Physics Chair at BYU, wrote an article included in last summer’s BYU magazine entitled “Learning in the Light of Faith.”  Last night, after I had written a pretty controvosial post on being a Christian and Democrat, I was led to this article after saying my prayers.  After reading the article, I was humbled by what the author said and thought I would share this with readers of this blog. Spencer writes: Part of balancing scholarship... Read the rest of this entry »