Mormon Bloggers

It is amazing that Christian Apologetic Research Ministry employ’s a double standard toward those who are members of the Latter-day Saint Christian Faith and those who claim to be “Evangelical Christians”. This was sent to me as a request to post and expose the double standards of those “CARMITE Evangelical’s” regarding rule violations, board suspensions, [...] AKPC_IDS += "249976,";Popularity: unranked [?] Read More →

On this Pioneer day, I decided to answer all the personal questions that you are asked when you fill out the profile on Mormon.org.  There are a whole lot more under the FAQ section (about 80) but that will have to wait for another day when I have more time.  I thoroughly enjoyed the process of answering these questions and felt like I was being interviewed, thus the title of this blog post. 01. Please explain the part prayer plays in your life? Having grown up with daily prayer, I can’t imagine a day go by in which I don’t communicate with my Heavenly Father in prayer.  We start the day in prayer as a family asking for the Lord’s blessing upon us as we work.  We end the day in prayer the same way, usually kneeling by the bed, reporting our activities to God and thanking him for his help.  We give thanks for the food we eat at mealtimes and participate in public prayers in our weekly worship service.  It is through prayer and reading scriptures that I feel close to God and directed... Read the rest of this entry »

I haven’t been this excited about something the church has done in a long time.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love the blessings of being involved in church activity each week, especially as I watch the young single adults grow and develop (I serve in the Bishopric of a YSA ward).  But for me, this is probably the single most exciting development I have seen come from Salt Lake City in many years. I’m talking about the new Mormon.org, a complete redesign of the companion website to lds.org, the two main websites of the Mormon church.  Since I make a living with computers in IT support, I have been watching the church embrace and use technology for my entire adult life.  In the early nineties I wondered for a long time when the church would finally get a website.  When they did, it took me a while to not think that it was just a little bit behind the times even when it was new.  I felt the same way when Mormon.org first came out.  But with release 4.0 of the site,... Read the rest of this entry »

Last night Patsy and I enjoyed a spontaneous and unscheduled visit from two dear friends at our home.  Two middle-aged women with growing families were lamenting their experiences with peers who have left the Church for a variety of reasons, and they asked us what they could do if anything to reclaim them.  I was reminded of a letter I was invited to write to a member of the Seventy several years ago in answer to his question, “What can the Church do to help the youth?” What follows was my answer then, and to our friends last night.  The names have been changed for obvious reasons. What would the rest of you say? I’d love your feedback. . . September 20, 2003 Dear Elder Nameless: Thanks so much for a delightful lunch hour (or two) the other day. It was a great treat for me, and particularly to be with you and to discuss the things we did. Your generous invitation to give some thought to the question, “What can the Church do to help the youth?” only... Read the rest of this entry »

Child abuse at the hands of clergy often makes headlines, and leaves people questioning how various religious organizations respond to and seek to prevent the sin and tragedy of child abuse. This question about how the LDS Church handles child abuse was recently addressed by Von G. Keetch, chief outside legal counsel for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He summed up by stating that the Mormon Church’s position is simply that “Abuse cannot be tolerated in any form.” He explains: For decades, the LDS Church has repeatedly, publicly, and unequivocally denounced child abuse as an “insidious evil” and a “sin of the darkest hue.” Church leaders at the highest level began making such statements and aggressively addressing the issue even before clergy-abuse cases raised public awareness in the mid-1980s. Since 1976, more than 50 articles have appeared in Church publications condemning child abuse or educating members about it. As... Read the rest of this entry »

~by Katy With our daughter, our lil’ Hannah, now a full-fledged member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, I’ve been trying to help her find ways to develop her spirit…mainly her connection with the Holy Ghost. I want her to learn how to feel His influence…in her own way. We’ve talked about how she could feel warm fuzzies inside. Or she could feel a sense of peace. Or she could feel really happy after she has made a good choice. I also want her to recognize what the Spirit feels like when something is not right. Like when her classmates at school are not making a good decision and she feels awful inside because she knows that it is wrong. Or if she feels uncomfortable around somebody for no apparent reason, it may be the Spirit telling her to get away from that person immediately. I hope that what I’m saying is sticking…only time will tell I guess. As a parent, I feel it’s important for me to give my children every chance... Read the rest of this entry »

I couldn’t resist posting Seth Adam Smith’s new video about Charles Dickens, which appeared over on Meridian Magazine yesterday. And guess who’s narrating? AKPC_IDS += "204310,";Popularity: unranked [?] Read More →

Hallowed Ground, Sacred Journeys (found at BYU Virtual Tours with an interactive site here) is a wonderful resource for learning more about both well-known and more obscure historical sites that have a place in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Each post contains professional documentary video clips that give you a virtual tour of the selected Church history site, and also includes beautiful photographs related to each location. Every Wednesday, a new site is explored. Hallowed Ground, Sacred Journeys is a must-see for anyone interested in learning more about LDS Church history. The videos are also available on YouTube at the BYU Virtual Tours channel. Some of the LDS historical sites already shared  include the following places in Salt Lake City, Utah (USA) (the city where the Mormon Church is headquartered): The Salt Lake Tabernacle The LDS Conference Center The Salt Lake City, Utah LDS Temple Temple Square Visitor’s Center in Salt Lake City …and... Read the rest of this entry »

God’s anti-discrimination Title VII: “For none of these iniquities come of the Lord… and he ainviteth them ball to ccome unto him and partake of his goodness; and he ddenieth none that come unto him, black and white, ebond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the fheathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile.”  (circa 550 B.C.) Title VII specifically prohibits discrimination in the categories of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.  Amendment 13 prohibits slavery. God’s analog seems to specifically prohibit discrimination in the categories of color, slave/non-slave, sex, and a form of national origin or perhaps religion (Jew and Gentile).  I’m not really sure what category is implicated by the reference to the heathen (uneducated?  not religiously trained?). Good going for America for the apparent anti-discrimination harmony with God’s revealed word.  By the way, just for the record, I trust... Read the rest of this entry »

Person A: “God revealed to me that religion X is the only religion that He is well pleased with.”Person B: “God revealed to me that religion Y is the only religion that He is well pleased with.” Thus, it seems likely that the veracity of revelation received/reported by persons A, B, or both is flawed.  Duo non possunt in dolido unam rem possidere “two cannot possess one thing each in entirety.”  It would be inconsistent for God to affirm two mutually exclusive claims.  (“In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be wrong. God cannot be for, and against the same thing at the same time.” – Abraham Lincoln)  This is how I would summarize the “diversity problem” in religion.  (see also religious pluralism, exclusivism, inclusivism, and the same sex marriage study I referenced in my post about homosexuality).  Especially look at... Read the rest of this entry »

Elder David A. Bednar, an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, shares these thoughts about the tender mercies of the Lord. AKPC_IDS += "177465,";Popularity: unranked [?] Read More →

While reading this month’s Ensign, I came across a great quote by Elder Lance B Wickman of the Seventy.  He states: [When deciding whom to marry] be careful not to base your judgements merely on..whether someone has served a full-time mission or holds a particular calling in your ward…know someone well enough to learn his or her heart and character firsthand and not just his or her “gospel resume”. (Wickman, Apr 2010 Ensign p.15) For those not familiar with the LDS faith, this advice is probably a no brainer.  However, somehow it is a part of the LDS culture that girls must marry a return missionary (a young man who has faithfully served the 2 year LDS mission) or else they’re getting a second-rate guy.  When I was attending Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho) I remember girls treating me much differently before my mission than after my mission.  Girls who were serious about hunkering down and ”getting hitched” didn’t want anything to do... Read the rest of this entry »