Mormon Bloggers

The Fort Collins Coloradan reports that opposition to the proposed temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Fort Collins has emerged, with concerns expressed about the impacts on traffic, health, and environment by the construction of a 27,000 square foot building in a neighborhood currently zoned residential. A map of the proposed site is available HERE. There is no overt sign of any local anti-Mormon bigotry behind the opposition, at least not yet. KMGH Channel 7 also published a brief story; the 51 public comments appended so far may be of interest. One of the opponents, David Hirning, best reflects the concerns of others. He notes that Trilby and Timberline Roads are already busy roads that will get even more congested with the presence of a temple. He believes property values will plummet, wildlife will be displaced and the increased vehicle emissions will be harmful to health. Another opponent says existing traffic problems already make it a “disaster”... Read the rest of this entry »

 Recently I had a close family member get married in the temple to an awesome guy.  This young man was the only member of the LDS church in his family and it was an uncomfortable situation (to say the least) for the bride, groom, and family members involved.  Although there was a ring ceremony for those who couldn’t attend the temple, from what it appeared, there was an unpleasant taste in their mouths so to speak about the LDS Church and their policy with not allowing them to watch the wedding ceremony.  This situation is something that is a sore spot for many people.  In fact, one blogger shares an example of someone who went as far to say that one of the main reasons why Mormons are not Christians is because they keep parents from watching their kids get married. So what is the solution? It appears that some people feel that a petition to the First Presidency of the Church to change the temple policy is the way to go as seen on this website. Some people on the petition site... Read the rest of this entry »

Elizabeth Smart must have been a regular Pied Piper during her mission to France, leading the investigators in a veritable conga line straight into the baptismal font. Less than six months after Smart completed her mission, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced plans to build a temple in Le Chesnay in the outskirts of Paris. The Church has now set up a dedicated page on the proposed temple. Normally, new temples are announced only during the twice-yearly General Conferences, but the French media broke the story early. The following statement was published on LDS Newsroom: President Thomas S. Monson said today that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hopes to build its first temple in France on property on the outskirts of Paris. Customarily, new temples are announced by the president of the Church at one of the Church’s general conferences, after local government building approvals and property acquisition have been secured. Although the local government... Read the rest of this entry »

Mormons are known for the revelation given to Joseph Smith commonly called the “Word of Wisdom”, which is the law of health.  Part of the Word of Wisdom includes things that individuals should not consume such as alcohol, and “hot drinks”, which the LDS prophets have interpretted to mean caffeinated tea and coffee.  I read a study on line from UC Davis that stated the caffeine content of some energy drinks can be as high as 294 mg/bottle, which is 50 mg more than the highest amount of your typical tea, coffee, or cola drink.  In addition, when you add the amounts of sugar to the drinks, they become something that definitely are more damaging to the body than any tea or coffee.  See the chart below for caffeine and sugar content in popular energy drinks: Drink Serving (fl. Oz.) Servings per container Sugar per serving Caffeine per serving Kcal Diet Rockstar Energy Drink™ 8 2 0g 80 10 Full Throttle™ 8 2 29g 72 111 Go Girl Sugar Free™ 12 1 0g 150 3 Lo-Carb... Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a story that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should be paying attention to, because of the possible pretext set for restriction upon wearing of LDS temple garments. FIFA, the international governing body for soccer (called “football” in most other parts of the world), has suddenly banned the custom-designed tight headscarves that members of the Iranian national women’s soccer team were wearing to cover their hair. Worse yet, FIFA invoked this ban arbitrarily and suddenly, blindsiding the team just before kickoff of a crucial Olympic qualifying match with Jordan in Amman on Friday June 3rd, 2011. FIFA disputes the contention that the Iranian team was blindsided. They claim Iranian officials were reminded well before the match that the headscarf covering a woman’s neck is banned for safety reasons. FIFA originally announced the ban on headscarves and other religious exterior wear for the 2012 Olympics back in April 2010, but the... Read the rest of this entry »

In 1999, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in an effort to cope with the fact that many members were no longer donating above and beyond tithing and fast offerings to help operate their local wards and stakes, to include covering the rising costs of maintaining buildings and providing utilities, sent out a letter to local leaders calling upon Church members to assume a greater responsibility for cleaning and caring for Church meetinghouses. In particular, the letter suggested that Aaronic Priesthood quorums could play a prominent role in fulfilling this responsibility. Some local units began to terminate professional janitorial services as a result. In the June 1999 Ensign, Presiding Bishop H. David Burton explained the issue, saying that saving money was not the only objective. Participating in the cleaning of the buildings would be a sacrifice by which members would better honor and respect and love our beautiful houses of worship. In short, the program was also intended... Read the rest of this entry »

A recent wall posting on the infamous Challenging Mormon Apologetics has provided another example of proper twisting, misrepresentation, and false accusations against the LDS Church and Mormon Leaders. Here is a line by line response to their latest diatribe. CMA: The LDS Church has baptized in LDS Temples Hitler and company. The (sic) even sealed [...]  Read More →

After reviewing one of my previous essays, a thoughtful reader asked my opinion about the idea of perfection and if the requirements for salvation had changed.  He said, “Open just about any page of the book of Leviticus and you’ll see laws that were of life and death importance to the early church, but not today. In contrast, there is no mention of baptism or confirmation in the Old Testament as a requirement for salvation, yet today, they are taught as essential.” He also asked about the need for the Word of Wisdom, temple ordinances, plural marriage and the second anointing. He concluded, “If God is eternal, and heaven doesn’t change, shouldn’t the requirements to get into heaven be the same, no matter when you were born or what culture you lived in?” Although his email was private, great questions like these deserve a response that can be shared in my blog so others who might be interested can benefit from the dialog. Perfection means completed The savior... Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes when I visit the temple, I seek a specific blessing – confirmation of a decision I’m considering, help with an issue I’m confronting, or peace for my troubled heart. This past weekend was one of those times. And the blessing came, at least in part. I went this time with specific questions, looking for guidance and comfort regarding something going on in my life. As I sat in the endowment room prior to the beginning of the session, I reflected on my questions, saying a silent prayer that I might be tuned in to listen for help that might come. In fact, I was so preoccupied with my concerns at one point that others must have thought I had fallen asleep, but I tuned in soon enough. Part of the endowment session is a prayer, offered normally for those whose names are on the prayer roll of the temple. Patrons may include names on the prayer roll, and members can even phone in names to be included. While the prayers follow a specific pattern, they are not prescribed;... Read the rest of this entry »

Note: All posts on the Phoenix Temple available HERE, with the most recent post displaying first. Although neighborhood residents who oppose the placement of the proposed Phoenix Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in their neck of the woods repeatedly claim they have no axe to grind against the Church, one must begin to wonder if that’s really true, since there seems to be no end to the objections they dream up. First, they didn’t like the height of the temple and its spire. So the Church lowered the base height of the building from 40 feet to 30 feet. Then, they objected to the lighting, so the Church said they would impose limits upon the length of time the temple would be illuminated each day. Now, opponents of the temple are complaining about parking — specifically, whether or not the number of parking spaces effectively matches expected usage of the temple. The Arizona Republic describes the critical attributes of this new dispute reasonably... Read the rest of this entry »

In my last couple of posts, I have been talking a bit about how things such as having faith, setting goals, improving myself, etc., and I believe that this is largely due to the fact that I have been contemplating the 2010 year and the upcoming 2011 year.  In years past, I have made New Year’s resolutions here and there, some of them I stuck with and saw through to the end while others not so much.  Last year the only resolution that I really made was to stick with my plan to finish serving my mission, which seemed very much in doubt after I came back from not only the Ivory Coast but from Canada as well.  Well, thankfully, I was blessed enough to be able to come here to the Referral Center to finish my mission. And now that another year is coming to a close, I have been pondering about what goals and New Year’s resolutions that I want to make for 2011 a lot over the past few days.  It has been interesting to think about because there are many goals and things... Read the rest of this entry »

Last week I received an early Christmas gift as my daughter received her endowment. She is not getting married and she is not going on a mission. She just decided it was time for her to take this step in her life. Fortunately her bishop and her stake president agreed. She is not my first child, but she is the first of my children to go through the temple. It was a delightful experience to be there with her on that remarkable day. It was not an easy day, and it made me think of two or three other difficult days I’ve been in the temple. When our family was sealed in the Salt Lake Temple, it was after driving nearly non-stop from Pittsburgh, PA, to Salt Lake City. My parents were exhausted as we looked for the KOA campground near Point of the Mountain, and to listen to us in the car that evening, one would never have guessed we wanted to be together for another ten minutes let alone for eternity. (In fairness, I assume we won’t be stuck in a 1964 Buick station wagon for... Read the rest of this entry »