As I opened the August Ensign, and went over the prophet’s message, I found it interesting that in Aug 2008, the prophet decided to talk about September 11, 2001. Then I realized it was a reprint.

Yes I know this isn’t new by any stretch of the imagination. President Hinckley did this often.

And I know Monson has been repeating Sermons for 40 some odd years now.

But seriously, does President Monson contemporize his own republishings? Does he even select them? Or is this all done by some Ensign editor who with oversight from some curriculum guy? I’m just curious. Anyone know someone in the know on what the process is here?

*- I’m not bashing the choice to republish or asking for a doctrinal reason for it. I’m just curious about the process and practice thereof.

I just want ya’ll to know that this is going to be kind of a weird post so…um…it’s just going to be weird. I will divulge something about myself that I don’t think that even Geoff, my husband, knows. Well, he probably knows, whenever Geoff’s around I tend to barf out whatever thoughts are in my head. I’d just like to think I had enough dignity to keep this to myself. Until now! (more…)

Living in Oregon I don’t get to many of the various conferences, but as it turns out I will by in Utah this year during the FAIR conference on Aug 7th and 8th (since my brother in law is getting back from a mission that week) so I am going! I attended the FAIR conference one other time a few years back and it was a great time so I am looking forward to it this year. As usual, I see some bloggernaclers on the program and in particular I’m excited to see what Blake, Brian, and JimF do under the title Philosophy and Mormonism.

Who else has plans to be there?

This recent story over at KSL cracked me up (hat tip to Eric Snider and sorry if you saw this already):

A frustrating night for some would-be robbers in Salt Lake City, especially for one whose demand for cash went way wrong.

In Utah it may be a difficult deal to tell the difference between the words “fill” and “feel.” Last night when a robber presented a bag at the Cafe Treo, he told the server to “fill” it.

“The employee thought the suspect said ‘feel’ the bag, so the employee reached over and felt the bag,” said Detective Jeff Bedard, spokesman for the Salt Lake City Police Department.

Bedard says the suspect replied, “You’ve gotta be kidding” and fled the store empty-handed. “Maybe he had a chance rethink his life of crime,” Bedard said.

After the Duchess I thought I was through with dogs forever. I know that Geoff really hoped deep in his heart that I was through with dogs but I think in another spot down deep in his heart he knew that I wasn’t, because I really like dogs. So, after about 3 years of constantly being asked for a dog by all of my little babes I decided to give in again. (more…)

So, moving on to “the Duchess” (or as I like to call her, Fat @$$). We now lived in Arizona and had settled in to our new home. The baby of our family was now about 2 and I thought things were calm enough to attempt dog ownership once again. (more…)

Last December, much to Geoff’s dismay, we (the children and I) brought a new addition home to the J household. It was a tiny, cute little Rat Terrier that, after much debate, we decided to name Fui (pronounced Phooey). The Rat Terrier breed is very similar looking to the Jack Russell, but with a smaller head and finer facial features. Our dog is black, tan, and white which is commonly referred to as a “tri-color”. Fui is mostly black with a white belly and legs and the occasional tan spot. He looks like he is wearing a little Zorro mask and cape. Duh…we should have named him Zorro! (more…)

A new report from the Center for Disease Control is out announcing that for the first time more than 25% of adult Americans are officially obese. Now you may be thinking, “my friends may be a little overweight but I’m glad they aren’t obese.” But of course this study is using the BMI index definition of obese. In that definition your chubby friends very well could be officially obese. Here are some examples of obese people:

– Anyone who is 6′ 2″ and more than 234 lbs.
– Anyone who is 6′ 0″ and more than 221 lbs.
– Anyone who is 5’10” and more than 209 lbs.
– Anyone who is 5′ 8″ and more than 197 lbs
– Anyone who is 5′ 6″ and more than 186 lbs
– Anyone who is 5′ 4″ and more than 175 lbs
– Anyone who is 5′ 2″ and more than 164 lbs

Do you know anyone who fits that bill?
(more…)

Which Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one God, infinite and eternal, without end. Amen. (D&C 28:10)

thus becoming the Father and Son— And they are one God, yea, the very Eternal Father of heaven and of earth. (Mosiah 15: 3-4)

There isn’t much question that our scriptures, both ancient and modern, speak of multiple divine persons unifying to make up the great One God. So if two or three divine person can unify to make up the One God what is the maximum number? Seems to me that there is none…

I have been thinking about the implications of Joseph Smith insisting that we as individuals are co-eternal with God. Joseph used the terms “spirits” and “intelligences” interchangeably. Lots of effort has been spent by Mormon thinkers and leaders since then to undo or explain away Joseph’s thoughts on that. I think that is because the idea of us having “whole cloth” beginningless spirits as opposed to having some kind of a beginning is both hard to comprehend and damaging to a lot of our traditional theological assumptions. I wrote a post about some of those problems here. There are several theological theories in Mormonism that assume we do indeed have a beginning. There is the whole viviparous spirit birth theory that nowadays usually tracks to the tri-partite intelligence->spirit->physical body model introduced by BH Roberts. Before that Brigham Young and Orson Pratt liked the spirit particles model. (See our previous Spirit/Intelligences discussions here) The Young/Pratt version assumes just our parts are eternal, not our current spirits. The Roberts model assumes our spirits are not eternal but we have an eternal “intelligence” that powers our spirit body that powers our physical body.

Anyway, if we assume for this post that Joseph meant it when he called spirits eternal and that he never intended to say there is a difference between spirits and intelligences, we have interesting theological possibilities we are left with. It makes me think of the well known verse of scripture:

Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? (John 10: 34)

So here is my meandering end to a meandering post: What do you think beginningless spirits would do to provide some variety to their endless life and stay diverted and busy forever? I must admit that I have been wondering recently if boredom alleviation is an eternal principle …