Our scriptures tell us that there is only one God.

32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. (Mark 12: 32-34)

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2: 5)

But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. (1 Cor. 8: 6)

for there is one God and one Shepherd over all the earth. (1 Ne. 13: 41)

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Ok, I am assuming we all are aware of the story of the prodigal son, and I am willing to bet we’ve all spent some time thinking about the other son.

Well, that’s me. I’m him.

It drives me crazy that the government is bailing out my brothers and sisters, when I have busted my but working hard and made huge sacrifices so I could keep food on the table and a roof over our heads. I didn’t follow my dreams. I took a practical job. I didn’t go on vacation, but instead I paid the mortgage. I drive an economy car. I bought the cheapest house we looked at. I eat beans and rice from the food storage when times are tough. I’ve never had cable, and my TV is over a decade old.

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This thread is cracking me up.

I just gave the “etymology is not meaning” speech to one of my varsity scouts a couple of weeks ago, but apparently it could use wider circulation. One of the scouts was pulling the familiar line that goes something like: “don’t use that word, do you know what the word “dork” really means?” (more…)

Ok, game’s over and BYU got crushed. Here’s my conclusion: Live by the Max, Die by the Max. BYU had six turnovers and Max Hall was credited for all of them. That isn’t a good way to win a big game.

Congrats to the Utes (and to the MWC) for another pending BCS game invite.

And congrats to the Cougs for a third straight 10-win regular season.

And best wishes to Mike Reed who looked like he was seriously injured at the end of the game.

‘Now Let Us Rejoice’ begins its second verse with the following words:

We’ll love one another and never dissemble.

For some reason this caught my attention at church the other day, and I realized my long held assumption that dissemble was a shortened form of disassemble (think Johnny 5), didn’t really make much sense. So I looked it up. To dissemble, if you are ignorant like me, means to “make believe with the intent to deceive”. So the song says we’ll love one another and we won’t fake it.

But what is real and what is make believe? And are we deceiving ourselves?

What is Love?
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I was reminded of the bestest, coolest, awesomest chord in our hymnal in sacrament meeting today. It is a v7 chord, aka minor v chord with a flat/dominant 7 added. It is found in the tune Press Forward Saints (Hymn #81) in the last stanza. You’ll recognize it immediately. It is the “le” is that great “Alleluia” near the end of the song. Have a listen here or here.

Of course the coolness of that v7 chord is enhanced by the second coolest chord in the hymnal, the Dominant VII Maj7 chord that immediately follows it as the “lu”. So that turnaround progression goes I – v7 – Dominant VII Maj7 – I, or more specifically, F – c7 – Eflat Maj7 – F. I can’t think of a better turnaround in the book and the v7 must be the very best chord of all. Can you think of any challengers?

BYU football took care of the Air Force Falcons in impressive fashion today out in Colorado Springs. The final score was 38-24. With a solid win like this the Cougars appear ready to give Utah all they can handle next week in Salt Lake City. Plus, the BCS ranking for the Cougs ought to jump nicely this week with a win against an 8-2 team. BYU needs a win next week and a Boise State loss to have a legitimate chance at a BCS bowl — not out of the question but not likely either.

In other BYU sports news, the Men’s Basketball team beat Long Beach State last night in the season opener. Most of the team played poorly but senior star Lee Cummard put the team on his back and carried it to victory. BYU is hoping this will be the year they finally win a game in the NCAA tournament again.

I’m going to be up front here, I do not normally purchase books published by Signature Books, due to the company’s controversial place in Current Mormon Culture. So you can read all my comments as someone who is biased by their culture to have a disposition to dislike Signature Books.

That said, Every Latter-day Saint who has even a remote interest in Church History should own at least this book. I am about 50 pages in and so far it has given me an insider’s view of: The Zion’s Camp affair, the Kirtland Safety Society, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, Early Temple worship, The Endowment, The 12’s Mission to UK, The Book of Abraham, and more. Woodruff is incredibly articulate and Staker does an excellent job of abridging the text to keep the pace quick and interesting.

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BYU dispatched the woeful SDSU Aztecs in Provo today by a score of 41-12. Going 9-1 ain’t bad. But this is the last easy game of the year for the Cougs with next week’s game at league title contending Air Force and the final game after that at undefeated Utah.

I thought the Cougs looked pretty good overall today. Outside linebacker David Nixon had a stellar game and the defense held its own nicely against a team that scored a bunch of points against CSU. I am suspicious of the stubbornness of offensive coordinator Robert Anae. He seemed determined to run and run and run even though it was clear that the Aztecs were determined to stop the run at all costs. The pass plays were open all day so I don’t understand why BYU didn’t just take what SDSU was giving more consistently. The BYU run game has been unimpressive all year to begin with. While Fui Vakapuna is looking better this year Harvey Unga has looked a step slower than last season. It seems to me that Anae ought to just admit that we are better off going pass first and run second with this team. Collie and Pitta are among the best receivers BYU has ever had so why not just use them first and then use the run to keep defenses honest?

But this is mostly nitpicking. BYU is 9-1 fer cryin’ out loud.

Now as to the rest of the season. If BYU wins out there is still a chance at an invite to a BCS game. It would probably require a loss by Boise State but with the Broncos still needing to defeat Nevada in Reno and Fresno State at home that is not out of the question. I am not sure I would like to see BYU go up against a top SEC or Big 12 team or USC for that matter but I think we could do just fine against the top teams in the ACC, Big East, and even Big 10.

But winning out is no cake walk — indeed it doesn’t really even seem likely considering the weaknesses this BYU team has shown this season — but that is what I’m pulling for at this point. Chime in ye Coug fans.

We’ve had the Scientology Rule and I’m still trying to forget the TK Smoothie rule but I’d like to suggest another rule to help us be a little bit more civil here in this fabulous little Mormon life we lead.

You might consider it to be an extension of reductio ad hitlerum but with a Mormon twist. I am calling it the “Reductio ad Korihorem” rule and it basically goes thus:

If you have a differing opinion with someone else and label their opinion as that of Korihor, the Gadianton Robbers, Satan, Cain, Kishkummen, Ed Decker, or any other patently evil person, then you aren’t really making a logical argument, and I am not obliged to take you seriously.

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We can’t hold it against those copying texts thousands of years ago. It is entirely understandable that as they copied the original text of Daniel, when faced with what must have seemed to them a nonsense word “Obamanation,” they would try to smooth out this difficult reading by substituting the more reasonable look-alike word “abomination.” For us, living in the end times prophesied by Daniel, the meaning is obviously much more easily discerned. (more…)