When Nevada backed out of their scheduled season opening game with BYU several months ago BYU was left in a bad spot. They needed to schedule a home game for August 30 with a good opponent. The problem is that most schools are not super anxious to come to Provo to face the Cougs — largely because most schools realize it is hard to beat BYU in Provo these days. So BYU reportedly took the best game it could get. That meant that Division 1AA (FCS) powerhouse Northern Iowa.

In the end BYU took care of the NIU Panthers 41-17. But the game was no thing of beauty for the Cougs on Saturday. BYU actually did have an excellent first half. It was the dominating performance one would expect from a top 20 division 1A (FBS) school over a good school from a lower division with the Cougs leading 27-3 going into the break. But the third quarter was a disaster for BYU. After losing 4 fumbles the Cougars gave up 14 points and scored none in the 3rd and the score heading in to the 4th quarter was 27-17. BYU righted the ship quickly enough and got those 14 points back but the game did show that BYU is has a way to go in its “Quest For Perfection” (the team motto in 2008).

Here are some random thoughts and observations about the game:

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Football season is upon us.

Woohoo!

As I have in years past I will be posting on the BYU football team this season and recapping the games. But before I kick off my own posts on the Cougs I figured I would give you some links to the best day to day BYU football resources I have found: (more…)

Can someone give me a solid definition of “the Lord’s anointed”? Does it mean any saint? Any saint who has been to the temple? Any person who holds an assignment at church? Does it refer exclusively to the top of the church hierarchy? Something else? What say ye?

(Whoever it is, we’re not supposed to “evil speak” them — which could probably use some defining as well…)

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.

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?
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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 …

There was and interesting article today at Time.com (via Yahoo News) focusing on a recent survey from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. [Update: See more detailed survey results here and here] Here are some excerpts:

Americans of every religious stripe are considerably more tolerant of the beliefs of others than most of us might have assumed, according to a new poll released Monday. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life last year surveyed 35,000 American, and found that 70% of respondents agreed with the statement “Many religions can lead to eternal life.” Even more remarkable was the fact that 57% of Evangelical Christians were willing to accept that theirs might not be the only path to salvation, since most Christians historically have embraced the words of Jesus, in the Gospel of John, that “no one comes to the Father except through me.”

Quizzed on the breadth of the poll’s definition of “Evangelical,” Pew pollster John Green said the 296-page survey made use of self-identification by the respondents’ churches, denominations or fellowships, whose variety is the report’s overriding theme. However, he said, if one isolates the most “traditionalist” members of the white Evangelical group, 50% still agreed that other faiths might offer a path to eternal life. In fact, of the dozens of denominations covered by the Pew survey, it was only Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses who answered in the majority that their own faith was the only way to eternal life. (Italics mine)

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It’s finally over. After about 4 years of enjoying the higher law in our stake — a 2.5 hour block every Sunday — we are switching back to the standard 3 hour block. Lament and wail oh ye Queen Creek saints; Zion hath fled!

I know what some of you are thinking: “A 2.5 hour block?? That must be awesome.” It has not just been awesome… oh no. It has been the most awesomely awesome awesomeness that ever inspired awe in some… uhhh… people. But alas it is over. Starting this Sunday we are back to three full hours. I don’t know how we’ll survive it. But survive it we must I suppose.
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My third grade daughter was distraught the other evening. She has/had a crush on a boy and after school that day, fearless girl that she is, she asked him if he wanted to “go with” her. She never did find out his answer, but what made her distraught was that she later asked someone if it was ok for kids like her to “go with” a boy and she was told the answer was no because there was a “Mormon law” that said you shouldn’t date until you are sixteen. That kind of freaked her out. So that night after bedtime she tearfully came to Kristen and me to confess her perceived sin of earlier in the day. I calmed her fears the best I could and explained that basically it was really nothing and that she had not broken a Mormon law. I explained that there is nothing wrong with her having a crush on a boy and there is nothing wrong with her admitting it to him. And there is no law or rule against such crushes.
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So I found out just yesterday that the church officially announced it will be building a new temple here in Gilbert Arizona. I thought that was pretty cool. Then I found out where they plan to build it and realized that it is like 2 miles from my house (as the crow flies). That rules. No more of those arduous 45 minute drives into Mesa!! But seriously, I’m pretty stoked about it. Rumor has it this will be a fully operational temple, albeit not a giant one. I guess there are benefits to living near a lot of Morms.

Update: Brian Duffin sent me the picture below but it is reportedly actually a picture of the Panama temple:

Update 2: This one should be more accurate

One of our regular readers/participants, V the K, sent me this email recently. I figured I would put it up for all to respond:

I brought up this question in Sunday School yesterday, and no one had an answer for it beyond “there are just some things we don’t understand.” I wondered if you knew where it might have been addressed before. I did a search on New Cool Thang, but did not see it discussed. Here is the paradox:

1. Families are eternal, and once sealed together families are together for eternity.
2. BUT: After judgment, some of us are assigned to the Celestial Kingdom, some to the Terrestrial, and some to the Telestial.

OK, so if I’m judged worthy of the terrestrial Kingdom and one of my sons is assigned to the Celestial Kingdom and another to the Telestial Kingdom, then we’ve been separated, haven’t we?

I appreciate any insight you can bring to bear on this.