So I was listening to the song Monkey Man by The Specials this afternoon and it dawned on me that I haven’t written a single post on Mormons and evolution here at the Thang. That changes today. (I’m always thinking of how to tie posts in with radio.blog anyway…) (more…)

Bryce’s recent post has reignited a small discussion about God’s foreknowledge. I thought I would make a few comments that tie some of my former posts together on the subject. (more…)

We often read Nephi’s injunction to “feast on the words of Christ” as instructions to dig into the scriptures. I heartily endorse digging into the scriptures, but as I read that portion of Nephi’s sermon, I don’t think that is what Nephi meant. Nephi is telling us exactly what we are supposed to do after we “enter in by the way” – and I think that is to enter into a revelatory dialogue with God. (more…)

In my last post on the Oneness of the members of the Godhead I brought up the idea that a fundamental difference between our minds and the mind of the Godhead is that we can only think of one thing at a time and they can think of multiple things at once. Here is a link to the Nibley article I referred to earlier called “Zeal Without Knowledge.” In this paper Nibley leads with the idea that human minds literally can only think of one thing at a time. We really do have one track minds — we are just good a flickering back and forth between things so quickly that it is as if we are thinking of multiple things at once. God does not have this limitation. The connection to the last post is that I think that without this limitation, the notion of me vs. other becomes a different thing entirely. Clearly, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. (more…)

Our speculative discussion in the last post has me thinking about the implications of total unity vs. individuality. This is a doctrinal question that touches most every important part of our spiritual and religious lives. It is at the heart of the tension between our unity as a community striving to become a Zion people and our individuality, our unity as couples or families vs. individuality, and the unity of the Godhead vs. their individuality. If we are to become one with God then what becomes of our individuality? (more…)

There have been some interesting discussions recently that have made me ponder the question of degrees of divinity. J. Stapley wondered at another thread whether the pre-earth Christ was “fully divine” and thus worthy of our worship. He also expressed doubt that we should currently worship the Holy Ghost along with the Father and Son. (more…)

Ronan made a funny comment over at BCC the other day that I thought was worthy of posting on. After my favorite doctrinal sparring partner Jeffrey Giliam made a comment and I agreed with it Ronan said:

Has anyone seen Geoff J and Jeffrey G. (GJ>JG>GJ) in the same room together? … Doctroholics come only one per generation. I’m checking your IP’s. New Cool Busted!

The sad part is that I’m starting to think he is on to something… Where are the other doctroholics? Jeffrey and I post heavily on Mormon doctrine and theology, but not many others do. Why is that? (more…)

I just finished installing radio.blog in my sidebar and oddly enough it appears to work. I figured this would be a nice addition here at the Thang since we are sort of a blog about Mormon theology, Mormon life, and of course, Rock ‘n’ Roll. Not that I anticipate a lot of posts specifically on rock ‘n’ roll but the subject comes up often enough that I figured this might be a good idea for our blog. (more…)

We are commanded to give to the poor and needy. Ancient and modern scriptures are clear on that. But are there clear priorities when choosing how to distribute our offerings? Let me give you a hypothetical situation to see what you think. (more…)

Kristen’s excellent post yesterday on teaching children compassion reminded me of a subject I have been thinking about lately. I saw the greatest ad on BYU TV recently. Some nerdy kid in a high school hallway scene had his books and papers spilled all over the floor by a passing bully. A big strapping athlete kid was nearby hanging with his jock and cheerleader friends and noticed it. He paused for a minute then went over to help the nerdy kid pick up his books. For some reason I found it touching (clich�s and all). There is something very powerful and moving about seeing the strong help the weak simply out of compassion. (more…)

In my last post, the second in this series on our nearly exclusive focus on helping everyone become “active” members of the Church, I explained why I think that simply meeting the basic requirements to be considered an active member and staying that way until death is not sufficient for exaltation. (It was a pretty good post, actually. If it weren’t so long maybe more people would have read it.) The idea was that over reliance on Grace is dangerous because it can lead those with the proverbial “five talents” to become satisfied with their five talents and not double them. Expanding on that analogy, let’s say that becoming an active member of the church and staying that way is the equivalent of two talents. For those born into this world with one talent, turning that into two talents would indeed warrant those desired words from God “well done thou good and faithful servant”. But what of those that arrive here with 2-5 talents? What must they do to receive that commendation from the Lord? If just meeting the minimum requirements to be called an active Mormon is not enough, what then? Is the church providing the needed assistance to these folks to double their talents in this life? (more…)