Kaimi went crazy over at Times and Seasons yesterday and now I feel inspired. I have put up several posts over the last few months that deal in generally subtle ways with the concept of multiple mortal probations. When I first began to explore this concept I was mortified to learn that the only people who seemed to talk about it in public were apparently Mormon apostates who were now part of one fundamentalist group or another. But upon further study I discovered that in the 19th century the idea was taught privately and openly by such luminaries as Heber C. Kimball, Brigham Young, Eliza R. Snow and many others. With heavyweights like them in the corner of multiple mortal probations I figure it should at least be fair game to explore. (more…)

I have a friend the recently saw angels in the temple. I’m happy for her. But the fact is I’m not particularly envious. Seeing angels isn’t really high on my list of desired spiritual gifts. As a result I suspect I am highly unlikely to see any until I start really wanting to and asking to. (more…)

Here’s an invite to all Bloggernaclites in or around San Diego to come check out the farewell performance of a cover band I have been playing in (on and off) since 1995. Kristen and I will be there and it ought to be pretty fun. Here is the flier: (more…)

There were lots of great comments and complaints about my new theory that I informally presented in the last post. They made me really consider what the theory entails and what it doesn’t. I think it would be helpful to step back a little and look at this theory in a larger context. (more…)

What would you say if I told you that even though the Word of Wisdom and the most recent earring rules are temporary commandments, they will still be on the exam at our final judgment? Well if you are a Latter Day Saint I suspect they will be and here is why. (more…)

As usual, there have been several posts recently related to the topic of obedience. A favored branch of this topic is the term strict obedience. Dave put up a post on Elder Bednar’s recent address at BYU where he brought up the two sets of earrings standard in a story. Monday’s post at The Iron Rod was on obedience. Jeffrey Gilliam has a whole series on the topic. This is obviously something that is on our collective minds. It happens to be on my mind tonight too, so here are some thoughts. (more…)

Yep, it’s true. Our priesthood lesson today ended up being a warning to the brethren on the dangers of blogs. In fairness, it was actually a pretty good lesson and the instructor repeated several times that he did not advocate banning blogs any more than he advocated burning books. But it was hard to remember that up front disclaimer with all the other parts on how teenagers these days are all getting into blogging communities and we need to be very careful about that. (more…)

Recently someone asked me what I thought this verse meant:

And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage. (Alma 24:16).

I’ll tell you all what my answer was and you can tell me if you agree or not. (more…)

Man I love living now! I got an iPod for my birthday and I got it up and running tonight. It is about the coolest thing ever. (I’m listening to it as I right this post… It’s currently a song off the new Killers album that Kristen just bought if you are interested… I dig it… BTW — Did you know the lead singer of that band is Mormon?…) My new iPod is just one of hundreds or even thousands of reasons why these latter days rule. (more…)

Let’s face it. Sometimes people aspire to callings/positions/assignments in this church. And usually the more prestigious the calling the more people there are that aspire to it. (more…)

What is Mormonism giving us that we cannot get elsewhere? There are lots of wonderful benefits to being Mormon but very few of those benefits are unique to our religion. Consider this list of non-unique benefits: (more…)