Tonight for Scriptures we read:

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her,
(more…)

[Haven’t done a poll in a bit. John C. didn’t do one this week, so thought, ah, why not?]

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.

(more…)

‘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?
(more…)

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.

Some highlights: (more…)

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.

(more…)

Why?

No more posts on politics. No more discussion of SSM, ever. Dan the Democrat will hibernate for two years. It will begin to rain milk and honey. The lamb and the lion will lay down together without any ire, and everyone will own two fluffy bunnies!

Right?

Ok, maybe not.
(more…)

So My 5 year old just told me:

“I want you to know I want John McCain to be principal”

I said “Why’s that Honey?”

She replied “He’s just an old man. And I like old men.”

Tonight I discovered a Mormon Studies Magazine that I was not previously aware of. BYU- Idaho Perspective is sort of the small college equivalent of BYU Studies, The Religious Educator, and Something else all rolled into one.
(more…)

Today is the ten year anniversary of my baptism. Forgive me for being sentimental.

(more…)

As a Business Analyst, the mantra I try to remember every day while I try to figure out how the company is doing, why it is the way it is, and what we can and should do, is that correlation is not causation. Sometimes logical fallacies are put forth by well-intentioned people and actions are taken based on that faulty logic which could have been more effective if superseded by a nice dose of common sense. In our LDS setting, let me put forth a few examples, having to do with conversion and retention.

1. 50% of youth are inactive before they reach the age of 12, Therefore Primary Teachers are the most important calling in the Church.
(more…)