Seeing Angels in 2005

June 19, 2005    By: Geoff J @ 10:43 pm   Category: Mormon Culture/Practices,Personal Revelation

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 are the keys to the kingdom, President. Bring ‘er back in one piece and with a full tank.

June 16, 2005    By: Geoff J @ 11:40 pm   Category: Mormon Culture/Practices,Theology

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…)

Earrings and Coffee and Our Eternal Ties to Current Church Leaders

June 13, 2005    By: Geoff J @ 10:35 pm   Category: Mormon Culture/Practices,Theology

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…)

On Strict Obedience and Dumbo’s Feather

June 7, 2005    By: Geoff J @ 11:54 pm   Category: Mormon Culture/Practices,Theology

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…)

Today’s priesthood lesson topic: Beware of Blogs

June 5, 2005    By: Geoff J @ 10:49 pm   Category: Bloggernacle,Mormon Culture/Practices

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…)

Gunning For Callings

May 31, 2005    By: Geoff J @ 1:04 am   Category: Mormon Culture/Practices

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…)

Word of Wisdom as an Apostate Barrier to Entry?

May 25, 2005    By: Geoff J @ 12:34 am   Category: Mormon Culture/Practices

In the comments of my recent post on the timing of the Second Coming, a Bloggernacle regular that goes by the handle Steve (FSF) made some interesting comments regarding the Word of Wisdom. Here they are: (more…)

What makes a Mormon a Mormon?

May 23, 2005    By: Guest @ 11:19 am   Category: Mormon Culture/Practices

By Craig Atkinson

The more I study Mormonism, the more I am perplexed by the unity within such a diverse group of people. What has increased my perplexity (enough so to inspire me to write this post) is my participation in blogs like this one. Here people feel comfortable enough to share their unique positions with others, and as they do, it becomes clear that there is great diversity within Mormonism.

As I have thought about the question, what makes a Mormon a Mormon? I have considered three answers, (though this isn’t an exhaustive list, it should cover most sub-categories) doctrine, history/tradition, and practice. As I address each of these possible answers keep in mind that this is still a question for me, not something I have a strong opinion on, or even completely thought through, and I am hoping that the responses that I receive will shed more light on the subject for me. (more…)

“God doesn’t talk to blabbermouths”

May 20, 2005    By: Geoff J @ 8:56 pm   Category: Mormon Culture/Practices,Theology

Ben S. put up another good post over at M*. The basic subject is: What spiritual matters should we avoid discussing? I posted on a related subject some time ago but I want to try again.

I have often heard (and even taught) that God won’t share his secrets with us if we can’t keep a secret. Or as Elder McConkie is is quoted as saying: “God doesn’t talk to blabbermouths”. That makes enough sense I guess, but I wonder if we have a proper idea of what really constitutes God’s secrets. What is it we’re not supposed to investigate and discuss (or blab about)? (more…)

A sacrifice is not a sacrifice unless it’s a sacrifice

May 17, 2005    By: Geoff J @ 9:16 pm   Category: Mormon Culture/Practices

My neighbor and friend Bruce is fond of saying “a sacrifice isn’t a sacrifice unless it’s a sacrifice”. The point is that unless it hurts it is hard to call something a real sacrifice. I think there is some merit to this idea. This post is about what constitutes sacrifice in our lives today. (more…)

Money. Big Money.

May 14, 2005    By: Geoff J @ 8:24 pm   Category: Money and getting gain,Mormon Culture/Practices

Most of us are concerned about just making enough money to pay our bills. By contrast, there are some people in this world that are really, really rich. I have seen stats in the past that show that almost 40% of all wealth in the US is in the hands of the top 1% of wealthy people. So here is my question to you: What would you do if you were rich? I don’t mean kinda rich, I mean 8-to-9-figures rich. How would you (as a righteous citizen of Zion) handle or distribute your fabulous wealth? What could you do with that resource to actually make the world a better place? (more…)

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