When I was a young man, I served as counselor to a wise district president in the Church. He tried to teach me. One of the things I remember wondering about was this advice he gave: “When you meet someone, treat them as if they were in serious trouble, and you will be right more than half the time.” (Henry B. Eyring, “In the Strength of the Lord,” Ensign, May 2004, 16)

This quote from Elder Eyring pierced me when I heard it a year ago. I find it profound. I am disturbed by how true it is. People have trouble in this world, and sometimes they have lots of it. (more…)

A favorite gripe in the Bloggernacle and in the Church in general is the fact that lots of other Christians refuse to acknowledge Mormons as fellow Christians. (See Ben’s most recent post on the overall subject over at M*) This snub gets us Mormons in a tizzy. And that, of course, is half of the fun for those who don’t want to let us in “the club”. But not being in the club doesn’t bother me. I really don’t give a hoot who calls me Christian in this world. And when I think about it I can’t figure out why any of us should. (more…)

Brigham Young appears to be a favorite punching bag in the church and especially on the Bloggernacle. I read and interesting post over at Unofficial Manifesto asking “Is Brother Brigham our black eye?” Apparently many in the church feel he is on several counts, but none more so than on the now infamous doctrine he taught about Adam. (more…)

I think teaching the gospel is very much like live performing of music (both rock and jazz). When I play gigs it is a lot better when the crowd is into it and responding and dancing. I can read the reactions and feed off of it and build the energy accordingly. When I teach from the pulpit instead of in a classrom setting (like I had to tonight at our Stake Women’s Conference) I lose much of that connection. The congregation may be getting a lot but it is hard to tell so I often sit down wringing my hands a bit. I think “Did they get it? Did any of that inspire anyone? I gave ’em my best stuff… Was I just off tonight?” If nothing else I hoped my prayer and pondering and fasting in preparation helped cover for me. The women were complimentary afterwards tonight but I’m always happier when it’s more obvious that light bulbs are coming on over heads. I think I might have seen a few light bulbs tonight in that half-full chapel, but they were sort of far away. (more…)

I suspect I’m not the only one who has been baffled by the advantage (or not) of being the literal blood of Israel vs. being adopted into the house of Israel. Being adopted in to the lineage by taking baptismal covenants makes good enough sense to me, but then we hear various authoritative quotes about how basically everyone that joins the Church probably has the literal blood of Israel coursing through their veins already anyway. Here is an example: (more…)

The law of consecration worries me. It nags me. It harasses me. It won’t leave me alone. It’s like that paper boy in the 80’s teen flick Better Off Dead that kept showing up out of nowhere demanding his “twoooo dollllaaarss!” — It just won’t go away. (more…)

It was while reading Hugh Nibley that I first learned that the Greek word gnosis simply meant “knowledge”. Therefore the term Gnostic meant basically “knower” or a person who claimed to have secret knowledge. Among the ancient Gnostics were the various quacks and whatnot that claimed to have the secret knowledge that Jesus imparted to his apostles. After the apostles and priesthood were taken from the earth some Gnostics (so-called) had a field day with the seekers of truth. The reason I bring this up is because until a few years ago I still believed (as I suspect most church members still do) that there was some sort of inner circle in the church of those who had the gnosis — who jointly knew and understood the mysteries of God. I thought there was a sort of club that included lots of folks… temple presidencies, general authorities, religion professors and institute directors, and perhaps other leaders that knew the answers to all those unclear deep doctrinal questions I had. Not only did they know the answers in my mind, but that all agreed on those answers. Boy was I ever wrong! (more…)

I graduated from BYU in 1994 and haven’t been back to Utah since. That is about to change my friends. (more…)

So with my newfound faith in priesthood blessings (discussed in part 2) I returned home to my husband and children ready to relax. February was waning and I was ready for an easier, less stressful time. We had some friends visiting us so we thought it would be fun for the kids if we heated up our pool so they could enjoy a mid-winter swim. On the 24th my friend and I were watching the kids swim, trying to keep track of the little ones. I had been watching my 3 year old son making sure that he didn’t get out of the Jacuzzi and into the big pool with out a life vest. (more…)

I told you of my less-than-splendid experience with a priesthood blessing in part one. Fast forward to 2005; life was good. And then along came February! (more…)

In 1994 upon completing our degrees at BYU my husband Geoff and I decided to move to his hometown, San Diego. There he would pursue an MBA at San Diego State and we would start our family, or so I thought. Once we settled in to paradise I thought that I would become pregnant with in a few months of trying. Well, months went by and nothing. The wait was agonizing each month only to be disappointed every time. (more…)