In the comments of my last post there was some discussion of faith vs. works. Mormons have always been accused of being too works-focused by other Christians. They like to say things like: “Sorry guys, your works don’t save, Jesus does. Works are how we serve Jesus; they are pathetically puny compared to the gift of the atonement, which cannot be earned.” Interestingly, some Mormons like to say these very same things. (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…)

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…)

The time has come to make a prediction about the timing of the second coming of Jesus Christ. John C. has been asking what happened to Mormon Millenarianism and I decided it was time break out this long-promised post. I’ve warned you that I’d take a whack at this for several months now so don’t act surprised. Guessing the when the second coming will take place is an age-old tradition and who am I to fight such tradition? Before I get started let me first direct anyone who feels inclined to scold me to go to my first post on the subject. I dealt with the classic whining and “why don’t you guess if the pearly gates swing or roll” snarks there. This post is for the old-school Millenarians among us only! (more…)

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…)

In the comments of an earlier post Nathan complained when I called the missionary efforts of the church “marketing”. He voiced the feelings I imagine many people have about marketing by saying among other things:

I’m not one of those who disdain marketing and commerce; I think they are good, solid, honorable Terrestrial pursuits. But I do think that the gospel belongs to a higher plane.

Unlike Nathan, I believe the principles of marketing are so fundamental that even God uses them. I believe that God is indeed a marketer. (more…)

Dave’s recent post on Satan got me thinking again about the subject of the Devil. Understanding how the Devil fits in the model of the eternities is a difficult thing to do. We really don’t know much about him. Our doctrine makes it pretty clear that there is an actual being that is the devil, but we don’t know much more than that. Is Satan a role that some spirit plays on every planet? If so, how does one “qualify” for that position? What is the source of any power the devil has? Can the devil actually prompt us with a Quiet, Creepy Whisper in opposition to the still small voice? While the scriptures make his tactics pretty clear (I have dubbed them the Devil’s GPA and have posted on that twice now) they leave us largely in the dark about real nitty gritty details about this fallen angel and his cohorts. I have more questions than answers on this subject so I’ll focus on just one question in this post: Can Lucifer repent? (more…)

As promised, this is the third in my series about the worlds without number and the inhabitants thereof talked about in our scriptures and in the church. In the second of the series we explored the question of who the inhabitants of those planets were. It basically comes down to one fundamental question: Were we those people or were they completely separate batches of spirits? (We are calling the first model the Heber C. Kimball (HCK) Model because he and other 19th century leaders taught it and the latter The Batch Model). Not surprisingly opinions differ on this issue. A separate but related question is: Did each of those worlds have a savior inhabit it? (more…)

As the second post in this purely speculative discussion on the innumerable inhabited worlds that, according to our scriptures, have already passed, I will discuss the question: Who were the inhabitants of all those other worlds? It is an easy assumption to make that humans inhabited those worlds (since God the Father was among them according to Joseph), but the unanswered question is who were they? I have heard two theories: (more…)