Sets, Meta-Sets and an Incomplete World
We know we live in a fallen and imperfect world, that God has light and knowledge for us, both individually and as a church that we have yet to earn because of our failure to apply what we already know...
View ArticleTruths that are powerful, essential, yet not always helpful
I once knew a woman who complained of her new therapist (she had been in therapy for years) that after thirty minutes he had interrupted and told her that her real problem was that she was trying to be...
View ArticleOn becoming a [p]rophet (small “p”)
I often meet two kinds of people. The first has a voice that others hear. The other has a desire to be heard, but they don’t know how to bridge the gap, how to become a prophet (that is Prophet with...
View ArticleThe Paradox of Organized Charity
Experimental ethics is an area that teaches lessons we may not expect. Some of the lessons make sense. Panhandlers working in front of a bakery are more successful than those next to an open sewer....
View ArticleOf course [fill in the blank] isn’t worth trying to save
We all know some groups are not redeemable. Democrats, heretics who think Christ can be your friend, those who abuse children. If they aren’t redeemable, then they aren’t worth trying to save? Or...
View ArticleBeing heard when you complain
I came home one day from Sacrament meeting and my wife had a sheet of paper, on official church stationary, titled “First Presidency Statement on Birth Control.” It had been passed out in Relief...
View ArticleSo what is a Mormon? What is a Feminist?
To answer the question “what is a Mormon?” I found myself asking the question “what is a Feminist?” I was at a lunch. I was talking with someone who was putting a program together to support female...
View Article“As a new religion it is too bad you don’t have a theory of …
.. war” a friend of mine said. ” Once your theology develops, it should be interesting to see what kind of nuanced debates you have.” “Well,” I said, “we actually do have some doctrine and theology on...
View ArticleSaw me in prison and came unto me …
The Dallas District Attorney’s office preserved DNA evidence. When advances in science occurred, they were able to retest many samples in cases where people claimed innocence. As a result, some men...
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Lessons from Old Testament Harshness
Deuteronomy 6:10-12 seems incredibly harsh. As the Lord’s people enter into Canaan, they are given cities that they haven’t built, produce they haven’t grown, and all manner of things they don’t...
View ArticleDeconstructing Solomon
We tend to remember Solomon as either magically wise or the one who fell from grace with too many wives. Of his acts of wisdom, most remember only the “split the baby” story. Of the wives issue, all...
View ArticleFind heroes
I worked for a time on a project involving heroquests and myth structures. I analyzed historic, legendary and fictional stories and texts, rituals, narratives and constructs. I was once asked if I...
View ArticleHigher Criticism, my viewpoint and the Church
I first learned about higher criticism in the context of the archeological excavation of Jericho. The German higher criticism read was that Jericho never existed and that part of the Bible was a bad...
View ArticleCommenting Styles, Posting Styles (and you expected a Sunstone Post, didn’t...
Ok, I actually have my entire presentation written down, and I could have posted it, so you could read it at Mormon Matters if you aren’t listening to me talk. But where would the fun be in that?...
View ArticleViewpoints, part one
It is delightful, some times, to see how the LDS Church is seen from the outside. For example, you might be surprised that one thing many Baptist scholars respect about the Church is the way the...
View ArticlePresiding in marriage and otherwise
Let me start with a true story, I recently observed and that resulted in this post: It is obviously a vacation weekend. The only member of the bishopric in town is a very junior second counselor. He...
View ArticleViewpoints, Part Two
A viewpoint can change things. Consider Sir Thomas More, famous as a model of honesty, integrity and virtue. A man for all seasons and a Catholic Saint. He is also the man truly responsible for...
View ArticleOk, time to speculate on gender essentialism
There are lots of ways to start this off. I could start with the more than forty sexes of slime molds (why stop at 4 or 5 gender types when you can have 47 sexes). Or I could start with race and...
View ArticleJob, Healing and Elder Oaks
Elder Oaks General Conference talk on healing has ended up as one of the talks widely used for an alternate week priesthood and relief society lesson. I almost got derailed into posting about the Book...
View ArticleDuality, Doctrine and When Less is More
D&C Section 77 and its companion section 113 have an interesting history. An “older” high priest was publicly debating with local ministers about doctrine and was winning the debates. Local...
View ArticleEven beyond idle speculation — the worst things you’ve ever heard at Church?
I still remember a meeting where the speaker said “I was never part of your organization and knew nothing about it until I was called to be in charge of it, now I appreciate how important it is”...
View ArticleRenee Olson just died
Her death was sudden and unexpected. For more about her: http://www.blacklds.org/renee-olson-full-testimony Her Facebook memorial page here:...
View ArticleWhat if somebody is watching me?
Firetag has brought up some things that are dual** — that is they are contradictory things at the same time. The classic example is that light is both a particle and a wave. Some times in the...
View ArticleAm I my brother’s keeper? Undocumented workers and illegal aliens
My general experience with illegal aliens is similar to the one called to mind by George Bush: people who at great risk and significant hardship have sacrificed and done what they could to provide a...
View ArticleGod is a What?! Part Two
When you think of God, do you envision? a proper English gentleman a modernized Biblical patriarch an erudite English professor at a Ivy league university a tame Lion (returning to the C. S. Lewis...
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