It is a truth universally acknowledged among Mormons, that church meetings are boring. Painfully boring. But that if you see that as a problem, the solution is to change your own attitude — and if you are unable to convince yourself that you are in some way edified by these…
Category: correlation
Sunday in Outer Blogness: Nailing jello to the wall edition!!
Here is a common problem faced by faithful Mormons: A few years ago, Sam and I attended an endowment session at the Salt Lake Temple. As we approached the gate, a man stood on the public sidewalk a few feet away, holding a sign that read: Joseph Smith had 27…
The trouble with answering questions
Runtu has added some new insights in the continuing discussion of LDS Doubt in the NY Times: It seems the church has learned at least a few things from the rescue experience. First and foremost, don’t send anyone official out to discuss the issues. Instead, they’ve sent out (or at…
NoCoolNameTom’s 25 new scripture mastery verses
For the first three months of this year, NoCoolNameTom has been translating scriptures into Greek, and giving context around the 25 scripture mastery verses. Â Beyond just being awesome to actually see the options for translation, and getting a good feel for which ones are twisted out of context, and which…
A key that will never rust – appears a bit rusty upon closer inspection
One of the ways church members are encouraged to know and avoid apostasy is by following the majority of the twelve apostles. This is stated over and over in church periodicals via a quote by Joseph Smith: “I will give you a key that will never rust — if you…
Who’s holding the microphone???
Molly recently left a comment here that, I think, expresses a question on a lot of people minds: Must admit to having trouble understanding why Joanna Brooks is taken so seriously. Her work is very softball, and frequently skirts meaty issues or downplays legitimate problems completely. This was largely in…
Mitch Mayne and the Church’s PR machine
I wanted to get my two cents in on this topic, including the way the topic is being handled. Thanks to chanson for bringing together the links. A quick summary: Last month, Mitch Mayne, an openly gay man in a San Fransisco ward was called to be ward executive secretary,…
Framing the story: The Church in an internet age
As we may all know at this point, the 2010 Church Handbook was leaked last week, and the first thing people went for were the changes regarding homosexuality from the previous handbooks. The Human Rights Campaign claimed that The new guidelines clearly show that advocacy efforts pay off with real…
correlated hair
I was at a conference on religion over the weekend and, over drinks one night, grooming behavior among the LDS came up. A never-mo in the group of people with whom I was chatting wondered whether there were formal grooming standards in the LDS Church. As various people chimed in,…
The Bananality of Mormon Studies: A Personal Encounter
Tother day: during a jaunt through a simmering intellectual salon called Facebook, I learned that by adding a flavored pudding mix to ones banana-bread dough, why, the resultant increase in relative moisture renders the final product altogether de-light-ful. Here I too strive by way of personal anecdote and even cultural…