When we were members of the church, we knew very acutely how many rules and laws and words of wisdom and commandments we had to follow. Why did we keep up with it then…and why do we do what we do now? What motivates us to act? For the past…
Category: Obedience
Following the rules or Seeing the Forest Through the Trees
I’m not someone who is particularly good at following the rules, at least some rules. And believe it or not, depending on who you talk to, Mormonism had a lot of rules. What type of soda/pop to drink, what kind of music to listen to, etc. What always astounded me…
Spain Investigates Jay Bybee for Torture
According to Harper’s, Spanish authorities are investigating Bush administration officials for torture. That includes the former BYU law professor Jay Bybee who signed off on John Yoo’s infamous torture memos. The premier Spanish newspaper El PaÃs reports that judge Baltasar Garzón is involved in the investigation. Garzon is famous for…
Orthodox Judaism, here we come
Robert Kirby, everyone’s favorite Jack-Mormon, just posted about a new policy of the LDS religion. Apparently the leadership of the religion are now disallowing object lessons in sacrament meetings. While Kirby humorously mocks this move, I have to ask two questions: 1) Is this true? No more object lessons? 2)…
Christian Religion vs. Non Profit Corporation
I think we can all agree that the LDS religion is unique. If we compare it to a mainstream Christian religion, like the United Methodists – it is very different. Even LDS missionaries would be happy to point out the many doctrinal and organizational differences. Case and point, Methodists have…
Reasons
There is a reason why retention approaches zero. There is a reason why people can study their way out of the Church. There is a reason why a large percentage of non-American return missionaries seem to leave Mormonism. There is a reason why the United States remains the only western…
Transcript of Boyd Packer’s Address at Multi-Stake Conference
Editorial Note: I have previously reported about rumors of Boyd Packer’s and Gordon Hinckley’s response to criticism of Julie Beck’s conference address, which has not only been discussed with a variety of points of view on the Bloggernacle and the DAMU but also by readers posting on the websites of…