When I began questioning mormonism, my Dad explained that there was a difference between the church and the gospel. The church was made of people who were human, and the gospel was the kernel of truth within the church. He said that the mormon faith was the closest to being…
Category: Prayer
Do you believe in Priesthood Blessings?
In the July 2012 edition of the Ensign, there is an article by Elder Dallen H Oaks. http://www.lds.org/liahona/2012/07/the-importance-of-priesthood-blessings?lang=eng&query=blessings+comfort In the article, he talks about the different kinds of priesthood blessings. For this post, I would like to focus on Blessings of Comfort or Counsel. The article describes them this way:…
National Day of Prayer – bye bye!
My crazy uncle (who I really like) just send me one of his amazing emails. Here’s the email with some comments I couldn’t help but add included in blue: HOORAY, HOORAY, HOORAY for Andy Rooney (hilarious that they think Andy Rooney would write this!). I myself have been grumbling and…
God and Being Gay
Cross-posted over at Virginia Beach Progressives and Our Own Online. This is somewhat a lengthy post on how my sexuality affected my faith in God. It’s also a brief account of my entering into and coming out of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. From July 2004 to…
How Mormon values gave me courage to leave
I have thought of my “exit” story as boring. Boring, but different. Rather than a narrative of the Once-Happy-TBM who unwittingly came across a troublesome theological or historical issue and lamented as it gobbled a once easy faith, my story has from early on featured something amiss…but what I’ve thought…
A Post That’s Not About Gay Marriage (except it totally is)
I have a question for you believing Mormons out there (there are some of you who read this, right??? I hope). First, some exposition: With one (brilliant) exception (me), my immediate family members are all active Mormons. They are, however, split pretty much down the middle: my mother and sisters…
Mormons don’t like prayer in schools, either?
Does anyone remember this case: Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, 530 U.S. 290 (2000)? I was reading a book about the political views of Mormons and came across it. Turns out one of the “Does” in this case was a Mormon family, “The suit was filed by a…
Does it matter that prayer doesn’t work?
Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? –God, as played by Morgan Freeman
part 1: the Holy Ghost
I remember the first time I felt one of my prayers was answered. How old was I? After baptism, but still a pre-teen. I had just learned to really love reading novels, and I picked one up from my parents’ library. It was a Tony Hillerman book, a murder mystery….