A reader sent this in to us.

Check out the Utah organization using ‘Narnia’ to bring together
evangelicals and their Mormon neighbors.

http://www.standingtogether.org/

Quotation:

The following is a list of requirements to receive your 2 free tickets:
* You must be 18 years of age

* You must be an evangelical christian or a latter day saint

* If you are a evangelical christian, you must bring as your second ticket a latter day saint.

* If you are a latter day saint, you must bring as your second ticket a evangelical christian.

* Tickets will be abailable at will call starting at 6:15, and will be released after 6:45 to the stand-by list.

* Each set of friends will be given a page of questions to be discussed following the screening of the film and a survey card to be mailed back to Standing Together telling us your thoughts of the experience

Looks like a good thing to me, unless the questions are highly skewed. This is the group that Robert Millet co-presents with, so I doubt they’d be that way, but you never know.

My program is primarily a (dead) language program, but everyone in the department has to take a series of three history courses early on in 1) Syro-Palestine/Hittite History, 2)Egyptian History, and 3) Mesopotamian History. Those are the only history classes I’ve taken.

Most of my exams are language related, but I have a half-exam in Syro-Palestinian history, which means primarily Israelite history during the period of 1200-300, but also the history of Syria (Ebla, Alalakh, etc.) prior to that, as well as the relevant history of other civilizations that play a role there (ie. the Neo-Assyrians and Babylonians.)

For those interested, this is my book list to prepare from for this half-exam. Some of the books were just for particular sections, others are primarily reference books, and the technicality varies.

Continue reading →

When, if ever, should a disciple of Christ shun someone?

Given that wards have only twelve Fast and Testimony meetings every year, each with approximately 35 minutes dedicated to the sharing of testimonies, and given that about 150 adult members attend a typical American ward, for each member to have an opportunity to share their testimony, each member is allocated 2 minutes and 48 seconds of testimony time yearly.

Given those facts, how should we handle members who speak for 5-8 minutes every month or two? (I know of someone in a full-size ward who monopolizes the pulpit for 5-8 minutes every testimony meeting.) What is the proper response to a member who eats 20 times their share of ham at the ward dinner, leaving many people without?

Wanting someone to improve or change seems to be, at some level, a rejection of who they now are. Is it possible to love someone perfectly, to accept, embrace and treasure them just as they are, yet want and encourage them to change?