As the defacto, yet clearly Luddite administrator of Millennial Star, I get to see a lot of the comments via my inbox. I don’t always read every comment, because if I did that, I would never get anything else done. When I do read comments, a few of them tend to stand out.
Tag Archives: LDS
On Being a Believing, Traditional Mormon in an Amoral, “Nuanced” World
By any standard, I am still in the bloom and pluck of life, being only 35 years of age currently. My physical health is outstanding, my hair is not going prematurely gray, and by contemporary American standards I am fit and within my recommended weight limit. Financially I am fine (although “secure” is probably not the appropriate word). I have a brilliant, loving wife and special children. Truly, there is much to be thankful for.
And yet…I have sobering moments of reflection in which I survey the climate and landscape and resist shudders of despair. By nature I am not overly pessimistic; I truly believe that over time, the good guys eventually win. I look forward, with an eye of faith, to the time when righteousness will cover the earth as the waves cover the sea. Continue reading
The Long Promised Day: Why the LDS Church Priesthood Ban is NOT a Hammer for Your Liberal Wedge Issue
[Cross Posted from Sixteen Small Stones]
Those who disagree with the the LDS Church on certain policies and positions, especially its stance on homosexuality and same-sex marriage, but also on various other policies that clash with current liberal cultural trends, often cite the Church’s former Priesthood Restriction as a precedent for the church to make further changes to accommodate their views.
In fact, for many of them the Priesthood Ban has become a useful hammer that they employ to drive their agenda. It has become a kind of folklore for heretical members of the church that is used to prop up and justify their agitation for change and rejection of prophetic authority. Continue reading
Heroes of the Fallen Kindle Edition – FREE for a limited time
For the next couple of days, the Kindle Edition eBook of “Heroes of the Fallen” is available for FREE at Amazon.com: http://goo.gl/7gX7V
Back in 2010 I reviewed and recommended “Heroes of the Fallen” by David J. West. The book is a story of ancient warfare, political and religious intrigue, and courageous but often flawed heroes set in the ancient America of the Book of Mormon, around 320 or so years A.D. A few parts are quite gory and it is the first of an intended trilogy, so the book leaves you hanging at the end, but I enjoyed it immensely.
Don’t have a Kindle? That’s okay. You can get the book for free from Amazon and then read it on your iPhone, iPad, or PC Computer using Amazon’s free book reader applications.
Go get it! Get it NOW!
I Was Constrained By The Spirit That I Should Vote For…
[Cross Posted from Sixteen Small Stones]
One of the important aspects of the LDS doctrine of personal revelation is that the Holy Spirit can and does sometimes instruct individuals to act contrary to our own reason and understanding.
So here is a little supposal:
Think of a presidential candidate that you do not support. Now put the candidate’s name into the appropriate places in the following passage:
And it came to pass that I was constrained by the Spirit that I should support [a specific candidate] for President; but I said in my heart: Never at any time have I supported a [candidate of that ideology/party/record]. And I shrunk and would that I might not support [her/him].
And the Spirit said unto me again: Behold it is the Lord’s desire that [that candidate] be President of the United States…
We spend a lot of time debating and defending our political beliefs, and comparing political candidates to our ideals. But what if, regardless of political party, or ideology, or record, or aptitude, or personality, or anything else we might use to judge our candidates, the Lord for His own reasons wants you to support a candidate different than the one you would choose?