NOM

Interesting responses. I grew up in a 90%- 95% LDS community. I didn't encounter a variety of Christian beliefs until my mission to Southern California, and I was moved by the sincerity of the various beliefs I encountered. I recognized that these beliefs were very important to people, and that many ...

He believes that those in his audience have already given up their "agency." Isn't that what the covenant path is all about?

Palerider and Hagoth make great points. The Church I grew up in liked a literal interpretation of Numbers 23:19: "“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent." But then came the challenge of dealing with the "New Church History." How can the Church address its own m ...

In my opinion, being taught that Heavenly Father is an exalted man is partly to blame for many Exmo's turning to atheism or agnosticism. I do a little study of other Christian traditions and I've found a more flexible view of deity. My own searching has led me to a less dogmatic understanding and ...

Lavina published a critical edition of the Lucy Mack Smith history titled "Lucy's Book." It is excellent. It is too bad she got ex'ed before she got a chance to work on the Joseph Smith Papers. If only Howard Hunter had outlived Boyd Packer. (sigh)

Having a General Conference talk on Our Dear Pre-Adamite Brothers and Sisters would be wonderful. After all, they were around for many millennia before the Mormon Adamites appeared in Missouri. They were able to help instruct the Adamites in clothing construction, food gathering, shelter making ...

What we need next is a movie about Helmuth Hubener, preferably by someone not tainted with an LDS bias.

One point that John Dehlin makes in a recent podcast concerns the Church's moral and legal hypocrisy. The Church may vaguely admit to making mistakes (Pres. Uchtdorff, Oct 2013), but they won't confess specifically to what those mistakes were (there are exceptions, when they were under duress), and ...

I went to two Sacrament meetings in the last month. There was a beard on the stand at each. I think they were part of the bishopric even though neither conducted. I’m betting the “no facial hair” commandment will slowly become out of date. A few decades after the rest of the world

I think there is a movie about Dietrich Bonhoeffer that is coming out. It deals with the rise of Hitler. It could be interesting and relevant.

Example: Do Mormons get their own planets? Church Newsroom: No.

Do Mormons get their own worlds? Pres. Smith, Young, Taylor, Woodruff, Snow, Smith, McKay, Smith, Kimball: Yes!

Does anyone want to do explain the difference between a planet and a world? Spock: They are logically synonymous.

wtfluff wrote: ↑Tue Nov 12, 2024 3:38 pm Bot has been trained well: Answer the question that the questioner should have asked.

Except for that part where it showed a bit of respect for the questioner. It definitely went off the rails there...

Took words out of my mouth, Fluffy.

I seem to recall a letter Parley Pratt wrote to Joseph Smith, essentially saying: Joseph could you be more specific about when the world is going to end?
I just can't find it as I write this. I'm certain it has been a topic for discussion throughout Church history.

I've been listening to Mormon Discussion's "Getting Your Own Planet" podcast, and it had me thinking- what is the most harmful lie/prevarication/deception that the Church has promoted over the years? For boomers like me the downplaying of "God was once a man doctrine" is pretty brazen, but I think ...

One problem early Mormon historians had was their propensity to edit and delete problematic sources and texts. This has come back to bite the Church in the butt. Polygamy deniers can honestly point this out, and it casts a shadow of doubt on polygamy accounts particularly, but indeed on all of the ...

I may have posted on this before, but I don't remember when. It has to to do with why many people believe weird things. This is from a Psychology Today article (Sept. 22, 2021) called "The Epidemic of Certainty:" "Certainty is an emotional state, not an intellectual one. To feel certain, the brain ...

LDS Newsroom: The Lord's Lawyers- er- prophets tell us how protect the church- er- victims. Don't get into those wishy washy weeds of whether harm is caused to individual people.

My observation is that organizations can be good for some things but they have their drawbacks. So, here are my questions.
Are some religions too organized?
What would an ideally organized religion be like?

Church History Matters. "The Racist American Context the Church was Born Into" 3:56 Deacon: I found this opening conversation between two LDS apologists interesting. 1. I was impressed with how apologetic the apologists are. 2. I appreciated their comments/acknowledgement about "cozy assumptions ...

These are excellent points being made Moksha and Hagoth. Predictably, it seems like the most likely explanation for religious doctrine is human rather than divine. The of predilection of Matthew's anonymous author to put the blame on the Jews instead of the Romans for Jesus's death, and to demonize ...