NOM

I realize that the LDS powers-that-be don't feel very constrained by scriptures, but high council court procedures are laid out in detail in the D&C. I'll be a little surprised if they go, certainly if they go and the church publicly says so. My understanding is that SLC doesn't like too many excomm...

What I don’t understand is why and how could a mother view pornography as being so bad that it would be better her son nearly die than be unclean. Heber J. Grant There is no true Latter-day Saint who would not rather bury a son or a daughter than to have him or her lose his or her chastity – realiz...

Does anyone know if there is any social unrest in Liberia? I looked at the news, but I don't see any sign of protests or anything really. Maybe what the church said is true, but I spent time serving with the poor in South America. I never saw any sign that the church was worried about economic insta...

I LOOOVE Holland's A Promised Land article! It makes me nostalgic for the days when you didn't have to take facts into account. It's fascinating to read the Holland article alongside the DNA Gospel Topics essay to see just how different the stories are, and how desperately they are scrambling to fi...

I read most of the article and it is not surprising. Ryan McKnight seemed optimistic as 1/3 of the TBMs still want more transparency. Unfortunately it has nothing to do with what anybody wants. Transparency will only happen if the church is forced to do it, which doesn't seem likely to happen in th...

So even though we "don't emphasize it," the core doctrine of the church, the only thing that isn't milk I suppose, is eternal progression (not counting Second Anointing of course). Up until it became too embarrassing to preach it out loud LDS prophets taught that God was once a man who attained god...

I love hearing this stuff. Nauvoo was a mess, but the church manages to make it seem like a wholesome place to raise your kids rather than a scary place where grown men came up beside you playing with their knives if you were a stranger.

That's good news. Take care of your family and yourself.

Greater transparency just means more opportunities to find out you have dedicated your life to a crappy corporation.

Ha! :P The conversation goes something like this: "Okay guys, since we're the new Bishopric we need to go through all the ward membership records and check out everyone's activity level." First Counselor: "Sounds good Bishop but what about these families who have requested no contact from the churc...

After reading this and listening to RFM's new podcast today, I have thought a lot about what goes wrong in curriculum development in the church. I think someone really wanted this quote in the lesson to try to prove that our doctrine did not change in 1978, in spite of the need to adjust the quote t...

I saw an interesting theory on reddit. The church found the error in the printed manuals but still sent them out. Then it changed the online manual. This was the older members, who are more likely to use the printed manual, get to see the same doctrine they have always known. The younger members, w...

I saw an interesting theory on reddit. The church found the error in the printed manuals but still sent them out. Then it changed the online manual. This was the older members, who are more likely to use the printed manual, get to see the same doctrine they have always known. The younger members, wh...

Admittedly I certainly got off into some tangents there, but my basic point is that the condom wrapper isn't making fun of the Church. It's making fun of the Utah State Park "This is the Place Heritage Park" and the founding of the government. It says it right there, it's a Heritage Park and not a ...

I guess I have a little more to say. I think the church is full of crap when it complains that private individuals or groups are violating its "freedom of religion" when church doctrines and policies are criticized or mocked. Only the government and its representatives can violate freedom of religio...

Debate: was the “this is the place" statement by BY a religious statement, or was it the voice of the founder of the city and first governor of the territory? I could argue it was not a statement of the church, but rather of the future city. Yeah, that's basically the tangential discussion between ...

The only one that I would have a problem with is "This is the place." Clearly that's a religious reference. The government should not be in the business of religious teasing. Just because the church acts badly in the political arena doesn't mean everyone else should. The others are harmless. I'm no...

The nature of Satan in Job is quite different from our current notions. I might look for some more information based on the Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satan . I remember being terrified of "The Devil" as a child. It wasn't that my parents were trying to scare me. There was just a ...

The only one that I would have a problem with is "This is the place." Clearly that's a religious reference. The government should not be in the business of religious teasing. Just because the church acts badly in the political arena doesn't mean everyone else should. The others are harmless.

When later asked whether students should apply the truth-finding techniques they learn in their degree programs to spiritual matters, President Eyring said, "Of course, as long as they don't do it in a way that scares me. If I notice that I've built my mansion on wet sand, then Jesus will raise me ...