In the news and even in the lives of some people around me, I’ve been observing a number of recurrent issues that all seem to point in a similar, negative direction. Here are just some of them: Read more »

Last night a companionship of three sister missionaries came by to visit with us.   We enjoyed having them in our home and the message they had to share with us.

In the midst of our discussion, the topic of the recent events involving the FLDS arose and the sisters related to us that they have seen a noticeable and negative change in the way some potential contacts respond to them.

Specifically, one of the sisters said she is seeing a lot more of the “don’t even talk to me” reaction from those she tries to contact.  While the sisters were upbeat and positive, it saddened me to hear that they were having this experience with people.  It’s not surprising if one thinks about it - but this conversation brought into focus for me the realization that this whole controversy places (unjustly, I think) a skeptical spotlight on not only the LDS Church but also, more particularly, on LDS women.

I don’t have any special wisdom or ideas to deal with this situation.  All I can really say is if there are missionaries (particularly sister missionaries) working in your area, this is probably an important time to show some extra support for their efforts.

The sign ¶ (or pilcrow) appears at the beginning of many verses in our King James Bible.

For example in Genesis Chapter 1 we see:

6 ¶ And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

I rarely think about the ¶. I usually ignore the ¶. Read more »

Nephi’s use of the word “thought” in 1 Nephi 1:8 often acts a sort of speed bump in my reading. The portion of the verse in question reads:

… he was carried away in a vision, even that he saw the heavens open, and he thought he saw God sitting upon his throne …

Why does Nephi write “he thought he saw God sitting upon his throne” when he could have written a more direct and declarative “he saw God sitting upon his throne”? Read more »

I’m camped out at home on the couch with a bag of cough drops and a roll of toilet paper - taking the occasional dose of Robitussin. This morning I took in my prescription for azithromycin. I’ve had a few cups of tea as well.

So far nothing seems to putting much of a dent in this beast. Read more »

I had heard that David Archuleta was from Utah. After seeing a YouTube video of him singing John Lennon’s “Imagine” - I was wondering if he is in fact a Mormon. So I started to google around and quickly found a Deseret News article that identified Mr. Archuleta as being a member of the LDS Church.

However, there was another point made in the same article that interested me as well. Read more »

As the U.S. presidential race continues, there are indications Barack Obama has more traction among Mormons than any other Democratic or liberal presidential candidate in recent memory. This seems to be due to Obama’s charisma and current political momentum and also due to a certain level of anti-GOP backlash by formerly enthusiastic Romney proponents. Read more »

Matt Mullenweg, “the founding developer of WordPress” will be sponsoring a WordPress meetup in Salt Lake City, Utah on February 2nd. You can read more about it here and here. It appears to be an open invitation to any and all interested local WordPress users, though they are asking for RSVPs to make sure there’s enough space for participants. Read more »

I’ve been thinking a little bit about Steve’s BCC: “Banned!” post and some of the comments. In the process I’ve come up with two analogies to describe the way comments are moderated at Mormon Mentality. Read more »

Because he’s known for pushing such innovative products, everything Steve Jobs says gets analyzed and assessed. Read more »

Some months ago someone pointed out Yale’s seal to me. I’ve held off writing about it until now - but it’s interesting to me that it shows an open book with the Hebrew words “Urim va Tummim” (which translates into English fairly directly as “Urim and Thummim”) and then the words underneath “Lux et Veritas” which translates as “light and truth.” For obvious reasons (to us at least) I think Mormons would find this university seal to be of interest. Read more »

If a member of the bishopbric asks you to play Santa Claus at the ward Christmas party, does that mean you’re fat? Read more »

The Bloggernacle has a lot to say about Mitt Romney - but there is a potential political scenario that I think would pose some interesting questions for Mormons … so I thought (while the potential exists) I’d ask a question to our readers here.

Imagine that after the primaries the United States presidential race comes down to Rudolph Giulani as the Republican candidate and Hillary Clinton as the Democratic candidate.

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If you wish, feel free to express the reasoning for your preference in the comments.

The Book of Mormon never describes Lehi as a king. Lehi is a visionary man, a prophet, who lives in Jerusalem during the reign of a king named Zedekiah. By the time Lehi is on the boat coming to the Americas, he is described quite plainly as an old man. Specifically Nephi says that his parents were “stricken in years” and refers to their “grey hairs” (1 Nephi 18:17-18). Nephi expresses his concern that any unusual affliction sends them to their sick-beds and could possibly even kill them. Read more »

This past Sunday I had my first experience teaching a lesson in the ward nursery. The lesson came from the Primary 1 manual (appropriately called “I Am A Child of God”). The manual description (found at the LDS.org website) reads:

“For teaching children ages 18 months through 3 years, including suggestions for adapting the manual for use in the nursery.”

Read more »

Last year I wrote a post about “Studying Scripture As A Couple” … my wife and I had been reading the Book of Mormon together and had decided we would begin reading the Old Testament. We generally read a single chapter in the morning and we’ve been moving along at that pace for some time. A few mornings ago we finished 2 Kings and moved into 1 Chronicles. Read more »

“Fast Sunday” is a bit of a misnomer. After all, fast Sunday begins on Saturday - either Saturday noon or Saturday evening. Read more »

This past Sunday my wife and I were released as Gospel Essentials teachers and sustained to a new calling - to work in the ward nursery. Read more »

A University of Utah research study has determined that the sexual orientation of nematodes (millimeter long worms that live in soils around the globe) is a matter of genetics. A Salt Lake Tribune article reads: Read more »

I just read an article about a legal battle that I find rather interesting.

From the article: Read more »