April 19, 2015, marks exactly 30 years since Bruce R. McConkie, of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints died. I realize that he said some pretty controversial stuff. I know that he insulted people who believe in evolution, I know that he compared people who leave […]
The Approaching Justice liveblog for the first official Women’s Session of General Conference begins here with the session at 6:00 pm MDT. All women age 8 and older are invited to watch the session, although I won’t say anything if you participate without meeting the requirements. First things first: A female voice over replaces the […]
An acquaintance of mine recently shared the following nightmare: “I had gone to the stake centre because I was supposed to teach the youth a folk dance at their leadership conference. But when I got there I couldn’t find anything to do with the church. The chapel was a movie theatre, the gym a hockey […]
This is an adaptation of the Book Review that I wrote of the Signature Books title “Lost Apostles: Forgotten Members of Mormonism’s Original Quorum of Twelve” for the Association for Mormon Letters Book Review Panel. I will be presenting portions of this review at the Fall 2014, Salt Lake Sunstone Symposium, on Friday August 1st […]
It has been a rough week for many church members in the Mormon community. Even attempts to control my passion when posting links to articles seem to have failed. One person called me anti-Mormon. I have never once spewed hate toward the Church that I love. I have never uttered a single anti-Mormon sentiment. […]
I can’t help it. I cannot keep quiet. But I should preface this post with something reaffirming in an attempt to protect myself from some kind of backlash. I have a solid testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which fullness I believe one finds in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I […]
I am an emotional person. In fact, I sometimes allow my emotions to control me, and that often leads me in the wrong direction, leaving me with regrets great and small. One emotion I keep to myself in most company (close family the only exceptions) is sadness. While I cry, and I have cried often, […]
This Hymns of Social Justice post is a companion piece to Chris Henrichsen’s post “Should Mormons Give Money to Panhandlers?” found here In the fall of 1990 I started my senior year at Provo High school in Provo, Utah. Being a (mostly good) Mormon boy I (somewhat) dutifully attended “Seminary”. For readers who are not LDS, […]
In December 2013 Signature Books released the latest volume in their important “Significant Mormon Diaries” series. The title is “Cowboy Apostle:The Diaries of Anthony W. Ivins, 1875-1932”. Ivins, who is almost unknown now, played a very important role in the LDS Church from the time that he was called to lead the LDS colonies in […]
Geneva is 8. Oh, and she is super excited about the General Women’s meeting. Why? Because it is for her! If she is invited, she is going. And she will not let her mother forget. What else is that day? “I think we are feeding the missionaries on the 29th,” my wife Lyndee mentioned to […]
The Jesus Christ that I read about in the scriptures always taught a doctrine of inclusion. Here are some of the things that He said or that were said about Him: Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. – Matt 19:14 Thou shalt […]
We are loving our time here in Las Vegas. In addition to the abundance of In-N-Out Hamburger locations, we are very much loving our LDS congregation here in Vegas. They turned out in large numbers to unload our U-Haul. They have warmly greeted us on Sunday, stopped by our home to bring us peaches or […]
