http://www.newcoolthang.com Mormon Musings by yer ol' pals, G&K Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:12:28 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Phew! A non-conference road win... It's about time. BYU pulled out a win today over the Washington Huskies by blocking an extra point attempt that would have tied the game as time wound down. Good times, good times... Just as I was about to kick a hole in my ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/09/byu-football-celebration-leads-to-uw-misery/557/ Today I went back and read a few old posts, and a few things became apparent. 1.) I forget things. Thus every six months or so, I post the same posts over again and say the same things, in a slightly different way, forgetting that Geoff J or Blake or Jacob or ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/09/why-the-atonement-is-so-hard-to-discuss-warning-this-is-all-meta/555/ When Nevada backed out of their scheduled season opening game with BYU several months ago BYU was left in a bad spot. They needed to schedule a home game for August 30 with a good opponent. The problem is that most schools are not super anxious to come ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/09/byu-football-one-win-in-the-books-but-the-quest-for-perfection-still-needs-work/556/ Every 5th Sunday in our ward, the Young Women started a tradition where a member of the Bishopric comes in and the Youth can ask them any questions they have. By Way of Contrast, here are some example questions: Young Women: -Who is Heavenly Father's Father, and why Don't we worship him? -Why ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/08/the-difference-between-young-men-and-young-women/554/ Click over and read this short article by Eamonn McCann from the Belfast Telegraph. Every now and then someone I would never expect jumps in to say the obvious in it can be very refreshing. I'm not worried that his description of baptism for the dead is light on the ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/08/what-if-mormons-are-right-and-catholics-and-protestants-wrong/553/ I frankly find this disturbing. President Clark, you have a problem. http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/08/byu-idaho-fight-club-what-the-crap/552/ So, I have noted that my typical habit of buying books and giving them away has once again depleted my inventory. So I have been shopping the internet tonight, and I started thinking about the fact that I should buy books that help people with their issues, which got me ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/08/help-me-find-the-best-books/550/ Football season is upon us. Woohoo! As I have in years past I will be posting on the BYU football team this season and recapping the games. But before I kick off my own posts on the Cougs I figured I would give you some links to ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/08/byu-football-best-sites-to-bookmark/549/ So I have to teach the Young Men a lesson this Sunday on choosing an Eternal Companion, and while I was going through the lesson, I noticed a sort of lacunae. Why do we want to get married? The only thing the manual provides is that old chestnut "Men can't be ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/08/why-be-married/548/ Someone asked me recently why the LDS church still uses the King James Version exclusively. My answer was probably a parrot of something I read in the bloggernacle at some point in the past, but I don't really remember where I got my current view. My answer was ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/08/why-the-kjv/547/ Can someone give me a solid definition of "the Lord's anointed"? Does it mean any saint? Any saint who has been to the temple? Any person who holds an assignment at church? Does it refer exclusively to the top of the church hierarchy? Something else? ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/08/can-someone-give-me-a-solid-definition-of-the-lords-anointed/546/ As I opened the August Ensign, and went over the prophet's message, I found it interesting that in Aug 2008, the prophet decided to talk about September 11, 2001. Then I realized it was a reprint. Yes I know this isn't new by any stretch of the imagination. President Hinckley ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/07/question-does-the-prophet-ever-publish-original-material-in-the-ensign/545/ I just want ya’ll to know that this is going to be kind of a weird post so…um…it’s just going to be weird. I will divulge something about myself that I don’t think that even Geoff, my husband, knows. Well, he probably knows, whenever Geoff’s around I tend ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/07/544/544/ Living in Oregon I don't get to many of the various conferences, but as it turns out I will by in Utah this year during the FAIR conference on Aug 7th and 8th (since my brother in law is getting back from a mission that week) so I am going! ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/07/see-you-at-fair/536/ This recent story over at KSL cracked me up (hat tip to Eric Snider and sorry if you saw this already): A frustrating night for some would-be robbers in Salt Lake City, especially for one whose demand for cash went way wrong. In Utah it may be a difficult deal to tell ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/07/feel-this-bag/543/ After the Duchess I thought I was through with dogs forever. I know that Geoff really hoped deep in his heart that I was through with dogs but I think in another spot down deep in his heart he knew that I wasn’t, because I really like dogs. ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/07/a-dogs-life-part-3-the-fuman-cometh/542/ So, moving on to “the Duchess” (or as I like to call her, Fat @$$). We now lived in Arizona and had settled in to our new home. The baby of our family was now about 2 and I thought things were calm enough to attempt dog ownership ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/07/a-dogs-life-part-2-the-duchess/537/ Last December, much to Geoff’s dismay, we (the children and I) brought a new addition home to the J household. It was a tiny, cute little Rat Terrier that, after much debate, we decided to name Fui (pronounced Phooey). The Rat Terrier breed is very similar looking ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/07/a-dogs-life-part-1-portrait-of-a-lady/535/ A new report from the Center for Disease Control is out announcing that for the first time more than 25% of adult Americans are officially obese. Now you may be thinking, "my friends may be a little overweight but I'm glad they aren't obese." But of course this ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/07/25-percent-of-american-adults-are-obese/534/ Which Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one God, infinite and eternal, without end. Amen. (D&C 28:10) thus becoming the Father and Son— And they are one God, yea, the very Eternal Father of heaven and of earth. (Mosiah 15: 3-4) There isn't much question that our scriptures, both ancient and modern, ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/07/some-meandering-theological-musings/533/ Ok, If you’ve been around a while, you know that I’ve never had a philosophy lesson in my life, and that I am pretty ignorant on these sorts of things. But I’m trying to get better and I’ve recently discovered the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and am learning, but have ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/06/how-does-libertarian-free-will-reject-causal-determinism/532/ I received the following in my e-mail today, and as I am aware that many of our friends at FPR and JI take an interest in the goings on of CES, I thought I'd put it out for public consumption. Personally, I am glad to see local CES falling under the ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/06/new-ces-change/531/ There was and interesting article today at Time.com (via Yahoo News) focusing on a recent survey from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. [Update: See more detailed survey results here and here] Here are some excerpts: Americans of every religious stripe are considerably more tolerant of the ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/06/new-survey-religious-tolerance-growing-among-christians/529/ I face sort of an odd situation in my life. You see, I don't believe the future exists yet, nor do I believe it can be clearly or completely determined, and yet some of what I would consider my highest level spiritual experiences had to do with God giving me ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/06/god-and-the-future/525/ Let's assume for the sake of this post that God exists and that he's good. In this context, the problem of evil starts to look rather like our complaining about how God does his job. This got me to thinking: Just what do you think God should be doing? ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/06/how-much-evil-is-okay/528/ Last month I was "fired" as Ward Clerk and moved to be Young Men’s President. Our Ward is Small, and so we combine Teachers and Deacons. We have 6 active youth who run the gambit in family settings. Recently an apparent issue has come up where rumor has it that ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/06/black-nail-polish/527/ One of the most prominent and appealing concepts throughout our religion is that of continual eternal progression. Another important concept in our religion is the eternal nature of matter as opposed to ex nihilo creation. I would venture to say that these two concepts are widely agreed upon ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/06/questions-on-our-eternal-being/526/ It's finally over. After about 4 years of enjoying the higher law in our stake -- a 2.5 hour block every Sunday -- we are switching back to the standard 3 hour block. Lament and wail oh ye Queen Creek saints; Zion hath fled! I know what ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/05/moving-to-the-lesser-law-a-bitter-farewell-to-the-25-hour-block/523/ My third grade daughter was distraught the other evening. She has/had a crush on a boy and after school that day, fearless girl that she is, she asked him if he wanted to "go with" her. She never did find out his answer, but what made her distraught ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/05/baby-girl-it-was-really-nothing/522/ So, just to show I suck at New Years Resolutions, I switched from the Book of Mormon to the OT around the beginning of this month, and am currently in Leviticus. Anyway, in Leviticus 19, we read the following: 23 ¶ And when ye shall come into the land, and ... http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/05/forbidden-fruit/521/