I just got officially connected with the Mormon Archipelago – a group of top-notch Mormon blogs run by really cool and smart Mormons who I’ve never met but I like anyway. You’ll notice the fancy new logo and feed from my new sibling-blogs in the sidebar. I like it because I’m always visiting their blogs anyway so this saves me having to use that pesky bookmark dropdown. You’ll like it because their blogs rock. (more…)

The comments for my previous post on the tenuous relationship between worldly riches and righteousness really got me thinking. A rich (but apparently righteous) anonymous saint made some very insightful comments that brought new ideas to my mind. I’m now starting to wonder if the Lord really does “bless” us with riches sometimes in this life. Not so we can live it up, but to see if we’ll actually keep our covenants and let go of it. (more…)

A recent post related to the Second Coming over at T&S reminded me of an odd fact in the Church – Mormons do NOT appreciate it when other Mormons speculate in the timing of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. I don’t know if other Christian churches have the same bias, but it is prevalent among Mormons and I’m not sure it need be. (more…)

For some reason I cannot read that Shakespearean line in my own voice — it always is in Geddy Lee’s voice in my head. I doubt the illustrious Hugh Nibley has that problem. It is his marvelous essay from 1999 called Abraham’s Creation Drama that has spurred this post. I read it today at the provided link and was, as usual with Nibley, thoroughly impressed. I highly recommend it. (more…)

Over at Nine Moons there was a comment on the fact that righteous people pray for business success and get none. This is something I’ve thought a lot about in the past. As of late I have had a lot of success with business. Yet other faithful Latter Day Saints I know are struggling horribly with business. How can I assume my success is because of righteousness when I’m no more righteous than these other saints? And if my success isn’t from blessing then is it sheer luck? (more…)

The concept of eternal progression is well established in Mormonism. While the nitty gritty details are still among the “mysteries”, the basic idea of man having the potential to progress to be like God is a fundamental doctrine of the Restoration. But what about moving backwards? If in this life we can progress to attain more light and intelligence and thus be more like God, can we regress by losing light and intelligence and thus become less like God than we started? Logic and the scriptures seem to say yes. (more…)

That last post was a bit on the heavy side. I don’t know how Mormons and puns mix, but my aunt sent me a list that made me laugh:

1. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The
stewardess looks at him and says, “I’m sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed
per passenger.” (more…)

I was following links and Clark’s blog and came across this post where he made mention of his dislike for the tone of some of the writers over at FARMS. He cited this article on this subject from Sunstone. Indeed, it does seem that some FARMS reviewers have taken aggressive – even verbally violent approaches to this war of ideologies. I have mixed feelings on the subject of appropriate approaches to combating attacks on the Church or its doctrines. Since I like to use the scriptures as my primary knowledge base, I decided to dig into them to see if they support or condemn vitriolic approaches to fighting for the gospel. (more…)