By Common Consent, a Mormon Blog

After our first round, we let things slide for a little while until after labor day.  When we all reconvened, we were more sober (except for Ed), and more serious.  Kirby had a death in the family, so his continued participation is all the more remarkable and appreciated.

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That’s what I wish it said.  I’m all in favor of joy–but right now, the most joyful sight I could think of would be the back of my own eyelids.  I’m tired.  I’m achy-joint, scratchy eye-lid, fuzzy-brain chronically tired.  Some nights I’m too tired to sleep, and I wake up every hour looking at the clock.  Every day I wake up to my annoyingly loud alarm buzzing (the only effective setting I’m sorry to say) wondering if I’m going to make it.  Somethin’s gotta change…but nothin’s gonna change.  This is my life until the first week of June.  Come on June….   

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As you may know, at BCC we periodically host round table discussions gathering the illuminati of various fields together.  We’ve done it for the issues of Women in the Church and Historicity and Revelation.  Each round table brings insights from professionals and academics deeply involved in the topic. 

Unfortunately, we couldn’t find anyone like that for our round on Mormon Humor.  But at least we’re long-winded.

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Ann Porter writes to us from the desolation of the Gulf Coast:

Yesterday, I attended sacrament meeting with the Slidell Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is my home ward. The building we normally meet in, the stake center for the Slidell Stake, took on quite a bit of water, and the power is still off. The carpet has been ripped out and cleaning has begun, but it was not yet ready to host a meeting of the Saints.

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When my husband and I were making up our living wills, we were faced with some hard questions about life and death as well as whom we would want to be the guardians of our children. Because we still like to think that we’re young and immortal, we didn’t get into making any funeral plans, but I did have one request for him — please don’t sing “God Be With You Till We Meet Again” at anytime during my funeral. It is just too sad.

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‘Tis me birthday, arrgh.  And blow me down, but marked in me calendar I see ’tis International Talk Like a Pirate Day.  Zounds!

I am pleased to introduce Bill Russell, whose article, "The Remnant Church: An RLDS Schismatic Group Finds a Prophet in the Seed of Joseph," appears in the fall 2005 issue of Dialogue (38, no 3:75-106). It has also been posted here on BCC. You will find the article an informative summary of the events preceding the RLDS church’s change of name to Community of Christ and of the subsequent confusion afflicting RLDS members who do not wish to associate with the new, liberal-leaning church. As the title indicates, the focus of the article is upon a group of disaffected saints who have reorganized The Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints under the leadership of a descendent of Joseph Smith through a female line.

I have asked Bill to respond to a few passages from his article. He will be happy to respond to your questions and comments.

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I’ve had a very expensive education.  The older I get, the more I’m finding that the only thing it is really good for is to sound witty and erudite at cocktail parties.  The irony is that I don’t drink and hate cocktail parties.  Instead of learning my lesson, a make it on your own bootstraps and grit kind of lesson, I’m going back to school.  Again.  For another very expensive degree.  One could draw the conclusion that education does not make you smarter.

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In anticipation of an interview with the author, Dialogue has made available to BCC readers Bill Russell’s recent article, "The Remnant Church: An RLDS Schismatic Group Finds a Prophet of Joseph’s Seed."  The article can be downloaded from Dialogue‘s website here (if that link doesn’t work for some, it can also be downloaded from BCC here).  We’re excited to hear what Prof. Russell has to say on his highly interesting insights into the RLDS world.  The interview will appear here in another day or so.

There has been a lot discussion as to the reasons behind the plural marriages of 19th century Mormons. Common in such discussions is reference to Jacob’s ardent proclamation on the godliness of monogamy and his associated caveat for raising up seed unto the Lord. The thought is that if the Lord wants a lot of Mormon babies, he’ll command the Saints to engage in polygamy. Without fail, one or more individuals will raise the fact that more children were born in monogamous marriages than in their polygamous counterparts (on a per marriage basis). I recently stumbled on a discourse by Brigham Young that spells out quite plainly his reasoning for polygamy, which corresponds well with Jacob and yet defies the modern criticism. Read the rest of this entry »

There is one indisputable fact about Mormonism, something that not even those pesky Signature Books-types can call into question, something so true that no FAIR-defense can deny:

Mormons say CRAZY things from the pulpit.

Everyone knows this. Missionaries sweat about bringing investigators to Sacrament meeting ("I do hope the talks aren’t CRAZY"). Fast and Testimony meeting is worse ("will Brother CRAZY get up?") My ward, in an effort to get people to bring their friends to church, has set a date where specially selected non-CRAZY people will talk.

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I have a friend and coworker with whom I had a discussion a few months back. The bulk of the conversation centered on his thoughts of “you do your home teaching and things just run better in the ward.” I couldn’t deny him his feelings on the subject, as he had loosely put together examples of how this has worked in his life. But more importantly, his conviction of this was strong.

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Tuesday, September 11, 2001 was a beautiful and cloudless day in the Eastern United States. The beauty of the day ended at 8:46 a.m., as American flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, killing all on board. At 9:03, United flight 175 struck the South Tower. The doomed flights, along with American flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37, and United flight 93, which went down in an empty field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, were the first instance of major terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Thousands were killed as the World Trade Center towers collapsed and the Pentagon burned.

Friday, September 11, 1857 was a brisk day in the mountains of Southern Utah; nights at 4,000 feet were chilly, but the days were bright and warm. But the afternoon of that day ran cold as a band of armed Mormon settlers and hundreds of Indians surrounded, betrayed and slew a wagon train of about a hundred people at Mountain Meadows. The events mark one of the most gruesome examples of religious zealotry in American history.
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In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, plenty of fingers have been pointed, crying out that enough wasn’t done. On the far left, we have people saying FEMA didn’t respond quickly enough, blaming Bush cronyism for appointing unqualified friends to high positions. The far right has chimed in, insisting that the people of New Orleans didn’t do enough. More than one radio talk-show host has insisted our abysmal welfare state has created laziness, and people sat around waiting to be helped instead of taking matters into their own hands.

Regardless of which side of the debate one might fall on, both sides seem to agree, people should have been doing something. A key part of Americanism is the Protestant work tradition — the idea that people shouldn’t be idle, lazy, or couch potatoes. Mormons seem to have joined this tradition of hard work and take great pride in their industry. Whenever I tell people I’m working on a history degree, one of two inevitable questions immediately follows: “What are you going to do with that,” or “Are you going to teach?” We associate what people do with what job they have, and as a result, I think the Protestant work ethic sucks.

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I’ve been sitting here tearing my hair out at the incredulity of the situation that’s unfolded in New Orleans. "Why has it taken so long to help these people?" goes the cry, and I have joined the chorus. But then I just realised that I have also been ridiculously slow to act: these past days I have posted on scholarly biblical blah, and candy-floss Mormonalia. I apologise. There are more important things right now (although some of the Mormonads have been killer!) I believe that there is a huge amount of faith in the Bloggernacle, and we have had prayers answered before. I hope we will continue to join our faith as a Mormon blogging community and pray to our Heavenly Father to bless those affected by this tragedy, to guide those who are offering aid, and to lead us to offer help where we can. Thank-you to Gordon Smith, Geoff B., Julie M. Smith, Artemis, Greg, Lyle, and others who have already made Katrina-relief the focus of their thoughts. I am sorry that I haven’t.

UPDATE:

Time to vote:

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Mark your calendars, Bible fans. As part of the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (to be held in Philadelphia, November 19-22, 2005), a group of BYU professors are hosting a session on Mormons and the Bible.

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