By Common Consent, a Mormon Blog

Last night I saw Captain America. I quite enjoyed it; I especially liked the semi-1940s period setting. One aspect of the film I could sort of relate to was the skinny kid who was transformed. Read the rest of this entry »

I taught the captioned lesson at Institute Wednesday night, to about a dozen or so young single adults. I was a guest instructor for that one evening in the Doctrines of the Church class, and my assigned topic was The Agency of Man. [I made a little joke telling the sisters that this lesson obviously didn't apply to them, then made sure everyone knew "Man" here was used in the generic, not gendered sense.] I thought I’d try to convey the gist of my lesson here for anyone interested. Read the rest of this entry »

According to a recent Gallup poll, 25% of Americans would be less likely to support a candidate for President of the United States who is Mormon. When I see that statistic, I have to ask myself, “Why?” Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been watching HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” One of the tribes that we follow is the Khaleesi, who are very primitive and earthy. Their Khal (leader) is Drogo, a huge, well-muscled man (the actor who plays him will be starring in the new Conan the Barbarian film later this year), and his wife is a petite blond from another tribe. One thing that struck me about their relationship is that they refer to each other with pet names. She calls him “My Sun and Stars,” and he calls her “Moon of My Life.” It’s very sweet, but totally unexpected in that setting. Read the rest of this entry »

A San Francisco ballot initiative later this year proposes to criminalize the performance of circumcisions on male minors, with fines up to $1,000 and jail terms of up to one year. Even Russell Crowe has weighed in on the proposal via Twitter: “I love my Jewish friends, I love the apples and the honey and the funny little hats but stop cutting yr babies.” Such a proposal smacks of religious ignorance at best, if not outright anti-religious animus. Read the rest of this entry »

I just checked into my room here at the Hilton Garden Inn in St. George, which is the hotel closest to the Dixie Center, where the conference will be held. Read the rest of this entry »

As reported in today’s Chicago Tribune, Harold Camping, an 89-year old Christian radio host in California, has popularized the idea that the Rapture will occur on May 21, 2011. Camping’s idea has gone viral; a Google search of the date turns up page after page of websites dedicated to this notion. My impression is that previous failures have pretty much cured Mormons from wanting to play this game. Read the rest of this entry »

Today we talked about the Parable of the Prodigal Son in GD class. I asked the class how the father’s estate would be divided between his two sons, and the first answer I heard was the one I was expecting: 50/50. That would be normal in our culture, and I offered that that is indeed what my will provides vis-a-vis my two children. But then I heard someone give the correct answer: 2/3 to the elder, 1/3 to the younger. This is due to the principle of primogeniture, under which the eldest son got a double portion of inheritance (the theory being that he also had a duty to care for the mother if still alive). Read the rest of this entry »

Caligula: I have existed from the morning of the world and I shall exist until the last star falls from the night. Although I have taken the form of Gaius Caligula, I am all men as I am no man, and therefore I am . . . [softly] a god. Read the rest of this entry »

Easter Sunday. Maybe ten or so years ago, in the last ward I lived in before my current ward. We walk into the chapel and take our seats. I’m looking forward to the program; the Easter hymns we get to sing, special musical numbers, and talks on the Atonement and Resurrection maybe. The youth speaker gets up, and starts talking about tithing. As does the next speaker. And the concluding speaker. The whole sacrament meeting is devoted to the concept of tithing! Not so much as an Easter hymn. Closing prayer, on to Sunday School, totally business as usual. Utter disappointment.. Read the rest of this entry »

In the mid-90s, Trey Parker and Matt Stone created two cutout animation shorts, including one portraying a battle between Jesus and Santa that went viral. Shortly after that they began their irreverent Comedy Central cartoon “South Park,” which is still going strong after 14 years on the air. My children turned me onto the show, and I’ve been a casual fan for many years. And I’m still a fan even though Parker and Stone have created a Broadway musical poking fun at a book I believe to be sacred. Read the rest of this entry »

My daughter has been on a major family history jag recently, and she’s turning into quite a little genealogist (better than her old man, anyway). She just sent me a wonderful treasure: a 21-page single-space typescript manuscript containing the first person memoir of Elizabeth Lee, which she wrote in January 1931 in Columbia. She was the older sister of my great grandmother Alice Lee. (This Lee family is related in some fashion to Harold B. Lee, but I haven’t tried to figure out exactly how.) I thought it was a wonderful window into what it was like to grow up as a girl in Utah in the 19th century, so I’m going to share a few excerpts with you here. (If she were alive today I suspect she’d be a perma at FMH.) Enjoy! Read the rest of this entry »

A recent article in the New York Times, Is Law School a Losing Game?, has been making the rounds lately. Since we have a surfeit of lawyers in the Bloggernacle, I thought it might be a public service for us to talk about our experiences with law school for the benefit of our readers. I’ll roll the ball out to get us started: Read the rest of this entry »

I came home off of my mission in mid-October 1979, and ended my missionary journal at that time. I tried to keep up my journal writing habit, and so kept writing on looseleaf paper until I could get a new bound journal to use. This journal runs from 11/18/79 to a final entry of 1/1/91. I lost this journal a long time ago, but my wife just now found it in our hall storage space, so I’ve been enjoying rereading it. Read the rest of this entry »