Reader Question Box #4: “what are the disadvantages of being a mormon”

September 15, 2011 By

Reader Question Box is a series where we answer questions that show up in our website traffic monitoring statistics as Google search terms that led people to us. Copious oddities are to be found in the search term logs, and some worthwhile questions. (In case you missed our previous editions: #1, #2, and #3.)

Question: “is it harder to be an lawyer or architect”
Answer: I’m going to throw this one to the audience. Please note that our audience consists almost entirely of lawyers (see posts here and here), and interpret the result accordingly.


[Read more...]

Filed Under: Features, Internet & Social Media, Mormon, Reader Question Box

Reader Question Box #3: “lds bishop ‘no more than two nights per week’”

September 9, 2011 By

Reader Question Box is a series where we answer questions that show up in our website traffic monitoring statistics as Google search terms that led people to us. Copious oddities are to be found in the search term logs, and some worthwhile questions. #1 here, #2 here.

Question: “lds bishop ‘no more than two nights per week’”
Answer: Dear reader, No, being an LDS Bishop definitely takes more time than two nights per week. Typically, bishops will attend the weekly youth activity (Wednesday nights), then there are youth “firesides” (a kind of evening devotional, sometimes held at the church building and sometimes held in someone’s home) on many Sunday nights. Then there are the endless pastoral duties of meeting with individuals, couples and families in his office (couple nights a week) or visiting their homes. Just about the only night a Bishop is likely to have for his family (barring emergencies) is Monday night, which, by LDS tradition, everybody in the church reserves as “Family Home Evening” (brief scripture study/devotional, then board games and the like, then dessert). The church has perennial concern about the amount of time bishops, who are lay ministers with regular day jobs, spend in their service. Bishop’s wives, especially if they have young children, carry an enormous burden due to the frequent absence of their husbands (and of course children miss their dad). See BCC posts here and here.

Question: “is dry humping against law of chastity”
Answer: I’ll let our readers handle this one. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Features, Internet & Social Media, Mormon, Reader Question Box Tagged With: , , ,

Reader Question Box #2: “do mormons consummate their marriage in the temple”

September 2, 2011 By

Reader Question Box is a series where we answer questions that show up in our website traffic monitoring statistics. These are actual Google search terms that led people to us. Copious oddities are to be found in the search term logs, and some worthwhile questions. (Series introduction)

This is temple misinformation edition!

Question: “do mormons consummate their marriage in the temple”
Answer: No. Heck no. However, sometimes, as a result of nothing more than the hopeless naivete of some among us, we have been known to report a wedding being performed/officiated in the temple as having been “consummated” in the temple. Yes, we can in fact be that cluelessly naive.
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Filed Under: Features, Mormon, Reader Question Box Tagged With: , , ,

Reader Question Box #1: “is arby’s jamocha shake against word of wisdom”

August 25, 2011 By

Welcome to a new series! The WordPress.com software that runs BCC tabulates detailed statistics on traffic to this site. One thing it shows is what search queries led readers to BCC each day. Aside from the usual top traffic terms (“bycommonconsent” “by common consent” etc), there are always miscellaneous surprises. Sometimes, these search queries can spark ideas for a post, because they afford a window onto the topics our readers are wondering about and what questions they have. For example, here is an issue that one of our readers needs guidance on:

is arby’s jamocha shake against word of wisdom

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Features, Health & Medicine, Internet & Social Media, Mormon, Reader Question Box, Society & Culture, Theology, Doctrine & Policy Tagged With: , , , , ,

Mormon.org very nearly converts Stephen Colbert

August 12, 2011 By

The Mormon.org website, and associated ad campaign, has received plenty of attention at BCC (here, here, here and here) and throughout the bloggernacle (here, here, here, here and here, just to name a few). This week the ad campaign basked in an extended moment in the Colbert Report spotlight. Many of you will have seen the clip already, but it seemed fitting to officially memorialize this moment in the BCC post archive, given that By Common Consent named Stephen Colbert the 2009 Boggs-Doniphan Gentile of the Year.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Boggs-Doniphan Award, Features, Mormon

Church-Hacker #12: Freedom of Speeches

August 10, 2011 By

This week’s church-hack comes to us from Connie Chung:

When my old singles ward started letting speakers choose their own topic, the quality of talks went up. Sacrament meetings became an opportunity for ward members to speak about something they felt strongly about and could knowledgeably share.

When people couldn’t think of what to speak on, the executive secretary offered a topic or asked “What do you like about being a Mormon?” to get the juices flowing.

It’s also great because with the knowledge that you will inevitably be speaking, you can start working on a talk whenever inspiration strikes.

I can see this working in my ward, with only a couple exceptions (I’m one of them). How about in your ward? And what topic have you been waiting your whole life to give a talk about in Sacrament Meeting?
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Filed Under: Church Hacker, Mormon Tagged With: ,

Church-Hacker #11: Isn’t It About…Time?

July 27, 2011 By

This week’s Church-Hacker is inspired by a comment left on a post I wrote a few months ago. Thanks Zefram!

The next time you’re assigned to give a Sacrament Meeting talk on “families,” with the Bishop’s permission, share a one-minute testimony on the value of family time and end the meeting 15 minutes early.

You’re only giving 15 minutes back, but I bet a sizable chunk of the congregation will think differently about that sabbath day with their families.

If nothing else, you’ll spend a week as the ward’s favorite speaker.

____________

Got your own Church-Hacker idea? Submit it! (The church-hacking guidelines are here.) See all entries in this series here.

Filed Under: Church Hacker Tagged With:

Church-Hacker #10: Church in Reverse

July 20, 2011 By

BCC reader Katie W. says we should go to church backwards. What the what?

Several years ago our stake reversed the order of meetings. We now start with RS/PH, then Sunday School, and last is Sacrament Meeting. No class goes overtime when Sacrament meeting is the finale; it just doesn’t happen, it is too obvious that a teacher isn’t letting class out in a timely manner if the class members straggle into Sacrament meeting.

At first people were getting to RS/PH/Primary/YM/YW a little late, but when the leaders started on time, folks started getting the idea that their children would miss their assignments, and announcements would be made whether they were there or not. A miracle occurred as after a few months, people were getting there on time. Sacrament always starts on time and ends on time except for the rare occasions when we get out of Sacrament meeting 5 minutes EARLY. Families are not late for Sacrament meeting or trailing in from the parking lot. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Church Hacker Tagged With:

Church-Hacker #9: For Type-A Teachers

July 13, 2011 By

When I taught Gospel Doctrine, I completely gave up hope that any class members would ever read the material ahead of time. BCC regular Chris Gordon says there’s another way:

I had a teacher once who, you know, actually did something other than beg to try to help his class read ahead and participate in the discussion. Nearly every week around mid-week I’d get an email like this:

Dear Gospel Doctrine Class,

For those of you who missed class on Sunday, we hope to see you soon. We had a great discussion on [insert lesson name with hyperlink to lesson and related scriptures], in which we focused primarily on x and y.

As a reminder, for Sunday we’ll be covering [lesson name with hyperlink]. I’d like to spend some time discussing a and b, but we’ll see where the discussion goes.  Hope to see you there.

Have a great week,
Teacher

It was never particularly long, worked great for when I was in toddler limbo, and was a great way for me to at least glance at the lesson ahead of time via hyperlink. I also understand that the teacher made it a point to include on the mailing list those whose callings keep them from attending Sunday School, to help them feel included.

Occasionally the teacher would also include links to talks or other resources related to the subject matter, probably depending on how much preparation had already been done by email time. The teacher would often also include attachments or links to resources and/or quotes used in lesson prep in lieu of or in addition to handouts.  There are always the folks who don’t use email and I’m not sure what the teacher did to help them.

Love the idea. And if sending the email becomes a part of a teacher’s regular lesson prep, it might not even be that much of an extra burden. The only issue for me would be revealing my sources (I wouldn’t be able to crib quite so liberally from Feast Upon the Word Blog and Wikipedia anymore).

Teachers, would you be up for this level of engagement with your class members? And class members, would you care?

____________

Got your own Church-Hacker idea? Submit it! (the church-hacking guidelines are here.) See all entries in this series here.

Filed Under: Church Hacker, Sunday School Tagged With: ,

Whither Mormon Environmental Theology?

July 7, 2011 By

The Summer issue of Dialogue, ably guest-edited by BCC’s own Steven Peck, contains a nifty little piece by the only person I’ve ever heard of with a joint degree in Forestry and Divinity, Jason Brown. Jason has kindly agreed to talk about his article a little bit here. Being the aging curmudgeon that I am, I will encourage you to READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE before opining based on the synopsis below.
——————————
‘Whither Mormon Environmental Theology?’ was written in its current form during the last few months before
I graduated from graduate school in May of this year. The piece is an attempt to organize my reflections on
approaches to Mormon ecological theology that I have observed in my cursory review of the steadily increasing
literature. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Dialogue Posts

Church-Hacker #8: Take It Outside

July 6, 2011 By

This week’s Church-Hacker is a celebration of summer by BCC perma Aaron R:

I love one of the stories Mark Richards recounts of a time when Eugene England was his Bishop.  Bishop England ‘suggested we take the ward up Provo Canyon and hold our meeting in the Sundance amphitheater.’  Although some ward members were worried that ‘it was improper to hold sacrament meeting in the canyon… Bishop England responded that chapels are merely buildings for us to meet in and that the pioneers and other early Saints worshiped in Heavenly Father’s true chapel, nature.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Church Hacker Tagged With: , , ,

Church-Hacker #7: The End Time

June 29, 2011 By

This week’s Church-Hacker was submitted by BCC reader Raymond, and should immediately be instituted in every ward throughout the church.

Why is it acceptable to go over the allotted time in meetings, but taboo to end early? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?

It kills me whenever I see a teacher nervously look at the clock wondering how to “fill” more time. Just stop. No one will complain if we finish early. Another recurring problem is teachers who can’t stop until they get through their material. We appreciate the effort you put into preparing your lesson, but we’d appreciate it even more if you stopped on time. I tune out the teacher as soon as it’s time to leave anyway.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Church Hacker, EQ/HP, Relief Society Tagged With: , , ,

Church-Hacker #6: Make ‘Em Pray

June 22, 2011 By

A great discussion or lesson in priesthood meeting can be the highlight of my Sunday, but it’s tough to squeeze a great discussion into the small window that quorum teachers are allotted. Sometimes the teacher has as little as 15 minutes left by the time priesthood opening exercises are over. And yet the brief window doesn’t have to be a limitation—I can think of several ways we can use that 15-30 minutes to strengthen the quorum. Some of these ideas involve looking outside the classroom/lesson paradigm we’ve adopted for quorum meetings, but maybe that’s OK.

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Filed Under: Church Hacker, EQ/HP Tagged With: , , ,

Church-Hacker #5: Missionary Moment 2.0

June 15, 2011 By

This week’s Church-Hacker idea comes from BCC’s own Kevin Barney:

My ward has a tradition that every Fast Sunday, the conducting bishopric member reads excerpts from letters sent home by the missionaries from our ward out serving in the field.  This might not be practicable in a Utah ward with a dozen people serving, but we’ve never had more than three so it works for us.  I love it.  It helps us remain connected to our young people so far away, and when we hear the things they are going through it gives us a greater appreciation for their sacrifices.  And this is far superior to some strained “missionary moment” in priesthood opening exercises.

Think this would work in your own ward? Already tried it? Let us know in the comments.

Got your own Church-Hacker idea? Submit it! (the church-hacking guidelines are here)

Filed Under: Church Hacker, Church Programs Tagged With: , ,

BCC Zeitcast 72: Russell Fox, Communitarianism, and What Really Matters

June 9, 2011 By

One of the true Fathers of Mormon blogging steps into the virtual studio for the first time, as Scott B. interviews Russell Arben Fox, a professor of political science at Friends University. Topics revolve primary around RAF’s favorite ism–Communitarianism–and the path his philosophical, political, and religious values have taken to arrive at their current state. Some discussion is also devoted to RAF’s beard.

Episode Content Guide [Read more...]

Filed Under: BCC Zeitcast, Features, Politics

Thursday Morning Quickie #24

June 9, 2011 By

[Note: The following text was taken verbatim from the M Men-Gleaner Manual, "Love, Marriage, and You" used in 1956-1957. Previous entries in this series can be found here.]

Lesson 25

Enhancing Family Solidarity

Tom and Jane had been married three years and were getting along very well in most respects. They had had a successful courtship and engagement and had married when he was twenty-four and she was twenty. After their marriage he had gone to school for two years and she had worked as a stenographer. Now they were settled down and were starting to establish a family of their own. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Family, Features, Marriage, Thursday Morning Quickie

Church-Hacker #4: The Fifth-Sunday Swap

June 8, 2011 By

This week’s Church-Hacker idea comes from BCC reader Chris Gordon:

We make it a tradition on 5th Sundays to swap presidencies in Elders Quorum/Relief Society. The RS president comes to priesthood to teach and vice versa.

The focus is generally on something family-oriented, but it’s been fun and enlightening.  The best, though, was in an early iteration when it was done in lieu of a first Sunday presidency message.  The visiting rep from the RS wrapped up with 10 minutes to spare for testimony time.  The class enjoyed 10 minutes of crickets chirping as the brethren stared blankly at this development.

Think your ward could benefit from this leadership swap? Already doing it? Enlighten us with a comment.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Church Hacker, Church Programs, EQ/HP, Features, Gender & Sexuality, Men, Relief Society, Women Tagged With: ,

Thursday Morning Quickie #23

June 2, 2011 By

[Note: The following text was taken verbatim from the M Men-Gleaner Manual, "Love, Marriage, and You" used in 1956-1957. Previous entries in this series can be found here.]

Lesson 19

Living Your Religion

IN 1933 the World’s Fair was held at Chicago. Among the many excellent displays by the churches was one by the Latter-day Saints. Thousands of visitors learned about some of the principles of the Gospel and had an opportunity to ask questions of capable young men who were in charge of the “Mormon” booth.

One particular day, two businessmen, who possessed little firsthand knowledge about the Church, visited the display. As they approached the booth the following conversation was overheard:

“Say, Jim, I’ve heard that the Mormons are the only people in the world who really know where they are going. Let’s find out something about them.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Family, Features, Thursday Morning Quickie

Church-Hacker #3: Speaker Upgrade

June 1, 2011 By

This week’s Church-Hacker idea comes from BCC reader Gdub:

This is something that a former bishop of mine did, which greatly improved the quality of speakers in our ward. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Church Hacker, Church Programs, Features Tagged With:

BCC Zeitcast 71: Two Brothers, One MPAA Rating System

May 31, 2011 By

Scott B. hosts the second of a two-part debate between BCC perma John C. and his older brother Robert. In Part 1, John and Rob debated the role of the U.S. Constitution in Mormon thought. In part 2, the brothers turn their attention to the steps of repentance for viewing a movie that has been rated R by the MPAA. John takes the position that statements regarding R-ratings are obsolete, and that the Church has intentionally moved away from such statements, emphasizing the need to use wisdom and discernment in media consumption, but that movie ratings are not good indicators of appropriateness. Rob takes the position that past statements from Church leaders regarding R-ratings are still valid, and that choices in movie selection should be based on a commitment to follow the prophet, rather than a quota for cuss words or visible body parts.


Links for your convenience: [Read more...]

Filed Under: BCC Papers, Features, Film & Television, Media Tagged With: ,

Thursday Morning Quickie #22

May 26, 2011 By

[Note: The following text was taken verbatim from the M Men-Gleaner Manual, "Love, Marriage, and You" used in 1956-1957. Previous entries in this series can be found here.]

Lesson 16

Keeping Morally Clean

AFTER a sumptuous dinner had been served, several young, married couples were relaxing leisurely around a glowing fire in Helen’s front room. Most of the group had been married two or three years. The conversation went from children to “projected satellites” and back to children again. Soon a serious discussion developed about what each couple considered to be the most basic values in life. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Children, Family, Features, Marriage, Thursday Morning Quickie

Church-Hacker #2: The Romper Room

May 25, 2011 By

This is the second installment in our new series of tips and ideas for optimizing the three-hour block of Sunday meetings. The first installment (and the full explanation) is here.

There exists a state of limbo for children who are too young to attend nursery, but too old to sit quietly in the adult classes. These pre-nursery children and their parents are neither here nor there; they’re lost in the fog of the foyer, the parents chasing their toddlers around and sympathetically rolling their eyes at the other parents in a similar state.

I was recently one of those parents. Once Sacrament Meeting was over, if I wasn’t responsible for teaching a lesson, I had to decide between ducking in and out of class with my rambunctious daughter, roaming the halls with her, or just going home. Church was at 11, so most Sundays I headed home after Sacrament Meeting and put my kid down for her nap. And why not? I wasn’t going to be in a class anyway.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Children, Church Hacker, Features, Primary

BCC Zeitcast 70: Two Brothers, One Constitution

May 24, 2011 By

Scott B. hosts the first of a two-part debate between liberal wacko John C. and his older, wiser, more conservative brother Robert. Today’s topic: The U.S. Constitution, and what YOU can (should?) do to save it.


[Read more...]

Filed Under: BCC Zeitcast, Features, Mormon, Politics

Thursday Morning Quickie #21

May 19, 2011 By

[Note: The following text was taken verbatim from the M Men-Gleaner Manual, "Love, Marriage, and You" used in 1956-1957. Previous entries in this series can be found here.]

Lesson 17

Young Marrieds and Recreation

MARTHA and Joe were different-at least in many ways. They had been married for three years and were still going to dances every two or three weeks. Some of their young married friends criticized them for they had two young children. Shouldn’t they stay at home all the time with their little family? What was their explanation? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Features, Marriage, Thursday Morning Quickie

Church-Hacker #1: The Guest Professional

May 18, 2011 By

We’re running low on recurring series here at BCC (Scott B., I miss our Thursday Morning Quickies terribly), so I’m launching a new one. It’s called Church-Hacker—it’s basically Lifehacker, but for church. Each week, we’ll post an idea that you can try in your ward or calling to make the meeting block more engaging, more spiritual, or even more fun.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Church Hacker, Church Programs, Features, Mormon, Young Men, Young Women

BCC Zeitcast 69: Steve Evans

May 13, 2011 By

In this episode, Scott B. is joined in the virtual studio by Steve Evans and fMhLisa, two of one of the Bloggernacle’s most seasoned blog administrators, for a discussion of what it’s like to be a big bad blog boss. Other topics include recent legal developments in Florida, the origins and evolution of BCC and Feminist Mormon Housewives, and some favorite bannination stories.

Useful Links:
[Read more...]

Filed Under: BCC Zeitcast, Features, Media, Mormon Tagged With:

BCC Zeitcast 68: Thomas Parkin

May 6, 2011 By

In this episode, Scott B. is joined in the virtual studio by Thomas Parkin, one of the Bloggernacle’s greatest personalities.



[Read more...]

Filed Under: BCC Zeitcast, Family, Features, Marriage

Thursday Morning “Wow, am I ever sick of this topic!” Poll

May 4, 2011 By

Folks, is your enjoyment of the bloggernacle at a bit of a low? Are you sick of rehashing all the same old topics over and over again? At BCC, we are striving to make your Mormon blogging experience more pleasurable by admitting that we are really very sick of these topics, too. If only there were some means (aside from self-discipline) to make us stop talking about things that we are tired of discussing.

Luckily, there is. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bloggernacle Classics, Mormon, Polls

Mormon Merit Badge #2: Mormon Cuisine

April 12, 2011 By

As part of BCC’s continuing mission to assist the PTB in the development of new methods and materials designed to improve Gospel consumption, we seek the collective wisdom of the bloggernacle regarding the creation of revamped merit badges and requirements for implementation into a youth program that will better meet the needs of young men, women, or anyone who seeks to do a good turn daily. Your input on the requirements for each new merit badge will be requested, collected, and formalized in due time. Today, we ask each one of you to contribute your knowledge of Mormon Cuisine.

BCC’s Mormon Merit Badge #2: Mormon Cuisine
(Replacing: Cooking)
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Church Programs, Features, Mormon, Scouting, TCoJCoLDS Tagged With: ,

Theft at Church

April 10, 2011 By

I stole today…during church…in the church building…in front of the young men I was about to teach a lesson to.

Our stake is collecting donations for a rummage sale/street fair that we do every year, and the donated stuff is sitting in the room where the young men meet for priesthood meeting.

Sitting right on top of the pile this morning was D. Michael Quinn’s Early Mormonism and the Magic World View. I figured it was an odd choice for a donation, and an even odder thing for our stake to sell for 50 cents to some guy munching on a funnel cake.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Books & Journals, Features, You Make the Call, Young Men Tagged With: , , ,
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