Justice and Mercy: A Rape Survivor’s Perspective

June 10, 2016 by

Today’s guest post is from Rachael.

I was sexually abused as a child and later raped as a teenager and again as an adult. All of these horrific experiences were at the hands of LDS priesthood holders. Of course, those who did these things were sinning and were not true representatives of Christ or His priesthood. It was relatively easy for me to separate out in my mind these evil men from what I knew God wanted.  But it was much harder for me to figure out how to make sense of the good men, bishops and stake presidents, who counseled me to forgive, to bury the past, to not hold my perpetrators legally responsible.  Because I believed that these men were representatives of God, I believed them when they told me that it was God’s will that I let my rapists (and abusers) off the hook.  And so I did.  I earnestly practiced the forgiveness that I was taught to practice, burying any hint of anger the moment it tried to rise up in me, and consequently, I believe, that buried emotion took on a life of its own, to the detriment of my health. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Current Events, Doctrine & Policy, Education, Family, Gender & Sexuality, General Conference, Guest Post, Mormon, Navel-Gazing & Poetic Observation, Society & Culture, Theology, Doctrine & Policy Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Elder Holland: We Get Credit For Trying #ldsconf

April 3, 2016 by

Back when I was in high school, I was warned not to guess if I didn’t know the answer to an SAT question. It’s been years, so my memory may be off, but I believe the test awarded points for correct answers, no points for blank answers, and took away points for wrong answers. If you weren’t at least reasonably certain that you were right, not answering the question was better than risking choosing a wrong answer, and losing points.[fn1]

As of last month, apparently, that changed: wrong answers still won’t get students points, but they also won’t cost students points. Where before, students had a strong incentive to refrain from participating, now the incentives have changed.  [Read more…]

Filed Under: General Conference, Mormon, TCoJCoLDS Tagged With: , , ,

President Uchtdorf’s Theology of Grace

April 3, 2016 by

I mean this post to complement Tracy M’s reflections on the same talk. Go read them if you haven’t already.

I hope that President Uchtdorf’s Sunday Morning sermon becomes a landmark, because of the smart way that it approaches the fraught theological territory surrounding works and grace. The point here isn’t the theological smarts, but the potential for pastoral comfort. We talk sometimes as though the intellectual and the spiritual can’t coexist, but I think that they inevitably do. And, as someone who believes that being critical about our God-talk matters, I’m persuaded that bringing our minds fully to bear on spiritual matters can be of great pastoral benefit, which is why I am praising this sermon. [Read more…]

Filed Under: General Conference, Theology Tagged With: , , , , ,

Mormon Mysticism and #ldsconf

April 3, 2016 by

Given the way that Mormonism often seems to privilege certainty, I was intrigued to notice hints of mysticism in several of Saturday’s talks. The vein of mysticism I’m talking about involves apophatic or negative theology, which means defining things by what they are not rather than what they are. Such theology draws attention to the limits of human understanding and encourages ascetic practices, often centered on prayer, designed to bring worshipers toward experiences of the divine that transcend rational description—or at least the usual categories of certainty. Mystics are people who experience God’s “dazzling darkness” in this way.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Gender & Sexuality, General Conference, Theology Tagged With: , , , ,

Christopher Waddell: Sometimes it’s just hard to think about Jesus #ldsconf

April 3, 2016 by

Bishop Waddell tells us that we must not expect our faith to protect us from sorrow. But peace of mind can be present during the storms of life. The key is to keep our focus on the Christ.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: General Conference

Elder Snow’s Talk on Humility and Reflections on Certainty #ldsconf

April 3, 2016 by

Nearly every day I have occasion to cross the busiest street in the city. Given its eight lanes, I usually chose to do so at a convenient crosswalk that is regulated by a traffic light. As is the case with most of Vienna’s 1,286 traffic lights, this one is controlled by a timer. It also features an audio and tactile system for guiding visually impaired persons over the street. Basically this system consists of raised lines on the sidewalk and across the street for guiding the tip of a cane  and a box about a meter off the ground that has a raised pictogram of the number of lanes to be crossed and, hidden from plain view, a button that can be depressed to activate an audio signal that sounds while the light is green.This is important–the box pictured below does not turn the light green or in any other way influence the timer; it simply activates an audio signal whenever pedestrians are given the right of way according to preprogrammed intervals. [Read more…]

Filed Under: General Conference, Mormon

Ski Lessons with E. Stevenson #ldsconf

April 2, 2016 by

Dude, Where’s My Car Keys?

Elder Stevenson starts his talk by sharing a rather banal incident of getting back to the car after a day of skiing to find the keys to the car missing.  He then describes his hypothermia-induced hallucination about the priesthood keys.  Well, not exactly.  Actually, at first I thought this was going to be another story about finding lost keys.  I mean, that’s practically a rite of passage for Mormons in our spiritual journey.  Who among us has not had an experience when we lost our keys, we prayed, and then we found our keys?  It’s practically like shave and a haircut. [1] [Read more…]

Filed Under: Church Programs, General Conference, Mormon, Navel-Gazing & Poetic Observation, Rants, Religion, Society & Culture Tagged With: , ,

Elder Donald Hallstrom: All are Children of God. #ldsconf

April 2, 2016 by

“In real life, we face actual, no imagined hardships.” Elder Hallstrom noted that there is real pain in life, physical, mental, spiritual pain. There are heartbreaks, when circumstances are different from what we anticipate. Social and personal injustice and it can be disorienting. There can be times of questioning, when doctrine or history is beyond our understanding at present.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: General Conference

They Have Their Reward

December 7, 2015 by

In Matthew 6, there are several behaviors called out as public displays of righteousness:

  • Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them (v. 1)
  • And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. (v. 5)
  • Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. (v.16)

[Read more…]

Filed Under: General Conference, Mormon, Religion, Scriptures, Society & Culture, TCoJCoLDS, Theology Tagged With: , , , , ,

Footnote 2 #ldsconf

October 7, 2015 by

By small and simple things are great things brought to pass. – Alma 37:6

There was a small, tiny really, and simple footnote in the October 2015 conference talks that were just released in print form that succeeded in taking my breath away. It was in Elder Maynes talk: “The Joy of Living a Christ-Centered Life” footnote 2.

2. Matthew 13:44 (Revised Standard Version).

[Read more…]

Filed Under: General Conference, Scriptures

Achieving Needful Things: Help USA for UNHCR Help Others

October 7, 2015 by

Yesterday, in an uncharacteristic–yea, wholly unprecedented–fit of introspection, the powers of BCC asked what we could be doing better. One follower responded that he would like “to see the intersection of the blog community and helping the poor and needy.”

And so, in the spirit of Elder Christofferson’s talk about the role of the Body of Christ in achieving needful things that individual members cannot, allow me to suggest as an initial response to this request that we head over to Kickstarter and multiply our efforts to help USA for UNHCR help the poor and needy affected by the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Middle East and Europe. You have until 13 October 2015 to donate as often as you like, and most fees usually associated with Kickstarter campaigns will be waived or donated.

Do any of our valued readers have additional suggestions about how to help?

Edit:

As noted by a valued reader, donations to the Humanitarian Aid Fund administered by LDS Charities–which is partnering with, inter alia, UNHCR to address the European refugee crisis–can be made here for those preferring that modality.

Filed Under: General Conference, Mormon, Society & Culture

The Gift of Faith (Elder Andersen, Priesthood Session) #ldsconf

October 4, 2015 by

Elder Neil L. Andersen, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (source: http://tinyurl.com/od5vv2v)

Elder Neil L. Andersen, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (source: http://tinyurl.com/od5vv2v)

Faith, or lack of it, is a rather divisive issue and always has been. An Oxford-educated, well spoken LDS friend of mine, for example, frequently directly engages Richard Dawkins and a number of his new atheist “groupies” in massive twitter brawls. These forays into the twitter badlands are, however, defensive, as he responds to the criticisms of religion and faith that constantly emanate from those quarters. These dust-ups are not merely a product of our “secular” age in which secular society derides religious people and their faith. The twitter angle is. And there’s no mass murder associated with it in this situation, which makes it very different from previous ages of time. Things are much better now; virtually every aspect of human existence is exponentially better than at any other time in all of recorded history. For example, in this situation, the new atheists can deride, criticize, and mock without burning at the stake, and religious people can believe without being rounded up into concentration camps or murdered in killing fields. [Read more…]

Filed Under: General Conference, Joseph Smith Era, Modernly Revealed, Mormon

The Body of Christ as a Force Multiplier (Elder Christofferson) #ldsconf

October 4, 2015 by

The European refugee crisis is hardly a bolt from the blue–it’s long been in the making–but when streams of refugees started pouring over the border from Hungary into Austria in early September it caught me flat-footed. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Current Events, General Conference, Mormon, Society & Culture

Elder Costa’s Ignatian Spirituality #ldsconf

October 4, 2015 by

According to Wikipedia, Elder Claudio R. M. Costa grew up in a Catholic family in Brazil. [1] Although his family met LDS missionaries when he was 12, another 15 years passed before he joined the Church. His talk in the Sunday Morning session shows how Elder Costa was able to bring spiritual riches from the faith of his earlier life and use them to enrich Mormon spirituality. Specifically, his talk borrows two practices from St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises and brings them together in a powerful synthesis of Mormon sacramentalism. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Comparative/Ecumenical, General Conference Tagged With: , , , , ,

“Through a Parent’s Eyes” (Elder Renlund) #ldsconf

October 4, 2015 by

dale-g-renlund-largeUnlike Elder Renlund, my career has not put me in contact with death. And yet, I understand, on a more modest scale, the need and impulse to develop emotional distance from people and problems. Being able to detach myself allows me to function in a world where things don’t always go the way I would have them go. [Read more…]

Filed Under: General Conference, TCoJCoLDS Tagged With: , , , , ,

Performance and Priesthood (Pres. Eyring) #ldsconf

October 3, 2015 by

In the Priesthood Session, coming to a living room near you, Pres. Eyring began by addressing each of the offices of the Aaronic Priesthood in turn, talking about the acts they perform in their priesthood, their duties.  He presents each act simply without aggrandizing the individuals who perform these acts, indeed with a focus on the humility and dare I say cluelessness (certainly guilelessness) of the Preisthood holders, and then contrasts that with what the Lord brings to the act.  We perform simple acts routinely, often without much thought, and the Lord magnifies and sanctifies those acts beyond our understanding and capability.  We perform small acts; God does the heavy lifting. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Church Programs, EQ/HP, General Conference, Mormon, TCoJCoLDS, Young Men

What will you become through the Atonement of Christ? (Elder Ballard (mostly)) #ldsconf

October 3, 2015 by

In his talk in the Saturday Morning Conference, Elder M. Russell Ballard asked a question that strikes me as particularly important. Elder Ballard noted, “Every time I hold a newborn child, I find myself wondering: ‘Who are you, little one? What will you become through the Atonement of Christ?’” The thought was reflected in both Elder Uchtdorf’s and Elder Mayne’s talks as well. The Atonement is supposed to change us; shouldn’t we wonder how well that is working out? [Read more…]

Filed Under: General Conference

Eucharistic Worship (Sis. Marriott, Elder Lawrence) #ldsconf

October 3, 2015 by

Both Sister Marriott and Elder Lawrence used their talks to emphasize the sacrament as an occasion to receive personalized spiritual guidance. Sister Marriott, who calls the sacrament “the heart of the Sabbath,” invites listeners to follow sincere repentance of their sins during the sacrament with the sincere question, “Is there more?” She testifies that the Spirit responds to such sincere questions with clear direction. Similarly, Elder Lawrence, in a talk focused on the personalized counsel the Spirit can give, points to the sacrament as “a perfect time to ask, ‘What lack I yet?'” These talks thus invite Latter-day Saints to make Eucharistic worship the heart of our Sabbath observance. [Read more…]

Filed Under: General Conference, Mormon, Theology Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Did You Watch Saturday Session? #ldsconf

September 29, 2015 by

I realized the other day that, until I went to BYU, I had probably never watched a Saturday session of Conference (other than Priesthood session).

The thing is, my parents were (and are) tremendously active and participatory in the Church. I can probably count the number of Sundays I missed as a kid on one—or at most, on two—hands. And two of those Sundays had me in the hospital after an appendectomy.

I mean, when I was really little, suburban San Diego didn’t get Conference over cable, so my parents would have had to have bundled the three, then four, of us over to the Stake Center. But even when the station that carried nothing 50 weekends out of the year started showing Conference on the other two, I don’t remember watching Saturday sessions.  [Read more…]

Filed Under: General Conference, Mormon, Navel-Gazing & Poetic Observation, TCoJCoLDS Tagged With: , , ,

Uchtdorf at the Women’s Session: Something for Everyone #ldsconf

September 29, 2015 by

The silver fox is my animal spirit guide at General Conference.

Pres. Uchtdorf, aka the “Silver Fox” as he is known in my ward and probably everywhere else, hit yet another home run in the Women’s Session, batting clean up for the three female speakers.  He opens with:

Today, I too have a story to share. I invite you to listen with the Spirit. The Holy Ghost will help you to find the message for you in this parable.

He shares the story of an 11 year old girl named Eva who did not want to go to live with her Great-Aunt Rose.   [Read more…]

Filed Under: Children, Church Programs, Family, Gender & Sexuality, General Conference, Marriage, Mormon, Primary, Relief Society, Religion, Society & Culture, TCoJCoLDS, Young Women

Bench Strength: Predicting the Next 3 Apostles

September 27, 2015 by

Clear President Monson’s calendar.

The recent passing of three apostles means the Church President will likely call three replacements this week, and depending on where they come from, he might just need to call replacements for the replacements as well.
Who will they be? I’m glad you asked.

Today’s guest post is by Ken C, husband to Angela C.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Doctrine & Policy, Education, General Conference, Mormon, Religion, Society & Culture, TCoJCoLDS Tagged With: , , , , ,

Doubting Your Doubts

September 4, 2015 by

In an October 2013 talk called “Come, Join With Us” Pres. Uchtdorf welcomed everyone to be a part of the church, even if they have doubts.  He famously said:

 First doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.

It’s a great line.[1]  Some have taken it to mean that Pres. Uchtdorf is saying that there is no room for doubt, that only the faithless doubt, that doubting your faith should never ever happen.  Given the rest of the talk, that seems like an unlikely interpretation.  He speaks with empathy toward those who have doubts and invites everyone to join and participate in church regardless of their doubts. [Read more…]

Filed Under: General Conference, Mormon, Navel-Gazing & Poetic Observation, Religion, Society & Culture, TCoJCoLDS, Theology, Doctrine & Policy Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Genesis Fall Stories #ldsconf

April 7, 2015 by

In his conference talk, Elder Holland set out to preach Jesus as one who can save us from the Fall. I was very grateful to hear such a sermon on Easter Sunday. To make his point about Jesus, Elder Holland insisted on the need to believe in a literal Adam and Eve who fell in the Garden of Eden so that Jesus could become, as Paul would have him, a second Adam who brings life after the first brought death. I’m not going to argue about whether we need to take the story of Adam and Eve literally or not (even though I don’t think we do); rather, I aim to show how Genesis offers a second perspective on the Fall, one in addition to the familiar story of Adam and Eve. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anciently Revealed, Gender & Sexuality, General Conference Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

A Short Response to President Wixom: My Return to Faith

April 6, 2015 by

I know I’m not the only one for whom President Wixom’s talk resonated strongly, but let me add my testimony to the chorus. [Read more…]

Filed Under: General Conference, Mormon, Navel-Gazing & Poetic Observation

Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations: E. Cook #ldsconf

April 5, 2015 by

The Vulcan IDIC symbol in Star Trek lore symbolizes the basic Vulcan philosophy:  infinite diversity in infinite combinations, referring to the vast array of variables in the universe.

Much ado has been made of E. Cook’s statement that the church has never been stronger and that there are not more resignations now than at other times, although he may only be referring to formal resignations.  Setting that point aside, the majority of his talk is about the importance of diversity in our congregations while recognizing the need for unity.  He talks about the inherent diversity in our wards and the value of that diversity. [Read more…]

Filed Under: General Conference, Society & Culture

Using Social Media to Come to Christ: José A. Teixeira at #LDSConf

April 5, 2015 by

Social media is one of the most transformative, most disruptive, and potentially destructive technologies facing us as modern humans (as are other technologies, like television, the internet, artificial intelligence, nuclear power, and Dippin Dots).

In his Sunday morning conference talk, José A. Teixeira of the First Quorum of the Seventy discussed the potential of social media to bring people to Christ (good), or to shut out the real world around us (bad).

Before we get to the good, let me testify of the bad. Social media has the power to include, but it is just as often a tool of exclusion, whether wittingly or unwittingly. FOMO (fear of missing out) is real–it’s that isolated feeling you get on Instagram, or Twitter , or Facebook, as you see people sharing photos of parties and playdates you weren’t invited to, or of concerts you didn’t attend, or vacations you couldn’t afford. It damages friendships, sparks jealousy, and can reinforce social cliques within our wards and stakes.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: General Conference, Mormon Tagged With: ,

Elder Holland, Free Soloing, and the Fall #ldsconf

April 5, 2015 by

300px-Snow_Canyon_4My childhood memories of General Conference are replete with stories about farming; my memory may exaggerate, but in it, virtually every talk derived its moral lesson from some combination of scripture and farming.[fn1]

The omnipresence of farming stories sticks in my mind in large part because I couldn’t relate to them. At all. I grew up in a Southern California suburb, entirely removed from agriculture, or even agricultural heritage. (My great-grandparents, at least on one side, had been farmers, but had given it up in favor of dentistry, a field both my grandfather and my father subsequently pursued.

I wondered, as I sat hearing about chickening the cows, or milking the turkeys, or whatever it is one does on a farm, what stories General Authorities would be telling in the future, when they were no longer all the children of farmers, when agriculture had lost its primacy in our culture.  [Read more…]

Filed Under: General Conference, Mormon, TCoJCoLDS Tagged With: , , , , ,

Bishop Caussé’s Invitation to Attention and the Question of Grace #LDSConf

April 5, 2015 by

Bishop Caussé opens his talk with a stunning acknowledgement about failing to pay attention: his family lived in Paris for 22 years without ever making time to visit the Eiffel Tower! Similarly, he suggests, we can all too easily miss occasions for spiritual wonder all around us. In a monitory tone, he says:

Our ability to marvel is fragile. Over the long term, such things as casual commandment-keeping, apathy, or even weariness may set in and make us insensitive to the most remarkable signs and miracles of the gospel.

Later, he quotes Marcel Proust by way of inviting us to undertake a wondrous spiritual journey made possible by the simple mechanism of paying attention: “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” This quote marvelously captures both the “renewing of [the] mind” that Paul makes a consequence of grace and the spiritual riches that await those with eyes to see and ears to hear.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Comparative/Ecumenical, General Conference Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

20 Years of Statistical Reports, Visualized #ldsconf

April 4, 2015 by

Did you know that, as of December 31, 2014, the church had 3,114 stakes with 29,621 wards and branches? Of course you do: every April during Conference, somebody reads the church’s annual Statistical Report from the prior year.

The thing is, though, that, standing alone, the Statistical Report is so much cocktail party fodder: it’s interesting (because numbers!), but ultimately doesn’t tell us much at all. Put it into some kind of context, though, and suddenly the numbers start to tell a story.

So here’s some context:  [Read more…]

Filed Under: General Conference, TCoJCoLDS Tagged With: , , , ,

Elder Perry: World Religion vs. Religion of “The World”

April 4, 2015 by

Elder Perry’s talk reflects on his visit to the Colloquium on Marriage and Family held at the Vatican last November. This event gathered representatives of 14 different faiths—and as such, the participation of Church leaders raises once again the question of whether Mormonism is a world religion. Elder Perry does not address this question directly, but his use of the word “world” in ways that both harmonize with and run counter to usual LDS usage suggests that answer might be “yes,” albeit not for reasons we might usually suppose. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Comparative/Ecumenical, Family, General Conference, Mormon, Religion, TCoJCoLDS Tagged With: , , , , ,
«Previous Page
Next Page»