Making our history one step at a time
If I took anything away from this book, it is that turning paradoxes into an either/or is an over-simplification that can have dire spiritual consequences. Trying to retain the mystery of paradox isn't to be lukewarm (neither hot nor cold, as the book of Revelation says), as some may accuse. On the contrary, picking a side is the easy way out, and is morally lazy.
According to Huntsman, the gospel of John was designed to read yourself into the text. The Samaritan woman at the well, Nicodemus coming to the Lord in the night, Thomas's doubts-- all were meant to highlight the different routes we take coming to Christ.
Irenaeus is the early Church's head of the correlation department. He wrote Against Heresies as an attempt to checkmate an early Christian heresy, Gnosticism, that put God as one of a long chain of gods (sound familiar?) and considered material existence evil.
"Teach lessons, not people." Oh. Wait. Got that backwards. "Teach people, not lessons." The targets we use to quantify success can lead to (often harmful) unintended consequences.
I added American Universities and the Birth of Modern Mormonism after listening to an interview with the author, Thomas Simpson, at the Maxwell Institute Podcast. It got me excited, because I had recently read another book with "Modern Mormonism" in the name, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism by Greg Prince. Simpson's... Continue Reading →
I am shamelessly proud of my Church and the great strides they have made in the publishing of Saints: The Standard of Truth. This is fantastic history and beautiful prose. I have always been an avid reader, my early encounters with Church history weren't positive: I remember reading excerpts from Our Heritage in Sunday School... Continue Reading →
The President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Russell M. Nelson visited church members in Seattle, Washington this past Saturday in the Mariners Safeco Field stadium. I was excited to attend with my in-laws, and felt a little bad I was going at the expense of my wife, who was staying at... Continue Reading →
I teach the 16-18 year-old Sunday School class in my ward/congregation, and September begins a discussion on the commandments. I gave a lot of thought on what to share this week, and I decided to do a compare/contrast setup with common secular views of commandments with the religious rationale for commandments. Perhaps I was waning... Continue Reading →
I was called to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Germany Hamburg mission. I can already tell that I am most likely going to overwhelm my readership with Mormon-esque lingo, but I'm going to do my darnedest to explain myself. Young men and women members of the... Continue Reading →
