Making our history one step at a time
For a time in my singles ward, I thought I would be doomed to eternity as a ministering angel. Is this the God that is no respecter of persons? And I'm not the only one who has or is feeling like they don't have a place in God's plan.
I recently had a friend ask me, why did you, a gay Latter-Day Saint who had every reason to leave the Church, choose to stay? How did you keep your faith? I wanted to write down some of my thoughts as I've been pondering this.
"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.
Lowell Bennion is my hero. "Nothing matters ultimately in any setting—in marriage, the family, school, the church, the community, the world—except what happens to persons."
Goodreads summary This book is composed as a series of letters. The letters are meant for a young Mormon who is familiar with Mormon life but green in their faith. I imagined myself writing these letters to my own children and struggled, in relation to how we talk about things at church, to say my... Continue Reading →
Goodreads Summary Lowell Bennion, Sterling McMurrin, and Obert Tanner were colleagues whose lives often intertwined. All professors at the University of Utah, these three scholars addressed issues and events of their time; each influenced the thought and culture of Mormonism, helping to institute a period of intellectual life and social activism. In Conscience and Community... Continue Reading →
It's been a few days since the end of conference, giving me enough time to piece together a few of my thoughts. I haven't had time to completely read through all the talks yet, so I may do a few follow-up posts with some more in-depth thoughts on specific talks or themes. But wow! What... Continue Reading →
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 →
