What Happens When You Feed The Feminists?

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is about to find out.

Lorenzo Snow Manual Lesson 5: Long Live the Couplet

Lorenzo Snow made a provocative statement once that has come to be known the Lorenzo Snow couplet.  The statements is:

As man now is, God once was;

As God now is, Man may be.

This statement is sometimes seen as controversial.  President Hinckley declined to address it once in a public interview.  Critics will point to this couplet as an example of highly unorthodox teachings within Mormonism.  They will also claim that the church no longer teaches this – perhaps implying that the church may be ashamed of the teaching.

I think there is some significance to this statement being prominently quoted in the current Priesthood and Relief Society manuals.  There was no hiding from this quote – in fact, it was set off from the rest of the text as its’ own paragraph.

The lesson speaks of the background behind this statement.  It seems that President Snow felt that it was revelation, and that it was consistent with what Joseph Smith taught.

I have always like this statement.  It rings true to me.  And I am glad that the powers that be included it so prominently in the current lesson manual.  Hardly the act of a church that is embarrassed by or hiding from the idea.  The lesson can be read here.

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 14,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 3 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

Dude. You Have the Scriptures on Your IPod?!

A paraphrased story from my #2 son:

We have recently moved to a small town in western Ohio.  My #2 son is one of only two young men in the local high school (as far as I know).  He is participating on the football team and just the other day the team had a meal together.  At the table where he sat, the conversation turned to the practices of Mormonism.  The report of the conversations went something like this:

“So you believe there should not be any sex before marriage.”

“Yes”, my boy said.

“Seriously?”

“Yes”

“What would you do if a pretty girl came up to you, unzipped your pants, and gave you a hand job?”

“I would probably slap her face.”

“No you wouldn’t”

“Yes I would”

“What about Adam and Eve, they weren’t married”

“Yes the were”

My son then pulls out his IPod and goes to Genesis 1 to show that Adam and Eve were husband and wife.

“Dude.  You have the scriptures on your IPod?!”

The boy seemed to handle it pretty well.  And seems to have no fear.

The Good News – You are a Child of God. The Bad News – You Were Adopted?!

In my many blog discussions and debates over spirit birth, I have learned that spirit adoption is the preferred theory of those who do not like the idea of literal spirit birth.  The idea of adoption as the fundamental relationship between God and man does not appeal to me in the least.  And I would like to attempt to explain why that is. But first it may be a good idea to provide simple definitions for spirit birth and spirit adoption as I currently understand the terms.

Thoughts on Being a Ward Clerk

I was just released, due to my move to another State, from being a Ward Clerk.  I served in the calling for about 4-1/2 years.  there are some aspects of the calling that I quite liked.  I would like to share my thought about my time as the Ward Clerk.

Essential Properties of God: Freedom, Goodness and Necessity

To wrap up notes on T. J. Mawson’s Philosophy of Religion lecutes, here are the final three essential properties of God.  On these three, I feel most Mormons will be in pretty good agreement.  So here is my take.