Posted by Kiskilili
One sunny afternoon when I was a naive and relatively content eleven-year-old, quite by accident and to my own horrified shock, I became an atheist. The familiar image of God who had always hung around the peripheries of my vision, propping up the sky, vanished into thin air when I tried to look him in [...]
- 29 February 2008
- Filed under: Belief
Posted by Eve
Today’s thread over at BCC arguing that the loss of faith is ultimately a choice included a comment that wrenched my heart.
Subsequent discussion made reference to a passage in D&C 46 that has haunted me for most of my life, particularly these strange words:
To some it is given by the Holy Ghost to know that [...]
Posted by ZD
Is it better not to keep your options open?
- 28 February 2008
- Filed under: Asides
Posted by Lynnette
One way of conceptualizing repentance is as a series of actions which, if performed with sincerity, lead to the divine response of forgiveness. We recognize that we have erred, fallen short, gone astray, and we go through a number of steps in an effort to make things right again—we confess our guilt, we do what [...]
Posted by Ziff
Just how big is the bloggernacle?
Posted by ZD
More than a quarter of Americans have left their childhood faith
- 25 February 2008
- Filed under: Asides
Posted by Kiskilili
Sometimes it seems to me that we Mormons are of two minds when it comes to the transposition of earthly relationships into the celestial realm. Family relationships are among our most prized assets, and one of the few things we can take with us beyond the grave. And sealings facilitate the continuation of these all-important [...]
- 22 February 2008
- Filed under: Sealing
Posted by Lynnette
For a project I’m working on, I’ve recently been re-reading the writings of Paul Knitter, a theologian known for his pluralist outlook. Knitter is skeptical of the notion that salvation can be found only through Christ. He observes that Christians frequently have some kind of encounter with Christ in which they experience his saving power, [...]
Posted by Ziff
As a teenager, I didn’t like scouting because I didn’t like outdoor activities like camping, hiking, orienteering, and whatnot. So I did very little scouting related stuff, and that only after much arm-twisting by leaders and other boys (who, to their credit, were typically very nice about it). As I lived in Utah Valley, this [...]
Posted by ZD
Does the quality of comments deteriorate the longer a thread gets?
- 8 February 2008
- Filed under: Asides
Posted by Ziff
When the Giants beat the Patriots yesterday, and thwarted their attempts at perfection, I expect that a great collective curse was uttered by half the population of New England. Thinking of that got me to wondering about swearing in general. If you’re interested, I have a few questions.
n
{democracy:16}
Posted by Kiskilili
Sometimes the way we talk about motherhood in the Church it sounds like we’re issuing directions for some very special full-time (and I mean full-time) employees at the pumpkin patch on how to raise gargantuan or unusually shaped pumpkins that will garner blue ribbons at the state fair. The only trouble is, the size and [...]