Ethics of Prolonging Death
Posted on March 31, 2005 - Filed Under Any | 13 Comments
One problem with the recent Schiavo debates was that the issue tended to hinge upon what we knew or didn’t know of Schiavo’s wishes and condition. However the real issue seems to be how we view death. Modern technology is making it more and more possible to prolong death. Our intuitions about […]
Read More..>>Intimacy
Posted on March 31, 2005 - Filed Under Any | 11 Comments
One of the sad parts of living in a culture that both represses and glorifies sexuality is that you lose very good words like ‘intimacy’ down the drain of wasted, euphemistic meaninglessness. I frequently have need of the word ‘intimacy,’ but always pass it up in favor of something less descriptive, simply to avoid […]
Read More..>>The Karen Carpenter Conspiracy
Posted on March 31, 2005 - Filed Under Any | 16 Comments
Do you believe in conspiracies? I do. And I think I just unearthed a really, really big one. Prepare to have the foundations of your faith rocked.
Read More..>>Does everybody know about Daniel Rona?
Posted on March 31, 2005 - Filed Under Any | 5 Comments
One of the best e-mails I received every week comes from Israel. It’s sent from Daniel Rona, an Israeli LDS tour guide in the Holy Land. He always gives interesting insights into the Hebrew language and how it supports the restored gospel.
Read More..>>Nature of exaltation
Posted on March 30, 2005 - Filed Under Scripture Discussion | 45 Comments
One of my pet peeves is when we talk about exaltation as though it were merely a reward or merely a location. We speak about “getting into the celestial kingdom” or use “reward” analogies like Stephen Robinson’s parable of the bicycle. I do not doubt that the celestial kingdom is a location and that receiving […]
Read More..>>Mormon Jokes
Posted on March 30, 2005 - Filed Under Any | 36 Comments
I admit I’ve never really even been aware of any category of humor that could be called “Mormon Jokes.” To my surprise, I discovered this thread at Times and Seasons, recently re-linked by Adam on this discussion.
Read More..>>A good look at patterns in the scriptures
Posted on March 30, 2005 - Filed Under Any | 7 Comments
Much has been written on chiasmus and other teaching structures in the scriptures. John Welch, Richard Shipp and Charles Kroupa have written a great deal about it, as have others. Meridian magazine has a very good article by D. Lynn Johnson discussing these patterns. Every time I read these articles I discover […]
Read More..>>“Treasure up in your minds continually the words of life”
Posted on March 30, 2005 - Filed Under Any | 18 Comments
Clark’s recent post on Death and the Atonement got me thinking about the fascinating preface to Lewis Carroll’s book Sylvie and Bruno. Clark’s subsequent post to his own blog related marginaly to Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and how the characters in the book memorized whole books to preserve them from destruction reminded me of […]
Read More..>>The Advocate and the Analyst: This Post Deals With Polygamy — Keep Reading
Posted on March 29, 2005 - Filed Under Any | 7 Comments
During college I had two sales jobs; one was selling pest control in San Jose, and one was selling memberships for a luxury health club. By any objective measure, I failed miserably in both. My boss at the health club made me listen to some motivational tapes entitled, “When Your Salesman Is Failing.” […]
Read More..>>Where’s the right place?
Posted on March 29, 2005 - Filed Under Any | 50 Comments
Responding to John H’s polygamy post, Davis Bell states that
“Too many of us encounter these issues [like polygamy] from enemies of the Church, and are completely taken off guard by them [which I’ve called the antimormon sucker-punch, since it’s usually delivered with a twist designed to bring people out of the church.] I think […]
