In the modern church we often make reference to the imagery of Nebuchadnezzar’s famous dream and refer to the church as the “stone cut out without hands†and its destiny to fill “the whole earth.†In classes we sometimes discuss which historic empires were represented by the different sections of Nebuchadnezzar’s great image. Let’s take a look at the relationship between the stone and the image.
Monthly Archives: April 2005
Divination, Chance, and Knacks Among the Saints
Last year, my younger brother, Ben, spent three months in Ghana filming and documenting the use of drum rhythms in the divination ceremonies of the local witchdoctors as part of an anthropological musicology study. It was interesting to see how drums were employed and to learn about the interesting rhythms of their culture, but it was also rather uncomfortable. Witchcraft and the occult have always been taboo among the Saints. I remember growing up in Provo we would, now and then, hear urban legends of wayward LDS youth experimenting with witchcraft in the abandoned BYU Academy building, which is now the Provo Public Library.
Obscure Words
My wife and I have a peculiar love for dictionaries and obscure vocabulary. We both read dictionaries just for fun–I know, we are weird–but at least we are weird together. So here is a list of some fun obscure words that you might try to work into a bloggernacle conversation sometime. Feel free to let us know about your favorite, obscure English words in the comments…
Euthanasia Slippery Slopes
“Nearly half the newborn babies who died in Flanders over a recent year-long period were helped to die by their doctors, a new study reported yesterday.
Monday Morning Millennial Star Question #2
“Are we inconsistent when we insist that baptism be done by immersion, because Christ was, but substitute water for wine in the sacrament, though Christ did not? Because the ancient and early church didn’t require potential converts to attend church meetings before being baptized, but we do, do we have standing to point out ways other churches have strayed from the ways of the ancient church? In what ways do differences like these effect the force of our claim to be the same church of Jesus Christ, restored?”