Here is the best summary I have been able to find so far of the Today Show discussion of “mystery religions” such as ours. (For the irony challenged, there’s some tongue in cheek action going on there regarding classifying the Church as a “mystery religion.”) It includes the following question and answer exchange between Matt Lauer and Manhattan stake President Brent Belnap:

Matt Lauer, Today Show Anchor: “Are you saying it’s (the Church) the only path to God and Salvation or are you presenting it as an alternative?

Brent Belnap/LDS Stake President, Manhattan: I think it’s more as an alternative. We give people the opportunity to choose just as every religion should have the ability to go out an share its message. We do say and believe that everybody will resurrect as a result of Jesus Christ. There are those who will also be exalted in the hereafter if they follow the teachings of Jesus Christ if they repent of their mistakes but that’s a choice that every individual should make.”

I’m not sure I agree with President Belnap’s answer (assuming it was quoted correctly). What say ye, M* readers?

Robert Kirby’s humor column today is about post-mission readjustment. I’ve been trying to come up with a blog post on just this subject for a while, but his article is funnier than anything thing I probably could have done, so I’ll just link to it.

In college, a couple of my roommates and I found it entertaining to sit very close to a very recently returned missionary and flirt a bit, just to watch him sweat. Cruel? Absolutely. But also a lot of fun. Mostly, though, I just watched with a distant curiosity as the recently returned elders readjusted.

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While driving home from work earlier this week, I ran over something (that something is still a mystery) and ended up with two flat tires. I, of course, followed the only rational approach in such a situation – I panicked. When I thought it was only one flat tire, I reviewed in my mind how to put on the spare, all the while panicking. When I then saw that there were two tires rapidly deflating and one spare tire just wasn’t going to be sufficient, I immediately realized that this is why I pay for AAA, all the while panicking. I’m pretty good at working up a good panic. Call it a gift.

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The WSJ Op-Ed page has a fascinating story today on the battle over the discussion of the flat tax in Utah. For those of you whose eyes glaze over at the discussion of taxes and economics, I promise this post will try to make that subject interesting. But this post will also discuss the WSJ’s attitude toward the Church and the Church’s influence on public policy-making.

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Over the last two years, my approach to the Plan of Salvation has evolved quite a bit– in large part due to the thoughts I’ve processed and discussed on LDS blogs. The summary version of my current philosophy goes like this:

Life is not a crucible– it’s a chrysalis. Rather than being simply a test or a proving ground, the purpose of life is to teach us to become Gods.

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