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I like Adam Miller’s work and thinking. BYU Magazine ran a brief overview of a recent campus event. The piece is short and worth reading.
Enjoy
https://magazine.byu.edu/article/a-lecture-for-young-mormons/ ” class=”bbcode_url”> https://magazine.byu.edu/article/a-lecture-for-young-mormons/ I would recommend everyone get “Letters to a Young Mormon” and even give it to your TBM kids. I wish I would have had it as a youth. And Adam Miller is a philosopher, so he even said, “My profession is to take simple concepts and use big words to make it more complicated.” But he “dumbs it down” to a point where even I as a primate can understand it. Great book. He talks about Mormonism shouldn’t be about Mormonism. That really is important and a problem of the church. To take the analogy of the church being a car, there are too many people polishing the chrome trying to make it look as great as possible when instead the car should look a bit more worn as it is busy delivering people to where they need to be. (OK, I will stop my attempts at being a philosopher)
I do like this one
Quote:Defending the Family Differently
“In addition to arguing that the differences between men and women are real and important and spiritually significant, the Proclamation also boldly claims that men and women are intended by divine design to be equal partners. . . . It seems increasingly obvious to me that in our day, defending the family means rooting out our world’s misogyny. Defending the family means defending women from both the subtle and violent forms of degradation, abuse, and marginalization that riddle our world. It means taking seriously, perhaps for the first time in the history of the world, the solemn declaration that God intends men and women to be equal partners. In my view, this will be the defining moral issue of our generation.”
LookingHard wrote:
I do like this oneQuote:Defending the Family Differently
“In addition to arguing that the differences between men and women are real and important and spiritually significant, the Proclamation also boldly claims that men and women are intended by divine design to be equal partners. . . . It seems increasingly obvious to me that in our day, defending the family means rooting out our world’s misogyny. Defending the family means defending women from both the subtle and violent forms of degradation, abuse, and marginalization that riddle our world. It means taking seriously, perhaps for the first time in the history of the world, the solemn declaration that God intends men and women to be equal partners. In my view, this will be the defining moral issue of our generation.”
You took this quote and copied it before I could get a chance to do so
:clap: 😆 To me, defending the family means in part asking the questions to define our expectations of the brethren. I think asking what they need without judgement or expectations and working together to incorporate that into all planning is important.
A wise person once told me that men need respect while women need love. I think that at times there is an increase in the tendency to show disrespect towards men without understanding the consequence of that action.
I admit that I am not accustomed to thinking about things like a philosopher. “I know the church is true” Who am I? What is knowledge and what does it mean to know a thing? What is the church? and ultimately, what is truth? Sometimes philosophy seems like answering a question with a question (perhaps to avoid an answer).
However, I certainly like how Bro. Miller is able to use philosophy to think differently (less black and white) about Mormonism. This to me is similar to how Bro. Richard Bushman is able to use history to take a different, less black and white, approach to Mormonism.
“It is a mistake to think that Mormonism is about Mormonism. Mormonism is not about Mormonism. And if we try to force Mormonism to be about itself, we paint ourselves into corners and lose track of the very thing we are trying to say. . . . In my experience, Mormonism comes into focus as true and living only when I stop looking directly at it and instead aim my attention at Christ. Instead of aiming at Mormonism, I have to aim what Mormonism is aiming at. Otherwise, I’ll miss what matters most.”
LookingHard wrote:
To take the analogy of the church being a car, there are too many people polishing the chrome trying to make it look as great as possible when instead the car should look a bit more worn as it is busy delivering people to where they need to be.
Perhaps instead of asking if this is the true car a more useful question would be if this car can get me where I need/want to go. Follow up questions might be: What other transportation methods are available? Who is driving? How much do I trust them? Who are the other passengers? How do they treat each other? Are there any rules I will be expected to follow? What are the consequences for violations? What are the barriers to embarking and disembarking? Also a realization that in life, we often make imperfect decisions based on limited information – yet decisions still need to be made.
Perhaps deeper questions still: Where do I want to go? Why do I want to get there?
Roy wrote:
… stuff deleted …Perhaps instead of asking if this is the true car a more useful question would be if this car can get me where I need/want to go. Follow up questions might be: What other transportation methods are available? Who is driving? How much do I trust them? Who are the other passengers? How do they treat each other? Are there any rules I will be expected to follow? What are the consequences for violations? What are the barriers to embarking and disembarking? Also a realization that in life, we often make imperfect decisions based on limited information – yet decisions still need to be made.
Perhaps deeper questions still: Where do I want to go? Why do I want to get there?
Now you are sounding like a philosopher!
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