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Truth is not something you look for; it is something you live.Dr. Wayne DyerQuote:“Each Saint … lives in a private world of doctrine, shaped to a great degree by Joseph Smith and his reinterpreters, but shaped much more profoundly by his own experience and his own will, which have edited all doctrines and teachings into a private reality in which he dwells.”
From an Essay by Richard Poll. It was in quotations in his work so I doubt it originated with him. I find it to be profound.
Quote:If I had to choose between no church and no nachos, I’d go with no church. I love nachos. Church is sometimes terrible, sometimes great. Mostly it’s just OK. But nachos are always fabulous.
Robert Kirby, Salt Lake Tribune column on Sept 2, 2018.
Quote:“So, if you are too tired to speak, come sit next to me, for I, too, am fluent in silence.” – R. Arnold
Quote:The religions start from mysticism. There is no other way to start a religion. But, I compare this to a volcano that gushes forth …and then …the magma flows down the sides of the mountain and cools off. And when it reaches the bottom, it’s just rocks. You’d never guess that there was fire in it. So after a couple of hundred years, or two thousand years or more, what was once alive is dead rock. Doctrine becomes doctrinaire. Morals become moralistic. Ritual becomes ritualistic. What do we do with it? We have to push through this crust and go to the fire that’s within it.
-David Steindl-Rast
DarkJedi wrote:
Quote:If I had to choose between no church and no nachos, I’d go with no church. I love nachos. Church is sometimes terrible, sometimes great. Mostly it’s just OK. But nachos are always fabulous.
Robert Kirby, Salt Lake Tribune column on Sept 2, 2018.
Not sure about that. I had some horrific nachos the other day! Like cardboard.
Quote:There is no reason families need to remain in Sunday dress, said Elder Cook. “Would it be wonderful to sing gospel hymns? Yes. Would it be wonderful to sing other music or engage in other enjoyable or uplifting activities? Yes.”
“The strongest feeling is that we should not regulate families or individuals or determine what they should do,” he said.
Quentin L. Cook, Dec. 2018https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2018-12-27/a-joy-and-a-delight-an-apostles-perspective-on-studying-the-gospel-at-home-48686 ” class=”bbcode_url”> https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2018-12-27/a-joy-and-a-delight-an-apostles-perspective-on-studying-the-gospel-at-home-48686 Quote:We occasionally hear some members refer to Jesus as our Elder Brother, which is a true concept based on our understanding of the premortal life with our Father in Heaven. But like many points of gospel doctrine, that simple truth doesn’t go far enough in terms of describing the Savior’s role in our present lives and His great position as a member of the Godhead. Thus, some non-LDS Christians are uncomfortable with what they perceive as a secondary role for Christ in our theology. They feel that we view Jesus as a spiritual peer. They believe that we view Christ as an implementor for God, if you will, but that we don’t view Him as God to us and to all mankind, which, of course, is counter to biblical testimony about Christ’s divinity…
Now we can understand why some Latter-day Saints have tended to focus on Christ’s Sonship as opposed to His Godhood. As members of earthly families, we can relate to Him as a child, as a Son, and as a Brother because we know how that feels. We can personalize that relationship because we ourselves are children, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. For some it may be more difficult to relate to Him as a God. And so in an attempt to draw closer to Christ and to cultivate warm and personal feelings toward Him, some tend to humanize Him, sometimes at the expense of acknowledging His Divinity. So let us be very clear on this point: it is true that Jesus was our Elder Brother in the premortal life, but we believe that in this life it is crucial that we become “born again” as His sons and daughters in the gospel covenant.
M. Russel Ballard, Ensign June 1998
Ruminat8 shared the following in another thread today: Quote:The following axiom about the Bible from an early episode of the Liturgists podcast resonated with me (given that it is a non-LDS but Christian podcast, this just references the bible but can be applicable to the BoM perhaps even for skeptics):
“The Bible is AT LEAST a set of writings where a people group describes their experience with and understanding of God over thousands of years. EVEN IF that is a comprehensive definition of God, study of scripture is warranted to understand our culture and the way in which people come to know God.”
Scott Adams wrote:
“We should stop judging people by their mistakes.We should judge based on their response to mistakes.”
Brian Houston wrote:The Church is not called to be an enforcer of rules but an outpost of grace.
Carl Sagan wrote in his book The Demon Haunted World, “The World needs fewer business majors and more History majors.” I was fortunate to earn a Bachelor of Arts in History from BYU in 1989. After that I went on to earn 2 Master’s in Instructional Leadership and Special Education. Looking back I regret that choice in post Bachelor’s education. I wish I had stuck with History. The last three or four years I read quite a bit concerning WWII. During that time I went down a rabbit hole and read several books on Stalin since I new much less about him. Regardless of your station in life, in Stalinist Soviet Union, you were never removed to far form the famines and Great Terror. I think he was the worst of the 20th Century dictators. All that WWII reading came in handy last year when I took a WWII class online from BYU Independent Study. It had been a while since I had taken an academic class that was that rigorous.
Recently I have been trying to get into the Dark and Middle ages. I am just not feeling it. So, I have decided to take the next couple of years and delve into Church History. I have Leonard Arrington’s
Great Basin Kingdomso I will start with that. I might re-read Rough Stone Rollingas well. The last time I read Rough Stone RollingI mentioned to fellow ward member that I had finished it. He told our bishop that I had read Rough Stone Rolling. Whatever. Reading church History will be tough since I will need to tear myslef away from the detective novels I have been filling my time with.
My personal thoughts are, a well read background in history is indispensable.
Quote:Be teachable. You are not always right. – Anonymous
Quote:Being able to change our minds is a tremendous gift.
Understanding we often are wrong, to varying degrees, is the beginning of grace. – Old Timer
Quote:If you are too tired to speak, sit next to me, for I, too, am fluent in silence. – R. Arnold
Quote:“In order to empathize with someone’s experience, you must be willing to believe them as they see it and not as you imagine it to be.”
That applies to church membership and faith from both sides: people who are orthodox judging the non-orthodox but also we who are non-orthodox judging the orthodox.
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