I think an American may be worthy.
Could one of the IT mavens out there rally around with succor and advice? I was idly fiddling with my smartphone yestereve and, blow me down, if I didn’t somehow run across the a stash of classified emails from a former US Secretary of State. I can’t think how I managed to breach the imposing security that must protect the stuff. One can only chalk it up to natural talent or beginner’s luck, eh, what, what? But here one comes to the nub or the gist. I rather expect that having the material on one’s private device renders one’s jolly self liable to fines and penalties and durance vile and gyves and whatnot. Should I delete the c. e.? Please advise right quick and eftsoons.
See, this is why I have been telling His Majesty for years that he should hire a human relations specialist to recruit new minions, rather than trying to do it all himself.
His Majesty has continued to ruminate on crime and punishment.
The most powerful image of covenant in the scriptures for me is the image of marriage. Israel, we are told, is like the (often faithless) spouse of God.
A marriage is a relationship that is defined by reciprocal promises, but it isn’t just defined by reciprocal promises. It is also defined by love, passion, and what I think of as habits of affection. We often think of love as a kind of Dionysian force that assaults us, but married love is more than simply Dionysian. It is also agricultural, something that one treasures, cultivates, and seeks to protect. I think it suggestive that in English “husband” can denote both a spouse and a farmer.
-thus Nate Oman.
Coincidentally, or perhaps not coincidentally, my poppets, I was thinking on the same subject this morning. (more…)
Encountered in an LDS building in Waukee, Iowa: (more…)
On the sweetness of Mormon life. (more…)
Each man takes care that his neighbor shall not cheat him. But a day comes when he begins to care that he does not cheat his neighbor. Then all goes well — he has changed his market-cart into a chariot of the sun.
Thus Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Spontaneous order is freedom.
-thus “neocolonial”
That’s the tease that Dan Peterson gave to this article:
You should have kids because it’s your moral duty to do so.
The sub-heads and some of the sound-bites are rather Mormon-y.
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(Just to be sure it doesn’t disappear off the web…) (more…)
While once trying to explain to a non-Mormon friend why missionaries had such a strict dress code, I talked about showing respect for others, about norms of economic equality between rich and poor missionaries, but none of it seemed to register. Finally I said, “Look, becoming a missionary is like joining the Army. They have a collective goal, and everything is focused on that goal, to the point where things that you might otherwise find bothersome really don’t matter. If you are so concerned about individuality that you resent having to wear a uniform, then you are probably out of place there.” That made sense to him.
That sparked a years-long reflection on my part about how many aspects of Christianity in general, and Mormonism in particular, make more sense if you remember the words of the hymn, “We are all enlisted ’til the conflict is o’er.” As I’ll explain in more detail below, points of doctrine or Church history that might be troubling and confusing become less so when one realizes that we are in a spiritual war.
I must obey my master.
There is a truth in those brilliant lights in the darkness that no amount of philosophizing can obscure.
