On the sweetness of Mormon life. (more…)

When women see a Husqvarna chainsaw or dirt bike, they will often let the men in their company know that Husqvarna sewing machines are high quality products. But just think how the market for sewing machines could possibly expand if Husqvarna put two-stroke engines on some instead of electric motors.

This is pretty much how I react to it, too.   (more…)

We just had a very fruitful discussion (in my opinion anyhow) about many subjects near and dear to my heart that address certain deep concerns I hold.

I really appreciate everyone that participated and, amazingly, I don’t feel any of the frequent posters in that thread lost control or did anything but add productively to the conversation.

I was just reading Popper in Myth of the Framework that it’s a fallacy that you have to hold the same framework to have a fruitful discussion. But what really impressed me was his thoughts that the “Myth of the Framework” came into existence because people misunderstood the difference between “pleasant” and “fruitful.” True fruitful discussions are never pleasant. They are an attempt to bridge gaps between frameworks that seems unbridgeable at first, and may never be fully bridgeable, but can be substantially bridged for those that try. (more…)

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about the changes in the Boy Scout Manual over the years. Used to be it had ads for hunting ammo. Now it has detachable pamphlets on sex abuse. Recommended.

I’m agin it.

Some articles are worth linking just so you can quote part of the headline.

This kind of stuff worries me. Not because I disagree with it. I don’t. But modern America is completely messed up on issues of sex, identity, and equality. I bet 40 years ago people were starting to say similar things about homosexuality.

If the Mormon Review ever gets around to publishing my essay on The Great Divorce, you’ll find that Overstreet’s definition of what’s important about fantasy is what I was trying to get at. (more…)

Does this mean that Mormons really do worship a different Jesus? One’s bean is too full of airy nothings to tell. I asked Jeeves about it, but the fellow was rather shirty on the subject. Said that even a dashed tophole gentleman’s personal gentleman might cavil at explicating matters of philo-theological concern, or words to that effect.

Yeah, I pretty much agree. We should cut out college for everyone except the teetotalers, and them only if their parents don’t pay for it.

Three rabbis are sitting & chatting, lamenting about the waywardness of their offspring.

The first rabbi says, “Ach, mein eldest, he is such a mystery. I raised him with such care to be a good Jewish boy, but now he has gone & become a Christian.”

The other two rabbis sympathize, & the second one then says, “And my number one, he too has become a Christian. What shall I do?”

After a moment, the third rabbi says, “How can this be? My one & only son, he too has turned Christian.”

As the three rabbis sit commiserating, a bolt of lightning & a roll of thunder rend the air, a tremendous earthquake rumbles the ground, & a solemn & majestic voice comes from out of the cosmos, “Oy vey, you will not believe this, but….”

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I recently made a post on M* about H.P. Lovecraft and I forgot to put a link on Jr. G to it. Here is a preview:

Joyce Carol Oates suggested that Lovecraft’s “gothic tale[s] would seem to form psychic autobiography” apparently inspired by his own religious views, commonly called Maltheism where one “achieve[s] the mirror-opposite of traditional gnosis and mysticism by momentarily glimpsing the horror of ultimate reality.”

Apparently has been a Democratic meme longer than I thought.  (more…)

I had a long conversation with J. Max recently about just why I generally like NOMs and even agree with a lot of what they say and do and feel they (potentially anyhow, if not in practice yet) could do the LDS Church a real service.

But there is one thing about that culture that has bothered me a lot, and it creates a huge divide that I don’t believe is bridgeable until addressed by them.

NOMs widely accept that it’s okay to hide (or worse, lie about) what they believe from Believing Members while actively undermining the faith of others through criticism. I have numerous documented cases of this now and it seems to be a very wide spread problem within that community. (more…)