It sounds like friend of the Jr Ganymede, Kent Budge, had a pretty nice summer vacation. Apart from burning his sister-in-law’s pans, anyway.

I took my family to see Palmyra recently. My wife had been there before, but none of the rest of us had. One thing I’ve learned about Mrs. C is that she doesn’t really have the fourth-dimensional sense of wonder at occupying a historically significant spot of earth. I can personally attest that she’s much more excited to enjoy a Caesar salad than she was to visit Caesar’s tomb. Which isn’t to say she doesn’t find history interesting, just that she doesn’t take any special pleasure in retracing its steps.

“It’s a gift, you know, being able to feel history in certain places. My mom has it. We’d visit Church historical sites, and she would ask me, ‘Can you feel that?’ But I never really did.” (more…)

The abuse scandal in the Catholic Church has now reached to the very top.

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And He likes doing it.

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Here is an excerpt from a post at my Notions blog:

As soon as I began learning about Mormon theology, which began before I became a Christian, I have responded to it with a heartfelt joy. This has been renewed over the past days when I have been listening to an audiobook of Wrestling the Angel: the Foundations of Mormon Thought: Cosmos, God, Humanity – by Terryl Givens (2015).

I had already bought the paper book, and read parts of it; but found it rather dense and hard-going compared with Givens’s usual style, which I like so much. The audible book medium proves ideal in taking me through the book at a measured pace, and maintaining progress the face of any tendency to lose concentration. My response has been powerful, inspiring, en-couraging.

The experience has triggered yet another renewal of my appreciation, and gratitude, for the Mormon awakening; specifically for the way in which Joseph Smith and subsequent theologians of the CJCLDS have restored the gospel spirit – that underlying and defining spirit of Jesus that we get from the accounts of his life and records of his words.

Not many people (including, according to Givens and other Mormon theologians, not many Mormons) recognise how radical is the Mormon recasting of Christian theology, how total and systematic, how radical (i.e. root level) is the transformation.

The observable, explicit superstructure of Christian teaching, worship, ethics, and the ideal life is very little changed (Mormon church members live very similarly to other devout Christians, although they tend to be more devout in their practice); but the underlying metaphysics is altogether different. And this difference goes right down to the metaphysical assumptions concerning the nature of reality, the nature of the universe and the origins of man. So the message and person of Jesus is much the same, but the understanding of that message rests upon qualitatively different foundations…

I’ve been carrying around a _____ BoM for a while, actually about six languages in the bike cargo bag.  Had one _____ placement a few weeks ago, but it’s not a regular thing. 

I stopped at a such-and-such joint for a lunch after running errands. The owner/manager speaks what sounds like  _____. 

I’ve been there a few times since they opened. I’ve greeted the owner a couple times when I’ve seen him shopping at nearby stores. He recognizes me as a semi-regular.

I’ve been on a kick recently, trying to work the scripture that goes like “take no thought of what to say, just start talking and you’ll be given what to say in the moment.” (more…)

One of my LDS blogger friends and their family was in my town for an event. We were able  to schedule a dinner at a restaurant. It was a good feeling to connect, observe and enjoy the live in-person interaction with people who I already admired.

To know good people online is better than not knowing them at all.  But it’s an incomplete relationship; just a shadow or lesser dimension of the real thing.  (more…)

MK: Briefly, could you please explain the fundamental differences between British and American conservatism in origin and trajectory?

SRS: No.

Link

I had a couple high-profile encounters recently.  I don’t feel at liberty to describe them, except in the most general terms.

One encounter was with an inactive member, and the other has relatives who are members. (I did not know that going in.) So both are very familiar with the church.  The encounters, offers, and placements were smooth, and appeared to be well-accepted.  Both of their employers/bosses are high profile. (Two separate and unconnected encounters.)

But… at least one of them, maybe both, is likely going to get back to local stake or mission leadership. (more…)

The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.

What a nice sentiment, you are thinking. Wrong, child. It should be keeping you awake at night. Properly understood, it is cosmic horror. (more…)