Just as we have parts that exist in space, we have parts that exist over time. We are the sum of our temporal parts, even though not every one of those parts is essential for our identity. Conversely, none of our temporal parts is the whole of who we are. As four dimensional wholes, we are never simply the person who exists at a single point in time.

All the temporal parts of a person (or object) carry the same ontological weight

Think of heaven as the place where the ontological equality of temporal parts becomes absolutely real.

–Stephen Webb

I’ve believed that for awhile. I thought I was the only one, so its comforting to see that this is path others have made.

But I’m not sure about his notion that we can continue to act at any point in time, rewriting the past, as it were. This past doesn’t look rewritten.

“A date is a planned activity that allows a young man and a young woman to get to know each other better. In cultures where dating is acceptable, it can help you learn and practice social skills, develop friendships, have wholesome fun, and eventually find an eternal companion.”

That passage from For the Strength of Youth used to make me think of settings where dating is not the way things are done like that of Brother and Sister Chon. Brother Chon, my bishop when I courted and wed Sister Mansfield, had been a missionary in his native Korea, and following his mission, his mission president took Brother and Sister Chon’s non-LDS fathers out to dinner and arranged a marriage. With the approval of the fathers obtained, the mission president brought the couple together to see what they thought of the idea. Sister Chon asked her proposed future husband if he would always pay tithing. He said he would, and she accepted him. It was sweet almost three decades after their introduction to one another to sit in their home and hear her tell her happiness in marrying a Mormon boy.

“You should not date until you are at least 16 years old. When you begin dating, go with one or more additional couples. Avoid going on frequent dates with the same person. Developing serious relationships too early in life can limit the number of other people you meet and can perhaps lead to immorality. Invite your parents to become acquainted with those you date.”

Over the last several years, it’s become apparent my early 21st Century American culture is another where dating of the For the Strength of Youth variety is not acceptable. The February New Era accurately describes the environment that youth in my ward have experienced: (more…)

On the sweetness of Mormon life.

Easter Morning. You take family pictures under the Bradford Pear. Then you take more pictures after you remember to remove the hanging mosquito trap.

You go to church. You take the sacrament. A girl receives the gift of the Holy Ghost.

(more…)

Back in 1985, I was a missionary serving in Argentina. Not much news from the United States reached my ears. Destruction of the Challenger space shuttle. Deaths of Orson Welles and Yul Brynner. Among the things that didn’t penetrate the filter of distance and irrelevance were two bombing murders committed by a forger in Salt Lake City. (more…)

The past with the clarity and beauty of a Bruegel landscape

Why is living in the past so popular a pastime?
. . . .

(more…)

L’Wren Scott (1967-2014) (more…)

Here is a Mormon model of the pre-existence. Christ presented a plan for us to experience mortality and Satan presented an alternate plan. Christ’s plan allowed full scope for our free agency, so we’d sin, which He would repair by atoning for the sin. Satan’s plan restrained our free agency through repression and tyranny and disinformation/propaganda and who knows, so that we wouldn’t sin. We voted to accept Christ, but Satan and his followers wouldn’t accept the vote, like king-men. Consistent with their plan, like king-men they then went to war to get by force what they had lost by vote. They lost this confrontation too and were thrown out. But the war continues. It has become a bandit resistance campaign of subversion and sabotage.

The model is wrong. (more…)

The heavens declare the glory of God.

It is an old truth that becomes new every time you go out in the twilight, or see the sky on a clear night, or witness the dawn.

I am half-persuaded that urbanization and the indoor life tracks with the rise of atheism.

Bruce Charlton’s commenter Arakawa has derived his own version of the amphibious synthesis of time and eternity. (more…)

Love and glory are of the fundamental attributes of God and reality. Love is unconditional whereas glory is earned respect, or conditional love. They are deeply intertwined and complementary. (more…)

The man is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.

Thus St. Paul.

He says it in the middle of some deeply reactionary stuff about women keeping their head covered in church and such so this particular teaching gets lost. But as with an illusionist’s trick, the part that draws the eye isn’t the important part.

So what does Paul mean?

I don’t know. But sometimes my life as a husband and a father feels like I could say ‘she is my glory.’ I feel like I do a lot of scutwork out in the world and a lot of discipline and order and stabilizing at home to make possible the little circle of domestic intimacy that she creates. Because of what I have to do to make it possible, or because I am the sort of person who does what is necessary to make it possible, I can’t fully be a part of it. But all the same that circle validates all my efforts, it seems to me.

On the sweetness of Mormon life. (more…)

Christian gentleman and friend of the blog Arakawa is mulling humor in heaven.
(more…)

Original Post

Many of you know that ACA cancelled my family’s private insurance.  New Obamacare insurance would cost us several hundred  dollars more a month, increasing our premiums by 150%.  It would also dramatically increase our deductible by 150%, but paying the massive premium increase would mean we had no money in the budget left over to pay actual medical bills.  To afford healthcare insurance we would have to not afford healthcare.  We have been a little desperate.

We’ve prayed and researched. We think we’ve found a solution.  We’re joining a Christian healthcare ministry (also known as a healthcare sharing group).  Specifically we’re joining the Christian Healthcare Ministries.

I know many families are looking pretty hard at their healthcare situation right now.  This post is about what I think is a decent option for Mormons and others.  I hope it helps anyone who is looking for an out from a bad insurance situation.   Please share it with anyone who might benefit.

At the same time, this post is a request for anybody who knows anything about Christian healthcare ministries to share what they know.  If you have had a good or a bad experience with a healthcare ministry or sharing organization, please tell us about it in the comments.  I and others who read this would benefit.  The more information the better.

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