Stuff they don’t talk about in Sunday School
October 5th, 2008 — Archeology, Christian, Early Christian History, History, Israel, Mormon, Science
I found this interesting article at MSNBC which references a recently discovered artifact. It’s not exactly the Holy Grail, but it dates from the time of Christ. The full engraving on the bowl reads, “DIA CHRSTOU O GOISTAIS,” which has been interpreted by the excavation team to mean either, “by Christ the magician” or, “the magician by Christ.”
So, do you think it references Christ, is it a pagan coincidence, or a fraud?
September 28th, 2008 — Christian, Funny, Mormon, Mormon Culture, Movie/Book Reviews, Theology, Tithing
This is an unusual post for me on 2 counts. (1) I generally hate lessons on tithing, because I don’t think there’s much new to say on the topic. (2) I tried to read “The Screwtape Letters” by CS Lewis a few years ago, and just couldn’t get through the book. I’ve heard many people quote CS Lewis, especially from this book, but I just didn’t like it. However, I did like the movie “Shadowlands” which was based on some true stories of Mr Lewis.
A friend of mine gave me a copy of Sunstone, the magazine. I’ve never read it before, and have really wanted to get it for quite some time. I am very grateful to my friend for giving it to me. I read the articles he suggested, as well as many others that he didn’t, and came across a really interesting one by Jeff Burton.
September 25th, 2008 — Christian, Culture, DNA, History, Islam, Judaism, Mormon, Multi-Faith, Muslim, Race, Science
Ok, I will confess that I love learning about the Middle East. I love learning more about Jews, Muslims, Arabs, etc. I have so much to learn.
I’m a grad student working on some genetic studies (one of my many jobs). As part of the genetic study we are doing, we have our study participants tell us their race. In medical studies, different treatments can affect different races quite dramatically.
September 10th, 2008 — Christian, Mormon, Mormon Culture, Multi-Faith, Word of Wisdom
I have about 5 part-time jobs. For one of them, I work as a freelancer for a television network. As part of my job, my company flies me all over the country to cover sporting events.
During this past presidential campaign, I remember reading several articles first published in the Boston Globe, and reprinted in the Deseret News, regarding Mitt Romney’s upbringing. I was surprised to learn that Mitt’s father, George, kept alcohol in their house to entertain non-LDS friends. The article was sure to state that all of the Romneys obeyed the Word of Wisdom, and never partook of the alcohol. I found this particular stance unusual.
September 2nd, 2008 — Christian, Mormon, Multi-Faith
This is an unbelievable example of Christlike love. See this Deseret News story. A young child was horribly injured in a fireworks accident, but instead of putting the person responsible in jail, they are fighting to keep him out of jail.
August 29th, 2008 — Christian, Culture, Mission, Mormon, Mormon Culture, Movie/Book Reviews
There is a new movie out in theaters called Errand of Angels. A preview can be found here, and it is available in Utah theaters Aug 22. This will be at least the 3rd5th “Hollywood LDS Missionary” movie, coming since God’s Army, and The Best Two Years, Other Side of Heaven, and States of Grace (God’s Army 2).
I saw this movie at the LDS film festival back in January, so I thought I would give a movie review.
August 19th, 2008 — Canon, Christian, History, Intellectualism, Islam, Israel, Judaism, Mormon, Old Testament, Scripture, Theology
When most of us hear the word “jihad” or “holy war”, we immediately know that a jihad is not what God wants. Most of us feel the same when we hear the word “crusade.” Really, does anyone think God wants people to fight in his name?
In the book of Joshua, Joshua claims to be commanded by God to destroy everyone and everything in what is now the land of Israel. Continue reading →
August 8th, 2008 — Catholic, Christian, Early Christian History, History, Intellectualism, Mormon, Resurrection, Theology
I attended my first session of Sunstone today. I have to say it was really nice to be around people who wanted to talk about some things where I really respected the opinions of the speakers. It was energizing. I was able to meet some of my favorite mormons, such as John Dehlin, and D Michael Quinn (a former mormon.) It was refreshing to be in an environment where intellectualism is embraced, not shunned.
My favorite session was on “ARE WE STILL GODS IN EMBRYO? THE MORMON DOCTRINE OF HUMAN DEIFICATION” by HUGO OLAIZ (probably because I just blogged about it.) One of the most interesting points to me that Hugo made was Lorenzo Snow’s couplet “As man now is, God once was; as God now is, man may be.”
July 30th, 2008 — Canon, Catholic, Christian, Early Christian History, Gnosticism, History, Mormon, Scripture, Theology
I’ve learned some interesting concepts from class #23: Eastern Orthodoxy. The podcast is one from the Ancient and Medieval Church History class from Covenant Theological Seminary. First, let’s have a little background. (Incidentally, the seminary is a Presbyterian seminary.)
The Eastern Orthodox Church officially split with the Catholic Church in 1054. The Pope excommunicated the Patriarch in Constantinople, so the Patriarch did the same to the Pope. There had been some different emphasis on theology for quite some time. For example, while the Catholic Church claimed that the Pope held all the leadership, the Orthodox Church held a much less central authority. The Orthodox belief of revelation is that God speaks through these councils, not one central person.
July 27th, 2008 — Christian, Mormon, Mormon Culture, Multi-Faith
I had a very interesting time at the Conference Center this weekend. The Osmonds joined the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for a Pioneer Day celebration.
The last time I was in the Conference Center was to attend the viewing of Pres. Hinckley, which was obviously a very somber occasion. When the Osmonds came out, there were swirling spotlights, clapping, a little bit of country, and a little bit of Rock and Roll. Donny had to remind the audience that it was ok to get a little more rowdy–that we had permission. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who felt it a little odd that there was actually a rock concert in a “house of worship.”
