Among the eschatology that Mormons have shared with their more radical Evangelical friends is a view that the United Nations is the Great World Conspiracy. While I have serious concerns with the United Nations, I take council in the sentiments of the Leaders of the Church at the end of WWI. Considerable differences in opinion existed between General Authorities over the League of Nations. However, President Grant championed the Treaty, entreated the church for its support, and repudiated any scriptural based opposition to it. (more…)

UPDATE: I have posted a new updated version of this post with substantially more sources at BCC.

In the 24 April 2005 update of the recent post on Women and the Gift of Healing, I reprinted the Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints vol. 4 pg. 315 entry on Relief Society Sisters and Administering to the Sick. The entry included two First Presidency approved letters and a review of the historical council on the topic. I have subsequently redacted the reprint (Update II) to include only the approved letters. In this post I offer an expand review of the historical council on the matter. (more…)

In a recent post I contrasted the disparity in our modern perspective of the Gift of Tongues and that of our history. As I sat in Gospel Doctrine participating in the lesson on the Gifts of the Spirit yesterday, another historical disparity came to mind. We have conflated the Gifts of the Spirit with the offices of the Priesthood. It looks like Geoff is going to overview the Gifts of the Spirit at the Thang. I imagine that any posts here will have a markedly different flavor. So…blog on. (more…)

I was going through some old boxes not too long ago and I found them. The Joseph Smith Tapes. I had listened to them in High School with glee. Sure Brother Madsen speaks like Captain Kirk, but maybe that was part of their allure (aside: Truman Madsen was my Stake President at BYU for a while and he really does speak that way). After re-listening to them I was surprised by my reaction…I still love them. (more…)

Today’s announcement of the new food guide pyramid (12 of them actually) will likely be overshadowed by the election of Benedict XVI. I’ll reserve my judgment of both until I have a better opportunity to see their implementation. Nonetheless, this has focused my attention on several aspects of our food consumption. We have addressed Obesity and Vegetarianism here already; I would now like to address the Natural/Organic movement. (more…)

I admit to being put off by modern concepts of the charismatic spiritual gifts. I also admit that I am always powerfully moved by the accounts of the early saint’s manifestations of these gifts. I am caught between fear of any modern manifestation of such a gift and fear of reinterpreting and watering down these gifts into an insipid substitute. (more…)

The Nauvoo Neighbor recently posted on the digitalization of the 19th century editions of The Salt Lake Tribune. In the second volume of the Tribune there is a reprint of a New York Times article on English perceptions of Mormonism. Interestingly, the content seems slightly anachronistic pushing a flavor of multiculturalism that is not foreign to the contemporary Occident (which multiculturalism can be seen in this recent post). (more…)

The scriptures exhort us to confess the Christ and to confess our sins. More specifically, in regards to the latter, it seems that we are required to confess our sins to each other (here, here and here). We don’t do that anymore, so much. We do, however, have a set of behaviors that require confession to a Judge of Israel – deviation from the commandment/policies whose adherence is prerequisite for the temple. I’m all for confession, but the more I think about this, the more puzzled I become. What exactly is it about these sins that require our a confession to a Judge of Israel? (more…)

Watching conference last weekend, I was most caught by Pres. Hinkley’s talk on gambling. I was less struck by his subject than by the emphatic nature of his discourse. He seemed to be doing a number of things simply to get the saints to take him seriously. (more…)

The second to last feature of the May 2005 edition of The Atlantic Monthly is the obituary of Owen Allred (1914-2005). Allred was excommunicated in 1942 and later became the Patriarch of the Apostolic United Brethren (I always wondered about Ronan), a polygamous sect numbering between 5,000 and 7,000 adherents. Surprisingly, though it poked a little fun at plural marriage, the article was completely sympathetic and terminated with a resolve that the polygamy would be vindicated by history. Several aspects of the article are notable. (more…)

As I sit in an Hotel here in Buffalo, NY, I thought I would offer some of my less than cogent observations of Utah gleaned from a wonderful Conference weekend. Yes this is a little lighter fair than normal. (more…)