mtnnomad, Author at Our Thoughts

Just another cog or sprocket…

mtnnomad — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 22:37:15 +0000

I was having a conversation recently regarding the low number of missionaries out of our ward in the past few years. One leader stated, “The young men are not to blame, the system failed.” He was referring to the weak young mens/scouting program, (in his opinion) that existed in the ward. He was not being critical of the “system” is its ideal form, just to be clear.

Are we just inputs plugged into a system, properly established and managed, will spit out celestial beings?

Activity and Membership

mtnnomad — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 17:43:50 +0000

After reading the garments thread, some things came to mind. Firstly, one is considered officially “active” according to their church attendance and as I recall you don’t need to attend every Sunday, just once a month or so. Secondly, when one is baptized and confirmed they are known as members of the church until they ask for their name to be removed from the church records or they are excommunicated for an extremely grievous sin. It seems that many members have different definitions of what it means to be active in the LDS church and what it means to be a member of the LDS church. Should we keep our definitions of activity and membership in line with the official church definitions or is it acceptable to hold people to a much higher standard in order in claim activity and membership?

Do we like to be stereotyped?

mtnnomad — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 01:49:54 +0000

Salt Lake Tribune humor/religious commentator Robert Kirby, recently made this statement at a interfaith discussion on the film God’s Army 2,

“(Latter Day Saints are) probably the only group in the world that want to present a stereotypical image, even though it’s a lie.”

If you think this statement has some validity, what would that stereotype be? What parts of it are positive and which are negative? If you think the statement is bunk, let me know why?

Personally I think the majority in the church want to be seen as a unified group that follow their faith, who are honest and kind, place great importance on family, etc and I think that’s a good thing. Maybe I’m a bit rebellious and am still exploring who I am as an individual, but I’m getting tired of the “good-looking, suburban, upper middle class, business-oriented” image that is portrayed often by the “PR” department, encouraged by much of the “culture” of the faith and is codified in some of its institutions. Whenever someone is perplexed when I tell them I’m Mormon, I tell them that not all Mormons look the same, dress the same, have the same interests, hold the same jobs, enjoy the same media, have the same politics…I identify more with Low, Jared Hess, Jeff Hein and Hugh Nibley than Stephen Covey, Steve Young, Donny Osmond and Cleon Skousen.

Vancouver Temple?

mtnnomad — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 21:29:21 +0000

I have on fairly good sources that the Prophet and President Monson were in the Fraser Valley near Vancouver just after Christmas, meeting with Stake Presidents and looking at parcels of land. Although the area is close in the Seattle Temple, many of the members are immigrants that cannot cross the border so a temple in Vancouver is prudent.

Employment Compromises?

mtnnomad — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 20:38:42 +0000

How would you feel about holding a job that requires you to provide products or services against gospel principles? The inspiration for this is my own past job where I worked for a hospital foundation and part of my duties included working on their annual “Home Lottery”. I always felt a bit of conflict, however I loved that part of the job. I loved to work in a mansion often with an ocean view, loved to interact with the public when they were in a good mood. The pay was really good. I had flexible hours and felt great about being part of the #1 money maker for the hospital. I never bought a ticket because I considered it gambling and my money would do more good as a straight donation plus I could write it off. However, I know lots of LDS members that didn’t see it as gambling or maybe they did and bought tickets anyway. Sometimes there were awkward moments when they recognized me from church, sometimes not. “Hi there, Brother….I enjoyed your high council message last week.”

There are many members that are in similiar situations when you think about. Servers in licensed restaurants, clerks in stores that sell cigarettes or booze, video store clerks that have to rent X-rated and Disney movies…the list seems endless. I never felt completely comfortable with the lottery aspect of the job, but overall the job was rewarding and help my family through the college years. Share your thoughts.

Sharon’s stroke is God’s punishment, implies Robertson

mtnnomad — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 01:50:12 +0000

“He was dividing God’s land, and I would say, ‘Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the [European Union], the United Nations or the United States of America,

Those were Pat Robertson’s words concerning the recent illness of Ariel Sharon. This is a hot potato to throw into the ring as my first topic of discussion, but here it goes. Like usual, the words of Pat Robertson make my stomach churn and floods my head with complexity of the issues surrounding Israel. I think Mr. Robertson is using his soapbox irresponsibly and I perceived no Christ-like compassion in his callous judgment of a man who is fighting for his life nor for a country who may be losing their leader. I have to agree with another observer who stated,

“Once again, Pat Robertson leaves us speechless with his insensitivity and arrogance,”

Any thoughts?

Thanks Kim.

mtnnomad — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 23:53:27 +0000

Thanks for the introduction and welcoming me into the Our Thoughts community. I really look forward to participating here. My family have lived away from other LDS members for the past three years. First we lived in a fly-in First Nations community on the northwest coast where we were members of the Prince Rupert Branch but were not able to attend that often due to cost and transportation schedules and now we’re here straddling the Yukon/BC border along the Alaska Highway. Our branch is in Whitehorse, which is 5 hours away and we attend there about 2 – 3 times a quarter. I hold a sacrament service in our home under the direction of our branch president and we receive the audio from the sacrament services over the phone, which is a fantastic idea, one I wished I had thought of when we lived on the north coast. We supplement our collective worship with streaming programming from byutv.org. My wife is a teacher/principal and I am currently doing some network administration and substitute teaching. That’s a bit to inform you…for more of my interests and personality, check out my blog – Mountain Nomad Chronicles