27 things in the Mormon Church’s new articles I never learned growing up
Blacks, Book of Mormon, First Vision, Joseph Smith, Murder, Polygamy, Priesthood, Race, Scriptures

27 things in the Mormon Church’s new articles I never learned growing up

Over the past year or so, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been releasing articles on particular topics through their website.

I have personally found several of the articles encouraging because they cover things I never learned growing up: things I learned only as an adult and only through blogs, podcasts, and anti-Mormon websites.

I don’t know why I never learned these things. What I do know is that I never learned them in Primary, Sunday School, Aaronic Priesthood classes, Seminary, or Institute, or even on my mission. I never read them in a church magazine (although recently a handful of them have appeared in Ensign issues) or lesson manuals.

I present below several recent articles and direct quote from each showing facts and ideas I had to learn through non-official channels. Continue reading “27 things in the Mormon Church’s new articles I never learned growing up”

The Lord healed the people
Church, Worship

The Lord healed the people

In our Gospel Doctrine class today, we were discussing the story of Hezekiah. I won’t get into all the details of his story here, but there is one aspect I felt impressed to write about here.

When Hezekiah started his reign, he inherited a kingdom from his father and grandfather, who each had reigned in unrighteousness. They had disrespected the temple and let it get to a state disuse and misuse.

His first order of business was to gather the Levites together to sanctify the temple. Once the temple was back to working order, he invited all of Israel to come together to celebrate the Passover, something they hadn’t done for a long time.

This brings us to 2 Chr. 30:17–20: Continue reading “The Lord healed the people”

You’ll never view the strait and narrow path the same again
Book of Mormon

You’ll never view the strait and narrow path the same again

I gave the lesson in Family Home Evening tonight. I decided to use the opportunity to show our children how they had been looking at the strait and narrow path from the wrong perspective.

It’s not their fault. After all, they view it the same way as most everyone does and how it is portrayed in popular LDS art. A careful reading of the scriptures, however, shows us that the most popular conception of the strait and narrow path is an assumption we have made, which has no scriptural support.

To see the strait and narrow path from a new perspective, we must use a scripture chain.  Continue reading “You’ll never view the strait and narrow path the same again”

Exploring baptism in EQ
Baptism

Exploring baptism in EQ

In elders quorum class today, we had a great discussion about baptism.

The instructor started off by noting that the topic of baptism seems basic and hard to delve into, but I think our discussion disproved that position.

He started off asking the class to share how their view regarding baptism now compares to our view of it when we were baptized. Several of us shared our thoughts, and it was interesting that all who did were baptized at 8 years old. Continue reading “Exploring baptism in EQ”

Are blessings of the priesthood truly equally available to men and women?
Priesthood

Are blessings of the priesthood truly equally available to men and women?

The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles released a statement today that appears to be in response to the church discipline of Kate Kelly and John Dehlin. In it, they state the following:

In God’s plan for the happiness and eternal progression of His children, the blessings of His priesthood are equally available to men and women.

In the October 1977 general conference, Elder Bruce R. McConkie gave a talk that was later titled “The Ten Blessings of the Priesthood”. Here are the 10 blessings he discussed:

Continue reading “Are blessings of the priesthood truly equally available to men and women?”

4 questions to think about if women ever get the priesthood
Priesthood, Women

4 questions to think about if women ever get the priesthood

What would happen if LDS women get the priesthood?

Women don’t currently have the priesthood in the LDS church (well, some argue that some women have it but can exercise it in the temple endowment). Unless you’ve lived under a rock for the past month, you’re probably fully aware of this fact. It was all over the news, blogs, and social media.

I don’t want to hash out any of the related events that have occurred—there are are plenty of others who have done that. What I am interested in doing is exploring what the LDS church would look like if LDS women did receive the priesthood. (I have no idea if they ever will. Presumably, we’ll just have to wait to find out.) Continue reading “4 questions to think about if women ever get the priesthood”