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Did My Fears about a Joe Biden Presidency Come True?

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  After the election in 2020, I reflected on what I feared would happen during the first Trump administration and tried to evaluate which fears came true and which did not. I wished I had written down my fears at the beginning of the administration instead of making the list in hindsight, and I encouraged conservatives to do that: Make a list of things you’re worried will happen during a Biden administration so you can evaluate at the end of it if those fears came true.  Nobody really took me up on it. One friend made some vague claims about Hunter Biden, China, and Ukraine. When pushed for details, they gave a little more, indicating they feared that Biden would lead the country into socialism in the style of China. “China owns Biden,” they claimed, and they feared we were headed toward communism. That’s not a lot to go on, but I’ll include it in my reflection for this year. Here are the things I remember people fearing would happen during the Biden administration, and my takes on whi
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Why I'm voting for Kamala Harris in 2024

 Early voting has started in Wisconsin, and I’ll be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.  I don’t hate Donald Trump. I don’t think he’s some bogeyman out to destroy democracy.* He’s a human, and a sore loser, a careless leader, and a shameless sinner. I believe that sinners can make suitable presidents, but besides my disagreements with his policy agenda, I find Trump untrustworthy. I don’t think I’d support him even if I were a Republican. But that’s not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about why I think Kamala Harris is a good choice for president, even without contrasting her opponent. Harris strikes me as a savvy, moral, and strong leader. Her VP pick is charming and apparently guileless. Here are 3 reasons I support them this election:  Harris is pro-family.  She promises not to raise taxes on people earning less than $400,000 a year. She wants to restore the expanded child tax credit that dramatically reduced child poverty. She plans to provide $6,000 in tax r
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ASK: Principles for Engaging Church Difficulties from a Seminary-Teaching Skeptic

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  New Seminary, who’s this? I’ve been teaching early morning seminary for about a month now, and I’m loving every minute of it. I even love the challenging bits:  Figuring out how to get students to look up from their phones Getting students to speak up more Pushing students to look at the scriptures deeper Convincing students to set and achieve meaningful scripture study goals Reducing distractions in class Dealing with students’ exhaustion Balancing participation across students  Integrating study for myself with study for seminary Determining what to say and what to keep to myself  Dealing with parents All of these are challenges I am constantly thinking about and finding joy in.  Seminary is a bit different than when I went through it at a different time and in a different place. My 9 students represent all the active church members in two high schools. They are all in my ward. The scripture masteries are all different, and they call them “doctrinal masteries” now. There are a lot
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