Posts

ASK: Principles for Engaging Church Difficulties from a Seminary-Teaching Skeptic

Image
  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
Post a Comment
Read more

I want to start blogging again

  I think I’m going to start blogging again. For me, not really for anyone else. Though I don’t know. That’s probably not true. I like when people read and engage with what I write. But I also find writing out my thoughts very therapeutic. Cathartic. The possibility of an audience is part of that–it’s a huge relief to feel like what I’ve been thinking is echoed in the minds of others. It makes me feel un-alone. But I don’t want to be the kind of person driven by the validation of others.  I also don’t want to pick fights–as much as I love a good fight. I’m tired of it. And I’m tired of the dance we all do on social media, pretending that we’re not fighting. We are fighting big time. It’s an election year. It’s what we do.  NOW IS NOT THE MOST DIVIDED THE COUNTRY HAS EVER BEEN.  I just have to say that because it’s at this point in the discussion about the state of online discourse, especially American online discourse, when I’m supposed to complain about how divided we are. But America
Post a Comment
Read more

Some thoughts on religion and abortion

  I can, in good conscience, vote for politicians in the Democratic party, even though, in general, they support policies that allow access to elective abortion, which is contrary to the teachings of my church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I saw a facebook post from a friend saying the opposite, and my first thought was to respond, “Where?” Show me where church doctrine indicates that abortion should be banned. It doesn’t! Even though the church teaches that elective abortion is wrong, it doesn’t advocate for policy on the matter, and church members who intend to vote Republican shouldn’t hide behind the church we share to justify their support for Donald Trump and the policy agenda of the Republican party.  But I don’t want to fight anybody. In fact, I don’t want to focus on the issue of abortion at all, and I’m annoyed at how much emphasis both parties currently place on it. Even though I generally agree that abortion should be legally available, I kind of cringe
Post a Comment
Read more

A really long post about DOCTRINE

  What is doctrine and how is it established? I have some thoughts beyond these two questions, but first, I want us to start on the same basic understanding.  In his book, Increase in Learning , Elder David A. Bednar distinguishes doctrine from principles and applications. This isn’t the first or last entry for the word Doctrine into Latter-day Saint vernacular, but I think it defines the basics of how Latter-day Saints typically view Doctrine in as fair a light as possible. Here’s the statement:  A gospel doctrine is a truth—a truth of salvation revealed by a loving Heavenly Father. Gospel doctrines are eternal, do not change, and pertain to the eternal progression and exaltation of Heavenly Father’s sons and daughters. Doctrines such as the nature of the Godhead, the plan of happiness, and the Atonement of Jesus Christ are foundational, fundamental, and comprehensive. The core doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ are relatively few in number (pp. 151–152). In the October 2019 Gene
Post a Comment
Read more