Feb
14
2011
Poor Wayfaring Man
The LDS Church has developed gender-segregated youth programs to educate and socialize (read: indoctrinate) boys and girls in the Church as they reach adolescence and grow into adulthood. The programs start when they reach age 12 and generally end at age 19, at which point they join the gender-segregated adult programs. The girls’ program is called the “Young Women organization“, and the boys’ program is called the “Aaronic Priesthood“. Continue reading
no comments | tags: Aaronic Priesthood, Conformity, gender, indoctrination, LDS Church Sunday curriculum, LDS gender roles, LDS morals and ethics, LDS Social Circles, LDS social pressure, LDS spirituality, Mormon Doctrine, priesthood authority, rites of passage, socialization, Young Women organization, youth in the Church | posted in List Item 12, List Item 13, List Item 22, List Item 23, List Item 24, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine
Mar
2
2010
Poor Wayfaring Man
Here is another example of LDS Church leaders retiring unwanted doctrine by playing with the concepts of “policy” and “doctrine” in order to avoid violating LDS stare decisis.
Despite early acceptance of black men into the LDS priesthood, the Church, beginning with Brigham Young in at least 1852 (and possibly earlier, with Joseph Smith), taught for more than 100 years that black people bore the Mark of Cain, which labeled them as a cursed and disfavored people in the eyes of God, and unable, therefore, to be part of the LDS priesthood. Continue reading
2 comments | tags: Brigham Young, Curse of Ham, David O. McKay, general authorities, General Conference, Gordon B. Hinckley, Jeffrey R. Holland, Joseph Smith, LDS Church Policy, LDS legalism, LDS morals and ethics, Mark of Cain, Mormon Doctrine, Mormon History, PBS documentary, policy vs. doctrine, Priesthood, priesthood authority, prophets, racism, Sterling McMurrin, Wilford Woodruff | posted in List Item 01, List Item 03, List Item 07, List Item 11, List Item 12, List Item 13, List Item 16, List Item 18, List Item 19, List Item 21, List Item 22, List Item 23, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine
Mar
1
2010
Poor Wayfaring Man
Here is an example of LDS Church leaders retiring unwanted doctrine by playing with the concepts of “policy” and “doctrine”, and then making overtures of respect to the originators of that doctrine, in order to avoid violating LDS stare decisis.
In the nineteenth century, leaders of the Church taught that the practice of polygamy was an inextricable doctrine of Mormonism, and the only way to reach the highest levels of heaven. Continue reading
3 comments | tags: Authority, Brigham Young, doublespeak, Gordon B. Hinckley, Heber C. Kimball, John Taylor, Joseph F. Smith, Joseph Smith, Journal of Discourses, Larry King, LDS Church Policy, LDS legalism, Mormon Doctrine, Mormon History, policy vs. doctrine, polygamy, priesthood authority, prophets, spin, stare decisis | posted in List Item 07, List Item 11, List Item 13, List Item 19, List Item 21, List Item 23, List Item 24, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine
Feb
24
2010
Poor Wayfaring Man
The legalistic aspects of Mormonism are fascinating to me. Here is one.
Stare decisis is a legal concept meant to establish consistency in decisions made by courts. The idea is that once a decision has been made by a court about a certain point of law, future courts should respect that decision and follow suit. This approach conserves judicial resources by obviating the need for people to bring the same legal dispute to court over and over again, because they can look at past cases and reliably predict what a court is going to say about the issue. It also causes people to take more seriously the decisions of current courts, because today’s decisions are going to hold weight with other courts in the future. Thus, it is a way for courts to legitimize their own decisions by respecting the decisions of their predecessors. Stare decisis is a practical strategy for dealing with the fact that reasonable judges will disagree about what the law means, and even though it sometimes enshrines erroneous decisions into the law, it is generally considered a useful and effective element of the judicial system.
A similar concept is at work for the top leaders of the LDS Church (considered “prophets, seers, and revelators” by believing members of the faith), though the process goes largely unacknowledged. Continue reading
no comments | tags: LDS Church Policy, LDS legalism, Mormon Doctrine, policy vs. doctrine, prophets, stare decisis | posted in List Item 07, List Item 11, List Item 19, List Item 21, List Item 23, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine
Feb
18
2010
Poor Wayfaring Man
Here is another post inspired, in part, by a reader’s comment. Deep Throat in the Deep South, in a comment rich with interesting Mormon cultural material, wrote the following:
Every blessing we have is predicated upon a law. You break the law, the blessing is gone.
There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated— And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated. (D&C 130: 20-21)
One must be intelligent not to confuse administrative actions with the Gospel of Jesus Christ (i.e. truth) in its purest mode. There is a different between administration of earthly issues, the Truth of the Gospel, and, and what I call the “Doctrine of the Culture,” that some people cling to instead of the doctrine.
As a Mormon, I struggled with the legalistic LDS belief that all blessings a person receives from God are actually dependent upon his or her obedience to a specific Law (or body of Laws) of Heaven. The reason I struggled is that I could never pin down exactly what the Law was, despite the fact that I was desperate to follow it. (That seems to be a common theme in the LDS Church.) Continue reading
no comments | tags: Apostasy, Book of Mormon historicity, Boyd K. Packer, Brigham Young, doctrine & covenants, general authorities, Gordon B. Hinckley, heresy, LDS apologetics, LDS legalism, LDS spirituality, Leaving the Church, Mormon Doctrine, Mormon fundamentalism, Mormon History, obedience, polygamy, priesthood ordinances, prophets, skepticism, testimony, Truth | posted in List Item 01, List Item 19, List Item 20, List Item 23, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine, Mormon Stories
Nov
25
2009
Poor Wayfaring Man
I was browsing the internet the other day and found a really interesting blog that discusses events and hot topics at BYU’s Provo campus. In this post about the conflict between the religious world and the secular world, the liberal-leaning Mormon author seems to support (very tentatively and with ample obligatory qualifications to deflect charges of heresy, since he is a BYU student) the view that the creation account in Genesis (six days, etc.) is just a metaphor, not literally true.
This seems like a neat and tidy way to avoid conflicts between science and religion–just treat the religious view as a divinely-inspired metaphor only.
Continue reading
no comments | tags: Bible historicity, Book of Mormon historicity, BYU, creationism, fundamentalist religion, heresy, LDS apologetics, LDS dogma, Mormon Doctrine, Mormon internet, science vs. faith, skepticism | posted in List Item 01, List Item 05, List Item 08, List Item 09, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine
Nov
15
2009
Poor Wayfaring Man
My previous two posts (Confession and Polygyny?) deal with topics that are quite different on the surface, but share certain underlying concepts, namely
- there are circumstances in which it is necessary for an LDS Church member to approach his or her local Church leader, seeking something that only the leader can provide; and
- the Church rules governing such circumstances are usually unclear or unknown to the Church member.
Situations like this are the norm in the LDS Church. Continue reading
no comments | tags: Church Handbook of Instructions, control, criticism, Dallin H. Oaks, ecclesiastical abuse, LDS Church discipline, LDS Church Policy, LDS morals and ethics, LDS Social Circles, LDS spirituality, Mormon Doctrine, Mormon Hierarchy, obedience, orthodoxy enforcement, pornography, priesthood authority, sexuality, sin | posted in List Item 03, List Item 17, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine
Nov
12
2009
Poor Wayfaring Man
My mom and dad married in the Salt Lake Temple at the ages of 18 and 19, respectively. They were civilly divorced when I was still a little kid.
By “civilly divorced”, I don’t mean to say that the divorce process was completed in a civil manner, without petty bickering (though I believe that is true). I mean they were legally divorced. Free, in the eyes of the state, to remarry and move on with their lives.
This is an important point, because their divorce was not fully recognized by the LDS Church. Continue reading
3 comments | tags: Catholicism, divorce, general authorities, Gordon B. Hinckley, Larry King, LDS morals and ethics, local authorities, Marriage, Mormon Doctrine, Mormon fundamentalism, polygamy, separation of church and state | posted in List Item 03, List Item 13, List Item 16, List Item 17, List Item 19, Mormon Doctrine, Mormon Stories
Oct
26
2009
Poor Wayfaring Man
The “Covenanting with the Lord” program, discussed in the previous post, is interesting to me because it puts to the test the promises of the Lord found in LDS scripture, and the beliefs of the mainstream LDS Church regarding those promises. It is anchored in the concept of testimony, relying on a person’s ability to discern the promptings of the Holy Ghost to come up with solutions to a given problem. Once a solution is found, especially if it requires divine intervention, it is presented to the Lord for ratification (and miracles).
Continue reading
no comments | tags: Covenanting with the Lord, Covenants, criticism, general authorities, Holy Ghost, LDS missionary work, LDS spirituality, Mormon Doctrine, obedience, spiritual discernment, testimony | posted in List Item 01, List Item 06, List Item 10, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine, Mormon Stories
Oct
25
2009
Poor Wayfaring Man
I have had experiences with testimony. Lots of them. Here is Example 3:
When I had been proselyting as a missionary for just about three months, my Mission President (the volunteer LDS clergy supervising the activities of the entire mission) assigned me to work in a new city with a partner (i.e., a “companion”) who was in the final month of his two-year term of missionary service. The Mission President met with me to tell me I was chosen for the assignment because this missionary needed a faithful, enthusiastic companion to try a new method of proselyting that had the potential to usher in a surge of baptisms in the mission. It was called “Covenanting with the Lord”.
Continue reading
1 comment | tags: answers to prayer, Book of Mormon, Covenanting with the Lord, Covenants, doctrine & covenants, LDS missionary work, mission statistics, Mormon Doctrine, spiritual discernment, testimony | posted in List Item 01, List Item 06, List Item 10, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine, Mormon Stories