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
11
2009
Poor Wayfaring Man
Like every other Mormon missionary, my mission started with a stay in the Missionary Training Center (the “MTC”). I will probably have more to say about this topic in the future, but for my purposes today, I will just say that the MTC fills the same role as boot camp does for the military–it is meant to break down the new recruits and re-mold them into homogeneous parts of a mighty army. In the MTC, part of that process involves convincing the new recruits that they are sinners, and in need of repentance and reconciliation with God in order to avoid being a complete failures as missionaries.
As a new missionary, I was in the (common?) position of having never really leveled with my local bishop back home about grave sins like masturbation and/or looking at pornography. Continue reading
no comments | tags: Authority, confession, Conformity, Covenants, Holy Ghost, LDS missionary work, LDS morals and ethics, LDS spirituality, MTC, orthodoxy enforcement, pornography, repentance, sexuality, sin, worthiness | posted in List Item 06, List Item 17, Mormon Culture, Mormon Stories
Oct
22
2009
Poor Wayfaring Man
Every member of the LDS Church knows the importance of developing a strong personal or “spiritual” conviction (a “testimony”) regarding certain facts surrounding the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A testimony is considered a gift from God, delivered to a person by the Holy Ghost, a spirit-messenger of God, who communicates through a spiritual power that manifests itself in different ways to different people, typically as difficult-to-define sensations and thoughts. Every member is expected to have a testimony of at least the following key facts:
Continue reading
no comments | tags: Apostasy, Bible historicity, birth control, Book of Mormon historicity, caffeine, early Christiantiy, evolution, gay marriage, Heavenly Father, Holy Ghost, Jesus Christ, LDS spirituality, Mormon Doctrine, orthodoxy enforcement, polygamy, pornography, pri, Priesthood, priesthood healings, prophets, spiritual discernment, testimony, The True Church | posted in List Item 01, List Item 10, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine