BoM Bona Fides

In a weak attempt to partially redeem myself . . . .

My Son, A-5, Has a Dream (or Two)

My boy at BYU taught the Sunday School lesson yesterday on Lehi's Dream. You can find the dream and the interpretation thereof at 1 Nephi Chapters 8 and 11, some of my favorite passages of scripture. A-5 shared the power-point he showed in class on dreams and I will share it here without further comment:

Why I'm Not Leaving the Church

This is my manifesto so my friends and family can understand and come to accept my decision. I would hope my numerous blog pieces here exposing my poor soul would have been enough. But I am still caught by surprise now and then by some who declare their intentions towards the Church.

When I was young, I went to church happily, most of the time. (I really did hate that song, "Oh What Do You Do in the Sumertime?" I never did any of those things. It rained all the time. But I was a good frog-catcher.) I was raised by parents who believed and practiced Faith. They certainly had their problems. But one thing they did right was to love us. My mom is always best when she has a project to concentrate on and the three of us kids turned out pretty well, all things considered.

I was of a curious mind. My wife notes about some of my stories from when I was very young how extraordinarily attentive to adults I must have been. And I think that's a good assessment. There was a driving compulsion to figure them out - and myself. I'm still working on that.

Davis County Conference

Regional Conference turned out to be all 35 65 Stakes in Davis County. At least we could watch by delayed transmission at our regular church time in our own building.

President Uchtdorf gave the statistic that there are 223,000 members in the 35 65 Stakes. US Census quick facts for Davis County say our 2010 total is 306,479 people in the whole county, so by my calculator (assuming I'm pushing the right buttons) that's 68% LDS. Of course statistical analysis being what 14% of people know it is, I don't know if the membership number includes children of record. It likely does not distinguish or exclude less-active members who do not attend meetings. But you get the general idea that there are a lot of Mormons in Davis County.

Dedication of the Provo LTM (MTC) 1976

Waking up this morning, oftentimes the best time for inspiration, I realized that I had another "Eye Witness to History" piece I needed to write (well, cut and paste mostly). Due to the mixed blessing of having my visa to Brazil delayed after my mission call, my group spent some extra time in the Provo LTM (Language Training Center) as it was in the process of becoming the physical facility now known as the Provo Missionary Training Center.

We reported on our first day at Knight Magnum Hall on the BYU Campus. We were housed in Maeser Hall in Heritage Halls, usually a girls' dorm but vacant for the summer. We ate at the Morris Center at Deseret Towers. But we started our classes in the just completed classroom buildings at the new LTM. Over the nearly five-month wait for our visas (about the same amount of time the Prophet Joseph was in Liberty Jail), we moved into the new facility building by building as they were completed. And I was there for the dedication on September 27, 1976. My contemporaneous account follows:

Glenn Beck, Skousen & the Utah Legislature: Proof-Texting for the "Constitutional Compound Republic"

Bear with me. I don't know if this is at all helping you, but this blogging about my problems with the Utah Legislature certainly helps me to organize my thoughts. I feel like I've discovered an important key to understanding Beck, Skousen, and the extreme conservatives who dominate Utah state government..

Most LDS missionaries learn fairly quickly that "Bible-bashing" gets you nowhere. Either the Spirit is there to convert or it isn't. And spirited discussion using scripture as fighting words to prove a certain point doesn't bring a good spirit. The technique for this is "proof-texting" or pulling scripture often out of context to argue or prove a particular preconceived view or doctrine. A better process is to read and share scripture to learn, teach, and then testify with the Holy Spirit.

Basic Principles

As it's Sunday, I felt it appropriate to go a little (actually, a lot) religious today. I have a lot of thoughts going around my head for blogging, including one actually in draft form, but I come back to this idea of the most important message I could convey.  I have this opportunity rather frequently as I teach young Aaronic Priesthood men on Sundays (14-15-year-olds in Teachers Quorum).  I also used the theme when I was Bishop. And I used all the way back through my life including when I spoke in church on my LDS Mission to Brazil.  This isn't something I came up with on my own, but had an amazing spiritual instructor when I was a young man of eighteen.  It has formed the basis of my religious life.

My freshman Book of Mormon teacher at BYU was a guy named Jeff Holland.  I only had him for the first semester or first half of the Book of Mormon.  But when we got to Second Nephi, Chapter 2, he launched into a presentation of the basic principles of the Gospel.  Jumping from Second Nephi to Third Nephi which would have normally been in the second semester, he went through Chapter 27 starting at verse 13, where the Lord Jesus Christ himself explains his Gospel to the Nephites, and listed seven basic principles: