How smart are your kids? Here’s a quick intelligence test you can give while telling a story: Late one night some very smart rulers in beautiful fancy clothes are in a room discussing what they should do next. They are in a lovely wooden building where lots of people live. One ruler says they need …
Visit the Facebook Page – Join the Meeting on Zoom I was updating my blogroll and noted several sites I visit regularly have listed the upcoming Unity in Humanity online Zoom conference scheduled for Saturday 22 October 2022. If you click on the image above, it will take you to the Zoom meeting page. There is …
I would like to give a shout-out to the folks who maintain the Restoration Archives website. I know a little bit about maintaining websites and know how much work goes into them. I have been using the website since it was introduced in 2017. The Restoration Archives site has been my “Go To” source for …
An Analysis of Some of my Top Posts I find it interesting that my bog still receives a lot of visits from faithful members of The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints. This pleases me. I watch the key words and phrases that bring people to my blog and many of them are similar to …
Long-time readers may notice a few changes on my blog recently. Hopefully they will provide a better reading experience and, my personal goal, a better SEO experience. You can skip this post if you like, there’s nothing really doctrinal in what I am about to share. New Look and Feel for the Blog First and …
A recent change in employment has given me the opportunity to pick up blogging again. I dusted off my blog, gave it a new look and discovered I made the list of Top Mormon Bloggers. Who knew?
Hello everyone. Yes a post by someone other than Tim. We still exist! Thanks again Tim for letting me post stuff here. What have I been doing some might ask? well many things, but the topic of this post is to say sometime ago I decided to write a book. The book remained in a …
The opportunity to communicate has increased a thousand fold in recent years. The power of the internet has made it possible to reach one individual at a time or thousands at one time. We live in a magnificent age. Whether we communicate face to face or online, apparently the ability to communicate effectively has diminished. …
I will present three cases for your consideration. I know each of these men, although one only through correspondence. I’ll include a few facts, then a few observations and perhaps draw a conclusion or two. There is a theme I’m hoping you’ll see. There is also a unifying factor in each of these cases which …
Dear Tim, There’s something about your new blog format that doesn’t quite sparkle for me anymore. Sure, I got used to, and miss the old uncluttered visual layout with that main topic so short, sweet and to the point in the center. But what I really miss is you: a real man standing there under …
Some of you know I dedicated this blog to the Lord earlier this year. Prior to that time it was just another Mormon-themed blog. After that sacred moment in prayer, it became, at least for me, a consecrated effort to help fulfill the purposes of the Lord. I pray about every post and ask the …
It the LDS Church today, we often hear the phrase, “Looking Beyond the Mark.” Those who read the scriptures know this comes from the book of Jacob in the Book of Mormon. This is a uniquely LDS phrase, not found in the Bible. Jacob was teaching the people about Christ, who, of course, is the …
I attended our ward Sacrament meeting today. Because of General Conference next week, we held our monthly Fast and Testimony meeting. A majority of the testimonies were from the sisters sharing their thoughts about the Women’s meeting last night. The number of testimonies of a loving God and Savior were about equal to those of …
It’s customary to write an exit letter when leaving an organization after a long period of time, so here’s mine. I have no desire to flame or insult anyone. You don’t have to read this. It’s for my own soul to find peace. I share it in the spirit of love, especially for those who …
I tried to do a little live-blogging to my Facebook Group as the lecture rolled forth. I couldn’t keep up. There were too many declarations coming too fast. I should not have been surprised. Carol has been telling me for months, maybe for the past year that the day would come when Denver would make …
This is part three of my notes in preparing for the final lecture in the Denver Snuffer series – “Forty years in Mormonism.” While I am trying to encourage you to read Denver’s material, particularly the previous lectures in this series, I am not trying to advocate anything other than gaining knowledge by study and by …
This is part two of my notes in preparing for the final lecture in the Denver Snuffer series – “Forty years in Mormonism.” The purpose of these posts is simply to review some of the material presented in the previous lectures. In a sense, it contains my study notes. I learn best by sharing and …
I am in Mesa Arizona as I write this. Carol and I are here for the last lecture of the “Forty Years in Mormonism” series, which will be delivered on Tuesday. As Denver wrote on July 31st, “The final talk in Phoenix will mean more if you have read or listened to the first nine …
If you’re drawn to this blog post by the title, I ask you to look past that to the subtitle. It is “The Believing Mormon’s Guide to the Coming Purge.” Although this will be a review of Rock’s book, I hope it will also provide background and detail on why long-time members of the LDS …
On that fateful Passover night in the Meridian of Time before Gethsemane, the Savior instituted the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. The Sacrament was a change from the way His disciples were used to observing the Passover. Therefore, the Messiah gave them a commandment to do the things which they had seen him do, …
At the request of my bishop, I have created a new space for those who wish to discuss posts from this blog on a closed Facebook group rather than in the comments below. You can find it at this link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/latterdaycommentary/ I hesitated a long time before creating this group. I feel strongly such a move should not have been necessary. If …
Facebook Discussion Group for Latter-day Commentary Read More »
This is an experimental post. I’m attending the Sunstone Salt Lake Symposium over the next three days. I’ve chosen some sessions that are pertinent to LDS blogging and would like to add thoughts to this post during each session. I will be using my iPhone to do so because I don’t want to lug my …
In response to the recent excommunication of Kate Kelly, founder of Ordain Women, and the pending disciplinary actions against John Dehlin, and Rock Waterman, The Office of the First Presidency issued a statement on apostasy today. As an active LDS Blogger, I am especially interested in this clarifying message positioned as “Addressing Doctrine and Questions.” …
Earlier this month, a Facebook event was created entitled, “This is not the place.” It is subtitled, “Mass resignation from the LDS Church,” and is to protest Kate’s excommunication. The event is scheduled to be held at City Creek Park on 24 July 2014 in Salt Lake City, which is Pioneer Day, a holiday in …
I thought about entitling this “Lessons Learned from Church Discipline,” but I don’t want that to be the main focus of this post. First, to be clear: In spite of rumors to the contrary, I am not under any restrictions or church discipline. I turned in my temple recommend because I felt I no longer …
One of my greatest desires as a blogger is to help people of differing beliefs and political ideologies come together in a unified search for peace that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. Thus I was delighted today to be able to express and expound upon those sentiments to Kristen Moulton of the Salt Lake …
One of the things that always bothered me is the lack of a historical record for the ordination of Joseph and Oliver to the Melchizedek Priesthood. At one time, probably in my seminary days, someone mentioned John Whitmer had the record. He was the first “official” church historian. When he left the church in 1838, …
Understanding the Historical Record of Priesthood Read More »
This is a fictional account. It is based on current events, but it is NOT how things went down with my Bishop. I have promised to keep that confidential. I share it because of the intense interest in the excommunication of various LDS bloggers in the news lately, including the impending disciplinary actions against Mormon …
Owing to the many private inquiries as to my status in the current “purge” of bloggers and Mormon activists, I would like to share this comment I wrote a few days ago in response to a reader’s questions. I hope it demonstrates where my loyalties lie. If you want further information, my email address and …
Of all the comments in my recent posts on Priesthood, this one got me thinking, pondering and praying. I have split Darin’s comment into a few paragraphs. I was especially interested in the third paragraph because I have heard it before from someone I love dearly. I don’t find Darin’s comments offensive. In fact, I’d …
A while back I wrote an article entitled, “When Religion Comes Between Spouses.” It was my best effort at that time to share my ideas, successes and failures in dealing with a personal problem I was experiencing – and continue to experience in my marriage: a spouse who does not feel comfortable with, understand or …
I shared my testimony in our regular monthly testimony meeting this morning. I wanted to make sure the Bishop and a member of the Stake Presidency present – he’s also in our ward – heard me say I sustain the general authorities and local authorities of the church. Of course these words were in addition …
It seems no matter how hard I try, I am unable to keep up with the private emails asking for additional information from something I’ve shared in one of my posts, particularly those that deal with doctrine and private religious practices such as the True Order of Prayer in the home. I still have about 35 unanswered …
My bishop asked to visit with me again on Sunday afternoon. We spent an hour discussing my health – both mental and physical – my career, my financial condition and my blogging activities. Although he doesn’t read my blog, others in the ward do and have shared misgivings about me. I thanked him for the …
I was invited to join a panel of fellow authors who enjoy writing about the catastrophes of the last days. Randy Lindsay is the author of a recent work of LDS fiction entitled The Gathering. I must be candid and tell you up front I have not yet read it. I have a copy and …
This is going to seem like a really random post, but I promise if you will stick to the end you will find something worthwhile. I’ve prayed about it as I do all my posts and have decided the Lord would like me to share a few things about answering prayer. First off I want …
When I was much younger, I was fascinated with the administration of the church. My sister works for the church. She is secretary to an Apostle. That means nothing, really. I only mention it to bring some context to what I am about to write. I love my sister and am proud of her accomplishments. I know …
When I was reading The Second Comforter for the first time I came to chapter nine where Denver wrote about sacrifice. I read Joseph’s quote from the Lectures on Faith: “Let us here observe, that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary …
I’ve noticed a constant theme over the past few years as I have written about those who have been excommunicated from our church. I don’t know if it’s just coincidence the subject has come up so many times or if I have sought it out. I’d like to explore the idea of submissiveness with you …
I am troubled this evening as I write this short post. An online friend has been excommunicated from the LDS Church for apostasy because he wrote in an online forum, much as I have on my blog, that Denver Snuffer is a prophet of God. As the scripture says, “the testimony of Jesus is the …
There is a phrase we use in our church that holds immense personal meaning for me. We hear it in talks from the pulpit and from teachers in the classroom. We hear it in General Conference. We read it in our church magazines. I don’t think it’s only a part of the LDS culture. It’s …
The Need for Denver’s Message One of the main ideas Carol and I have discussed concerning Denver Snuffer is the necessity of the message he has delivered. Carol has made it clear she did not and does not feel there was or is any need for someone like Denver Snuffer to remind us how important …
Teaching the High Priest’s Group I’ve been asked to substitute teach the High Priest’s Group this weekend. I always enjoy teaching but wish we had more time. After the opening section of priesthood, we get about a half hour to teach. That’s barely enough time to say hello and introduce a topic. Well, I prayed …
I wrote this yesterday after my tech class was over for the day. Would have published it last night but we went to the local Community Writers Group to learn more about how to be a good poet. Ah, the things we do for love. Somehow, it looks like our empty-nest years are going to …
Over the years, I’ve read with interest many stories of conflict between husbands and wives where one spouse was a believer in a religion and the other wasn’t. It always hurt my heart to read such stories. Some even made me cry to think of two people who loved each other enough to marry and start a …
Broken Things to Mend – Part two (another journal entry) I met with the first of the five psychiatrists yesterday. If you’ve never met with a mental health professional, you might want to consider it. The experience was enjoyable. He was a little older than me – OK, maybe by about ten years, but fit …
Personal Journal Entry I sat down about a half hour ago, waiting for the guys to finish putting the carpet down and put the new desks in. I’m at work today, but I have nothing pressing to do. It’s a Saturday. I came in about 1pm to help put the fifteen computers back together in …
Warning: This may not be Uplifting I’m in another computer class this week. This makes week number sixteen this year. For those mathematically challenged, this will be 640 hours by the end of the week. I’ve got three more weeks to go – another 120 hours for a total of 760 hours. I got to …
I write this at the request of Brother Crowther. I don’t know him well enough to call him Duane. In fact, we have never met, as far as I know. But if I do slip into familiar voice, please forgive me. I feel as if I have known him for years, over forty at least. …
I received my CDs from last week’s Boise talk. It took a day or two more to get to me in California. I know some already had theirs Saturday. I haven’t listened to it yet. I plan to rip the CD and put it on my iPhone. I’ll listen to it to and from work …
In a private email from Denver Snuffer earlier this year, I had an epiphany about myself and my writing style. I was surprised when he answered my email directly and pleased that he would do so. He shared some advice and an observation which stopped me in my tracks. He said I had a “fair …
Denver Snuffer recently posted the news on his blog that he has been excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for apostasy. It was not unexpected by most who are familiar with his writings. This morning, before I learned the news, I received the email below from a reader regarding Denver and …
Update 9-11-13: Denver Snuffer has been excommunicated. You can read it on his blog. A reader asked my opinion of a recent post about Denver Snuffer by Russell Stevenson over on Rational Faiths. Somehow I missed it even though I go there often. It’s entitled, “Housewife Danites: Denver Snuffer and the Suburban Underground” dated August …
One of my readers, Steve, asked, “I wondered what you would do if your stake president told you to quit blogging about Denver or you would be exed.” This is a fictional account, based on that very possible what-if scenario that could happen: What if members were called to account for themselves in regards to …
Yesterday, I and many others received letters of support for Denver Snuffer in the face of his upcoming disciplinary action. Many people have said that their reading of “Passing the Heavenly Gift” helped them reconsider plans to leave the church. These good people are willing to give credit to Denver’s book for helping them through a difficult time. I have read …
For those who don’t know, Denver Snuffer has been served with a notice to appear before the Stake Presidency and High Council to answer charges of apostasy for the publication of his book, “Passing the Heavenly Gift.” Carol and I just discussed this. I continue to feel that he was not surprised, knew this was …
I just discovered the scan icon on my Goodreads iPhone app. What I thought would be a totally manual process of entering my 2,000+ library of books into Goodreads has now turned into a manageable project. I just scanned a dozen and entered them in about ten minutes. You can even scan a whole bunch …
I often have this feeling that the Lord wants to talk to me. It usually comes on a Saturday night. It is also stronger if I haven’t been to the temple in a while. We were last there three weeks ago and typically make it at least once a month. I’m not sharing this to …
I finally got around to updating my Goodreads account with a few of the book reviews I have written over the years. I have been amazed by the response of new readers to my blog. It makes me feel a little better after being dropped by ldsblogs.org. I know people have told me not to …
I think I’m getting excited about blogging again. When I started back in 2007 I did a lot of work to promote this thing. I registered with all the appropriate sites. I left comments on numerous other sites similar to mine. I made sure I stuck to my three themes so my readers would know …
A long time ago I read a book that profoundly influenced my life. It seems I start a lot of my blog posts this way, but it’s true. Reading can do that for you. This one was by Gerald Neils Pearson. You may recognize the name. He was the husband of Carol Lynn Pearson. Gerald …
I received my copies of Denver Snuffer’s Remembering the Covenant, Volumes 1, 4 and 5 the other day. Why would I invest $55 to purchase printed versions of something that is available for free online? I’ve already purchased and read Denver’s previously published eight volumes. And for the most part, I read the majority of …
From a reader: I have a question; I was curious what you meant by “those still in the uncorrelated church.” Are there LDS churches not correlated? Thanks! My response: Ah yes, was wondering if someone would ask about that. Glad to know someone’s reading and thinking about my stuff. Tightly Structured Teaching The uncorrelated church …
Note added 6-11-13: Greg Smith has published a much more complete review on the FAIR website. And I thought I was being a little harsh in my review here. Well, it’s good to have multiple sources to make comparisons. I hope I made it clear that I got a lot of good from the book even though …
When you get old like me, you begin to think about your legacy. A good legacy is a life well remembered by loved ones and friends. In the old days, you wrote a book containing lots of good things that helped you, printed copies and handed them out to people you wanted to remember you. …
If you are a new visitor to my blog, you may want to take a few minutes to browse through some of my top essays. These are ranked by page views over the past two years. I have a different list of some of my favorites but these are the most viewed. I hope this …
I know that I’m just one of thousands of LDS members who have a website where they share their beliefs and testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I like to think that I’m not much different from your average Mormon.
I updated my list of LDS blog aggregators with a couple of Mormon Mommy blog link-lists and ran some Alexa numbers. I was shocked to discover that the top aggregator was not what I had expected. Check it out for yourself.
Latter-day Commentary has moved to WordPress. This post started as a running commentary of the steps I went through to get everything transferred from Blogger. It was a fairly smooth but time-consuming process. Fun!
I had a blast today updating my list of LDS group blogs. I confess that although I have visited and read all of these blogs in the past, I have been sporadic in following them lately. That’s not because they aren’t good reading. It’s just that I haven’t had the time. Who does? I know …
At Connor’s encouragement, I updated the rankings list of the solo LDS Blogs I read on a regular basis. I now have 110 solo blogs in my Google reader and listed on my sidebar. That’s an increase of thirty solo blogs since I published the last rankings five-six months ago in November 2008. Click on …
I’m sure you recall Elder Ballard inviting members of the church to be more involved in online conversations a few years back. If not, you can read about it in the LDS Newsroom. He said, “That word conversation is important. There are conversations going on about the Church constantly. Those conversations will continue whether or …
When I started blogging about LDS doctrine and issues a few years back I did not expect to get a lot of comments right away. After all, nobody knew about my blog yet. I was just another blog among millions. So I happily wrote all kinds of essays about things that had been on my …
After many years of resisting, I finally joined Facebook. My intention is to find another avenue to share the gospel. I have been blogging for a little over a year and have enjoyed numerous conversations about the gospel with many visitors. But for the most part, I feel like I’m preaching to the choir. It …
I don’t know this blogger and I normally don’t do this, but one of the joys of blogging is reading what others have felt important to share. I feel particularly impressed with this essay shared by Memoirs of a Married Mormon Man and felt it deserved additional readership. He writes that it will be his …
In between helping Carol put up Christmas decorations, I compiled the Alexa rankings of the LDS blogs I follow. Although it is by no means comprehensive, it helps me understand where my blog ranks among solo LDS bloggers. This does not include group blogs which I define as any LDS-themed blog that has two or …
I ran across a new blog analyzing tool over at the Typealyzer. I am an INTP – Thinker. I know, I’m shocked too. Unfortunately, INTP‘s can also be dull and boring. Carol, on the other hand is an ESFP – the performer. Her analysis (below mine) is much more interesting. That’s why I married her. …
Some have claimed that all the attention the LDS Church has been receiving lately is a PR fiasco. Nothing could be further from the truth. It has become a PR bonanza. As an LDS blogger, I can write just about anything that mentions Proposition 8 or same-sex marriage and can guarantee a doubling of my …
There are now many more LDS bloggers who are actively expressing positive and interesting things about their faith and the LDS Church. This is a huge increase from this time last year. If we have learned anything in the last few years, it is that we are still not understood by the majority of the …
If you haven’t visited Seth Adam Smith, I encourage you to do so. I was introduced to his blog by Larry Richman a while back. Seth puts together videos that are simply amazing – so current and applicable. Check out this video he did with a 1978 BYU address from Neal A. Maxwell interspersed with …
I suppose I should be flattered. There are several sites out there that troll the Bloggernacle just looking for conservative bloggers that take themselves too seriously. I’m probably one of them. So I’m pleased to have been given a nice LOLcat award for some poor wording on a recent post about the Yes on 8 …
I was asked by a BYU public relations research student on behalf of the More Good Foundation to explain why I blog on LDS topics. I have been thinking about the answers I provided and thought they might be helpful for others to share them here. I want to encourage members of the church to …
You can find all kinds of people on the Internet blogging and commenting about the church these days. There are those who write so far above me that I have no clue what they are writing about or why they feel the topic is important. At the other end of the spectrum are the terrible …
I started my blog about eight months ago in late September 2007. That was before Elder Ballard asked us in December 2007 to participate more in the new media. For the first few months I got just a few visitors a day. That’s OK, I wasn’t promoting my blog yet. They were just finding me …
Larry Richman and I are good friends. We must be. He keeps sending me personal emails giving me clues into what the web team of the church is doing these days. I think he must have told Joel Dehlin, the CIO of the church about me because he also sends me his emails. They are …