Clik here to view.
Needing/Getting
I haven’t been able to shake Mike’s excellent post from Thursday. The identification of need with belief strikes me as an important one for our faith. But I haven’t been able to shake it not just...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lesson 14: The Law of Consecration #DandC2017
Learning Outcomes At the end of class, students will be able to: Identify commonalities between the Law of Consecration and other communitarian religious movements. Explain the roots of consecration in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
We Should Argue More at Church
Seriously. I don’t mean this as some kind of Swiftian modest proposal. I’m completely serious about it. Maybe it’s my background as an attorney, but I believe that disagreement—that the airing of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Obligatory #TaxDay Post
Happy Tax Day![fn1] Most years (and maybe every year) I do a tax post on Tax Day. I’ve been struggling to think of one the last couple days, though: there haven’t been a whole lot of Mormon tax (or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lesson 17: The Law of Tithing #DandC2017
Learning Outcomes At the end of class, students will be able to Describe the roots of tithing in the Hebrew Bible and in American Protestantism. Assess how scriptural text relates to contemporary...
View ArticleClik here to view.
#MutualNight: Ella!
If she were alive, Ella Fitzgerald would celebrate her 100th birthday today. I don’t listen to a ton of jazz singers; my preferences definitely lie in the direction of instrumental jazz.[fn1] But...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Trump, Tax Reform, and Mormons
On Wednesday, Donald Trump released his tax reform plan. Scratch that: he released a one-page outline detailing highlights of what he wants his tax reform plan to look like. But even with its limited...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Religious Liberty EO Is a Big Nothingburger
Yesterday, Donald Trump signed his 34th Executive Order, titled “Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty.” And, much to everybody’s surprise (really!), it doesn’t do anything. Like, at all. I was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Boy Who Cried Religious Freedom
The June issue of The New Era includes an article entitled “Why Religious Freedom Matters: What’s at Risk.” As I read through it, I had two primary thoughts. On the one hand, I applaud the church for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Paul Bunyan and the Mormons
On Wednesday, we left the Paul Bunyan Logging Camp Museum[fn1] in Eau Claire, WI, and drove to the Goose Island Campground[fn2] in La Crosse, where we were going to spend the night. As we followed the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Virtue and Self-Reliance
One summer, my parents’ ward held a special Sunday School class for the kids who had come back from college for the summer.[fn1] The Sunday School class was essentially a basic financial life skills...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hypotheticals and Our Christian Duty
A quick hypothetical. (For those of you who didn’t attend law school, a law school hypothetical is a carefully constructed situation meant to tease out the implications of a rule or a law. The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Twenty Years
In preparing for day’s Primary lesson on missionary work, I did a quick search to see if I could find anything out Seymour Brunson’s mission. The short answer is, not a lot of detail on an iPhone...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lord, Is It I?
Hear any other similar sermons this AM? Let me know! https://t.co/DBBcF1tmfJ — Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) August 13, 2017 This morning, as I read my Twitter feed, I came to Jack Jenkins, a religion...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Free Trade and the Social Safety Net
On Monday, the church-owned Deseret News published an editorial condemning—in no uncertain terms—the racism of “the KKK and other so-called white nationalist groups.” The editorial leaves no wiggle...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Again With Seminary Start Times
Last year, Angela wrote an important post about the problems with seminary starting so early. I was reminded of her post because (a) my kids started school today, and (b) I read this article on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Picturing 1867 Utah Tax Assessments
I’ve been looking through 1860s Bureau of Internal Revenue records from the district of Utah for a project I’ve been working on. (It’s a really interesting project; once I get a handle on what I’m...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Homestead Act and Me
Last week, driving home from my brother’s wedding, my family and I stopped at Homestead National Monument of America.[fn1] We didn’t really know what to expect. We only planned on staying for an hour...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Churches and the House Appropriation Bill
Last Thursday, the House passed an appropriation bill for fiscal year 2018. The vote was close—211 to 198—and it’s not clear that it will pass the Senate in any kind of recognizable form. Still, the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
#MutualNight: Matt Wilson’s Honey and Salt
[For a quick refresher on what #MutualNight posts entail and how they relate to Mormonism, read this.] Full disclosure before I get started: Matt Wilson is one of my favorite jazz drummers and...
View Article