“And upon the Handmaids in Those Days Will I Pour Out My Spirit”
Sister Julie B. Beck – General Conference, April 2010
A good woman knows that she does not have enough time, energy, or opportunity to take care of all of the people or do all of the worthy things her heart yearns to do. Life is not calm for most women, and each day seems to require the accomplishment of a million things, most of which are important. A good woman must constantly resist alluring and deceptive messages from many sources telling her that she is entitled to more time away from her responsibilities and that she deserves a life of greater ease and independence. But with personal revelation, she can prioritize correctly and navigate this life confidently.
The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life
Not dead yet.
Beta.Lds.org coming along nicely. It now sounds like it won’t be emerging beta-ness until October but with new features forthcoming monthly. It sounds like we will soon have personalized scripture features like bookmarking, annotating, and highlighting. [via NorthTemple.com]
Get Religion looks at the Utah death penalty story I highlighted Friday. Turns out a subsequent version of the story completely reworked the two problematic paragraphs, removing any mention of the Church and Old Testament-style justice. Clearly this blog gets results.
Granted, media bias is a favorite chew-toy for bloggers. And while it certainly exists, its probably best to grin and bear it and move on with more important things.
However, I think it’s appropriate to call out a journalist when they have a pattern of deeply unfair stories. The Associated Press’ Jennifer Dobner certainly falls into that category with stories that repeatedly give Church critics a platform to bash the Church, no matter how out of place or unfair (e.g. President Monson’s calling as prophet or gay activist protests against the Church).
Dobner’s latest offense occurs in covering today’s news that a Utah judge approved a convicted murderer’s execution and the convict’s choice of method: firing squad.
Lydia Kalish, Amnesty International’s death penalty abolition coordinator for Utah said her organization opposes the state’s effort to see Gardner executed. But despite Utah’s strong religious roots — it’s the home of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — most here support the use of the death penalty.
“I think in Utah, when it suits their purposes, they go back to the Old Testament and the ‘eye for an eye’ kind of thing,” Kalish said. “These people may be the worst of the worst, but if the best we can do is repeat the same thing, it’s so obviously wrong.”
(Gardner gets to choose death by firing squad since he was convicted before the state removed the option in 2004.)
Yes, the state of Utah still has the death penalty, but so do 34 other states. Never mind that in the “modern era” of U.S. capital punishment, Utah has only executed 6 people in the past 34 years and the last one was in 1999. In order to advance the notion that Utah’s – and the LDS Church’s – “eye for an eye” bloodlust, it might be helpful to compare its record to the 19 other states that have had more executions in that same period.
Since mentioning Utah apparently requires mentioning religion, Dobner injects her personal assumption that there is a contradiction between a community of “strong religious roots” that supports capital punishment. Pardon my link to Wikipedia (as an outraged defensive blogger it’s a requirement), but that doesn’t appear to be the case.
If the Church is going to be inexplicably dragged into this coverage, it might be useful to ask the Church for a comment or at least mention that the LDS Church officially has no policy on capital punishment, neither promoting or opposing it. But apparently an Amnesty International spokesperson was sufficient.
It’s hard to get exercised when over-the-top South Park gang set their target on the Church for satire, because any reasonable person won’t take them (too) seriously. But it is frustrating when the supposedly serious Associated Press acts just as clownish.
The South Park creators announce they’re producing a Broaday show satirizing Mormons. A radical religious group warns they will die for mocking their religion. Maybe Jon Krakauer needs to write a new book?
No it’s not dead yet. It’s looking like a mess, but there’s a hopeful future for LDS & Mormon Blogs.
Happy Tax Day.
“If God can get by on 10 percent, Uncle Sam ought to be able to keep getting by on 20.”
– House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana, calling for a 20 percent cap of federal spending as a portion of gross domestic product – or double a church tithe – as he spoke at his party’s gathering in New Orleans Saturday.
[via National Journal]
Polygamy, “Fundamentalists”, Scientology, with a dash of Glenn Beck’s view of social justice . . . presenting the Vancouver Temple!
Yesterday, the Church released its own official iPhone app that’s compatible with the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, called Gospel Library (forgive the App Store’s typo “Gospel Lbry”).
I really like it a whole lot. I have tried most of the previously released third-party scripture apps that range from free to somewhat pricey (~$15) that have a whole range of features on my iPod Touch. Gospel Library may seem basic as a 1.0 release but it looks great and has everything I need. Not coincidentally, it looks like the most like the actual Church typeset scriptures. It also does a great job of getting the buttons out of the way, allowing the most screen real estate for just reading pure scripturery goodness.
Another feature I liked is that the newly downloaded app is basically an “empty shelf” which allows you to then download (and later delete) whichever books of scripture you want as well GC reports, and other Church books. There a lot of Church books and manuals already available and the App Store description promises weekly updates to the available library.
I’d love to see how it looks on the iPad.
A great effort from the LDS Tech team.
Check out Gospel Library.
Identity Theft? That’s nothing. Try Family History theft: “Scam Targets Genealogists.” Pathetic.
For me anyway.
As some of you may have noticed, A Soft Answer’s sister site, LDS & Mormon Blogs has lain fallow for some time (yes, even more than here).
Since 2003 I have tried to keep track of LDS Bloggers, first here as a very long blogroll which it eventually spun off into its own site.
As much I have wanted to keep up with listing all LDS bloggers, real life keeps getting in the way and I have realized that I just can’t do it anymore. Overrun by lots of spam and unable to keep up with and process the submissions, I have let the site go, always with the hope that I would return to updating it. I now sadly realize that won’t happen anytime soon. But instead of continuing to let it lie dormant or pulling the plug entirely, an interesting opportunity has presented itself.
Recently a strange consortium of same-sex marriage activists and Mike Hucakabee-affiliated ministers have approached me about buying the site. To say the least, I was very hesitant. But their offer was very generous and with certain assurances, it was something that I couldn’t refuse.
I have to admit that I was suspicious of their intentions. I was afraid that they just wanted the URL to spread misinformation and discredit the Church. But my decision was made much easier when they guaranteed that they would maintain the site and continue to link to and promote the Bloggernacle. That made my decision much easier. After all, how bad could that be?
There may be some needed cosmetic changes in store, but rest assured that the new management (for whatever reason) is committed to continue showcasing the shining examples of LDS thought found in the Bloggernacle.
I understand sex education isn’t a cut and dried issue. But parents demanding that schools teach their children the facts of life and outsourcing their responsibilities to schools? One is parody and one is not, but both are much too real for my comfort.
Increasing Number Of Parents Opting To Have Children School-Homed
According to a report released Monday by the U.S. Department of Education, an increasing number of American parents are choosing to have their children raised at school rather than at home . . .
“Every year more parents are finding that their homes are not equipped to instill the right values in their children,” Miller said. “When it comes to important life skills such as proper nutrition, safe sex, and even basic socialization, a growing number of mothers and fathers think it’s better to rely on educators to guide and nurture their kids.”
Teens rally for sex education (via Our Thoughts)
But the teens and parents who marched to the Capitol had a much different take. They wore blue T-shirts proclaiming “Right to Know” on the front, and “Sex Ed” and a list of sponsors on the back. They carried signs saying “Teach me! I want to know,” and “Knowledge is power.” They ate sugar cookies and cupcakes decorated with the names of sexually transmitted diseases and phrases such as “health” and “sex ed” in frosting.
As they marched up State Street from Library Square to the Capitol, they chanted “What do we want? Sex education. When do we want it? Now,” and “One, two, three, four, ignorance no more.”
General Petraeus’ Top 10 reasons BYU grads make great soldiers. Most apply to Mormons in general but pretty funny stuff.
7 — They never go AWOL. They just call it being less active.
Helping my wife google for Elder Scott talks on the sacrament (the search on lds.org seems hopelessly broken) we came across this sad example of the underbelly of Happy Valley. In fairness, it’s someone from outside Utah trying to work the heretofore unknown black market of sacrament talks.
In case the posting goes down, click on the screenshot:
Provo Craigslist Buying Sacrament Talk
Short notice is no fun but I’m not sure that Craigslist is your best bet. It’s probably too late to help the guy but if you have something filed away, maybe you can help a brother out.
Mormon Soprano traces the origins of “No other success can compensate for failure in the home.”
Taking a page from Disney’s DVD Vault or something, four retired merit badges are being brought back from the dust for this year only to celebrate 100 years of Scouting.
Too bad they changed the Stalker merit badge to boring old “Tracking.”
Very scary: “Traditional Marriage.”
LDS and Mormon Blogs
- Renovation
- Mt. Pleasant Pioneer Relic Home
- Archaiologia
- Nauvoo History and Other Things
- Warfare and the Book of Mormon
- Mormon Church History
- Amateur Mormon Historian
- Nothing Wavering
- 1 LDS Mom
- Finck Philosophies
- Store House of Faith
- Healthy Families, Warm Hearts
- Variety is the Spice of Life
- Prepare For Peace
- Butterscotch Pieces of Me
- Carli and the Clan
- LauraScoop
- The Mormon Worker
- From Where I Sit
- Being is Somethingness
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