This is a talk I gave in church a couple of weeks ago: The scriptures often admonish us to pray continuously. Note that I said continuously not continually. Continually means repeated with interruptions, but continuously means without interruptions. Paul tells the saints in Thesselonica to “pray without ceasing,” (1 Thes. 5:17); in the Doctrine and … More Pray without Ceasing
I gave this talk at the Miller-Eccles Study Group in California on May 13 and 14, 2016 and it was subsequently published on Rational Faiths. I’m reposting it here for friends. Many years ago, I took a flight from Baltimore to New York on a turboprop airplane. I love to fly and I had … More Landing Instructions: How to Navigate (or Help Someone Navigate) a Faith Crisis
NOTE: Today would be the 107th birthday of Hugh Nibley. In his honor, I’m posting this little essay I wrote about Zion. ***** Belief that Christ’s second coming was immanent accompanied the revivalism and religious zeal of the Second Great Awakening. During the nineteenth century, as one historian put it, “millennialism was at times almost … More Zion and Apocalypse
Ruby is a big red dog. Not quite Clifford, but she’s getting close. When I bought her for my son, she was this adorable little wrinkled puppy who curled up in our arms and took a nap. She melted into us, a puddle of puppy. However, soon she blossomed into a gigantic expanse of … More Falling Out or Being Pushed Out: A Test of Discipleship
NOTE: I wrote the following back in November, soon after the 2016 election, and decided not to post it because it seemed too angry. But since then, I have been unable to write anything more than emails. Sometimes that’s even been a chore. I still agree with what I wrote and I think events since the election … More The Better Angels of our Nature
Confession: Nothing has been more painful to my spiritual life as a practicing Latter-day Saint than the disclosure last November of a Church policy that labeled individuals in a gay relationship as apostates and that excluded their children from baptism until they reach the age of eighteen (and then only if they do not live … More Reaching Out and Embracing Ambiguity
In 1967, Dialogue published Richard Poll’s “What the Church Means to People Like Me,” a talk Poll gave in his Palo Alto ward earlier that year. Using imagery from the Book of Mormon, Poll described two “ideal types” of active, believing Mormons: Iron Rods and Liahonas. Iron Rod Mormons, Poll argued, are obedience-minded, loyal, and … More What Dialogue Means to People Like Me
I’m guest blogging at Rational Faiths today with the presentation I delivered at Miller-Eccles and Sunstone. Landing Instructions: How to Navigate (or Help Someone Navigating) a Faith Crisis
Here’s a treat from the pages of Dialogue:A Journal of Mormon Thought that might be something you can use in a lesson on “likening the scriptures unto us.” What’s a Rameumpton, Daddy? (With Apologies to Gregory Bateson) “What’s a Rameumpton, Daddy?” “Well, the Book of Mormon says it was a place where the Zoramites stood … More What’s a Rameumptom, Daddy?
“Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.” —Barry Goldwater “When a broad table is to be made, and the edges of planks do not fit, the artist takes a little from both, and makes a good joint. In like manner here both sides must part with … More Eschewing Extremism and the Virtue of Compromise
Boyd Petersen 