Contemplative Dexterity

The concept and importance of family is widely regarded by the LDS Church as one of the most important facets of our life on earth. This is in large part due to the belief that there is an afterlife, and more specifically, that we can remain with our families as long as individual members live according to Church doctrine. Because of this belief in an eternal existence and the potential to remain with righteous family members for eternity, a family members departure from the LDS faith is an excruciating experience for all involved. Family members still within the faith are suddenly faced with the bleak possibility that their loved one(s) will not reach the highest degree of glory and that they will never see them once death rears its ugly head. Many are convinced that the member who strayed is only going through a "phase" or they believe that with enough fasting and prayer that their loved one(s) will return to the "light". In some cases this does happen, although

On November 26th of this year, my brother left to begin his LDS mission, but before I get into what has been on my mind concerning this life event, I feel I should give a little background on this particular brother: He and I get along very well. We have similar types of humor, discuss movies that aren't always considered "appropriate" by Mormon standards, and enjoy playing sports. He's an extremely personable young man and has been interested in girls since a very young age, much to the consternation of our parents. He had his first girlfriend at 14 and I'm fairly confident when I say that he probably had his first kiss before I did. 16 is the recommended dating age for LDS youth, and they are encouraged not to pair off until college age, so my brother making out with girls while still in middle school was a source of worry for my parents. Another source of worry came when he was arrested his first year of high school for trespassing on school property (i

A survey was circulated around Facebook, and I can only assume other sites as well, regarding a woman's role in the church. One can only assume that such a survey was spawned in response to the widely publicized Ordain Women movement. I was finally able to sit down and take the survey and had a few comments that I wanted to post in response. I do believe that women and men, girls and boys, are not treated equally in the church, with the benefits weighing heavily in favor of the male species. This has been a noticeable source of contention for me since I entered Achievement Days when I turned 8, but became more noticeable when I entered the Young Women's program at the age of 12. For the sake of time and space, I'm not going to post every question and my response to it, but I am going to post a handful. One of the first questions posed was: Differences between the roles of women and men in the LDS Church are... Cultural, A mix of culture and doctrine, or Doctrin

For nine months, I haven't attended church. It's been quite lovely having my Sunday's completely free and not having to worry about what activities I should or should not be doing. But leaving a religion is a lot more than just not attending regular church meetings. Having been raised since infancy in the LDS church, my identity for 25 years of my life has been linked inexorably to that belief. As humans, we have an inherent desire to identify ourselves, whether it be through groups and beliefs, or jobs, or sports, or talents and hobbies. We invest much of who we think we are into these identities to the extent that when something negative happens, such as we lose that job or can no longer participate in a talent/hobby, we feel an immense sense of loss and confusion. Depending on ones level of immersion, religious identities can be particularly hard to lose. It has been quite liberating to experience the freedom of researching my religious beliefs and expanding my lear

(This is another very long post, so sorry.) Okay, so again, I fully admit that I've never gone through the temple and taken out my endowment, but I have read it and what I felt as I read it was very real. While I can only imagine what it's like to go through for other people, I do know how I would react, or at least what I would be thinking had I gone through the ceremony. The comments that follow are some of my thoughts and responses to the endowment ceremony, the transcript of which I found online. It is a   1990 transcript of the endowment ceremony. I also respond to a webpage created by a current member of the LDS church for the initiatory (washing and anointing). Up until the 20th Century, the washing and anointing ceremony required the initiate to be nude. A member of the opposite sex would then bathe them and then anoint them with perfume on specific areas of their bodies and then anoint their heads with consecrated oil. Gradually, the LDS church worked f

Last summer I moved to Provo. I had just taken a job in Springville and felt the need to be within a closer proximity than my Salt Lake home offered. I didn't want to move to Provo because it is the center of Happy Valley and having already graduated from college, from the U of U no less, I wasn't too thrilled with the idea of taking up residence in BYU sanctioned housing with young college students. But the housing was cheap, so I moved. The unfortunate thing about BYU housing, minus the BYU, is that if you're not a student (who is already required to take a certain number of religion courses), you have to be enrolled in an institute class and attend at least 75% of the time, otherwise they kick you out. Initially, I wasn't thrilled at the idea of having to take another institute class, but I tried to look at it positively and figured that it would be a good place to at least meet people and make friends. My mother suggested that I take the Temple Prep course. Thi