Results of Ruminations

Unless you're new to my posts, you've probably already figured out that I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a life-long Mormon, I've spent a lot  of time thinking and learning about the teachings of my church. I've learned that some stuff isn't real stuff but cultural stuff (e.g. having to wear a white shirt to Sunday meetings; caffeine isn't the thing that's forbidden in the Word of Wisdom). I've also learned some cool stuff that is real stuff (e.g. God's love for all His children; the grace of Christ is monumental and beyond capacious). But one thing that I never really learned about in official Church settings (General Conferences, Sunday Schools, Institute/Seminary classes) was the broadness of religious thought that the world has yielded. Despite being awash in my religion, I've never gone deeply into religion s . There's an explanation for this, of course--plenty of them. One is the fact that Mormon...

At the time of this writing, Hurricane Irma is venting its fury on Florida . The hurricane pummeled Key West, then swung up, smashing into Florida's Gulf coast. With Hurricane Harvey hardly in the rear view mirror, and Hurricane Jose on the way, it's pretty clear that there's some catastrophic weather happening at the time. Florida--southeast Florida, to be exact--has a special place in my heart: I served my two-year long mission in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. While I never personally went farther south than the Kendall/Hammocks area, my mission boundaries included everyone in Key West up to West Palm Beach, with the Everglades on the east and the Bahamas out in the west. So though the hurricane is currently pummeling the western part of the peninsula, the areas where I served thirteen to fifteen years ago are in rough shape. So, even though Hurricane Harvey's deluge of Houston was in my country, and my heart, thoughts, and prayers went out to them, seeing my o...

Thanks to the omnipresent (and omniangry) influence of the Twitter.com, I learned about the Nashville Statement . Rather than spend time summing it up for you, I'll let you follow the link and make your own decisions about it. For me and my part, I've already sounded off on this topic (broadly speaking), so I've not a lot too change here. I have thought a lot about the issues of LGBTQ+ rights, as I see them as a crucial point in the life of my church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) as well as the nation. The idea of allowing legal discrimination is puzzling to me, and though there might be some compelling arguments for areas of discrimination (say, disallowing a person with rage issues to work at a child care facility), the concept of sexual orientation isn't one that really computes for me. I simply can't see why it matters so much to people who don't participate in an LGBTQ+ lifestyle what those within the lifestyle do. From a doctrinal ...

Note: This is part two in a three part analysis. Part one can be found here .  Second Assumption The pathways to understanding Truth are legion.  This posit would entail epistemological considerations that I'm not interested in following here, but anyone curious could start here for an overview of the philosophy. Rather, I'm interested in pursuing broader swaths of understanding and knowledge, recognizing that a lot of the road has been paved by philosophers and theologians, but focusing more on my own process of thinking. To begin, I think there's something to be said about prima facie  impulses about basic sensory data. The sun is hot, we can feel it and see it, and those physical stimuli come from a cause which we can point to and agree with. Intersubjective agreement may be necessary on one level, but once there, we're discussing common knowledge, verified through the senses. This kind of truth can be considered a rudimentary Truth--human senses are trigge...

Jacques Derrida (as quoted in How to Read Derrida  pg 77): For there to be a gift, there must be no reciprocity, return, exchange, countergift, or debt. If the other gives me back  or owes  me or has to give me back what I give him or her, there will not have been a gift, whether this restitution is immediate or whether it is programmed by a complex calculation of a long term deferral or difference [ differance ]. This is all too obvious if the other, the donee, gives me back immediately  the same thing...For there to be a gift, it is  necessary that the donee not give back, amortize, reimburse, acquit himself, enter into a contract, and that he never have contracted a debt...The donee owes it to himself  even not to give back, he ought not owe  and the donor ought not count on restitution. Is it thus necessary, at the limit, that he not recognize  the gift as gift? If he recognizes it as  gift, if the gift appears to him as such , if the p...

Does God wear a tie? I'm not an archaeologist, so I don't spend a lot of my time researching the fashions of history (except for late Elizabethan and early Jacobean England because of course ). Additionally, fashion doesn't particularly speak to me--I try to look nice (most of the time) in a conventional, conservative way. It's one of the few areas in my life where I'm comfortable modifying it with the descriptor "conservative". But when talking about God (or Jesus, which is similar and, yet, different), I start running into imaginative cul-de-sacs. Starting at the beginning (you know, 16th century Italy), I'd have to say that my mental concept for God would have to be Michelangelo's. As a lifelong Mormon and participant in selective parts of Christianity , this is a good starting point. The original finger beam shooter. ( Source ) While an art historian could probably bring in a lot of potential layers of meaning, I'm considering fas...

I think about God a lot. He's important to me. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, He ought  to be. There are some pieces about God that don't make sense to my feeble mind (which fits nicely into the Isaiah 55: 8-9 verses), which is fine as far as it goes. What really confuses me is that what confuses me doesn't confuse others. Like, there are some questions that nobody has really figured out ("Can God create a burrito so spicy even He couldn't eat it?") and that may ultimately be absurdism. Most everyone in my religious tradition recognizes that there are things we don't know about God, and we're all in the dark together. But there are other things where I get the sense that others don't really understand, but they confidently assert that they do. An example of that would have to be the tension between what Mormons (and other philosophical and religious traditions) call agency  and most everyone else considers free w...

I recently finished my (whateverth) reading of the Book of Mormon. Having been born into the Church--and having served an LDS mission--I've spent a great deal of time in that book. It's not the book that I've read the most (that probably goes to Hamlet ), but it's up there. I read it every year and a half, or so, give or take. I sometimes diverge into other levels of scripture, but I cycle around to it regularly. Members of the Church--rightly, I think--insist that the eschatological stakes of the entire Church hinge upon the Book of Mormon, but I'm not exploring the ideas of the afterlife here. Instead, I want to share a story that a coworker shared with me. Like many who teach at my school, she had had a conversation with teenagers that changed the way she thought about things. This is something that requires a certain amount of humility, not just as an adult, but as a teacher, too: The acknowledgment that there is a different way of viewing the world that you...

I've been troubled, of late, about what feels contradictory and confusing impulses. First, some preface: I'm currently reading Savoj Źiźek's Violence: Big Ideas/Small Book . It is fascinating, deep, and really easy to read (an absolute must for me, as my brain has atrophied more than I care to admit). It contains myriad comments about how we perceive violence, particularly the concept of the symbolism of it. I'm reading it not just for pleasure, but as another useful source for my long-delayed video game analysis. It will often wander down other theoretical and philosophical paths (with more than one unintentionally humorous rant against liberal communists who, from his point of view, simply aren't liberal--or communist--enough), so it's hard to really pin it down well. Nevertheless, it's getting me thinking about violence in general, and war in specific. That's what leads me to this post: War. My class has been slogging through the first half of the t...

I had Thursday and Friday off from school this week. Thursday I went up to Gayle's school and did a sound demo on my guitar, then had a fun time preparing the kids for the coming zombie uprising of 2012. If you want more details, say so in a P.S. or something and I'll give you more. Anyway, Thursday was completely full from top to bottom (Thursday nights I have a writer's group that meets in Provo). Friday I was playing Rock Band 2 with Peter when the doorbell goes off. Not expecting anyone nor any packages, I was a bit surprised. A reactionary thought--"I wonder if it's the Jehovah's Witnesses?"--skipped through my mind. I was right. I didn't bash with them, though I thought some of their interpretations were more than just a little flawed and inconsistent. Instead, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and learn more about another religion--one which, admittedly, I had only learned about from other elders (not the best source for an unbiased...

A good break Thanksgiving has come and gone. The pervasive stench (a delectable one, mind you) of turkey still seems to linger here and there, particularly at the parents' houses. We had an enjoyable time of it, what with the family from many sides here, in large part because of Grandpa's recent passing. The funeral was on the 22 nd , and a great many people stuck around for Thursday. It was really swell to see aunts, uncles, and cousins, though I admit that I am still slightly weirded-out by some of my relatives. But, hey, that's what family is for! The results of my recent ruminations run along several lines—as is often the case—insomuch that I am paralyzed by what I'm trying to express. The odds that this particular blog (still hate that word...so uncouth) will be brief are high. Apostasy and the darkness beyond That's a dreary subheading, isn't it? Well, it's typed. That makes it permanent, I suppose. And even if it doesn't, how am I supposed to ...

I still get a little teary-eyed when I mention how close we came to losing Peter. Twice. I was talking to a coworker in the hall today, after hearing good news that Peter's clubbed foot is doing just fine. I mentioned such that Peter was well and why we're happy for him today, which lead to a reference to the fact that I was glad the trip to Primary Children's Medical Center ended up being so fast easy, since there have been times when it wasn't. My coworker looked a little confused, so I asked if she knew of Peter's condition. She said no, so I briefly explained. She, curious science-type lady that she is, asked additional questions. The brief but colorful history of Peter was then related. During the part when I recalled the unknown future Gayle and I considered around two years ago, when we first realized the gravity of Peter's condition but knew nothing of what it might mean, that I may take my son for granted. We knew him not at that point, but wept to thin...