More Islands and Atolls

Gospel Doctrine Lessons 14, 15: Podcasts! @ Benjamin the Scribe
  -  Four years ago, when I was running the Mormon Portal, I started doing podcasts on Old...

Morning with All of Us Who Mourn @ Segullah
  -  Growing up in Southern California denied me the experience of migrating through the...

“To Be Like Man, Almost” @ Zelophehad's Daughters
  -  “How infinite that wisdom, The plan of holiness, That made salvation perfect And veiled...

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know @ Segullah
  -  We live in a society of broken and struggling families, yet most don’t know how to...

The Promise of Easter @ Patheos
  -   We celebrate the new bodily and spiritual life that he offers, an embrace by...

Thoughts of a Non-Convert @ Zelophehad's Daughters
  -  I worry about posting this. I know it can be a touchy topic, and I don’t want to be the...

The Faith of Our Fathers @ Peculiar People
  -  While chatting with a new LDS convert recently, he asked how long I had been a member of...

Finding room for your burdens on my back @ Segullah
  -  About a dozen years ago, my best friend went through a difficult time. It was actually...

The Arabian Peninsula: The Roots of a Remarkable Adventure in Understanding the Book of Mormon @ Mormanity
  -  The first part of a series of articles on the Arabian Peninsula and the Book of Mormon...

Gospel Doctrine Lesson 14- Exodus 15-20, 32-34. @ Benjamin the Scribe
  -  Back on track, after General Conference. Insert here my usual gripe about how...

Train Tripping (Part 3) @ Zelophehad's Daughters
  -  Notes from a train trip from Emeryville, CA to Indianapolis, IN 10 April 2014 3:36...

Parable of the Film Student @ Segullah
  -   A young man wants to get a graduate degree in filmmaking. He plans to be a writer of...

Throwback Thursday @ Segullah
  -  I don’t know how many of you are familiar with this particular phrase, but it...

The Other World Must Be Revealed @ Patheos
  -   We rebel by being unable to hear and see. We cannot see our real condition. We...

Train Tripping (Part 2) @ Zelophehad's Daughters
  -  Notes from a train trip from Emeryville, CA to Indianapolis, IN 9 April 2014 2:18 AM I...

Paradigm…….shift @ Mormon Mentality
  -  I have a few words that I’ve learned in my reading travels that I like to toss out...

Whitney Finalists: Adult Speculative Round Up @ Segullah
  -  Like the young adult speculative category, the adult speculative category this year leans...

Train Tripping (Part 1) @ Zelophehad's Daughters
  -  Notes from a train trip from Emeryville, CA to Indianapolis, IN 7 April 2014 10:04...

Open @ Segullah
  -  When I lived in the city I was accustomed to the kaleidoscope of smashed glass caught in...

The Negative Response to Ordain Women @ Zelophehad's Daughters
  -  I was not surprised to see that conservative Mormons had a negative response to the...

Yield @ Segullah
  -  For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be,...

Going to Church in Exile..or Why Denominations Still Matter @ Peculiar People
  -  As I have moved farther and farther away from the Independence, Missouri headquarters of...

What Elder Oaks Did and Didn’t Say to OW @ Zelophehad's Daughters
  -  Elder Oaks gave a talk in Priesthood Session tonight that was the most direct response to...

General Conference Discussion Thread @ Segullah
  -   It’s General Conference weekend again. Have you been watching? What thoughts have...

The Movement to Hang Pictures of Female Leaders in Church Buildings @ Zelophehad's Daughters
  -   Unless you live under a rock, you are no doubt aware of the high-profile movement that...

Ordain Women, Women’s Ordination @ Zelophehad's Daughters
  -  A guest post from Jacob Baker, whose first guest post on ZD can be found here. This post...

A Testimony of Education @ Segullah
  -   About 8 years ago, I was wading through the prospectus-writing process of my...

New Scripture Mastery: Now With 40% Less Prooftexting! @ Zelophehad's Daughters
  -  The list of scripture mastery scriptures that seminary students are asked to memorize was...

Divine Life @ Patheos
  -   To live the Christian virtues as they lead from one to another is to come to...

Foodism? @ Peculiar People
  -  I am excited to read the new collection of essays on food and religion in North America...

No, Seriously. Which Would You Pick? @ Mormon Mentality
  -   I have one daughter who watches the tv show “19 and Counting” about the...

Thumbs Up to Mormon's Codex (But Buy the Physical Book, Not Deseret's Flawed Ebook) @ Mormanity
  -  I'm nearing the end of John Sorenson's monumental tome, Mormon's Codex: An Ancient...

Gospel Doctrine Lesson 13: Exodus 1-3, 5-6, 11-14 @ Benjamin the Scribe
  -  As we move into Exodus, time passes suddenly. We move away from the individual novella of...

Emma, My Daughter in Zion: A Preliminary Study of D&C 25, Part 2 @ Peculiar People
  -  In the preceding post (part 1), I work through a set of exegetical preliminaries to any...

Emma, My Daughter in Zion: A Preliminary Study of D&C 25, Part 1 @ Peculiar People
  -  This and the post following it (part 2) are pieces I wrote a few years ago as a guest...

Getting Nuclear with Doubt: Lessons from a Sixth-Grade Nerd @ Mormanity
  -  When I was in sixth grade, our teacher taught a science section on the nature of the...

No More Strangers @ Peculiar People
  -  One of my most familiar childhood religious memories is waking up at the end of the...

Sabbath Shopping @ Mormon Mentality
  -  I am to the point in my life where I don’t bother remembering much. I’ll read...

What’s the Deal? @ Mormon Mentality
  -  It is Friday night and I am watching the tv show 20/20 on ABC. It is a story of a Mormon...

Gospel Doctrine Lesson 12: Genesis 40- the end @ Benjamin the Scribe
  -  These chapters carry on the novella of Joseph in Egypt. It’s over 10 chapters,...

Ordaining Women Is Not Going Away for LDS @ Peculiar People
  -  The issue of women’s ordination in the LDS church is at least in its fourth decade.  ...

Two Kinds of Religion @ Patheos
  -   That greatest of atheists, Nietzsche, may have been right in his arguments...

Relaxing to the End? @ Mormanity
  -  One of my pet peeves in China is the lack of rush in rush hour. The biggest problem is...

What’s the Point? @ Mormon Mentality
  -  I have a dear friend who is going through hard stuff. Her long-term temple marriage is...

Does it really matter? @ Mormon Mentality
  -  Kirby is on my facebook page, either as a friend or sometimes if famous people have too...

The Only True Church @ Patheos
  -   What do Mormons mean when we say that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day...

The Gospel Topics Area at LDS.org Now Includes a Statement on Becoming Like God @ Mormanity
  -  One of the most controversial aspects of LDS belief is the concept of becoming more like...

Lesson 11- Genesis 34, 37-39 @ Benjamin the Scribe
  -  Link to the lesson manual. Today, I’ve got a bit of writing about these chapters in...

Misquoting the Book of Mormon is Bad Enough; Don't Misquote Science As Well @ Mormanity
  -  The use of DNA evidence to attack the Book of Mormon often involves multiple errors, such...

Doctrinal Disparity & Fragile Faith @ Peculiar People
  -  Just over a week ago, the New York Times ran a well-considered and well-written (not to...

When Goats Fly @ Mormanity
  -   One of the Young Single Adults in Shanghai recently talked about her experiences in...

Dumb things I’ve said from the pulpit @ Mormon Mentality
  -  One of the most amazing things about our church is that we are expected to preach to each...

Visiting the Lands of the Bible: Temples, Tels, Towers, and Tunnels @ Benjamin the Scribe
  -  Six months after I returned home from my mission to France, I stepped off a plane in Tel...

Lesson 10- Genesis 24-29 @ Benjamin the Scribe
  -  One of the aspects of scripture study as commonly practiced by LDS is the idea of...

We're Not in Provo Anymore @ Patheos
  -   We all know that stereotypes are dangerous to those who don't fit them, yet we...

On religious freedom and discrimination @ Peculiar People
  -  With the recent proposed amendment to Arizona’s religious freedom law, Facebook has fed...

A Follow-Up to Abraham and Isaac @ Benjamin the Scribe
  -  I ended up teaching the Gospel Doctrine class on Sunday after the scheduled teacher was...

Being a member is like taking chemotherapy @ Mormon Mentality
  -  A friend of mine started her conversation with me by saying, “Being a member of...

The Standard of Liberty in the Book of Mormon: Just Another Anachronism and Evidence of Plagiarism? @ Mormanity
  -  The list of works that Joseph Smith allegedly plagiarized or drew upon to produce the...

Lesson 09- Abraham 1:1, 5-20; Genesis 15-17; 21-22 @ Benjamin the Scribe
  -  This weeks’s chapters are difficult and socially significant like last...

New Gospel Topic at LDS.org – Becoming Like God @ Small and Simple
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The Decline of Something Called “Religion” @ Peculiar People
  -  Stories of Decline   Perry Miller’s exhaustive intellectual histories of Puritan...

Turn the “but” around……. @ Mormon Mentality
  -  I taught RS a couple of weeks ago for a friend who was out of town. I used this from...

Counting My Blessings @ Mormon Mentality
  -  In general, I like to think of myself as a positive person. I am all about “Count...

Lesson 08- Genesis 13; 14:1-2, 8-24; 18:16-33; 19:1-29 @ Benjamin the Scribe
  -  I’ve had this written for several days, kept making changes, and frankly, I’m...

Pray for Ukraine @ Mormanity
  -  A friend of ours, a brave, faithful, and well educated businessman from Ukraine, has...

Why Wait for the Fruit of the Tree of Life When You Can Eat the Biscuit of Omnipotence Now? @ Mormanity
  -  Adam and Eve had their temptation in the form of the fruit of knowledge. Mine came in the...

From the Nauvoo Times: I Survived Switzerland (Mission Reminiscences) @ Mormanity
  -  This is a recent post from the Nauvoo Times:This week I had to dig into some information...

RootsTech 2014 Review and The Hipster RM @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  SISTASinZION Radio! Listen live HERE and call in at (646)...

More Progress: A New Seminary Manual that Addresses Complex and Sensitive Issues @ Mormanity
  -  "A New Church History Seminary Manual" by Steven Densley at the FAIRMormon Blog discusses...

A Significant and Scientifically Oriented New Statement from the Church on DNA and the Book of Mormon @ Mormanity
  -  For some of us who love science and our faith, the new statement from the Church on "Book...

Greetings from Italy and the Florence 1st Branch; Devotional in Rome on Feb. 2 @ Mormanity
  -  On Sunday, Feb. 2, I'll have the privilege of speaking at a devotional for LDS single...

Ordain Women {Kate Kelly & Suzette Smith} @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  SISTASinZION Radio! Sundays 5pm - 7pm (Mountain Time) Listen live HERE and call in...

How Much Are We Missing? @ Mormanity
  -  Seven years ago on a cold January day in Washington, D.C., a man set his open violin case...

Recent Developments in Understanding Polygamy @ Mormanity
  -  On my LDSFAQ (Mormon Answers) page on polygamy, I mention two important recent...

Cathy Stokes aka MoDea (the Mormon Madea) @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  SISTASinZION Radio! Sundays 5pm - 7pm (Mountain Time) Listen live HERE and call in...

The Arabian Peninsula Motherlode @ Mormanity
  -  Perhaps the most interesting single online document for reading about the growing...

An Ancient Tradition of Writing on Metal? Surprise (?) from a Newly Translated Ancient Hebrew Text @ Mormanity
  -  "Fate of Ark of the Covenant Revealed in Hebrew Text" is the title of an intriguing news...

The Smell of Poverty @ Mormanity
  -  At work we've got a great charitable foundation, one of the best and perhaps the largest...

What Good Is Socialism? @ Mormanity
  -  "What good is socialism?" was the frustrated lament I made to myself last night after a...

Faith and Family with Garth Smith and DeAnne Flynn @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  SISTASinZION Radio! Sundays 5pm - 7pm (Mountain Time) Listen live HERE and call in...

Shall we discuss my story Démodé before computers do it for us? @ Mormon Organon
  -  Well it’s a new year and my one New Year’s Resolution was to revive this into...

Rickshaw Boy: Messages for Christians (and All of Us) @ Mormanity
  -  In a previous post about Lao She, I shared a secret about this beloved and famous Chinese...

Finding Faith in 2014 @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  SISTASinZION Radio! Sundays 5pm - 7pm (Mountain Time) Listen live HERE and call in...

Past Changes and Future Changes Some Hope For @ Small and Simple
  -  A

2013 in review @ Small and Simple
  -  A

Isis and Maat in Facsimile 3 of the Book of Abraham: A Horrific Blunder by Joseph Smith? @ Mormanity
  -  A recent post here at Mormanity, "Shulem in the Book of Abraham: Possible Plausibility?,"...

Noham, That’s Not History (Nor Geography, Cartography, or Logic): More on the Recent Attacks on NHM @ Mormanity
  -  As mentioned in my previous post about the significance of Nahom, in a recent...

Ancient Temple Themes in the Book of Mormon @ Mormanity
  -  Over at The Nauvoo Times, my latest post, "The Temple in the Book of Mormon," points to...

Race and the Priesthood in the LDS Church @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  Episode will load below or listen here. Tune in as the Sistas speak with members of The...

Race and the Priesthood: Significant New Statement on the LDS History of Blacks and the Priesthood at LDS.org @ Mormanity
  -  I'm delighted with the release of a new and thoughtful statement at LDS.org clarifying...

Nelson Mandela and Faith-based News + Filmmaker Stephen V. Nelson @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  SISTASinZION Radio! Sundays 5pm - 7pm (Mountain Time) Listen live HERE and call in...

Sheri Dew - Women and the Priesthood: What One Mormon Woman Believes @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  Episode will load below or listen here. Sheri Dew stops by SiZ Radio to chat with...

Mormon Women Bare, Katrina Barker Anderson + Journalist, Trent Toone @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  SISTASinZION Radio! Sundays 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) Listen live...

Hot Wife, Helpful Husband? @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  What happened to happy wife, happy life? A new study says husbands are happier in their...

She Said, She Said: Mormon Women Bare @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  Our girl Jennifer Borget has a blog segment called “He Said, She Said” where she...

Sunday Best: Saturday is a Special Day @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  Is Saturday really the day that we get ready for Sunday? Sista Laurel shares her...

Songs for the Soul: He is With Us @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  Uplifting music has the power to put us in tune with the Spirit of Lord. The Sistas share...

The Unavoidability of Faith @ Mormon Metaphysics
  -  Miles Kimball on the unavoidability of faith. Part Lectures on Faith and part...

Marriage Ain't for You {Urban Translation of Marriage Isn't for You} @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  If you tuned in to SiZ Radio last night you heard us talking to Seth Adam Smith author of...

Marriage Isn't For You {Seth Adam Smith & Aesha Adams-Roberts} @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  SISTASinZION Radio! Sundays 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) Listen live...

Luv True Luv... @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  Do we really "fall" in love or do we accept, allow, and embrace it? There are several...

It Ain't Even Black History Month! @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  We thought PBS might hold it against us since folks said our Mormon brotha Mitt Romney...

Preachers of L.A. {Is Religion Right for Reality TV?} @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  SISTASinZION Radio! Sundays 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) Listen live...

A Night of Hope with Joel & Victoria Osteen { SLC, Utah Review} @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  SISTASinZION Radio! Sundays 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) Listen live...

SiZ Radio: 183rd October LDS Conference Review @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  Sistas in Zion Radio! Every Sunday 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) Listen here and...

Certainty of God @ Mormon Metaphysics
  -  A pair of interesting posts from The Audacious Epigone. The first notes that certainty of...

Most Generous Cities @ Mormon Metaphysics
  -  I know these lists are regularly done by magazines as a way of making news. They then...

D&C 107 and Ordaining Women @ Small and Simple
  -  A

Thinking Accountability @ Mormon Metaphysics
  -  Accountability is a weird concept. It’s one of those that seems pretty straightforward...

A Girl's Guide to Football with Jessica Kehl @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  Sistas in Zion Radio! Every Sunday 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) Listen here and...

An Ordinary Hero: Joan Trumpauer Mulholland and Loki Mulholland @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  Sistas in Zion Radio! Every Sunday 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) Listen here and...

Tenured Professors Are Worse Teachers? @ Mormon Metaphysics
  -  Study: Tenured Professors Make Worse Teachers. I do wish more universities made actually...

Mormon Survivor Dawn Meehan + Jack and Sherry Weyland @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  Sistas in Zion Radio! Every Sunday 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) Listen here and...

Problems with OOO? @ Mormon Metaphysics
  -  I don’t consider myself well enough versed in Object Oriented Philosophy (sometimes...

How the Mother of Vampiro Rojo de Santanás Died at the Hand of the Ethicless Thing @ Mormon Organon
  -   I’ve been too busy of late to write any science posts, but here is a little...

Decline of Serial Killers and Rise of Sharing @ Mormon Metaphysics
  -  Interesting connection between “sharing culture” and the decline in serial...

On Handling Lectures… @ Mormon Metaphysics
  -  If you have an iPhone or something similar you listen to lectures on and also use iTunes...

SiZ Radio: Be Wise Magazine + Jamaican LDS Pioneer @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  Sistas in Zion Radio! Every Sunday 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) Listen here and...

Nobody Asked You: A Dose of Unsolicited Christian Advice @ As Sistas in Zion
  -  Have you ever made a comment only to hear, "Nobody asked you!" Or read an advice column...

40 Answers from a Mormon @ Small and Simple
  -  A

Why evolution matters to LDS Theology @ Mormon Organon
  -  There seems to be a temptation to borrow Christian fundamentalist creationist ideas and...

Death, the Fall, and Darwin: Roman Legions of Death, Part 2 of 7 @ Mormon Organon
  -  So to begin. Assume that the story that science tells is tout court correct. That humans...

Death, the Fall, and Darwin: A More Harmonious Reading, Part 1 of 7 @ Mormon Organon
  -  This is being posted semi-concurrently at BCC (Posted there about a week earlier than...

Scholar of Moab makes Ben Park’s ‘Nearly Essential Readings’ in Mormonism for Members! @ Mormon Organon
  -  Ben Park has compiled a list of Essential Readings in Mormonism that includes both...

What Happens When You Feed The Feminists? @ Small and Simple
  -  A

Clark Monson on Wolves @ Mormon Organon
  -  President Monson’s son weighed in on the debate about introducing wolves back into...

Lorenzo Snow Manual Lesson 5: Long Live the Couplet @ Small and Simple
  -  A

2012 in review @ Small and Simple
  -  A

On guns @ Mormon Organon
  -  In silence I’ve watched the splashes of opinion on Facebook and among blogs on gun...

Your Christmas gift guide @ Mormon Organon
  -  Having trouble picking which of my books you would like to give for Christmas? Here is a...

Dude. You Have the Scriptures on Your IPod?! @ Small and Simple
  -  A

The Good News – You are a Child of God. The Bad News – You Were Adopted?! @ Small and Simple
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Wise advice on Sunday School Teaching @ Mormon Organon
  -  From my friend Blair Hodges: “Too often, the Sunday School teacher doesn’t...