The Tree of Life – Part II
“The idea that the symbol of Tree of Life might be more extensive than I had previously imagined came while reading The Book of Revelation.”
The Tree of Life – Part I
“It is part of human nature to believe that we are somehow better than others. This, in my opinion, is the genesis of a very dangerous notion, which is the idea that we have a monopoly on truth.””
Doubting Thomas
Over the past two to three years, I have come to respect Thomas more and more not as Doubting Thomas, but as Thomas the Believer. Let's look at the story: 24 ¶But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples...
Brother Miller and Me
I learned something important the other week. Once again, one of those unexpected lessons. A few weeks ago I wrote a post, Why the Church is Truer Than the Gospel, about me not wanting to attend church on a particular Sunday. Part of the reason for not wanting to...
The Gospel, Truth, Flexibility, and Metronomes
Analogies, parables, allegories, metaphors, similes. All are meaningless without experience. When I hear that Jesus is the "Good Shepherd", it means nothing if I don't know what a shepherd is. However, if I am familiar with ovine culture, there are subtleties of...
Parenting, Childhood, and Separation
An Australian working mother and BBC reporter, Madeleine Morris, is producing a series of short documentaries on childcare around the world. She's asking, "Who's left holding the baby?" She began with Australian nursery, or daycare. (Unfortunately, I can't find a link...
Trust in God
“We need members who lack the gift of faith; we need members without the gift of wisdom; we need members without the gift of charity, because they have other gifts, abilities, and insights which are vital to the work of building a zion-like community.”
Eighteen Years On
This month marks the eighteenth anniversary of my baptism into The Church. For this post, I’ll be looking back at that time period to the ever-popular conversion story that all converts have and get asked about. So, I plan to start at the beginning… I have no...
OUTreach News: Three events this week, hope to see you!
By Shan Sullivan This past summer, when I became the owner and managing director of Exploring Sainthood, I decided that above all else, my primary mission was to facilitate a spirit of service as the bedrock of this project and community. I believe that as we truly...
Multifaceted Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon has long been considered to exhibit a degree of literary homogeneity that evinces its authorship as attributable to only one person. As Alexander Campbell wrote in what is likely the earliest review of the Book of Mormon, published in his...
Whom Say Ye That I Am?
Luke 9: 18-25 From a journal entry March 9, 2011 It's funny how moments of significant enlightenment can be marked by equally insignificant surroundings or events. This one for example: I was driving home from somewhere, who knows where. It doesn't really matter....
Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Lorenzo Snow, Chapter 21
These are the lesson notes from the Elders Quorum lesson I taught today. LOVING GOD MORE THAN MAN Matthew 6:19-24: 19 ¶Lay not up for yourselves atreasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves bbreak through and steal: 20 But lay up for...
Love in Word and Deed
Love in Word and Deed By Scott H. NOTE: This essay originally appeared on the blog, No More Strangers. Click here to read Scott's original post. By the late 1960s, the position of the LDS church towards its black members was becoming increasingly untenable. The...
A Mormon Frontier: Some Words of Wisdom on Resistant Bacteria
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria have been in the spotlight lately. Resistant hepatitis and salmonella, MRSA, and more have been making headlines as they pop up around the world with increasing frequency due to our overuse of antibiotics on humans and livestock. The...
A Search for Book of Mormon Heroines
For some people, reading the scriptures is an act of faith. For others, it’s an act of obedience. For me, it’s an act of creation. Let me explain. Last year around this time, Jeanette Atwood and I released iPlates: Volume I, a comic book based on stories from the Book...
“Honoring the Body of Christ” (1 Cor 11:29): A Personal Journey to Understand Communion, Sacrament, and the Call to Love Others as Ourselves
While attending seminary at the Divinity School at the University of Chicago I gave careful consideration to where I would fulfill my two ministerial field studies or internships. These are required, together with three years of theological course work, for the...
LGBTQ Mormon Crisis
Two Printable handout for bishops and stake presidents that talks empirically about LGBTQ suicides:
The LGBTQ Mormon Crisis: Responding to the Empirical Research on Suicide
Youth Suicide Rates and Mormon Religious Context: An Additional Empirical Analysis
The Barker Brothers’ Projects
These videos were created for Latter-day Saint parents and allies to voice their love for their LGBT brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. They want to give a message of comfort and support to other parents who are navigating the difficult conflicts that can arise in families around this issue.
“Cogito!” (“I think!”) follows the intellectual adventures of a recovering academic outside the walls of academia.
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