Exploring the important religious questions from a Mormon (LDS) perspective. Focus on ancient history, early Christianity, and Mormon doctrine/practice.

I went to a guest lecture last week, pulled in by the title: “The New Biblical Archaeology–The Future of the Past”.  The presenter was Prof. Aren M. Maeir (a blogger himself) of the Institute of Archeology Bar Ilan University.  In a field which is full of hot-topics and various groups with special interests I found him to be objective, professional, and all-around  trustworthy source.  

He started by defining the “old paradigm of Biblical Archeology” which looks through the lens of ‘proving the biblical narrative.’  It was (and is) full of non-professionals with findings that are not published in professional journals.  The media fuels it all by continuing to give headlines to those who have “found direct evidence of the Flood” or the “exact location of Sodom and Gomorrah.”  Continue reading →

Some books I’ve read that have inspired me in the “What is the best thing I could be doing?” question:

Three Cups of Tea  by Greg Mortenson

How to Change the World by David Bornstein

Four Essays on Love by Truman Madsen

The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

Working toward Zion by Lucas and Woodworth

Approaching Zion by Nibley

Way to Be   by Gordon B. Hinckley

Some more thoughts:

What should we be doing? Well, first off, we should be thinking about that question. What should we be thinking about? What should we be doing? Such contemplation will allow us to examine ourselves to “know thyself” to identify our values and priorities and ultimately to realign our behavior according to high principles and high ideals.

Of course, this question assumes we ‘should’ be doing some things over others. I think that word is appropriate if we want to do the most good. There are levels of goodness just as there are levels of beauty, and yes it’s somewhat in the eyes of the beholder but there are some ‘goods’ that are inherently more good than others just as such things as symmetrical faces are universally judged to be more beautiful than unsymmetrical faces. Not the best comparison but I do think we are faced with multiple ‘goods’ and some ‘goods’ are better than others. Continue reading →

An interesting article at National Geographic today about a recent observation that has implications about the commonness of earth-like planets.

The primary questions on the test of life, as discussed in a previous post, imply that we should be (1) seeking to understand God’s plan and desires for us and (2) focusing on relationships and how we think and act towards those around us. As we consider specific activities I would say that many choices are not between good and bad but between good and good. There are an endless number of activities that would fall under the categories of things we ‘should be doing.’ The test is ultimately of the heart, the desires which will be evidenced in our choices although not to perfect execution. Continue reading →

Our time on this earth is of a finite duration. Considering it takes time to do anything there will be some things which we cannot do, requiring us to make choices. Our choices become a direct measure of our priorities and values. What then, should we be doing with our limited time? An exploration:

First, what do we see mankind generally doing with their time? Continue reading →

In light of my post yesterday, I found this lecture by Peter Flint, posted at Summa Theologica, interesting about the Dead Sea Scrolls.  The enthusiatic speaker’s main thesis being the Dead Sea Scrolls as the greatest archeological discovery of the last hundred years.  He does not go into much depth, it is more of a historical lesson about the Scrolls with a few interesting points at the end.

A recent read that I have found interesting, that poses more questions than answers, is Bart D. Ehrman‘s Lost Scriptures: Books that Did Not Make it into the New Testament. I choose this book as opposed to his other popular book, Lost Christianities, because Lost Scriptures is simply a collection of the translated texts as opposed to commentary. The Christian texts in the book range from the 1st to 4th centuries, most of which have only been discovered in the last 60 years. It also looks at texts that no longer exist, our only knowledge coming from instances when the text was cited or quoted by someone else. Extremely interesting read. Here are a couple take-aways from the book: Continue reading →

In previous posts I have mentioned the concept of this earth life being a testing experience.  So, what is on the exam?  Why would there need to be a test?  How is this earthly experience an appropriate test?  These are  the line of questions I want to chew on this week. Continue reading →

Once again I think this is a problem many thoughtful individuals have with religion in general. Multiple religions claim to be the correct path while at the same time having rather harsh statements about those who are not with them, even to the point of the unfortunates burning in fire for all eternity. Such statements do not seem to ring true to those who believe in principles of justice and mercy and of a God with the same characteristics. Even those who are members of faiths that have such doctrines will usually themselves voice beliefs about justice and mercy in regards to those outside of their own faith although their own faith does not have doctrinal justification for doing so. Those who cannot stand the duplicity often feel there is no alternative but to throw their hands up in the air and dismiss it all, some even haughtily proud of themselves for recognizing the dilemma. A seeker, if troubled by this particular dilemma, would not be satisfied with a question mark. Continue reading →