The Archives: Religion

Good post by Joe a couple weeks ago (I’m behind on my Google Reader reading :)) on art and the modern world, specifically about nudity:

Honestly, I think that part …

Today’s post will be short. :) It’s this quote from Nietzche:

He who has a “why” to live, can bear with almost any “how.”

So true, both on the grand scale …

A couple weeks ago I bought a beautiful new softcover ruled Moleskine, and wow, I love them. With this one I’ve started writing down quotes and passages — …

The other day I was thinking about how we say we have the fulness of the gospel. I completely believe that that’s true, certainly, but what exactly does it …

Yesterday I visited my old roommate’s married ward for the baby blessing of his son. While the gospel is the same everywhere, and the organization of the Church is …

From Times and Seasons, Orbital Sacrament quotes Don Lind about his sacrament service in outer space. And NorthTemple links to a similar situation — How does …

Remember the story of the rich young man from the New Testament?

And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may …

Today at lunch I was reading President Monson’s “Guideposts for Life’s Journey” talk in BYU Magazine, and one section particular stood out to me:

Some of you may be familiar with …

I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ve stumbled across what seems to be an almost surefire way to pray sincerely, at least for me. And it’s …

You know, I have a feeling there’ll be a lot of Karamazovian posts over the next few weeks. :) Here’s one from 1.1.4, the second page of the chapter, …

I realized this week that God seems to sit at the perfect balance between idealism and realism.

On the one hand we have the divine mandate to “be ye therefore perfect.” …

New Play Project’s Lost & Found show opens this week, featuring seven short plays on religious themes, and it’s going to be good. :) Yes, yes, I’m biased …

I went to my mission reunion tonight. Bittersweet. The sweetness came from seeing all my old friends, of course, most of whom I hardly ever see. Serving …

[Cross-posted from Blank Slate.]

Great post by Robert Starling (via Gideon Burton) on Mormon Renaissance yesterday, called High Expectations for Mormon Filmmakers. This part was particularly inspiring:

In …

My friends Torben and Marissa wrote and directed a film last year, Wrestling With God: A Three-Way Conversation on Mormonism. It played at the LDS Film Festival but …

[Cross-posted from Blank Slate because I’m lazy. :P]

Earlier today Katherine posted “Toward a Mormon Renaissance” over at Mormon Renaissance (how fitting :)). It’s an essay by James …

According to National Geographic (thanks to Sally for the link), “nearly all of today’s Native Americans in North, Central, and South America can trace part of their ancestry to …

Today we have three quotes from C.S. Lewis’s The Problem of Pain, a fabulous book chock-full of thought-provoking hooks like these.

You will certainly carry out God’s purpose, however you act, …

In one of my friends’ Gmail status lines, this quote piqued my interest:

The worst sinners, according to Jesus, are not the harlots and publicans, but the religious leaders with their …

Stake conference today. This was my second one since my calling as stake executive secretary, and it’s been really interesting seeing this sort of thing from the inside — …

Interesting letter from the First Presidency in sacrament meeting today. I don’t have a copy of the letter, but it solidly refuted the apocryphal “generals in the war in …

Once again a C.S. Lewis Society meeting has graciously provided a blog entry for me. :)

A thought and then an epiphany. How could a good God let bad things …

The Church has a beautiful new website about the Savior, JesusChrist.lds.org:

It’s all about Jesus Christ and it’s good. …

As disciples of Christ, we talk a lot about enduring to the end and just how on earth (since heaven’s still a bit out of reach) we’re supposed to make …

One of my mom’s friends recently wrote her a letter explaining why she (the friend) had recently decided to leave the Church. I’ve had other friends do likewise, and …

On A Motley Vision, Anneke Majors has written the post I intended to write. :) Actually, not exactly the same, but I did plan to read Stephenie Meyer’s …

I picked up my French copy of Les Misérables on a whim just a few minutes ago, and as fate would have it, opened directly to my favorite passage. …

President Hinckley died an hour or two ago.

So far I haven’t been able to verify it, but it’s all over the place (it brought down my cell phone network at …

This morning I was reading in the Joseph Smith manual (Teachings of the Presidents of the Church), and it just struck me that Joseph was only 23 years old when …

Isn’t it funny how we forget things so easily? Just a month ago I wrote about trusting in God, then promptly forgot pretty much everything I’d said in …

I just have to say that I’d much rather be at church all day than here in class all day.

‘Nuff said.

In the mythsoc digest that came through last night, there’s a fascinating article by Jef Murray as part of the January 2008 issue of his Mystical Realms newsletter:

In …

I’ve been reading C.S. Lewis’s Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer lately, and I came across this passage which really spoke to me:

It seems to me that we often, almost …

The other day I came across a quote about happiness that I can’t get out of my head:

It has given me much of trouble, and a great amount of perseverance, …

Liz has a great post today called A Heresy against Feminism:

I guess this gets me right down to the reason I am afraid to write about marriage: I believe …

For the bookworms and bibliophiles among you, ChristianAudio’s free audiobook download of the month for January is Milton’s Paradise Lost. Nine hours of a British voice (Nadia …

It’s tempting to try to write something profound, since it’s Christmas and all.

I won’t.

Merry Christmas! :)

Shirley posted yesterday on her not-so-favorite Christmas songs, songs like “White Christmas” and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and such:

I guess I’ve kept it a secret. They just don’t …

The Prince Caspian trailer is out. Mmm. Now, just how many days till May 16? :)

In other news (from a rather opposite direction :)), at Christianity …

From ldsWebguy, earlier today I found a talk Elder Ballard gave today at BYU-Hawaii, Using New Media to Support the Work of the Church:

While you studied here at …

Spinning off the thread of yesterday’s post: I’m very imperfect. Sure, there are parts that I can tell are getting pretty polished, but for the most part I’m a …

In a conversation I had the other day, it hit me: pretty much everyone feels inadequate. It’s not just me. :) And yet “I’m the only one” is …

Thanks to Leandro for tipping me off to a Deseret News article Orson Scott Card wrote this past Friday.

It all comes down to what we mean by “God.”

In one …

I’m tired and it’s been a full day, but I had a thought on the way to stake priesthood meeting that kind of hit me. I’ve spent a lot …

And now, a NaBoMoReMo reading chart specifically for the Riverglen Press reader’s edition of the Book of Mormon:…

I love talking with people. Whether in person or via blogs or e-mails or phone or any other medium you can think of (smoke signals, anyone?), communication — good …

I went to Gary Gillum’s retirement address today (he’s been the ancient studies librarian here at BYU for a while, and he’s done a lot of other things — he …

Today marks the beginning of National Book of Mormon Reading Month (NaBoMoReMo), and to help clunk the bottle against the helm, here’s a reading chart I put together:…

Goodness, I completely forgot that today is C.S. Lewis’s birthday! (Thanks to Bruce Edwards for the reminder and also for the tribute he wrote.)

So, C.S. Lewis. …

I’ve been reading Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy, and in chapter 5 of book 2, I found this gem of a passage:

Are riches truly your possession, or by their nature valuable? …