All posts by bfwebster

The arc of individual existence

LDS Doctrine, Main

I thought I’d start with beginnings, since they affect so much else.

Mormons reject the classic (and largely post-Nicene) Christian concept of creatio ex nihilo, that is, creation out of nothing, in at least two important senses: the existence of individuals and the ultimate framework for our current space-time continuum. Let’s focus on the first for now.

We believe that some essential nature of our personal being is eternal, indeed co-eternal with God. The arc of individual existence, in current Mormon terminology, goes like this:

intelligence: nowadays, this term is used to describe our core eternal being, the part of us that has always existed. This is generally considered to be individualistic — that is, you and I have always existed as separate entities — though a few within the Church have argued for more of a ‘raw bulk material’ concept (with possible recycling). Joseph Smith’s statement (in the King Follett discourse) was that “…God never did have power to create the spirit of man at all. God himself could not create himself: intelligence exists upon a self existent principle…”.

pre-mortal) spirit: at some point prior to this life, God encased our intelligences in ‘spirit bodies’ (and thus became “the Father of spirits“). We know nothing about the process and we frankly know very little about the conditions there, though this doesn’t stop Mormons from rampant speculation and presumption, plus generating a fair amount of folk doctrine. 🙂 It also should be noted that early LDS scripture and discourses on this subject did not make as clear a distinction between the terms ‘intelligence’ and ‘spirit as is currently made in the LDS Church today (cf. the King Follett discourse above, as well as this passage from the Book of Abraham).

mortal being: we are born into this life with an impermanent bond between our spirit body and our physical body — in other words, we’re mortal and will die (breaking that bond).

(post-mortal) spirit: after death, we exist again as spirits for a period until we are resurrected.

resurrected being: resurrection permanently fuses our spirits with an immortal physical body.

Continue reading The arc of individual existence →

Upcoming posts: Mormon perspectives on life, the universe, and, well, everything

"The Mormons" (PBS), LDS Doctrine, LDS Organization, LDS Society, Main, Media, Politics

As a response to both on-going silly postings on the net and the PBS broadcast “The Mormons”, I’ve wanted to write about several subjects, including:

  • LDS cosmology (the nature of the universe)
  • LDS ontology (the nature of reality, including God and humanity)
  • LDS epistemology (the nature of truth and ways of knowing it)
  • the organization and functioning of the LDS Church

The challenge is that they are all interrelated, which is why you get so many goofy and misinformed postings about the LDS Church and its doctrine (as a parallel example, try to write intelligently on the Catholic doctrine of the immaculate conception of Mary without reference to original sin, St. Augustine, or the Fall). I’m not quite sure yet how I’m going to tackle all this — except that I may just pick an arbitrary starting point and go from there.  ..bruce..

A poll on ‘feelings towards Mormons’

LDS Society, Main, Media

This article in the Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah) about a poll taken by the Institute for Jewish and Community Research tries, I think, to draw a bigger distinction between the public vs. college faculty results than I think the results justify:

Results of a two-year study released this week show one-third of university faculty nationwide have an unfavorable impression of Latter-day Saints, while an equal proportion of the general population holds a favorable view.

I guess I’m just not sure that statement has a lot of real information in it. If you sum up the results, you get the following:

  • General public: 33% “warm”, 43% neutral,  18% “cold”, 6% don’t know/refuse to answer
  • University faculty: 40% “warm”, 20% neutral, 33% “cold”, 8% don’t know/refuse to answer

The only real conclusion is that the faculty members surveyed are less neutral, that is, more have an actual opinion, and that that the non-neutral faculty members divide a bit more evenly on the “warm”/”cold” rating than the public at large — not surprising given the general secular/liberal nature of university faculty. In fact, I’m a bit surprised that “warm” respondents outnumber “cold” ones at all.  ..bruce..

The Trek: Explanation and Status

"The Mormons" (PBS), LDS History, Main, The Trek

I’ve actually been tracking this over on my other blog (And Still I Persist) but felt it was more appropriate here at Adventures in Mormonism. The rest of this posting is a slightly updated version of my original post explaining why I’m walking 1305 miles by early October. Now I’ve got to go walk my 11 miles today. ..bfw..

A friend of mine used to say that if I wasn’t playing in a ‘big enough game’ (referring to life itself, not World of Warcraft or even The Lord of the Rings Online, which, uh, I actually am playing in), that I’d screw things up in order to make things more interesting. I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately, since — in my own opinion — I’ve been mostly coasting for the past year or more. On top of that, I’ve been unhappy with my general state of physical fitness, including my weight and blood pressure (both stubbornly high).

And thus was born the Trek: I plan to walk 1305 miles between April 1 and October 6 of this year.

Why 1305 miles and why those particular dates? Funny you should ask.

Continue reading The Trek: Explanation and Status →

Al Sharpton weighs in [UPDATED]

Media, Politics

Via Hugh Hewitt’s website, comes this choice sound bite from the Reverend Al, apparently during a debate with Christopher Hitchins:

“And as for the one Mormon running for office, those that really believe in God will defeat him anyways, so don’t worry about that, that’s a temporary, that’s a temporary, uh, situation.” [laughter from audience]

Being from California, my general attitude to such comments is summed up by my all-time-favorite bumper sticker, which first appeared there some 30-40 years ago: “I used to be disgusted, but now I’m just amused.”

Continue reading Al Sharpton weighs in [UPDATED] →

Mormons, education, and intellect

"The Mormons" (PBS), LDS Doctrine, LDS Organization, LDS Society, Main

In a previous post, I stated my objections to the portrayal of LDS Church disciplinary councils and procedures in the PBS show, “The Mormons”. I felt the same segment (about the excommunication of the “September Six”) left some misleading impressions regarding the role of education and intellect in the LDS Church — in particular, that the LDS Church somehow devalues, denigrates, or is afraid of education and intellect, or that Mormons who pursue the intellect end up leaving the LDS Church.

Actually, just the opposite is true.

Continue reading Mormons, education, and intellect →

LDS disciplinary councils (PBS show “The Mormons”)

"The Mormons" (PBS), LDS Organization, Main, Media

The PBS show “The Mormons” discussed the excommunication back in 1994 of several so-called “Mormon intellectuals”. While I think the incident itself was a fair one to raise, I thought the segment was both far too long and very unbalanced for a number of reasons, which, of course, I’ll now discuss at length.

Continue reading LDS disciplinary councils (PBS show “The Mormons”) →

The PBS Special: “The Mormons”

"The Mormons" (PBS), Main, Media

I watched this earlier this week when it was broadcast. My overall grade for the show is a “B”. I give it an “A” for production values, a “B” for effort, and a “C” for overall balance and accuracy. Case in point: referring to the various polygamous sects in Utah as “fundamentalist Mormons” is about as accurate as referring to the Church of England a century after Henry VIII as “fundamentalist Catholics”. I may post a more detailed critique of the show (which I recorded) later; I do intend to post on some of the specific issues raised. ..bruce..

[UPDATED 06/15/07 – 2036 MDT]

Since I seem to be getting a steady stream of people coming into this post (usually via Google), here are two follow-up posts I have written on the PBS special, “The Mormons”:

And here are a few other posts that, while not directly responding to the PBS special, do address some of the issues raised therein:

And, finally, here’s my own background and qualifications to write about all this.

Welcome to the site; I hope these posts are useful. ..bruce..