Blogger of Jared

When Lehi and his family departed into the wilderness, they brought three things with them — their family, provisions, and tents. Last year, I did some studying about the tent, and found some really interesting things that I thought I would share.

I read something from a BYU Studies on my Infobase CD about what has been called the axis mundi. Think “center” and “symbolic (and maybe literal) connection with heaven and earth” — a place in a city (or a city) that was the center of religious, social, political and economic life.

I’ve been particularly interested in the spiritual center, which often included a temple/place for religious ritual. Part of this article suggested that Lehi’s tent was actually like a temple. What I have studied is convincing me that this may very well be the case. Continue reading »

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Happy New Year!

It’s hard to believe that we are around to studying The Book of Mormon again in Sunday School. I have a goal this year to begin my day with my Book of Mormon reading (I usually read at night).

Today, as part of my study, I read over Jim F.’s questions and the references he includes, as well as some powerful quotes from Church leaders, and was struck by the miracle that is The Book of Mormon. I wanted to record some of my thoughts, and decided to do it here. This post will focus particularly on the following question posed by Jim F.:

What is the point of saying that the Book of Mormon was “written by way of commandment”?

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My wife recieved this e-mail today, and asked that I put it out there in support of Julie Beck. Here it is.

Tonight when President Hinckley said, “It’s Christmastime. What can I do to lighten your burden?” I thought of Sister Julie Beck, General President of the Relief Society. I think her responsibilities as General President must be heavy indeed. Especially when recently, there was a lot of unfortunate and unnecessary controversy about Sister Beck’s general conference talk It has bothered me that so many people have been so vocal about their displeasure with her talk. There have been websites and blogs dedicated to tearing her apart as well as her words of guidance and wisdom. It seems that sometimes the liberal voices are the only ones that make themselves heard. We can change that!
Wouldn’t it be great if we could get 2000 women to send their support to Sister Beck this Christmastime? Like the 2000 mothers of the Stripling Warriors - we could stand united and strong and let Sister Beck know we stand beside her! If you would like to let your voice be heard, please send an email (or forward this email) to: motherswhoknow@gmail.com. Put your name and city and state in the subject line. You can include a message to Sister Beck and her counselors if you’d like.
Once we reach 2000 emails - from women or men - I’ll send Sister Beck the password to the email account so she can see all those who support her and read the messages if she’d like. It’s a quiet way to let your voice be heard. Please forward this on to all you know, who know.
President Hinckley’s words will hopefully encourage us to band together and stand strong and immovable for what we know to be right. Sister Beck quoted him saying, ” If [the women of the Church] will be united and speak with one voice, their strength will be incalculable… It is so tremendously important that the women of the Church stand strong and immovable for that which is correct and proper under the plan of the Lord.” Sister Beck said, “As a disciple of Jesus Christ, every woman in this Church is given the responsibility for upholding, nurturing and protecting families. Women find true happiness when they understand and delight in their unique role within the plan of salvation. There is eternal influence and power in motherhood.”

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I have enjoyed the New Testament course of study in Gospel Doctrine this year. One of the things which has added to my enjoyment is following along in the book, ‘Jesus Christ and the World of the New Testament’ by Holzapfel, Huntsman, and Wayment. Last week I was glad to be able to read some about the book of James.

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How far would Brigham Young have to go to cause you to have a crisis of faith or weaken your testimony?

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So, I’m reading Will Durant’s The Story of Philosophy.

Paraphrasing some of Nietzsche’s ideas, Durant writes:

Varying foods have varying mental effects: rice makes for Buddhism, and German metaphysics is the result of beer.

This led to a lively discussion: what food would you say moves people towards Mormonism?

One friend and I immediately thought “chocolate”; my wife independently replied “brownies.”  Another friend thought Jello was clearly the culprit; a plain-spoken engineer I know calmly replied, “Steak and potatoes.”

What do you think?

Overall, I’m finding that most of these philosophers really weren’t the sort of people I’d have enjoyed hanging out with, with the possible exceptions of Plato and Spinoza.  Still, I’ve picked up some good thoughts here and there; enough to keep seeking after things “virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy,” wherever they may be found…

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One of the funny things about being a writer is that you have to be somewhat narcissistic. You have to think your words are important enough to share. To quote Orson Scott Card:

Let’s face it. You don’t start writing fiction if you didn’t have a healthy dose of vanity and ambition. What could be more arrogant than to believe that stuff you make up out of your head will be so pleasurable to others that they ought to pay you to be able to read it?

Although the quote applies specifically to fiction, the point applies to writers of the personal essay, and even journal writing. If you’re not, say, Winston Churchill or Ghandi, why is your life important enough for me to spend any time on, not even taking money into consideration? I’ve talked to many people who’ve pushed off journal writing with just this attitude. I’ve even felt it myself–the guilt of writing something of no importance. It seems wasteful. As I’ve been working on personal essays for my honors thesis, I’ve rediscovered how plain my life is: no physical disabilities, no abusive family, no major obstacles, no major accomplishments, no strange events, no extraordinary revelations, no doubts. It’s just life, all PB&J sandwiches and afternoon TV programs, bland and continuous. Perhaps the only thing unusual about my life is how ordinary it is. I suffer, as I’m sure many do, from a form of angst envy, wishing that my life was just slightly more interesting. But not too interesting, of course–I’m not asking for major trials, just something worth talking about. Continue reading »

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The last few weeks prior to conference were not very good ones for me. Trials seemed to come from nearly every direction causing me great anxiety regarding my children, our house, my job, and our finances. I do not wish to express the details, because the details are not the point, and because I know that other people have greater trials than I do.

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Conference is right around the corner. Yes, it’s been six months already.

Sometimes I get a lot out of conference. This usually happens when I am really looking for some specific things. If my expectations are realistic, they are often met. I had two specific topics that I hoped would be addressed in some way during last conference, and both were.

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Have you ever heard a talk or lesson on a topic like prayer and just sort of zoned out because it’s so, well, commonplace? We sometimes joke about ‘the Sunday School answers’ — you know, “read, pray, go to church” and all that jazz. Continue reading »

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