The Mormon Monk

This being the Christmas season, we naturally think about Jesus Christ and gifts--particularly gifts that we might give Jesus Christ as a token of our love for and gratitude to him. We tell the story of the wise men found in Matthew 2 and discuss the potential meanings of their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. We remember the Savior's mission and the gift that he gave us, the atoning sacrifice without which no other gift would be meaningful. But one gift, a gift that Jesus Christ commanded us to remember is almost always left out of the Christmas story, one you will find in Matthew, chapter 26, verses 6-12: 6 ¶ Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, 7 There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. 8 But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? 9 For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. 10 When Jesu...

Every December we celebrate Christmas, and that celebration generally entails thinking up new ways to remember and emulate the Savior whose birth we celebrate: Jesus Christ. One popular way to remember Christ's example is to surround yourself with the questioning acronym WWJD: What Would Jesus Do? You can buy bracelets, jewelry, tracksuits, giant beanbags, magnets, stuffed animals and other products emblazoned with these four letters. If remembering the acronym WWJD really made people more Christlike, one would suspect that the sheer volume of merchandise currently available for purchase online would have already kickstarted the Millennium and triggered the Second Coming. All of this is a roundabout way of saying that I suspect that the WWJD acronym really isn't that effective, perhaps because of its ubiquity. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints frequently tout the virtue of wearing a CTR (Choose the Right) ring, which they hope will inspire them to make ...

On December 26th, Hutchins family members celebrating the holidays in New England will gather for a white elephant gift exchange. If that doesn't sound exciting, check out this video of last year's event. UPDATE: Ok. I know there's no video. Sorry--This is about my fifth attempt to load one. You'll just have to wait for a hard copy to become available (and for those of you who are coming to the White Elephant, you won't have to wait long). Sorry!

When I posted my prospective hymn submission two weeks ago, several of you provided helpful feedback that pointed out a few weak spots in the poem (thank you!). I'd be grateful for similarly constructive criticism of this draft: Be Fruitful At birth each spirit fin'lly gains The body it will need To sit upon our Parents' thrones And act as God in deed; But gender is eternal, not A random circumstance: Our mortal roles were foreordained, Not left to genes or chance. On earth we seek a spouse who lifts Us up, a true helpmate Without whom we cannot progress To God's celestial state. For men and women cannot be Exalted while apart; Our better halves must complement And help perfect each heart. That marriage was ordained in heav'n The scriptures make it plain-- Where Adam, Eve and God all join To make one flesh of twain. As equal partners husbands, wives Must learn to do God's will: And His command to multiply Remains effective still.

Peter and Social Capital Two and a half months ago, I (briefly) told the story of Peter , a young man who moved from BYU, Utah and a predominantly Mormon culture to NC State, Raleigh and his non-member girl-friend Chelsea (again, all names have been changed). I explained that my job as a ward missionary is to provide Peter with social capital that is supportive of his membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Social capital is important, because it is the number one predictor of religious belief or conversion. To use a secular example, I'm much more likely to believe that the world is round if I'm around lots of other people who believe the world is round, regardless of whether or not that belief is accurate. So too, are we much more likely to believe specific religious doctrines and churches if we are around other people who believe in the truthfulness of those doctrines and churches. Since my initial observations on the importance of providing Peter with...

Each March, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints invites the submission of original music and poetry "to encourage musical talent and bring new musical works to light." Among other categories, the church invites the submission of potential hymn texts. Now, one of the things that hymns do is teach doctrine, and since the last edition of the hymnbook was released, a substantial new statement of doctrine has been issued by the First Presidency-- The Family: A Proclamation to the World . This unique document teaches at least eight principles not taught by any hymn currently available in our hymnbook: 1) Marriage is ordained of God. 2) The family is central to God's plan. 3) Gender is an eternal and purposeful characteristic. 4) God's command to multiply and replenish the earth is still effective. 5) Parents are accountable to God for raising their children. 6) The family is ordained of God. 7) Families are encouraged to work and play together. 8) Husbands and w...

In Elder's Quorum today, we had THE TALK. If you are a man, or if you are a woman who has ever been to priesthood session of General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, you know what THE TALK is. THE TALK is when a priesthood leader pleads with his male listeners not to view pornography and exhorts those who are consumers of pornography to get ecclesiastical (and potentially professional) help. THE TALK is almost always uncomfortable, but I thought my Elders Quorum President, Matt Willis, did a phenomenal job today. More important, for the first time in a long time--perhaps since I got THE TALK on a monthly basis as a teenager--I actually heard a new idea for preventing pornography use: the PPI. In Mormon culture, PPI stands for Personal Priesthood Interview, a (supposedly) regular meeting between men and their immediate priesthood leaders where priesthood holders give an account of their lives (in general terms--confessions of sins are saved for intervi...

In 1747, a young missionary named David Brainerd died. He had spent the last four years of his life preaching to the Delaware tribe of Native Americans, living among them and teaching them about Jesus Christ. His life story, as recorded in his journal and popularized by Jonathan Edwards was a bestseller in the eighteenth century and is still in print (and read) today. As a full time representative of Jesus Christ, Brainerd took his religion a little more seriously than most, but as I read through his journal, nothing struck me more than his reverence for the Sabbath Day. On each Sunday that he made an entry in his journal, Brainerd began the entry with the title "Lord's Day" and then described his day's activities. On one Sunday, Brainerd writes that he preached to a group of Christiant "about sanctifying the Sabbath, if possible to solemnize their minds; but when they were at a little distance, they again talked freely about secular affairs. O I thought what a h...

When Alma first told Corianton that he should stay away from the harlot Isabel because "wickedness never was happiness" (Alma 41:10), he offered spiritual counsel to a wayward son without any sort of external proof. He asked Corianton to believe that the enticing pleasures obviously associated with many forms of wickedness bring no lasting satisfaction. Now, 2,100 years later, I bring you empirical proof that "wickedness never was happiness." In his book, Gross National Happiness , Arthur C. Brooks calls attention to Thomas Jefferson's claim in the Declaration of Independence that all men are entitled to "certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." If the United States is a nation dedicated to the pursuit of happiness, Brooks asks, what are the public policy goals that will make our individual pursuit of happiness more successful? Using 30 years of survey data and a variety of experiments, Brooks conclu...

Priesthood blessings have been on my mind recently, for a number of reasons. My mother-in-law is feeling poorly and has been for at least a week. On Monday night, she requested that I give her a blessing. Since neither Alana nor I had firm plans for our Family Home Evening lesson that night, we decided to teach my two-year-old son Gabriel about priesthood blessings. He folded his arms reverently three times: once when I consecrated oil for the healing of the sick, once when Donald Gilreath (my mother-in-law's home teacher) anointed her with the oil, and once while I gave her a blessing. He listened patiently while Alana and I explained how priesthood blessings can make us feel better and help us learn what Heavenly Father wants us to do. Then, he ran to me and said very seriously, "I want a blessing, Daddy." I, of course, was glad to oblige and touched that he wanted a blessing. This is the blessing he received: " Gabriel Ogarek Hutchins, by the power of t...

I grew up in Northborough, Massachusetts. It's a small, suburban town where little extraordinary happens--trust me, I lived with the town's police chief for twenty years. Northborough also doesn't have the rich history that other Massachusetts towns/cities do--Henry Walden Thoreau didn't build a cabin within town limits, John Adams didn't own a farm there, and James Naismith didn't throw a ball through into a Northborough peach basket. But, there are a more than a few individuals who were either born in Northborough or who lived there for substantial periods whose ties to Northborough should be celebrated, and William Francis Allen (1830-1889) is one of them. Allen was an educator whose career seems fairly uninspiring: he spent 8 years as an assistant principal at a high school and 22 years as a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. While years of academic service are highly admirable (at least from my admittedly biased perspective), there are many o...

My mother always told me to "choose my friends wisely," a piece of advice that I suspect most parents pass on. But did she--do you--realize how important those friends were? Did she know that choosing the right friends may have been more important than--or at least the same thing as--choosing the right religion? Rodney Stark's The Rise of Mormonism (2004) is a book explaining why, "If growth during the next century is like that of the past, the Mormons will become a major world faith;" to put that statement in perspective, Stark considers Islam the last religion to "become a major world faith" and we know how important that religious movement is today. Stark is not Mormon; his interest in the church is that of a sociologist who wants to know what has made the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints successful in attracting and retaining converts at a growth rate of 40% per decade (no, that's not a typo). In truth, his book is less about Mormon...

I read books for a living. It's not a very good living...but that's another story. Still--I am paid to read, so I don't throw around words like "MOST IMPORTANT BOOK I'VE EVER READ" without some serious consideration. Those words need a qualifier, of course; I should have said that Supercapitalism is the "most important book I've ever read not written by God," but the title seemed snappier and more weighty without the qualifier. Even with the qualifier this is a heavy statement. To emphasize the importance of this book in another way: I don't think you should be allowed to vote if you haven't read this book. I don't want to disenfranchise anyone, but I don't want you voting unless you understand what Robert B. Reich has to say either. (Incidentally, Reich's book strives to remain non-partisan, and he skewers both parties regularly. Supercapitalism isn't politics as usual; it's a striking illumination of the nation'...

Three weeks ago or so, my wife and I were made ward missionaries. As this is a calling in which Alana and I will have to jointly leave the house and our two (very) small children, our bishop was very hesitant to extend such a calling--but we were excited, and it has already been a wonderful blessing. Wanting to engage right away, we jointly agreed that one of us would prepare a backup gospel principles lesson each week, just in case the regular teacher happened to be absent without providing for a backup (which he had been occasionally, or so we'd heard). Well--that very first week, the regular teacher was absent, and I got to hear Alana give the best lesson on service that I have ever had the privilege to attend. As part of that lesson, she taught about the importance of learning to accept service as well as give it, something that readers of this blog will know is a lesson we have learned this summer. In describing the process of learning to be served, Alana explained that most o...

By now it should be obvious what this blog does--it discusses topics of books and religion (mostly) in ways that I hope are interesting to you, my devoted readers. However, if you have questions about books and/or religion and or general topics that you would like me to address, I would be happy to take requests in an effort to better please you, the reader. I have plenty to say without your help--but I also have a vested interest in providing material that you'd like to read. So send in your suggestions if you have a question you want answered, a book you want discussed, or a pressing need to criticize my syntax. I write for you (mostly)!

While visiting family in Massachusetts, I was the only individual lucky enough to capture my brother Aaron's experiment with facial hair on film. As you can see, it would have been tragic for his Bruce Willis in 16 Blocks- esque 'stache to go without preserving it for posterity. I liked Aaron's mustache--but apparently I was the only one. From what I heard, not even Aaron was particularly fond of the look, despite the fact that his mustache would allow him to intimidate witnesses in court without speaking a word. My mother, in particular, objected to Aaron's mustache for religious reasons; she believes that we should all emulate the example of the prophets and apostles in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, who are clean shaven. She also served a three year mission for the church with my father in Tampa, Florida, making sure that all of the missionaries under her supervision remained clean shaven (a requirement)--so you can imagine that she feels strongly ...