The Mormon Monk

Some thoughts: In a General Conference talk some years ago, Elder F. Melvin Hammond of the First Quorum of the Seventy related an experience he had had while camping with his young son. After a full day, Elder Hammond lay down with his son to sleep and was just drifting off when he heard his son ask, “Dad, are you awake?” That simple question prompted Elder Hammond to reevaluate his performance as a priesthood leader in the home, as a husband, and as a father. He in turn asks each of us to review our own lives; are we “asleep when it comes to the things that are most important”? The scriptures are full of warnings against spiritual slumber and physical sloth alike. In the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord commands that we “cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated.” We are taught in the New Testament by the example of the Savior who, “in the morning, rising up a great while...

Glenn Beck said something stupid. In making this statement I don't mean to criticize Beck for claiming that President Obama favored one group of Americans over another group (although that may be true too; I haven't really been paying attention to that aspect of the story, sorry)--rather, I mean to criticize Beck (and everyone else who has commented on this "news" story) for continuing to use an obsolete vocabulary. The primary problem with Beck calling Obama a racist is not one of prejudice; the primary problem with Beck calling Obama a racist is that "race" doesn't exist. Thanks to the marvels of modern technology and the Human Genome Project, scientists have been able to look at every piece of DNA in people from a variety of racial backgrounds--and you know what they found? There is nothing--NOTHING--that biologically and consistently distinguishes one human being from another, regardless of the "race" that those two individuals belong to. C...

I've been writing my dissertation--an in-depth look at the way Eden was portrayed and thought about in colonial New England--all summer. Typically I disappear in my office at 8:30 AM and don't reappear until 4:30 PM. Every once in a while my wife, Alana, will peek into the room to make sure that I'm staying on track--she feels cheated if I am not working while she is, and rightly so. Well, when she walked in last week, she was sure that she had caught me pursuing extracurricular interests--probably thought that I was reading Nibley or someone similar, because I was typing under the following subtitle Entering The Temple : Two Pathways to Paradisiacal Purity Alana was sure that I was thinking and writing about Mormon temples, but I was actually discussing a poem written by George Herbert and published in his volume The Temple (1633). The temple was a place that Herbert connected with Eden, and one of the poems in it is "Paradise." Paradise I bless thee, Lord...

Walls are a big deal in the Holy Land. Besides the wall around Old Jerusalem (pictured previously), you've got the Western Wall/Wailing Wall pictured above. There is EXTENSIVE--and I do mean extensive--security in all of the tunnels leading here. But the most interesting part of this scene to me is the other wall in the picture--that subdivides the Western Wall into two pieces. The big piece is for men and the little piece is for women. As you can see, there are twice as many women as men, even though there's twice as much wall for men to pray at. Sad but typical of my experience in the Holy Land. I wrote down my own prayer and wedged it in up high; it's surprisingly easy to pack a new prayer into the cracks. Of course, there are also other walls in the Holy Land, most notably this one, which divides the Palestinian territories from those under the control of the Israelis. Since the wall is built by Israelis to herd the Palestinians onto progressively smaller patches of lan...

Sorry for keeping you waiting...I know you've been on the edge of your seat, but I've been out of the house a lot in the last two months, which makes regular blogging hard. I should begin by saying that I always used to make fun of "that seminary teacher"--the one you always hear about who teaches false/questionable doctrine as gospel truth. But after reading some of the old books written by general authorities of the church, I at least understand how those individuals came to teach in the way that they do. For instance--one of the seminary teacher myths I am accustomed to mock is the notion that the ten lost tribes were in hiding under the polar ice caps. But consider this quote from (then) apostle Joseph Fielding Smith, given in 1952: "You know, a lot of people have an idea that these tribes that are lost are not lost at all, they are just coming in among us all the time. They are not coming in among us all the time. We are gathering scattered Israel, but thos...

Almost any site of religious significance in the Holy Land is covered by a shrine--which is sort of depressing if you're looking for a view of Calvary or some other locale as it might have appeared 2000 years ago. Not so inspiring or faith promoting (for me) to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre or similar sites, but they are fascinating as human artifacts. Here are some of the sights: As you walk the via dolorosa , following Christ's path from Gethsemane to Gologtha, there are 14 stations of the cross--places where significant events such as the interrogation of Jesus, his presentation to Pilate, etc. took place. One of my favorites is a spot where Christ is said to have staggered under the weight of the cross and reached out his left hand to steady himself on the wall. His touch--or at least the combined touches of everyone who followed--has left an imprint in the wall: Once you get into the church that covers the ground where Christ is supposed to have been crucified and...

One of my favorite stops in touring Israel was at the Sea of Galilee. It was tremendously windy; the branches of this tree were in constant motion, and the lake itself had whitecaps on it even though it was a beautiful day (the shoreline that you see in the background looks like a natural amphitheater facing the lake; it's the location in which Christ would have taught and then fed the five thousand). It was easy to imagine a storm descending out of nowhere and then dying away just as quickly--with the wind, as it were. We got to take a boat ride across the lake, and that was wonderful; I even got to walk on the water! Dinner was another treat; I got the same meal (mostly) that the five thousand enjoyed--loaves and fishes. Yum! More soon...