Upon hearing the announcement this morning in the 178th LDS General Conference, this is no surprise.

I have been to Rome.

I like Annie’s words, too.

The music is beautiful.  Absolutely beautiful.

The choir puts on the wings of melody the very cry of my heart to the Lord.

Hope – confident expectation

Should your glorification/exaltation be a confident expectation?  Or would that be treading close to the edge of prideful smugness?  On what basis should there be such an expectation?

How worthy are you to partake of the sacrament?

Is worthiness based on your outward dress?  White shirts?

First Impressions

Biden – A Fundamentalist Wannabe: he kept using that word, “fundamentally”.  Hmm . . . what fundamentally are the problems Americans face?  And what fundamentally are the truths to help us?

Palin – A Fun Winker:  Was she winking at me?  And how many times does she need to wink before I understand what the wink is about?

Heart Questions

My Question for Biden – What is the best way to regulate greed among prosperous Americans?

My Question for Palin – Should homosexuality be considered a civil rights issue?

First, I was wondering about steeples.  Now, I am thinking about LDS pulpits.

What is the significance of a central pulpit in the front of the auditorium?

Why a pulpit?  Are pulpits cool to you?  And what do you expect to hear from a pulpit?

(By the way, if you have any good picture links to LDS pulpits, put them on the thread.)

Here is a snippet from Sunday’s message.

Jesus shares with us:

He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal (John 12:25).

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me:  and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it (Matthew 11:37-39).

And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.  And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. . . . So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:25-33).

If you want to destroy your life, continue to affectionately hang on to it.  What is a true follower of Jesus (knowing this is the buzz word in American religious circles)?  According to John 12, it means following Jesus all the way to Golgatha.

I noticed this phrase in the hymn, Onward, Christian Soldiers.

All one body we:  One in hope and doctrine, One in charity.

When LDS friends sing this from the LDS hymnal, I am curious how they interpret the “one doctrine” part.

Check it out here.

This would never fly in enlightened America today.

Now, I must admit as a man anchored to biblical fundamentals, post-LDS Runtu has me chuckling with this comment on his blog.

He has got a point.

Browse through your local Deseret.

I think the head of the living LDS apostles, Boyd K. Packer, breathes, writes, teaches, and leads like a man rooted in black and white LDS fundamentals.

And for a bit of interesting trivia, take a look on page 25 in the latest book, Mine Errand from the Lord: Selections from the Sermons and Writings of Boyd K. Packer (Deseret, 2008).

The official Church publishing company even has the audacity to retain this statement by Packer in the 2008 book (It is almost embarrassing; you would think that the highest leader under the LDS First Presidency has had the same education as Sarah Palin.):

And I am sorry to say, the so-called theistic evolution, the theory that God used an evolutionary process to prepare a physical body for the spirit of man, is equally false (25).

Do the LDS apostles, the visible authorities of the LDS Church, seek to keep abreast of what their own apologetics department writes?  Skim through Michael R. Ash’s book, Shaken Faith Syndrome (2008).  He suggests that it is those with fundamentalist tendencies who are most vulnerable to being apostates.

Should we be worried about Mr. Packer, the American chief of the apostles and arch defender of LDS revelation?