10 Ways Christians Fail?

John Shore is a Christian commentator who makes some interesting points, although I might personally take a different slant on some of them:

We Christians too often fail in these ten ways:

1) Too much money. “Wealthy Christian” should be an oxymoron. In Luke 12:33, Jesus says, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor.” In Matthew 19:21, he says, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor.” In Matthew 6:24, he says, “You cannot serve God and Money.” Christians are generally pretty huge on cleaving to the word of God. I just don’t see how those particular words could be clearer.

High Nibley eBooks

Several of Prof. Hugh Nibley’s books are now freely readable online.  If you’ve never read Nibley before I’d recommend starting with Approaching Zion, which is probably his most controversial and my personal favorite.

• Abraham in Egypt
• An Approach to the Book of Mormon
• Ancient State, The
• Approaching Zion
• Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints
• Enoch the Prophet
• Lehi in the Desert; The World of the Jaredites; There Were Jaredites
• Mormonism and Early Christianity
• Of All Things! Classic Quotations from Hugh Nibley
  by Gary P. Gillum
• Old Testament and Related Studies
• Prophetic Book of Mormon, The
• Since Cumorah
• Temple and Cosmos
• Tinkling Cymbals and Sounding Brass
• When the Lights Went Out: Three Studies on the Ancient Apostasy
• World and the Prophets, The

Listen to his famous talk – Leaders and Managers

The Church or the Gospel?

Mormon Matters asked the interesting question – “Do we let the Church get in the way of the Gospel?” -

Any church is like an orange: it has sweet, juicy, nourishing fruit (i.e., truths that help people live better lives); and it has a tough, bitter peel that protects the fruit and holds it together (i.e. an organizational structure, prescribed forms of worship, and claims to divine authority). Were it not for its protective institutional peel, a church’s nourishing spiritual teacThe hings would become damaged and lost; were it not for its fruitful truths, a church’s institutional peel would be hollow and purposeless.

For me, the sweet, juicy, nourishing fruit of Christianity is best exemplified by the timeless truths for daily living that we read in the Sermon on the Mount: be generous, help people because you love them, don’t be a religious “show off”, don’t get angry with people or insult them, worry about improving yourself instead of pointing out others’ faults, be a doer and not just a hearer of Christ’s word, etc. Meditating on these thoughts and truths feeds my soul.

Ammonihah’s Arrogance

From Connor’s Conundrums some sobering thoughts:

The experience of the city Ammonihah in the Book of Mormon provides an interesting case study regarding the arrogance that patriotic pride produces. Having apostatized from the Nephite faith and embraced the teachings of Nehor, the people violently rejected a prophet of God sent to call them to repentance. In their wickedness, the citizens had apparently grown so proud of their metropolis that
they scoffed in disbelief at the suggestion that it might be removed from its position of prestige and power, and ultimately destroyed.

The Science of Anti-Mormon Suckerology

From the Juvenile Instructor, Christopher’s discovery of Parley P. Pratt’s article:

I came across the following article while looking for something else in Samuel Brannan’s The Prophet yesterday.  It was authored by Parley P. Pratt and published in May 1845. I had never heard of it or come across it anywhere else [1], and thought readers might find it useful (or at least entertaining). Entitled, “The Science of Anti-Mormon Suckerology—Its Learned Terms, and their Significations,” (perhaps the best title ever for a piece in a Mormon periodical) the article is written in response to the increasing number of articles on the Mormons that had begun to appear in popular and significant newspapers in America following the martyrdom of Joseph Smith. It provides (often humorous, always polemical) definitions for various terms that Pratt feels the general reader may not be familiar with. Perhaps more significantly for interested researchers, it speaks to early Mormon understandings of their place in America as true patriots and sincere religionists. It also probably deserves a closer reading through the lens of gender, race, and ethnicity. I’m interested in any and all reactions to what stands out to readers. Enjoy.

The Science of Anti-Mormon Suckerology—Its Learned Terms, and their Significations.
Preface.

The foregoing article, which appeared in the New York Tribune last week, as well as other articles which are some times seem in the Warsaw Signal, Quincy Whig, and Alton Telegraph, and some othor papers contain terms peculiar to anti Mormon Suckerism.

Or rather, some of the terms in use in these articles have a meaning peculiar to those singular people, and therefore not rightly understood abroad without an Anti Mormon Sucker Dictionary.

The following list of terms and their significance, will aid the general reader, in some measure and give him the key to the better understanding of the Anti Mormon Sucker communications, which have, or may hereafter appear in the Tribune, and other like papers.

The significations here given, however, may not be perfect, as we only form out judgment of their meaning from our knowledge of the circumstances to which they refer, or from a careful examination of the sense of th sentences, with which they stand connected.

Mormon.—A believer in revealed religion; a patriot, who stands firmly for the laws of his country, and for equal rights and protection.

Uncommon Conscent – the Voice of the People?

Taken from the LDS Anarchist blog:

Consider this: When we say we are 13 million members strong, we are lumping together both active and inactive LDS, including those inactives who no longer even consider themselves LDS.  According to the Law of the Harvest activity numbers, about 35% of the LDS membership is active worldwide (between 4 and 5 million).

What this means is that when we sit in sacrament meeting and raise our hands in a(n often unanimous) sustaining vote, we active LDS, representing the lesser part of the people, in other words, the minority, are doing the business, while the majority remains silent.

Leaving Christianity

I found this article the evangelical Christian Parchment & Pen blog. Many have noticed an epidemic of faithlessness in the last few years, which is infecting many of the Saints, and it seems this is not limited to just our faith -

I sat down with a young lady a couple of weeks ago and had a conversation. This was a conversation about faith—her faith. Better put, this was a conversation about a faith that once was and is no more. She was a very interesting and bright lady—inquisitive, well-read, and suspicious. She began by telling me that she was a Christian (past tense) and had since left the faith. Christ was once a part of her confession, but, as she recounted to me, after a long voyage of not finding sufficient answers for her doubts, she believes
that she had no choice but to follow her own integrity and renounce Christ all together. I asked her what her problems were and she became very emotional. It was like I represented Christianity and she was
ready to take it all out on me.

Ignorance. Pity. Shame. These are all good descriptions of what she thought of Christianity. But the primary description that I felt coming from here was “betrayal.” She had been betrayed by the Church because they duped her into a belief not unlike that of the tooth fairy. When she discovered this betrayal, no one had a valid answer or excuse. So she left. She is now an unbeliever—a soon-to-be evangelistic unbeliever.

Group Justice

Connor Boyack shows us the fallacious arguments used to justify the FLDS raid -

The recent events occurring in Texas in relation to the FLDS community have spawned a number of arguments—some sound, some horribly ignorant. Indeed, it seems that the prosecution (or persecution) of this religious community has caused a knee-jerk reaction among some, leading people to support Texas’ actions without considering the constitutionality, legality, or morality of the issue.

One common argument I’ve been hearing lately has to do with what is sometimes referred to as “group justice”. This position claims that since abuse is (allegedly) so widespread among this group, the government should have the power to intervene and remove all children, regardless of age or participation in said abuse. Proponents of this position further argue that the foundational maxim “innocent until proven guilty” is not valid in this circumstance, since children are being abused and action is needed to remove them from this situation. Due process, they claim, takes too long and allows for the abuse to continue. Additionally, these advocates argue that even though no crimes have taken place with regards to every single individual (collectively removed due to the widespread occurrence of abuse), it is likely that the culture in which they will mature will encourage this mentality and lead to continual abuse down the road. Early intervention, they then state, is required.

The Flood of Material Things

A good response to our get-rich-quick, MLM, rich equals righteous mindset -

Posted on January 1st, 2008 by Millennial Star Editors

The following is a guest post submitted by Dr. Warner Woodworth, Social Entrepreneur & Professor, Marriott School, BYU.

By Dr. Warner Woodworth

We are engulfed in a sea of money and conspicuous consumption. This was a shocking realization for me a few days ago when I ventured out to buy my wonderful wife, Kaye, a Christmas gift. We usually give our money and time to the needy during the holidays, which always makes for a spiritual season for our family. Many times, we spend the days doing humanitarian work around the globe.

But I decided to actually go to the University Mall in Orem and purchase a small gift this year, knowing it could be a pleasant surprise. To avoid the temptations of materialism and shopping frenzies, I took a vow each of the past few years to stay away from such places, dens of iniquity and greed that I often refer to in my campus courses as “Palaces of Babylon.”