Deep Waters: What would have happened if Lucifer had won the vote?

In our pre-mortal existence, we took sides as to who we would follow, Jesus or Lucifer. Two-thirds of us went with Jesus, while one-third went with Satan. Jesus had accepted the plan of the Father, while Satan had sought to amend it. The amendment was sufficiently attractive that one-third of us went with it. I’ve [...]

Deep Waters: How many wives? How many husbands?

Jesus said, “He that receiveth me receiveth my Father; and he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father’s kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him.” (D&C 84:37-38.) Simple logic deduces that the Father has more of everything than any one of his children, or than all of them combined. (The [...]

The law of tithing (part four)

Continued from part three. Inevitably, when talking about the blessings that come from paying tithing, a speaker will quote the following scripture: Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, [...]

The law of tithing (part three)

Continued from part two. “And after that, those who have thus been tithed shall pay one-tenth of all their interest annually; and this shall be a standing law unto them forever, for my holy priesthood, saith the Lord.” (D&C 119: 4) Only First Presidency statements can officially interpret scripture and only those interpretations are binding [...]

Daily repentance

Whenever I am in a church setting and the topic of repentance comes up, inevitably someone will state that we should be repenting all of the time, or every day, etc. The comment is always met with agreement by those who hear it. It appears to be a generally accepted understanding that as we are [...]

Deep Waters: Disclaimer

I’m creating a new category called Deep Waters. It is where all the really deep doctrinal discussions will go. I’m sure everyone understands that all of my posts are my own, personal opinions and beliefs and not the official doctrine of the church, but I want to warn you all that the Deep Waters section [...]

Are there Clergy Response Teams in the LDS church?

On 24 May 2006, Paul Joseph Watson of Alex Jones’ PrisonPlanet.com broke a story about Clergy Response Teams, a “nationwide FEMA program which is training Pastors and other religious representatives to become secret police enforcers who teach their congregations to ‘obey the government’ in preparation for the implementation of martial law, property and firearm seizures, [...]

The law of tithing (part two)

Continued from part one. The Lord, when talking about who is required to pay tithing, speaks of three groups of people. Those who already are in the land of Zion, those who are gathering to the land of Zion and those who are in the stakes of Zion: “…my church in Zion.” (D&C 119: 1) [...]

LDS make the best anarchists

On 22 October 2007, David posted an article on his Life, etc. blog entitled, Am I an anarchist? I’ve read a few articles written by anarchists, but his, which ponders whether he is becoming one, cuts right to the heart of the issue. I don’t know if he’s just a good writer, or if he’s inspired of the Holy Ghost, (probably both,) but he said things better than I’ve heard non-LDS anarchists say them. In fact, I’d say he said them even better than I could.

Anarchy does not require perfect people

“Given any level of morality, a society will function less smoothly if shackled by government. The more moral the populace, the better, but this is a different matter altogether.” – Bob Murphy (who was probably quoting Mises or someone else) This contradicts the state propaganda machine, which routinely spits out that anarchy cannot work without [...]