Nofear

While it is not a required belief in LDS theology, I personally believe that God exists in spacetime. So, yes.

https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2026/06/06/lds-church-left-off-defense/ Jehovah Witnesses made the list as Christian - [item] Latter-day Saints are listed as a separate category.

I largely agree with his position. Secularization is definitely a problem, perhaps the problem. Jesus Christ is the answer. Though saying that is easier than realizing it. My perspective, as a physicist, will be different than others but I sometimes put it this way: the Gospel isn't just true it is real. God literally exists and is out there in the universe. Spirit matter is a material reality. The Atonement has real, extant change in our core being. And so much more. I do not understand all of the physics of the Gospel, but it is there. The Gospel is true. It is real. That position is fundamentally incompatible with secularized religion. Secularization treats things symbolically, socially, legalistically, etc. But it does not typically treat God and the Gospel as an honest to goodness, fully extant, material reality in the universe.

Givens and Ostler 83% and 80%. But, I also happen to differ from both in non-trivial ways. I'm not sure the AI always captured some of the subtleties of the responses. Still, cute little quiz.

This is the first Holy of Hollies photo published, since 1912 if I recall correctly. Talmage's book was brought about in part to avoid blackmail by an ex-mormon who snuck into the Salt Lake Temple during construction and photographed things. https://www.ldsliving.com/the-unexpected-way-the-church-responded-to-a-blackmail-attempt/s/80449

John Gee discusses how a linguistic pattern shows up in the Book of Mormon that is present in Egyptian but not a construction typically used in English or Hebrew. TLDW: You can skip to the 23:50 mark for the conclusion and summary.

It's messy. Naysayers want to portray retention as abysmal. Church doesn't publish "retention" data. Statistics are messy. https://www.deseret.com/faith/2026/04/28/latter-day-saint-retention/

Deseret News's ChurchBeat by Tad Walch had some nice historical context. Couldn't find a web version of the email. ChurchBeat April 22, 2026 Once I was a Beehive: The interesting history behind the latest change in the Church of Jesus Christ A century ago, Americans loved clubs, organizations and associations. They loved them even more when they were saturated with symbolism. “Symbolism was a big deal in the early 20th century, peaking in the 1920s and 1930s,” says Lisa Olsen Tait, a Latter-day Saint historian. “They put on a lot of drama productions and pageants. On the Fourth of July, every Utah town had a Lady Liberty, a girl draped in white with a torch.” That era of elaborate symbolic systems and activities gave rise to the original Bee-Hive Girl program, an intricate summer program for girls in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It’s a history that Tait says adds richness and meaning to the new Young Women class names the church announced this week. The original Bee-Hive Girls were like Girl Scouts or Camp Fire Girls or Boy Scouts, earning achievements in three ranks, acquiring knowledge and skills until they became a leader capable of directing the work of others: Builder of the Hive. Gatherer of Honey. Keeper of the Bees. “You can see right there where some of the inspiration for these new names came from,” says Tait, co-author of “Carry On: A History of Young Women, 1870-2024." The new class names are: Builders of Faith (young women turning 12-13). Messengers of Hope (those turning 14-15). Gatherers of Light (16 or older). (See a through-the-years list of Young Women class names below.) Young Women General President Emily Belle Freeman read the manuscript of Tait’s book before it was published, soon after she was received her calling from church leaders. She told the co-authors at the time about the parts of the history that resonated with her. President Emily Belle Freeman, Young Women general president for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaks about the new displays as she and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, give media members a tour of the new Visitors Center on Temple Square in Salt Lake City on Monday, April 13, 2026. (Scott G Winterton, Deseret News) Church leaders retired the Beehive name in 2019, but Tait says the obvious through-line to the new class names adds depth to their meaning. That original Bee-Hive program was drenched in the symbolism of how a beehive worked. “They talked about what was called the spirit of the hive,” Tait says. It was a broad, symbolic conception of spirituality — have faith, seek knowledge, safeguard help, honor womanhood, understand beauty, know work, love truth, taste the sweetness of service, and feel joy. “They were helping girls to become full, whole persons, well developed and well balanced,” Tait says. Americans today don’t resonate in the same way with symbolism, she says. “To us, it feels a little bit cheesy. It feels kind of artificial, I guess, and just not something that we’re as comfortable with,” Tait says. It’s impossible to go back and replicate the Bee-Hive Girls program because too much has changed, she says. By 2019, when Beehive, Mia Maid and Laurel were retired as class names, few people understood their past. “They had lost their cultural cachet or symbolism,” she says, “and the idea of symbolism was less resonant for us by then.” Tait says the story of the class names is great way to think about the contributions history can make. “History is a very rich reservoir of ideas and inspiration and things that have resonated in the past,” she says. “I think this is a really lovely example of drawing on that reservoir of history in a way that can be applied and meaningful in the present.” The new class names solve another problem, as two Deseret News contributors wrote this week: They are easier to translate into dozens of languages than, say, Mia Maid. From her historian’s perspective, Tait likes the new class names. “I find it really delightful to be bringing back some of these elements from the past,” she says. “The context is totally different, and the way that they’ve been formulated, you don’t have to know the history. They can stand on their own and still convey something valuable.” There is one other way the history of the names can enrich the present, Tait says. “I think knowing the history can help us feel connected to the people of the past, to the young women and their experiences in the past,” she says. The following chart captures some of the names and age ranges of Young Women classes over the past 123 years. For more details, see the “Carry On: A History of Young Women” and ChurchofJesusChrist.org. Years Class Names 1903-21 Junior (14-16) Senior (17+) 1915-50 Bee-Hive Girls (12-16) Gleaners (17-30) 1950-59 Bee-Hive Girls (12-13) Mia Maids (14-15) Junior Gleaners (16-18) Gleaners (19-29) 1959-1972 Beehives (12-13) Mia Maids (14-15) Laurels (16-18) Gleaners (19-29) 1972-2019 Beehives (12-13) Mia Maids (14-15) Laurels (16-18) 2019-26 Young Women (No. of classes and age groups flexible) 2026-present Builders of Faith Messengers of Hope Gatherers of Light Historical meaning of retired names Beehive: Symbolized the importance of harmony, cooperation and work to Latter-day Saint pioneers. Mia Maid: The programs for Young Women and Young Men were under the umbrella term Mutual Improvement Association, or M.I.A. The rose was the class symbol, representing love, faith and purity. Laurel: Derived from the laurel wreath, a traditional symbol of honor and finishing a significant achievement. Gleaner: Based on the biblical story of Ruth, signifying gathering and leadership.

Perhaps some places will shorten it even further to Bs, Ms, and Gs. (B hearkening back to Beehive, M to Mia Maids, and G ... well nothing there).

I was about to post this article. Not because I think Matthew L. Harris is exactly a faith promoting author, but neither do I shirk from history*. This article should also be juxtaposed with Elder Bedner's 2015 talk "Chosen to Bear Testimony of My Name" where he defends the gerontocracy of the Church. For my part, I side with Elder Bednar but if change comes I'm ok with that too. * Had a fascinating conversation with Gemini yesterday about the socio-religious norms among us LDS and using the cross. Apparently protestants weren't big into the cross (especially the crucifix) in the 1800s as part of an effort to differentiate from Catholicism. But it really came to be quasi-institutionalized when anti-Mormon Catholic Bishop Duane Hunt and Pres. McKay butted heads.

Indeed, there is much more to the plain and precious allusion which may or may not include this one aspect. Meh. Also, your skepticism of actual, real divine guidance is well known. /shrug

Certainly could be done. In the meantime, I'm quite willing to define the term more appropriately and contextually as I read the scriptures.

Believing that humans are fallible and that the narrative may have had that fallibility injected (read "plain and precious things taken away") doesn't remove the importance of the scriptures to me. Thankfully we latter-day saints have hedges and guardrails in place for such human failings. 1) personal inspiration and revelation, 2) prophetic guidance, and 3) scripture. When the three align with consistency that greatly increases one confidence that one is on the right track. Sola scriptura. Pffft.

I can totally sympathze with this. I'm not sure we always correctly attribute purpose or intent in divine action. The OT in particular has some post-hoc rationalizations, I believe. In general I align more with the Gospel Study article (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/gs/curse-curses?lang=eng) where curses aren't anti-blessings.

Heck. Why have commandments at all? Or blessings? Or cursings? Why can't God just leave us alone!?

Naw. Policy and practice can be upheld and sustained not just because we think it is revelation. We can support the Church and its leadership knowing that many activities (local and general) are efforts of humans to do God's will. To the extent that God can uphold His servants, imperfections notwithstanding, so can I. That said, that doesn't mean there isn't also real revelation experienced in the councils of the Church at all levels, even for small things. There is.

Not a bad question at all. Alas, the General Handbook does not typically spell out the policies surrounding the general authorities and officers of the Church.

From a letter. 13.2.2.2 has been updated and affirms that if there are counselors the counselors should be the same gender as the president.

I almost wrote near 100% accuracy and that woud indeed have been better. Though the limit case is also considered by some. The point remains that how the predictor has that near perfect skill isn't relevant and thus can remain vague and poorly defined. You view it from it from a different perspective. Okie dokie.

That is messiness irrelevant to the nature of the problem that is trying to be illuminated. So, philosophers don't bother trying to explain how it might* be. It is sufficient to posit that the predictor has 100% accuracy. A reader who gets hung up on that is missing the point. * Or just put in some hand-wavy explanation that isn't intended to be serious or rigorous.

For this problem rational means getting the most expected money. Let's let box B's reward be only $10. The rational coice will be selecting both boxes. You will always get more. Let box B's reward be $1000. The rational choice is still choosing both boxes. Let box B's reward be $1010. Is tho rational choice still picking both? How about if box be is $1,000,000? Where does it change from the rational best choice to irrational? Logic holds there isn't any threshold. Picking both always gives you the more rational outcome (more money). But, as argued in the discussion, the most “rational“ choice is to make the irrational choice. To be rational you must be irrational. Hence the term “paradox”.

This video is about Newcomb's Paradox. In this problem there is a predictor and an agent (you) and two boxes. One box always has $1000 and is open and visible. The second box is determined by the predictor before you even enter the room. The predictor has past data on others and is really good at predicting. If the predictor predicted you would take two boxes it puts $0 in the second box. If the predictor predicted you would take only the second box, it puts $1,000,000 in the second box. Which option should you choose? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol18JoeXlVI You should watch the video to see how the rational actor changes his mind. However, why it is posted here is because one of the conclusions that is drawn but one of the philosophers is that the moral of the paradox is that "being rational isn't deciding what is right in the moment but deciding what rules you are going to live by". Theologically, we have the idea that God doesn't just decide what is right/best/good from moment to moment but as stated in D&C 130 20-21: There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated. There are many who can object to the notion of God because of the reality of evil in the world. This paradox shows rationally why God has set up the situation He has set up.

A very interesting discussion from Don Bradley about the historical view point that Joseph Smith on scriptures that others used to justify slavery. TLDR: Joseph did not see it that way, anticipated Africans worshiping in the temple, thought Anglo-Native American interracial marriage was good, and some other fun things.

Jacob Hansen makes the case that in the content creator space, faithful LDS content creators are winning, but that they ought not to rest, and continue to press forward. Endeavor to set aside confirmation bias (pro or con)? Do you have or can you provide data to back up your assertion (pro or con)?

Acknowledged.