Dead Seriously.

I’m not a big follower of the world occupied by Katy Perry or her father, Pastor Keith Hudson, but something from that universe caught my attention this week.

In a recent sermon, Pastor Hudson apparently said the following:

“You know how to make the Jew jealous? Have some money, honey…You go to L.A. and they own all the Rolex and diamond places. Walk down a part of L.A. where we live and it is so rich it smells. You ever smell rich? They are all Jews, hallelujah! Amen.”

Pastor Hudson was quickly and rightly taken to task by Jewish community leaders for these Anti-Semitic comments. However, the comments and the appropriate condemnation aren’t what really stand out to me here–it doesn’t take much effort to find people making racist, anti-Semitic, or really anti-anything comments these days. To me, about the only thing worse than the non-stop stream of offensive comments reported in the media is the non-stop stream of pathetic, insincere, dodgy half-apologies. As such, what really struck me as remarkable was Pastor Hudson’s apology. Let’s take a look at the script. Read more…

Fact 1: During a recent trip to Utah, I hung out in a parking lot in American Fork with John C. and J. Max Wilson for like four hours in the middle of the night.

Fact 2: The conversation was extremely engaging, had nary a lull, and was almost entirely about Mormon Blogging.

Opinion 1: In my estimation, none of the participants said a single crazy or offensive thing, despite very open dialogue about past…uh…stuff.

Conclusion 1: The thing about Satan coming out at midnight is complete crap.*

Conclusion 2: Meeting people in real life is a wonderful thing.

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*That I resisted the urge to make a joke about J. Max being Satan here is a testament to my quality.

Since I started blogging way back in the glory days of 2006 (or was it 2007? I can’t really remember when my wife and I started the old blogger site…), one thing that I’ve always enjoyed doing is following links. This usually starts with someone leaving a comment with a hyperlinked name, so I can visit their site. After a few minutes of exploring, I’ll find an interesting link in the sidebar or an interesting comment on that site, with a link to yet another blog. Rinse, repeat. I could do this for hours–it’s kind of like Wikipedia: Open an article on crocheting, and two hours and 45 linked pages later, you’re reading about the endangered yak in some country you’ve never visited. It’s a wonderful way to kill time that you should spend with your family. Read more…

Look–if God had truly wanted me to vote in today’s elections, then He would have prepared a way for my escape from 90 minutes of rush hour traffic on the 405.

Just sayin’…

Hint: For once, it’s not Utah State. Read more…

GAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I recently posted something of a bleg for suggestions on lesson topics and materials for a Gospel Essentials course which I have occasion to teach in my local ward. I made a couple of mistakes in the post and comments, and consequently the thread never really took the direction I had hoped, and instead resulted in (mostly) comments on gospel instruction generally in the LDS Church. The point of the post was to seek ideas for 5-6 lessons which could be taught at any given moment with little advance notice as the need arises. The basic issue at hand is that, on many Sundays, we don’t have any actual investigators or new members attending, and the course is made up primarily of recently reactivated folks, the missionaries, and a handful of others who attend for reasons I’ve never been quite certain of. On those Sundays, I don’t really have a preference for lesson topics, since the attendees have enough experience in the gospel and the Church to handle about any lesson they’re given.

However, from time to time, we do have actual investigators, and on those Sundays, I feel the need to accomplish a few main goals: First, I want to knock their socks off, so to speak–I want them to come away from Sunday school uplifted, inspired, and feeling like they had a meaningful experience in a Mormon meeting. Read more…

In my office the other day, we were all debating breakfast cereals during lunch. Here are my lists:

Best Cereals: Sugary

1. Cap’n Crunch’s Crunch Berries (though I actually like all the Cap’n Crunch varieties)
2. Corn Pops
3. Sugar Bear (Golden Crisp, Honey Smacks, whatever)
4. Cinnamon Toast Crunch
5. Honey Comb

Read more…

Note: I originally wrote and posted this a couple of years ago, but have changed it quite a bit to remove some outdated references and to reflect more of my current thinking than that from when I wrote it.

What is the value of a prophet? Why do I care about having one? What benefit does a prophet give to my life that another preacher couldn’t give provide? Which, if any, of all my personal opinions, am I willing to change if a prophet were to ask me to do something that runs counter to my opinions? Or do I only agree with a prophet if he agrees with me? Based on my knowledge of the scriptures and past prophets, is it a reasonable expectation that, at some point, a prophet will ask me to do something I disagree with, or which is very unpopular and hard to understand? Read more…