There’s something special about Christmastime, but I’ve had a harder time feeling that Christmas spirit this year than in the past. Perhaps because it’s the first Christmas (aside from my mission) when I won’t be with my parents and siblings. Perhaps because there’s still no snow in Provo. Or perhaps because for the first time […]
Read more "What Christmas Means to Me"I’ve had elements of this post kicking around my head for a long time, but I finally sat down and busted it out, so it’s a little rough and could absolutely be revisited, which I may do in the future. Anyway, here are some aspects of church history that I think we could get […]
Read more "Church History Film Pitches"The world is on fire. There have been 297 mass shootings in the U.S. so far this year. Over 12,000 people have lost their lives to gun violence since January 1. Hatred is on the rise. Antisemitism is blatantly expressed and has led to the deadliest attack against the Jewish community on American soil in […]
Read more "The World is On Fire"I am a liberal, heterodox queer Mormon. I believe in the value and worth of my fellow LGBTQ+ Saints. I am complicit in the harm done by the Church and a number of other institutions that I belong to implicitly and explicitly. My different beliefs and my rejection of what I can only see as […]
Read more "I am Complicit"God is often described as being omnipotent, omniscient, & omnipresent (sometimes also omnibenevolent). I’ve noted elsewhere my agnosticism about some of those labels for God, but I’ve somewhat come around on God’s omnipotence. That is I’ve thought of a way of imagining and understanding what it means to be omnipotent that fits into how I […]
Read more "Reimagining Omnipotence"Can we know the mind of God? Mormonism is built on the premise that we can, but also that we need others to reveal it to us. That I must come to know God, for that is eternal life, but that to do so I need the prophets, scripture, and the Holy Ghost. I cannot […]
Read more "Knowing God"I wonder how prophecy shapes our world and how believing in prophecy can contribute to its fulfillment. Is something more likely to happen because I believe it was foretold to? Does believing in something influence my choices in a way that consciously or subconsciously contributes to the actualization of that thing? How often do we […]
Read more "Interpreting Prophecy"I’ve been thinking about why I still go to church when many of my thoughts and hopes about and for Mormonism seem unlikely to materialize or at odds with aspects of the institution. I’ve especially wondered what that will mean for Cec and my kid(s). So, today, I thought I’d present those thoughts as a […]
Read more "Why I Stay: An Open Letter to My Unborn Child"A significant factor in Mormon theology and cosmology is the War in Heaven, which we only have a smattering of verses about. I selected the first three verses from the Fourth chapter of Moses because they seemed most useful for our purposes today in discussing Satan’s Proposal in this War that resulted in a third […]
Read more "Satan’s Plan: Two Interpretations"Enshrined in Mormon scripture is an idea that seems to not be fully believed in practice. In D&C 121:39 we read: “We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise […]
Read more "On Unrighteous Dominion"
Conor Hilton 