The Challenges of Mormons Defining Mormon Doctrine for Mormons; or, Is It Mormon Doctrine that Mormon Doctrine Is True? A Rejoinder

The following is a part of a very rough draft of a rejoinder to responses to a previous article I had published in Element. You can read the original here. Thoughts anyone?

The Challenges of Mormons Defining Mormon Doctrine for Mormons;

or, Is It Mormon Doctrine that Mormon Doctrine Is True?

A Rejoinder

Just Teachings?

In his response Millet stresses that “doctrine means teaching.” This is, of course, a straightforward definition of the term and is perhaps the appropriate use when responding to observers of Mormonism who simply want a list of the contemporary LDS Church’s teachings. Thus, if a simple list of teachings was all that was being delineated, then no real justification would be needed other than an appeal to common sense and common usage—or as Millet puts, we could simply appeal to “a description of present Church practice,” which Oman calls “sensible rules of thumb for discovering church doctrine.” In light of such a view, Oman’s theory of doctrine as authority offers a plausible theoretical basis for the practice.

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Recent reads

Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower, Book 4)

Saint Paul: The Foundation of Universalism (Cultural Memory in the Present)

The Great Brain Does It Again

The Time That Remains: A Commentary on the Letter to the Romans (Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics)

Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower, Book 5)

The Great Brain Is Back

War and Peace in Our Times - Streaming video available

All of our conference from over the weekend is now available at http://vimeo.com/album/1556999

Or you can just watch it here:

If you just wanted to see my presentation, here it is:

Session 7 - Loyd Ericson, "Eugene England's Theology of Peace" from LDS WarPeace on Vimeo.

Disneyland animations

I made these at Disneyland on Monday. Not sure what they say about me.

God saves Mormon missionaries in Japan while allowing thousands to die or suffer unimaginable loss

From the area presidency in Japan:

地域会長会からのお知らせ
愛する日本の兄弟姉妹，

わたしたちは日本のすべての宣教師の所在と安否を確認できたことを皆さんにお知らせします。安否が確認できずにいた最後の二人の宣教師の所在も土曜日の夕べに確認することができました。わたしたちはこの度の地震の発生から，宣教師の安否を確認するために継続して働いてくださった建岡伝道部会長に心から感謝しています。また，この働きに協力をしてくださった多くの会員たちに感謝しています。多くの教会職員が管理本部に夜を徹してとどまり，土曜日もほとんどの時間を割いて，この緊急事態に支援を提供してくれました。彼らの奉仕に心から感謝をしています。わたしたちは今後，日本のすべての会員の所在と安否を確認するために全力を注いでいきます。会員たちの状況について知っていることがあれば，皆さんの神権指導者にお知らせください。地域福祉部長のダーウィン・ハルヴォーソン兄弟が，これまでのほとんどの働きを調整してくれました。引き続き，ハルヴォーソン兄弟が地域全体の福祉の必要を確認し，調整していきます。

これまでの働きは，主によって結集され，奇跡的な結果をもたらしました。このような結果をもたらしたすべての出来事を目の当たりにし，わたしたちは心を鼓舞されています。天の御父が注いでくださっている憐れみと祝福に感謝し，日本全土の会員の所在と安否を確認できるよう祈っています。

ゲーリー・E・スティーブンソン

崔崙煥

青柳弘一


Notice from the Area Presidency

Dear Brothers and Sisters of Japan,

We are pleased to inform you that we have now confirmed that all of the missionaries in Japan have been found and are safe. The last two missionaries in Sendai were located on Saturday evening. We sincerely appreciate the efforts of Pres. Tateoka who has worked continuously since the earthquake to account for his missionaries. We also thank the many members who have helped in this effort. We had a large number of church employees who stayed in the Area office building overnight and most of Saturday to help in this time of emergency and we greatly appreciate their service. We will now make every effort to locate and evaluate the condition of all of our members in Japan. Please inform your priesthood leaders of any information you have on the condition of our members. Brother Darwin Halvorson, our area welfare manager, coordinated much of the effort today and will continue to evaluate and arrange for welfare needs throughout the area.

The outcome today really is a miraculous result orchestrated by the Lord. We have been uplifted to have observed all that has taken place leading to this result. We give our thanks to Heavenly Father for his mercy and blessings this day and pray that we now find our members throughout Japan alive and well.

Gary E. Stevenson
Yoon Hwan Choi
Koichi Aoyagi

Nice to see that God isn't just concerned with paintings of Jesus.

Yes, the Church still officially discourages interracial marriage.

Wow. A friend of mine just pointed this out to me. From the current Aaronic Priesthood Manual:

“We recommend that people marry those who are of the same racial background generally, and of somewhat the same economic and social and educational background (some of those are not an absolute necessity, but preferred), and above all, the same religious background, without question”

To be fair, this is a quote from a speech by Spencer W. Kimball in 1976 (the year of my parents' interracial marriage) when the Church still had a racist priesthood ban and was still supporting an antiquated notion of race--but what is it doing in a Church manual in 2011.

The context for this quote makes it even more clear how stupid and how wrong it is for our youth to be pushed these racialist/xenophobic belief:

Explain that choosing a companion for eternity is an extremely important decision but is sometimes based on a very narrow understanding of love. A person who responds only to infatuation or romantic love might overlook many important qualities when choosing someone with whom to spend eternity. 

• What characteristics of young women are socially and spiritually appealing to you?
Write the young men’s answers on the chalkboard, such as— 

1. Is unselfish.
2. Shows respect for me.
3. Has initiative.
4. Is considerate of others.
5. Shows patience in stressful situations.
6. Is an active Church member.
7. Has a testimony of the gospel and obeys the commandments.
8. Maintains a healthy outlook toward life.
9. Possesses values and goals similar to mine.

Ask each young man to select what he thinks are the three most important attributes on the chalkboard. Take a vote to determine which areas the young men consider most important. Discuss why they voted the way they did.

Compare the results of the vote with the following statement by President Spencer W. Kimball.

Notice that in this lesson, the expected answers from our youth do not include: 10. Of the same race; 11. Of the same rich/poor/middle-class; 12. Of the same ethnic background; 13. Of the same educational level. No, youth today do not and should not think in these terms. Rather, this manual proposes that they need to accept a racialist/segregationist view of the world, and see race as on par with characteristics such as having faith, being considerate, and being unselfish as characteristics that one should want in a marriage.

Now I recognize that new challenges may arise when a couple from vastly differing backgrounds (whether it be racial, ethnic, geographic, economic, political, etc) choose to be married. However, this is something that should be discussed by them and between them, and never used to discourage them from getting married.

And our impressionable youth should never--I mean NEVER--be taught that God discourages them from marrying outside of their race.

Perhaps I take this a bit personally because I come from interracial parents, my brother is interracially married, my sis-in-law has interracial parents, my bro-in-law has an interracial marriage, and another sis-in-law has in interracial marriage.