I was a faithful Mormon for nearly three decades, and while I definitely busied myself spiritually, and tried to be close to Heavenly Father, I never actually wanted to worship him. Worship in Mormonism is problematic anyway: in my experience Mormonism is much more about trying to experience certain things, trying to feel the Holy [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Mormonism’
Worship And The Pagan Gods
Posted in Spirituality, tagged Christianity, Church, God, Goddess, Gods, Greco-Roman Polytheism, Greek Mythology, Heavenly Father, Hellenic Polytheism, Holy Ghost, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Kharis, Mormonism, Mysticism, Myth, Mythology, Neopagan, Neopaganism, Pagan, Paganism, Polytheism, Religion, Spirituality, Worship on September 7, 2009 | 21 Comments »
Why It Matters Whether Mormons Are Christian
Posted in Religion, Uncategorized, tagged Roman Catholicism, Evil, Dishonesty, Blogging, Religion, Mormonism, Evangelicalism, Christianity, Bible, Politics, God, Theology, Church, History, Conversion, Protestantism, Jesus Christ, Latter-day Saints, LDS, Faith, Reading, Teaching, Belief, Truth, Fear, Soteriology, Salvation, Jehovah's Witness, Semantics, Discrimination, Religious Discrimination, Missionary Work, Public Relations, Persecution, Interfaith Dialogue, Description, Sociology, Protestant, Conservative Christianity, Slander, Lutheran, Southern Baptist, Roman Catholic Church, Catholicism, Framing, Presidential Campaign, 2008 Presidential Campaign, Mitt Romney on August 19, 2009 | 13 Comments »
The question of whether Mormons can be considered Christian is fairly central to interfaith dialogue, and is significant enough to have garnered national attention during the 2008 presidential campaign. It comes up every now and then on Tim’s most excellent blog, and as an ex-Mormon non-Christian who is nevertheless widely read and confident in [...]
God Is A Woman
Posted in Spirituality, tagged Aphrodite, Beauty, Birth, Brahman, Death, Divine Feminine, Family, God, Goddess, Hellenic Polytheism, Hinduism, Humanity, Life, Love, Marriage, Meaning, Mormonism, Mysticism, Mythology, Paganisn, Polytheism, Sex, Spirituality, Vedanta on July 30, 2009 | 3 Comments »
I feel a much closer connection to the divine feminine than I ever did to the divine masculine, my patriarchal Mormon upbringing notwithstanding. I guess either it just didn’t take, or it just wasn’t true. Or both, probably. I feel an intimacy and closeness with the overwhelmingly feminine divinity of Aphrodite that I have never [...]
Prayers I Have Written
Posted in Spirituality, tagged Family, Spirituality, Religion, Mormonism, Christianity, God, Prayer, War, C. S. Lewis, Paganism, Gods, Loyalty, Children, Love, Polytheism, Hellenic Polytheism, Divinity, Dionysus, Zeus, Apollo, Pantheon, Hera, Aphrodite, Goddess, Sex, Neopaganism, Greek Mythology, Victory, Battle, Lust, Venus, Ecstasy, Ares, Neo-Paganism, Worship, Wine, Will, Spirit, Happiness, Beer, Brewing, Bacchus, Motherhood, Goddesses, Passion, Inspiration, Apollon, Power, Ceisiwr Serith, Book of Common Prayer, Candle, Incense, Alcohol, Joy, Lovemaking, Uranus, Juno, Courage, Mars, Strength, Endurance, Willpower, Saturn, Cronos, Heavenly Father, Titans, Giants, Titanomachy, Gigantomachy, Gigantes, Marksmanship, Soldiers, Heartbreak, Heartache on June 3, 2009 | 3 Comments »
One of the books I have been perusing lately is Ceisiwr Serith’s A Book Of Pagan Prayer. While I admit that the prayers themselves don’t really light my candle, the book is absolutely fantastic as a book about prayer: why we pray, to whom we should pray, how we pray, and so on. [...]
Truth And The Book Of Mormon
Posted in Mormonism, tagged Authenticity, Book of Mormon, Brainwashing, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Critical Thinking, Cult, Cults, Exercise, God, Golden Plates, History, iPod, Joseph Smith, Missionary, Mormonism, Paradigm, Religion, Running, Spirituality, Supernatural, The Doors, Thought, Translation, Truth, Western Hemisphere on May 22, 2009 | 152 Comments »
When I went running this afternoon, I saw some of the Mormon missionaries doing street contacting outside my apartment complex. As per my usual, I began to have a lively discussion/argument with an imaginary missionary in my head. This time, our argument was about the Book of Mormon (I didn’t bring my iPod, [...]
Things That Are Not Personal Revelation
Posted in Mormonism, tagged Art, Classical Conditioning, Conditioning, Deity, Divine, Divinity, Emotion, Film, God, Happiness, Holy Ghost, Holy Spirit, Humanity, Joseph Smith, Literature, Mind Games, Mormonism, Music, Mysticism, Neurology, Pavlov, Peak Experience, Personal Revelation, Prophets, Psychology, Religion, Spirit, Spirituality, Television, Theology, Thought on April 20, 2009 | 14 Comments »
It should be clear by now that I passionately believe that real spiritual/mystical experiences happen. People experience the presence of divinity. I don’t know for sure whether they are merely experiencing a neurological or psychological phenomenon, or whether they are actually contacting a real deity, or whether the distinction is meaningful. What [...]
Why Special Names?
Posted in Religion, tagged Spirituality, Religion, Mormonism, Christianity, Temple, Endowment, Buddhism, Islam, Neopaganism, Zen, LARP, Neo-Paganism, Hare Krishna, ISKCON, Arabic on April 17, 2009 | 7 Comments »
I have noticed that the use of special or religious names is pretty common among Neopagans. I am honestly curious as to why someone needs to call themself “Moonferret Starshine” or something Welsh or whatever instead of just using their real name. I’m not talking about internet handles or nicknames–those are a part [...]