Parkerville

The Enlightenment, that flowering of faith in reason and individual liberty was largely a reaction to the Renaissance which had looked to the past for answers.  Rather, the Enlightenment looked forward with a firm believe that man, armed with reason (largely without God) was the source of progress.  Kant defined the spirit of these times in his epoch defining essay Answering the Question: What is Enlightenment with its challenge to Sapere aude (Dare to Know). In many ways this faith was well placed. The scientific method, based on induction rather than deduction (much favored by the Scholastics) has extended our life spans, improved the quality and comfort of our lives piling up one achievement in process.  When a man was put on the moon even the sky didn't seem to be the limit. Most enlightenment thinkers thought the realm of human affairs would follow the same happy upward slope fostering systems such as the French thinker August Comte's Positivism (1798-1857) which la...

 Elder Bednar's address in the most recent General Conference (Oct 22) carried a message that will resonate with any Christian who has made covenants with the Lord. It certainly did to me. For context, take a few minutes to read his address which is a bit of a midrash on the Parable of the Royal Wedding Feast found in Matthew 22. Put On Thy Strength, O Zion (churchofjesuschrist.org) To begin, I'll assume the King represents the Lord, the wedding represents the covenant made between the Lord and his children and the wedding feast represents the blessings/fruits of a faithful life. Note that Elder Bednar doesn't take the common reading of this parable, that the King's tossing of the recalcitrant wedding attendee (who refused to wear the King's garment) represents God punishing the wicked.  Rather, his focus is on the attendee's use of their agency. Recall that early in the parable those first invited declined to attend having prioritized their business interests o...

The longer I live, the more convinced I am that God works in mysterious ways. Easy prescriptions of what to do, or even what a good Christian “looks” like, simply fall away when we honestly account for the complexities of lived experience. At this point in my spiritual journey, I am inspired to focus on spiritual  tools  instead of rules or archetypes per se. The idea is that the right tools will get you in alignment with God so that He can guide you through the unknowns, even as questions will realistically remain. The spiritual tools are those extolled by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13, and traditionally referred to as the theological virtues: faith, hope, love. Faith : right thinking. No matter what, I will choose to trust that God has a purpose for my circumstances as they are. God has a plan for each of our lives that involves a unique sequence and allotment of blessings and sufferings. For this reason, there is no room for nihilism, insecurity, arrogance, victim-based thinking...

 As the Sermon on the Mount drew to a close the Savior gave one of his most famous commands, "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye." (Matt 7:1-5). Pretty stern talk coming in the form of a direct command (judge not) followed simply by the karmic heads up that the results of our judgements will boomerang back to us. The Savior closes by condemning those who judge as hypocrites. Is he saying we simply shouldn't judge or rather that our judging is of the wrong kind? We start our inquiry in 1Sam 9, by reviewing the selection of Saul as King which brings the Lord's abilities to judge into sharp rel...

I started keeping a journal a year or so ago to both collect and reflect on meaningful experiences I've had while serving as Bishop and also to record insights that came to me during my reading that I thought worth saving. I've occasionally come across something I thought our family and a few friends might also enjoy and went looking for an easy way to share these. Starting a blog seems the best way to do this. I plan to post something once a week or thereabouts.  I'd like to get your thoughts on these posts, since we're a family of readers and thinkers so please be liberal in attaching comments. I will read them all gratefully and will learn in the process. Further, I have added all of you as authors and would love to have any of you post ideas too, particularly those related to issues of spirituality or understanding the way to live and serve. And with that.... Came across a great reading of Alma 29:4, that "God granteth unto men according to their desire, whethe...