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Author Archives: ptmadmin
Faith Matters damages faith by forgetting our sacrificial unity
I was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sept. 30, 1978, 45 years ago, the day at which members during General Conference sustained the earlier revelation that year about the priesthood being open to all worthy males.
My wife, Sally, and I joined the church when we were married teenagers. We now have six children and 23 grandchildren. Though we originally are from just outside of Washington, D.C. — married, baptized, and sealed while living there — my work at Sutherland Institute brought us to Utah for 20 years.
Posted in Personal Commentaries
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Can I Get a Hug?
I know I am behind the curve on discovering The Chosen. One of our daughters gave us the DVD for Season 1 two Christmases ago but we never dug out a video player to watch it. Thank you for the thoughtful gift, sweetheart. And sorry for ignoring your love. But I just found it on Prime and we have been binge-watching it for the past week.
If you don’t know the show, it’s about the life and ministry of Jesus — but unlike any other I have ever seen. It feels real, human. Somehow, I can relate to it. And I am not sure how I relate to it. I just feel it. It moves me in the right way — I feel better for having watched it. It almost feels tangibly good, like going to church and partaking in the sacrament (no sacrilege intended).
Posted in Personal Commentaries
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On Abandonment
“Perseverating” is a word I was unfamiliar with until after six decades of life. It means, in my words, to focus intensely and uncontrollably on past wrongs, embarrassments, and disappointments I not only experienced, but feel I caused as if something still could be done to fix, avoid, or flip the experiences into happy moments.
I perseverate and do so almost daily. Doing so could consume minutes during my day or even an hour or two. I relive very painful moments in my life. Something triggers the memory of that painful moment, regardless of circumstances during the day, and I am off to the races. For instance, I could lose ten minutes of a business meeting due to perseveration.
Posted in Personal Commentaries
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The LDS Church makes bad decisions based on fear
Fear-based decision-making leads to bad decisions. Every time. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – my church – just provided back-to-back examples of bad decisions based upon fear.
The first example is its decision to endorse the congressional Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA), thereby endorsing same-sex marriage. Its origin story arose out of fear that the United States Supreme Court might overturn the Obergefell decision that created a constitutional right for same-sex marriage. Justice Clarence Thomas said boo and, out of fear, supporters of same-sex marriage created the RFMA…
Posted in Editorial Commentaries
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Ruminations on the LDS Church’s Endorsement of Same-Sex Marriage
These thoughts address two statements by our LDS Church regarding its support for the Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA) – the December 13, 2022, statement from the signing of the bill and the November 15, 2022, endorsement of the bill in the United States Senate.
Statement language in red.
The December 13, 2002, statement:
U.S. President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act on Tuesday, Dec. 13. Elder Jack N. Gerard, a General Authority Seventy, and former U.S. Sen. Gordon H. Smith, now an Area Seventy, were in attendance for the signing. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released the following statement on Tuesday, Dec. 13.
Posted in Personal Commentaries
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The LDS Church should get out of politics, especially the modern American culture war
The LDS Church opposes same-sex marriage but supports every gay right that leads logically to same-sex marriage. They conspire in Utah with gay activists to finally pass a statewide nondiscrimination bill but, in doing so, assure legal discrimination against the very same gay community by exempting the church from its provisions. They then invent “same-sex attraction” while condemning those who fall under its spell…
Everything the LDS Church has touched politically in this culture war is a tangled mess and has resulted in exactly the opposite of the desired outcome. Time and again, it has tried to serve the Lord without offending the devil. Please, for the sake of us faithful adherents, get out of politics, especially the modern American culture war. Preach sound doctrine, such as found in The Family: A Proclamation to the World, and let us, true believers, in both faith and citizenship, govern ourselves.
Posted in Editorial Commentaries
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Last Rights in Utah
In his wisdom and sincerity, Governor Spencer Cox has worked hard to set a political tone of understanding, listening, cooperation, and collaboration. Cox has managed to move a tone to a mantra to gospel to a point where everyone in Utah politics these days seems to be singing from the same hymn book. But not everyone. Unfortunately, some people are faking it. Some political players are lip-syncing their parts.
Apropos, we can trace the music and lyrics within that book back to 2015 a much-lauded-lauded “Utah Compromise” that brought together the state legislature, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and LGBTQ+ advocates Equality Utah. They had so much fun in 2015, they are at it again. Each partner still lip-syncing the same tune. read more