In Gospel Doctrine class today, we split into small groups to discuss six principles in For The Strength of Youth. My group were assigned “Honesty and Integrity.”

One thing stuck out to me:

Being honest means choosing not to lie, steal, cheat, or deceive in any way.

Why is honesty defined by what it isn’t? Wouldn’t it be better to teach people what it is, so they can be proactive in living righteously. Defining something by what it isn’t seems to be a sure fire way to teach people to do good by only avoiding the bad.

So I completely missed a major milestone this year: in July, Our Thoughts hit our 10 year mark. In that time, we have had over 1700 posts and have attracted over 19,000 comments. We are the oldest, non-defunct group blog in the Bloggernacle, and one of the oldest Bloggernacle blogs in general.

Thanks for all the support over the years everyone.

I think most people can agree with the definition of Christian to be one who follows the teachings of Christ. Mormons ascribe to this definition.

Mormons believe in the teachings of Christ in the Bible, but they also believe that teachings of Jesus are found in the Book of Mormon and in the Doctrine and Covenants.

Arguing that Mormons are not Christian is tenuous, given the weight Christ’s teachings receive in the church.

That being said, we have a unique aspect to our church: we believe in continuing revelation.

As I was thinking about the idea of Jesus’s teachings in the Mormon church and continuing revelation, a question came to mind:

Will modern revelation always be based on Jesus’s teachings, or can prophets receive doctrine that Jesus never spoke about?

I was recently asked to oversee the sacrament meeting at a local seniors residence. We have about half a dozen members living there, who are unable to make it to church.

Today was the first day.

I forgot we needed tablecloths until right before we were about to leave, so I spent 15 minutes looking for one. I finally found it, but when we arrived, I realized I forgot to bring the programmes I had grabbed from our regular sacrament meeting.

The room where we meet is tiny, so there is no room for a piano or keyboard. We were about to sing a capella, but as I was bringing up the hymn on my iPhone, I realized it actually has music. It was nice we could have accompaniment. One of the benefits of living in 2013.

The room was warm, so it was a bit uncomfortable. I kind of stumbled through things as well. I think as time goes on, all will run smoothly.

My 12-year-old son came with me, and he passed the sacrament. I was able to bless the water (it’s been a long time), and Bishop Renaud blessed the bread.

The entire meeting was less than half an hour, and was kind of nice.

Do you think we have an obligation to give to others (if we have the means) unconditionally? Should we be circumspect who we give our substance to?

Interesting results from a survey on gender and sex in the LDS church:

These are the results so far of a totally anonymous survey about women’s experience in the LDS YW program.  The aim of this survey is to assist leaders in understanding the experience of women in the LDS YW program.

See LDS Young Women Survey for the results of this ongoing survey.