If you were attending a fireside on Family Home Evening, what would you expect to be part of the fireside? What format would you like to see? How would it need to be organised so you would benefit from it?

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Anyone who follows the 37 Signals blog knows they are pretty big on the idea that less is more. I’ve been reading them for quite awhile now and have implemented many of their suggestions and idea on our work site.

I have also noticed in the last little while that this philosophy has crept into my religious/church life. I find my prayers becoming more succinct, and the way I perform ordinances to be more fundamental. For example, one popular way to give a blessing to someone might be:

John James Doe, having been given the Melchizedek Priesthood, we seal the anointing that has taken place, by its authority and in the name of Jesus Christ, and pronounce upon you a blessing. We bless you that…

Now, what I say may be something more similar to this:

John James Doe, by the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood we seal the anointing and bless you that…

I am finding that my focus now seems to be less on how I introduce the ordinance and more on what is said during the ordinance. I also find that I am less inclined to rely on habitual repetition or traditional wording in the way I speak.

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It doesn’t look much different, but there are some cool things at the new Our Thoughts.

You can search for posts. You can see the most recent comments. Clicking on one of our names will bring up our profile (currently being tweaked thanks to WordPress 2.0) and our most recent posts. We now have RSS feeds for comments and individual posts. Readers can subscribe to posts so they are emailed whenever a new comment is added.

Of course, one of the most noticeable features of the new Our Thoughts is its location. We moved off of Blogger to our own domain. Hopefully this makes it easier for others to find us and further solidifies our identity as a Canadian group blog.

One other point to note is that comment moderation is still in effect, but only for first time commenters. Once you’ve posted a comment, your future comments should not need to be moderated.

We hope you enjoy the new Our Thoughts and find it easier to visit again.

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While working on President Hinckley’s August 2005 challenge to read the Book of Mormon, I came across a verse in Jacob 5 that cause me to ponder. In verse 47, the master of the vineyard is pining over the fact that his good olive tree has become overrun with wild fruit despite all his effort to encourage the growth of good fruit through pruning, fertilising, and aerating. His servant’s response is in verse 48:

“And it came to pass that the servant said unto his master: Is it not the loftiness of thy vineyard?¢‚Ǩ‚Äùhave not the branches thereof overcome the roots which are good? And because the branches have overcome the roots thereof, behold they grew faster than the strength of the roots, taking strength unto themselves. Behold, I say, is not this the cause that the trees of thy vineyard have become corrupted?”

It seems the grafted-in wild branches spread out to bear fruit more quickly than the roots could handle.

As I was pondering this, I wondered if perhaps some new members are similar to this tree. Not in the idea that they are bearing wild fruit or that their efforts are corrupted, but in the idea that perhaps they are spreading out quickly in an effort to produce a lot of fruit. Too quickly for their root system.

Do we expect too much of our new converts? Do they expect too much of themselves?

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The verdict is in, and intelligent design is out. CNN reports:

“‘Intelligent design’ cannot be mentioned in biology classes in a Pennsylvania public school district, a federal judge said Tuesday, ruling in one of the biggest courtroom clashes on evolution since the 1925 Scopes trial.”

I know the LDS church doesn’t have an official policy one way or the other, but I’m curious what readers of Our Thoughts think about the decision.

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Which would you do if you were president of the Church?

A: Tweak doctrines and policies as society values change in order to encourage church growth through converts. This would allow more people to be baptised and receive saving ordinances, but may give some persons the impression that God changes.

B: Keep doctrines and policies the same despite society values in order to maintain the idea that God never changes, but risk a reduction in church growth through converts. This would mean that less people receive saving ordinances.

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If we are to spend this time thinking of the birth of Christ and making your “holiday” more Christ-centered and spiritual why is it we only get to go to church on Christmas day every 6 years or so when it happens to hit on a Sunday? I have to yet to understand that concept. I am so thrilled this year that we actually get to go to church on Christmas Day. What a better way to keep Christ in your Christmas then to get away from all the gifts and food etc then by going to partake of the Sacrament and think of Christ. I miss Midnight Mass from the old days.

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