March 11, 2013 J. Max Wilson

Did Orson Scott Card Advocate Overthrowing the Government if Same-Sex Marriage is Legalized?

Award-winning author Orson Scott Card, who is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has been in the news lately, and it’s not just because a movie of his popular book Ender’s Game is slated for release later this year.

help wanted no mormons need apply sign

Card was hired to write a story for a comic book series called The Adventures of Superman. But after some fans of the comic complained because of Card’s outspoken opposition to same-sex marriage the illustrator walked away from the project and so DC Comics has apparently decided not to run his story.

One of the things that many outraged critics cite is a quote from Orson Scott Card in which they say he advocates for the violent overthrow of the government if same-sex marriage becomes legal. But is that what he really said?

Here is the quote to which they refer, taken from an article published in July 2008:

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Category: politics
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March 7, 2013 J. Max Wilson

Internet Gossip – More on Echo Chambers and LDS Activist Propaganda

Last year I wrote extensively about how the liberal LDS blog echo chamber amplifies perceptions and propaganda to push its agenda into the mainstream media and artificially inflate the perception of support.

Dandelion_Blue_by_docmiller

Recently some LDS activists made the news with a viral campaign about breastfeeding in church sparked by an anonymous victim who they claimed was released from her duties in church because she was breastfeeding during church services. They also said that she was threatened with having her access to the LDS temple revoked if she refused to cover up or breastfeed in private. The activist called for a letter-writing campaign in protest. Continue reading →

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Category: lds
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March 5, 2013 J. Max Wilson

Rejecting the Living Prophets by Following Future Prophets

kept-my-cupOne of the key doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that we have living prophets and apostles today who are authorized by God to receive revelations for the church and for the world. The scriptures are full of stories of how the people of the church rejected the messages of the living prophets, often justifying themselves by appealing to the words of previous prophets. Even Jesus was rejected by appealing to Moses or Abraham.

As President of the Twelve Apostles, Ezra Taft Benson warned: “Beware of those who would set up the dead prophets against the living prophets, for the living prophets always take precedence.” (Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet, 1980)

Elder Dallin H. Oaks explained further: “…the most important difference between dead prophets and living ones is that those who are dead are not here to receive and declare the Lord’s latest words to his people. If they were, there would be no differences among the messages of the prophets.” (Our Strengths Can Become Our Downfall, 1992)

I’ve noticed a troubling parallel among some progressive members of the church: Rejecting living prophets in favor of what they anticipate future prophets will do*. Continue reading →

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Category: lds, Religion
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March 1, 2013 J. Max Wilson

Here Comes the Boom – Kevin James and Religion in Entertainment

Here-Comes-The-BoomRecently our family rented the movie Here Comes the Boom, starring Kevin James, Henry Winkler, and Salma Hayek. James plays a high school biology teacher who gets involved with mixed-martial arts (MMA) fighting to try to raise enough money to prevent the budget-strapped school from closing down the music program.

This isn’t a movie review, but I did want to mention something about the film that I liked. While the movie was not about religion, the characters were unambiguously religious.  Continue reading →

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Category: entertainment, Religion
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January 21, 2013 J. Max Wilson

Black Knight Battle Ping-Pong

Black-Knight-Battle-Ping-PongI really hadn’t played much ping-pong (table tennis) until last year when the company I work for purchased a ping-pong table for employees to use during breaks. When you sit at a desk for most of the day programming software, getting up and moving around periodically and using your mind in a different way can be a great way to prevent burnout.

Sometimes you stare at a problem for so long that you need to get away from it for a while and when you come back the solution just pops out at you. Ping-pong ends up being an excellent way to get your body moving and exercise different parts of your mind while getting to know some of your co-workers better. And the games are quite quick so you don’t take too much time before getting back to your job.

I can’t claim to be a great player, but I do enjoy it.

In September of last year I came up with my own variation on standard ping-pong which I have dubbed “Black Knight Battle Ping-Pong” or just “Battle Ping-Pong” for short.

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Category: fun
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