What Will Combined MP Quorums Mean?
Small and Simple
by Eric Nielson
3y ago
In a shocking announcement during the Priesthood Session of the 2018 March/April General Conference, President Nelson announced that there would no longer be High Priest Groups and Elder’s Quorums in wards.  The two groups would be combined into one, and be called the Elder’s Quorum.  I am both surprised and delighted about this, and I would like to share what I feel will be the benefits to this change. My first thought is that this will be a nice help to small and medium-sized wards throughout the church.  Many smaller wards struggle to staff all the organizations, and with thi ..read more
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How Can Anyone Remain a Mormon in the Face of All the “Facts”?
Small and Simple
by Eric Nielson
3y ago
One of the things that you will see sometimes in anti-Mormon forums is what appears to be a sincere question: ‘How can anyone remain a Mormon in the face of all the facts?’  As a Mormon myself, I would like to address this. First of all, many of the “facts” they think that they have are not facts at all.  They are more claims than facts.  Even if they have sources for their claims, that does not make them facts.  Claims might be facts, but they might not be.  Facts can be hard to come by on things like religious beliefs, politics, and even history.  Most claims ca ..read more
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About That Taylor Christensen Video
Small and Simple
by Eric Nielson
3y ago
There is a video making the Mormon facebook circuit by Taylor Christensen.  He starts out by telling us that “this is not an anti-Mormon video”.  Here is a tip:  when someone has to explain right off the top that what they are spreading is not anti-Mormonism one thing is certain – it is an anti-Mormon video and they know it. Taylor claims to have the noble intension of promoting kindness, patience and empathy for those who have left the church.  I have no disagreement with this, but I do feel that this is not anything that really needs saying.  On the whole, Mormons ar ..read more
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The New York Times Thomas Monson Obituary and Fake News
Small and Simple
by Eric Nielson
3y ago
The president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently died, and the obituary published in the New York Times focused a lot of attention on controversies over same-sex marriage and ordaining women.  This obituary provides an unfortunate, yet clear example, of what goes through my head when I consider the term fake news. The obituary is not fake in terms of being just a pack of lies.  I do not dispute that these controversies happened during Monson’s term.  The obituary is fake in that it is in disguise.  What it is, is political activism masquerading as j ..read more
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Perfect College Football Playoff System: 2017 Version
Small and Simple
by Eric Nielson
3y ago
Several years ago I published to the world the perfect college football playoff system.  Since that time the NCAA had been taking baby steps in this direction, but it seems that every year there are additional evidence that shows why this system is needed.  This past year is no exception. As far as the little guys who deserve a better shot, this year the example is Central Florida.  They went undefeated this season with impressive wins over Maryland, and Memphis (twice!).  They finished ranked #10, but will have no chance at a national championship by definition.  This ..read more
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Philosophy, Science and Religion: The Divine Hiddenness Argument
Small and Simple
by Eric Nielson
3y ago
The fourth week of the Coursera course on Philosophy, Science and Religion focuses on the Divine Hiddenness Argument as presented by the man who developed the argument, John Schellenberg.  There are several ways to present this argument, but my simple restatement of this argument would be: P1 – If God exists He would be perfectly loving. P2 – A perfectly loving being would have an open relationship with mankind. P3 – There are people who, through no fault of their own, do not have an open relationship with God. C1:  God does not exist. The discussion about this argument focused on wh ..read more
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Philosophy, Science and Religion: Friendly Disagreement, Testimonial Knowledge, and the Importance of Fellowship
Small and Simple
by Eric Nielson
3y ago
The third week of the Coursera course on Philosophy, Science and Religion addresses disagreement and friendly Atheism/Theism.  Professor John Greco lectures on a pattern of disagreement that we see far to often in our modern society.  He does this by presenting an example of the flawed atheist. In this example the believer feels that the evidence for the existence of God is everywhere.  Everyone can witness this evidence, including the atheist.  Therefore, there must be some intellectual or moral flaw in the atheist. One of the problems with this example is that it can be t ..read more
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Philosophy, Science and Religion: The Conflict Between Science and Religion
Small and Simple
by Eric Nielson
3y ago
In the second week of the Coursera course on Philosophy, Science and Religion, professor John Evans gives a series of lectures on the conflict between science and religion.  He organizes his lectures based on three types of conflict – systematic, propositional, and moral. Systematic Regarding systematic conflict, Dr. Evans rightly points out that at least in western cultures, there really is no significant systematic conflict between science and religion.  If this were the case, there would be a significant amount of people who reject science all together, and would not trust nor rel ..read more
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Philosophy, Science and Religion: The Mind and The Religious Experience
Small and Simple
by Eric Nielson
3y ago
I am taking an online course through Coursera on Philosophy, Science and Religion.  In the first week, Dr. Sara Lane Richie gives a series of lectures on religious belief and embodiment, with a focus on recent studies in cognitive science.  This flows remarkable well, I think, from my previous post on Testimony and the Spiritual Experience. In these lectures, Dr. Richie reviews studies which show that religious experiences are accompanied by repeatable and measurable brain activity in the subject.  And poses the question as to whether these studies disprove the claim of a spirit ..read more
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Testimony and the Spiritual Experience
Small and Simple
by Eric Nielson
3y ago
I was raised in the religious tradition of my parents, which happens to be The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Over the course of my life I have had several spiritual experiences associated with the church and my participation in it. Once I have had these experiences, I am left with a few options about what to make of these experiences.  I can attribute these experiences to emotions, psychological phenomena, or wishful thinking.  I can say that I do not know what these experiences are and remain uncommitted to them.  Or I can attribute these experiences to God ..read more
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