“By his grace ye may be perfect in Christ”: Some LDS thoughts on Grace and Commandments

Martin Luther dismissed the Sermon on the Mount as “the devil’s masterpiece” (ein Meister Stuck des Teuffels, German spelling as in original) (“Das heißt ein Meister Stuck des Teufels”, D. Martin Luthers Werke (Weimar, 1906), vol. 6, pg. 10). Luther called the Sermon on the Mount “the devil’s masterpiece” because, as he surmised in the essay, “the devil so masterfully distorts and perverts (verdrehet und verkeret) Christ’s true meaning through his Apostle [Matthew] especially in the fifth chapter”. (See the discussion of this, which includes the above quote, in John W. Welch, The Sermon on the Mount in the Light of the Temple, pg. 36 (London: Ashgate, 2009)). Martin Luther appears to have believed that Christ’s teachings in the Sermon on the Mount (as recorded by Matthew) weren’t compatible with what he (Luther) wanted the Gospel to mean, based on his own selection and elevation of a few verses from Paul over the rest of the corpus of scripture.

A Pioneer Day Reflection on Americana at the Salt Lake Tabernacle

On July 3 my oldest daughter and I were fortunate enough to attend our Uncle Jim’s organ concert in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. We were in Salt Lake City for a family funeral but the Fourth of July atmosphere and its expression in the organ concert lifted our spirits as we enjoyed a fantastic performance of a variety of celebrations of America in music in what is, for us, a special place.

Our Dead IV

Part III, Part II ½, Part II, Part I.

My great-great-great grandfather Alfred Parker Balls lived the early part of his life in a Dickensian nightmare. We celebrated Memorial Day this year in his old haunts in the Lowestoft area, England’s most easterly point, where he experienced a combination of Great Expectations, Hard Times, and Bleak House during his childhood.

A Note on Revelation

I have always loved the Doctrine & Covenants and am excited for this year’s focus on that book of scripture in Sunday School.

The Influence of Education

Kudos to a New York University journalism student in Prague for an interesting story that involves Mormons and religion (ht:T&S).

Drafts

It’s funny but with this new WordPress dashboard all of my drafts appear to have been redated January 1, 1970.

Early Bloomers

In England they start kids off on an activist career very young, it seems.

DEM DEUTSCHEN VOLKE

The Federal Republic of Germany turns eighteen today — at least in its reunified form. On October 3, 1990 the official Reunification of a country divided for 45 years by what seemed an insurmountable geopolitical estrangement took place in Berlin, the besieged city at the very heart of the Cold War. The scene played out on the steps of the famous Reichstag building upon which the words in the title of this post are inscribed just below the pediment: DEM DEUTSCHEN VOLKE — “To the German people”.

BOMB*: A Homily on Deliverance for Rosh Hashanah

The sons of mothers and fathers who prostrated themselves before a hostile army to be slaughtered at will for their religious beliefs (Alma 24:21) knew that there were worse things in this world than dying firm in their faith —

For Shame

Bookslinger is still on the Lord’s errand, slinging his books and other Gospel materials.