On The Seventh Day

It was seven forty-five in the neighborhood, in the Jackson household. It was also Sunday in the neighborhood, in the Jackson household. Witnesses were coming in fifteen minutes–at eight o’clock. Witnesses were coming for the neighborhood. Witnesses were coming for the Jackson household. Witnesses came every Sunday–no exceptions. The Jackson family sat around a card table. Shirley Jackson was a mother. Shirley Jackson was a woman. She cooked, cleaned and tended to her husband and children. She also worked part-time … Read on…

Missionary Impossible – A Slice of Real Life

I’ve worked as a letter-carrier for many years, and had just started a new delivery route at the Post Office. I was going through the usual learning curve. It’s not easy remembering 400-600 new names, not to mention which houses have dogs, which customers will constantly complain, and which ones will want to visit with me all day, telling me about their lives. As I was delivering to one particular house, I noticed a religious tract hanging on the mailbox. … Read on…

Symbols

Pro Deo, contra ecclesia ………….Fidei Corticula Crux 1. THE CROSS These Crosses are quite various in kind: the ones the Romans punished with were wood, but others have been precious metals, shined by priests with polish, symbolizing good. There’s one which, on its side, looks like an X, and symbolizes Scotland’s Saint Andrew. Another stays the vampire with its hex, though many think that simply can’t be true. The Cross Impotens, with its crutch-like ends, stands for St. Philip and … Read on…

Cromwell’s Head

Oliver Cromwell came from ambitious stock, which brought him to a bad end—two ends, in fact—and quite a long journey. His great-great granduncle, Thomas Cromwell, was chief advisor to old King Henry VIII, the one with the wives. When Henry broke with the Roman Church (1534), Thomas egged him on, even inciting the arrest and execution of his old friend Sir Thomas More, who remained loyal to Pope Clement. See “A Man for All Seasons,” a wonderful movie, for that … Read on…

Mormon Heaven Part 2 (of four)

The History of the LDS Church Let’s begin with a capsule history of the Church. The founder, Joseph Smith, was born on a farm in upstate New York in the early nineteenth century. That area later became known as The Burned-Over District, a nickname alluding to the many fire-and-brimstone preachers who roamed the area delivering jeremiads to the local residents in tent shows and so-called camp meetings, urging them to repent their sinful ways lest they burn eternally in Hell. … Read on…

Mormon Heaven Part 1 (of four)

Author’s Note: I hope readers will forgive the somewhat ironic tone. I thought skeptical readers might allow some latitude, enabling me to get by with a slight tinge of irony; in any case, it’s the way I both think and write, and there’s little I can do about it. If I have offended, however unintentionally, anyone’s sober sensibilities, I apologize in advance. My Background I don’t claim to be an authority on Mormon theology, but having grown up in a … Read on…