Just a few comments on past episodes and suggestions for future episodes:

I am fascinated by what some characterize as the “unwritten laws of Church”. Your discussion of the Sacrament in Episode 6 was very enlightening. As a YM President, I once had a dear sister take me aside and inform me that she had caught one of the deacons holding the tray in his left hand, and informed me that I immediately needed to teach the deacons the correct way to hold a tray. I went to the church handbook of instructions and read very carefully through each of the ordinances. I noted that many of the ordinances had very specific instructions as to which hand to raise, how to form a circle, etc. However, I could not find any reference in the instructions on passing and taking the sacrament that required the use of the right hand. It seems ridiculous to me that, if the ordinance is only valid if performed using the right hand, that the leadership of the church would allow so many people to participate in invalid ordinances by leaving out this important instruction. Still, I recently had an ex-stake president remark to me that I had to accept and obey the fact that the Sacrament must be taken with the right hand, and then that someday I would gain a testimony of the importance of this requirement.

I would also enjoy an episode on the importance of following instructions or commandments that seem to have fallen by the wayside over the years. The oldest obvious example is the restriction on eating pork or meat from other unclean beasts as found in the Old Testament. I cannot find a reference where that commandment was rescinded, but no one pays any attention to it anymore. In the latter-day church, several commandments from the days of Brigham Young seem to have fallen by the wayside. For example, the length of skirts and the covering on one’s head. Some seem to hang on forever, even though no current church leaders have reinforced them as being important in our day. Many members still hold to the importance of following those “commandments”. One example is the restriction against using “face” cards and dice implemented by Brigham Young on the pioneer trek. I can find no references to this restriction in nearly 50 years, yet some members still feel strongly that face cards are the tool of the devil. Unfortunately, if this is the case, millions of new members are living in sin without even knowing it. Other rules that seem to have fallen by the wayside include interracial dating, drinking cola drinks, making your own clothing, and even more recently, President Kimball’s admonition for every member to have and care for a vegetable garden. While I would not argue that any of these are necessarily poor ideas, the fact that the church no longer stresses these issues would indicate to me that perhaps these are no longer required to be a member in good standing. Still, there are many “old guard” members that judge new members by these standards. Fun question: How long must a “commandment” be ignored in general conference before we are no longer required to live it? (Observation: I think it is rare that a single conference ever goes by without every commandment found in the temple recommend interview being mentioned at least once.)

Just as a fun observation, when I served my mission in South Africa in the early 1970’s, one of the AP’s found an old mission rules manual (probably 30-50 years old). In the manual was a requirement that every missionary drink two glasses of luke-warm water immediately upon arising every morning. His verdict was that since he could not find anywhere that this mission rule was ever rescinded, we were all required to begin to immediately follow the rule. I have never tasted anything much more nasty that luke-warm African tap water before even having a chance to brush your teeth. Thankfully, our mission president took pity on us and rescinded the rule about two months after the AP had dug it up.

Finally, I think a really fun discussion would be on the differences on how the church varies from one stake to another. I know it is one church and one gospel, but every stake president has the right to interpret the handbook rules to the best of their ability in accordance with their inspiration as to what is best for their stake. Still, I see huge differences. For example, our stake has a firm rule that no music may be used in any Sacrament Meeting or Funeral unless it is found in one of three sources: the official Hymn book, the Children’s Songbook, or the church-published Choir Songbook. This means no classical piano pieces, no Handel’s Messiah or Oh Holy Night, etc. Some families have been extremely upset when requesting favorite pieces for the funeral of a loved one. Still, I would presume that a Stake President has as much right to set such rules for his stake as a parent would for their family. It would be fun to hear how different Stake Presidents have interpreted the handbook in different stakes.

Again, thanks for the podcast and keep up the great work.

If anyone wants to email me more information about the above mentioned problems, I’d love to work on them. Any and all specifics are helpful. I’m curious to know if the downloaded files show correct durations? But then start replaying midway?

You can send info to brothermitch [at] mormonpotluck [dot] com. Thanks

This episode downloaded and played just fine for me.