Just trying to keep the discussion light so that the thread isn't shut down again.

What do each of you believe about reincarnation? I was at a Women of Faith Conference last weekend and I came upon some Christians that believed it was possible within the tenents of Christianity. I personally don't believe in it, but I was wondering what you all thought and why.

Yes, what is up with Archuletta's dad?

All things are possible with God, but I don't see any scripture that says it happens/happened.

The destiny of the Human Soul, scripturally speaking, is resurrection not reincarnation.

Can you believe that about Archuleta's dad? I always thought he seemed a little skeevy during AI two seasons ago.

Turns out this little "massage parlor" is about five blocks from my office.

Well, that explains it then. All things are possible, but our destination is resurrection.

I was just tossing the archuletta softball up there. I hadn't read the story but know but there for the Grace of God...

This is an interesting article about Mormons from the findings of the Pew Research Forum - I'm not the Joel that wrote it.


Mormon Media Observer: 10 Mormon things
By Joel Campbell
Wednesday, Jul. 29, 2009



A new analysis of a national study has been getting some media hits, but most reporting is only giving some quick and quirky snapshots. The Mormon Media Observer takes a deeper look at what the numbers say about Latter-day Saints.

On Pioneer Day, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released one in a series of portraits of American faith groups, this time about Latter-day Saints. There were both some predictable and not-so-predictable statistics in the report.

1. A conservative bunch

Dan Gilgoff, a blogger at U.S. News and World Report, picked on the fact that Latter-day Saints are more Republican than white evangelicals. Gilgoff wrote:

"Six-in-ten Mormons identify as conservative, about three-in-ten (27 percent) say they consider themselves moderate and only one-in-ten identify as liberal. This is in stark contrast to the general population, in which roughly a third identify as conservative (37
percent), a third as moderate (36 percent) and 20 percent as liberal. . . Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of Mormons say they identify with or lean toward the Republican party, 15 percentage points higher than among members of evangelical
churches (50 percent) and 30 points higher than among the general population (35 percent). Just one-fifth of Mormons (22 percent) say they are Democrats and the remainder say they do not favor either party."

2. Active in religious observance

The Pew study says: "Mormons are among the most active of the major
religious traditions in terms of attendance at religious services.

Fully three-quarters (76 percent) say they attend church at least once a week, compared with 39 percent among the general population. Only among Jehovah's Witnesses do as many say they attend services at least weekly (82 percent). A similar pattern is seen when it comes to frequency of prayer and Scripture reading. Three-quarters of Mormons (76 percent) say they read Scripture outside of religious services at least once a week, more than double the figure among the general population (35 percent). More than nine-in-ten Mormons pray at least once a week, with 82 percent praying daily. And a majority of Mormons (55 percent) say they receive a direct answer to a specific prayer request at least once a month."

3. Religion is important in life

"More than eight-in-ten (83 percent) Mormons say religion is very important in their lives, compared with 56 percent of the general population. On this measure, Mormons are similar to members of evangelical (79 percent) and historically black (85 percent) Protestant churches and Jehovah's Witnesses (86 percent)."

The Mormons surveyed in the Landscape Survey, conducted in 2007, are nearly unanimous in voicing a belief in God. Fully 100 percent say they believe in God or a supreme being, which is higher than among any other religious group. Moreover, nine-in-ten Mormons (90 percent) are absolutely certain in this belief. A similar proportion (91 percent) sees God as a person with whom one can have a relationship. These numbers are considerably higher among Mormons than among the general population.


4. Mormons make up less than 2 percent of the U.S. population

"Mormons make up 1.7 percent of the American adult population, a proportion that is comparable in size to the U.S. Jewish population. By contrast, members of evangelical Protestant churches and Catholics each make up roughly a quarter of the adult population (26.3 percent and 23.9 percent, respectively), and 16.1 percent of Americans say they are unaffiliated with any particular religion."

5. U.S. church membership is concentrated in the West

"The Mormon population in the U.S. is heavily concentrated in the West (76 percent). In fact, roughly one-third of all American Mormons (35 percent) live in Utah, the state founded by its early leaders. An additional 13 percent live in California, while 7 percent reside in Idaho, 5 percent in Nevada and 4 percent each in Oregon and Arizona. Only about one-in-ten Mormons (12 percent) live in the South (including 4 percent who reside in Texas), 7 percent live in the Midwest and just 4 percent reside in the Northeast."

6. Marriage rates among the highest

"Nearly three-quarters of Mormons (71 percent) are married, compared with just more than half (54 percent) among the general population. Only Hindus (78 percent) are more likely than Mormons to be married. Mormons (83 percent) and Hindus (90 percent) also are the most likely of all the major religious traditions to be married to someone of the same faith."

7. Race

"Nearly nine-in-ten Mormons in the U.S. (86 percent) are white, compared with 71 percent of the general population. Just 3 percent of Mormons are African-American and 7 percent are Latino."

8. LDS feel threatened by Hollywood

The Salt Lake Tribune focused on an off-the-wall result in the survey, the fact that Mormons feel more threatened by Hollywood than members of other religions do. The
study said 68 percent agree their values are often threatened by the entertainment industry, which is much lower among the general population, of which about 42 percent feel threatened.

9. Education

"Mormons are significantly more likely than the population overall to have some college education. Six-in-ten Mormons (61 percent) have at least some college education, compared with half of the overall population. However, the proportion of Mormons who graduate from college (18 percent) or receive postgraduate education (10 percent) is similar to the population as a whole (16 percent and 11 percent, respectively)."

10. South rich in converts

"Nonconverts are concentrated in the West (84 percent), but converts are more dispersed throughout the U.S. Half of converts live in the West (53 percent), but nearly a quarter live in the South (22 percent), 14 percent live in the Midwest and 11 percent reside in the Northeast."

I have had an eventful summer as I just completed my first triathlon and just published a book for work.

Here's a link to my book on Amazon:

My Book

Congrats on the book! Want me to review it for you? "I bought Mr. Joel's book and now I'm making money hand-over-fist in my part time trading in 1031's".



What length triathlon? The swimming would get me if it were more than a lap or 2 of the pool

It was an Olympic distance triathlon - The Spudman in Burley, ID.

1 mile swim
25 mile bike
6.2 mile run

It was very fun. I'm right now looking around for more that I can participate in.

As for the book, it's really just a glorified version of a business brochure. Kind of a way for us to be able to say "we're the best at TIC/1031 transactions - I mean our founder wrote the book on it." You know what I mean?

I'm a little embarrassed by it to tell the truth.

hehe, nah. Any time you can put that kind of effort into a project there's nothing wrong with tooting your own horn a bit. Reviewers will say if they think you know your stuff, but just to get it into a book and on Amazon is miles ahead of everyone else.