Wednesday, February 20, 2013

I'm not leaving the Ship of Zion

I have mentioned it before, but it bears repeating, I am conflicted many times in Church. But something mentioned in an earlier Relief Society lesson really spoke to me. It was something former President Lorenzo Snow said:

Stick to the ship of Zion. If boats come to the side, showing beautiful colors and making wonderful promises, do not get off the ship to go to the shore on any other boat; but keep on the ship. If you are badly used by any of those that are on the ship, who have not got the proper spirit, remember the ship is allright. We should not allow our minds to become soured because of anything that the people on the ship may do to us, the ship is allright, and the officers are allright, and we will be right if we stick to the ship. I can assure you it will take you right into the land of glory.

This really spoke to me. There are so many times that I hear things that bother me. That seem to fly in the face of Christ's teachings. I so often go back to what Christ taught in the 22nd chapter of Matthew:

Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment. 

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

So many things I hear in church and in the news from Christians seem to fly in the face of this. My reading of this is that God wants us love to all His children. Not just those that look like yourself. I feel that one of the reasons there are so many different peoples on this Earth is because God is testing us. If everyone were the same, it would be easy to love your neighbor. But when your neighbor is different, whether a different sex, race, gender, or sexual orientation, it shouldn't matter. 

The other problem I have is when they condemn all those outside the church. There are so many good people that are not just not Christian, Jew, or Muslim, but they are violently anti-religion. Yet they have some (if not most) of the same ethical mores as the rest of us do. Why is this? Perhaps it's because some of the things churches teach are in conflict not just with their ethical viewpoint but also conflicting with the things that the prophets and the Savior teach in their holy books. 

Was Christ intolerant? Is God a respecter of persons? No. He is not. The Bible does not teach that. Not at all. 

Many Christians state that the world today is immoral and the family is being harmed by these godless atheists and liberals. Well, this god-fearing liberal says no. The problem is very simple. It's when men and women put material concerns and money ahead of God. It's when men and women put their carnal comforts and pleasures before God. Why do people commit crimes if not for their own personal comforts and pleasures, after all?

I will say, of course, that belief in God and the acceptance of Christ as your Savior will help in this. But beyond that we need to be teaching the correct things in our churches. And we need to stop teaching things that God would not thank us for spreading in His name.

There are many people on my "ship of Zion" that are spreading things that I believe are not in God's nature, but I'm sticking to the ship regardless. 

Click and get a free Book of Mormon

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Complaints from the right

I don't seem to blog nearly as much as I ought. I do spend a lot of time on Google+ these days. But I've decided I'd like to spend a little time answering and publicizing comments that I get on there that just leave me flummoxed. 

I read some things on line and just wonder how can anyone think that? It's just insane! How can you look at the world around you and conclude that?

Anyway, the first one is to be found here: 

Google+ Thread 1

Anti gay?  Marriage "equality" is not anit gay but pro Biblical marriage.  You must be anti Christian, Jewish, and Muslim as they all promote the idea of man and woman.

Okay, this is my first problem. Biblical marriage? That implies that the government is putting the Christian church at the center of government. That is what is wrong. I am a Mormon. I accept Christ as my Lord and Savior. However, I also support keeping God and all religion out of government. You need to accept Christ, Buddha, Mohammed, Jehovah at the center of your religion of your own free will. Any time you use your religious doctrine to tell others what they can or cannot do, I have a problem with that. 

Anti women?  obama's administration has less women working and getting paid less than during Bush's terms.  Also, until Hilary's appointment they were nearly no women in high positions and there are still few.

Yes, there are far too many white men in Obama's Administration. But that's not the point. The Republican Party is anti-woman. Let me count the ways:

  • Opposition to the Violence Against Women Act
  • Opposition to contraception and a woman's right to choose
  • Opposition to the Lilly Ledbetter Act
  • Denial that there is a pay inequity by gender
You need to re-read the Constitution because Separation of Church and State is not there, and do not bring up the Federalist Papers or some Treaty that has no real bearing.  The fact is the Framers only did not want a State Established church as is in England.

Sorry. The Separation of Church and State is there. (I suppose I could bring up the 2nd Amendment and bring up that personal ownership of guns for self defense or pleasure shooting isn't in there.) However, the issue is that the First Amendment doesn't just guarantee freedom of religion, but also freedom from religion.

That means we should not use any religion to make public decisions. That means marriage equality, abortion and contraception, women's rights, and our blind support of Israel.


Good job seeing through my disguised name and seeing that I am a man (sarcasm).  I saw plenty of racism during the last election, most from a population that believed that voting for a black man simply because he was black was alright or from many on the left that would call out any opposition against obama as racism because that would be the only reason right?  So you must be racist against latinos because you do not like Rubio. You need to go back and look at history, Jim Crowe Laws written by democrats, Civil Rights was passed with a higher percentage of the GOP voting yes as opposed to a lower percentage of democrats.

Insane. Just insane. What can I say? Jim Crow law written by Democrats. Yes, I suppose. You can talk about all the bad things Democrats did in the past, and all the good things Republicans did in the past but what does it mean? What really matters is what they are doing now. And the more I watch what Republicans are doing now all I see is hate, racism, and intolerance.

You seem confused and lost, I am glad that you go to Church, hopefully you will connect to Jesus, accept him, and realize how far the left has taken us away from his teachings and God's Word.

What can I say? All I can really respond with is this from the Book of Matthew:

 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
 38 This is the first and great commandment.
 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

The Tragic Comedy of Dogs

“A dog reflects the family life. Whoever saw a frisky dog in a gloomy family, or a sad dog in a happy one? Snarling people have snarling dogs, dangerous people have dangerous ones.” 

 
 
This is Misty. Poor, dear, darling Misty. She is full of character really. First thing, she is a lady. She is full of dignity and poise. She is afraid of "being bad". She is such an introvert and doesn't want to be caught doing something that might embarass her. (Reminds me of me, actually.) She loves playing ball. 

But, unfortunately, she is paranoid. Paranoid of pills and medication. It is incredibly frustrating and - at some level - hurtful. When she refuses to take certain foods, it hurts me. It depresses me. So, yes, on some level, I am as neurotic as my dog!

A week ago, she came up lame. I tried to give her a painkiller - and, since then, she will not eat from her dog food bowl! Never mind the fact that I tried to sneak in an english muffin with jelly (!!), but still she won't eat from the bowl. Aaaarrrrggghhh!!!!!!! I can still feed her, though. I just put a scoop of the dry food in front of her on her pillow. Simple!

Still, it is incredibly frustrating. I keep on thinking any day, she'll eat out of her bowl again. Or is this permanent? The vet wants to put her on supplements. But that's impossible! She is just so obstinate. 

Do we get the dogs we deserve? Or do the dogs change to resemble us? 

If anyone has any suggestions, I am welcome to them!

Friday, February 1, 2013

What I've Read and Listened to in January

Starting this month, I'm trying to stay true to a reading challenge I took called the TBR (To Be Read) Double Dog Dare.






So, apart from my book club reads, all books will come from my backlog. I'm looking forward to clearing some of it up!

So without further ado, here goes.

The audiobooks I listened to this month are as follows:

Echo Burning (Jack Reacher #5)





Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex


Shards of Honour (Vorkosigan Saga #1)





Barrayar (Vorkosigan Saga #2)





The Warrior's Apprentice (Vorkosigan Saga #3)


The Vor Game (Vorkosigan Saga #4)




Cetaganda (Vorkosigan Saga #5)





Dracula





The books I've read on  my Kindle:

Strange Bedpersons (MIRA)





What The Lady Wants





Manhunting





Trust Me On This





Books I've Read the Old-Fashioned Way

Messages from Music and the Spoken Word  





127 Hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place





The Time Traders (Time Traders/Ross Murdock #1)






Not too shabby? Hope to read more in February!