Relying on evidence...

My sister has recently gone inactive. Actually she has become Agnostic. She says that she doesn't beleive in God anymore because bad things happen to people. She's currently in the Job Corps, is surrounded by the dregs of society. Most of the people there are kids that society (and their family) have given up on. They are mostly high school dropouts and have been in trouble with the law etc. They are often people who come from abusive homes etc. One kid she knows has been addicted to Meth since he was like 10. His mother made him do it, to get him to help out around the house or some such nonsense. My sister thinks that a just God wouldn't have allowed that to happen. She is taking evidence around her and basing her decision on that.

I guess I can understand her frustration. Many people go through the period she is going through. She is seeing some pretty messed up people. It may be years before she comes back, she may possibly never come back. Believing in God can be difficult to do, I understand that. I have seen my fair share of messed up people on my mission. What I don't understand is why she started drinking and smoking.

My sister is taking evidence around her to base her non-belief in God. Why is she not using evidence in her decision to drink and smoke. Hasn't she seen how alcohol and other addictions have destroyed these very same people she is basing her decision to not beleive in God on? Alcoholism runs in my family. My father had it, my grandfather, grandmother and a few of my uncles had it. Hasn't she seen people who have died from lung cancer, how it becomes a ball and chain, controlling peoples lives.

What about that evidence?

Some suggestions for the wives out there...

http://theresurgence.com/md_blog_2006-11-03_evangelical_leader_quits

With the recent recent Ted Haggart contraversy, some evangelicals have been doing damage control. One evangelical blogger is making suggestions to help pastors to avoid bad situations. Some of what he said makes a lot of sense, but one suggestion kind of sticks out.

It is not uncommon to meet pastors’ wives who really let themselves go; they sometimes feel that because their husband is a pastor, he is therefore trapped into fidelity, which gives them cause for laziness. A wife who lets herself go and is not sexually available to her husband in the ways that the Song of Songs is so frank about is not responsible for her husband’s sin, but she may not be helping him either.

So, I've been married for over 7 years now, and sometimes my wife "let(s) herself go". You know, I sometimes get the hankering for a male prostitute and some Meth.

CTR vs. WWJD

I’m not sure who came up with CTR, but I have always liked the acronym. It’s a simple reminder to make right decisions. At first, I didn’t like WWJD because of the fact that it may invoke the saviors name too often. I think that some people use WWJD in a flagrant way still. However, I was thinking about these two acronyms the other day and I started applying them into certain situations. In a way, WWJD is superior in some ways, and CTR is superior in others.

Choose the Right. In some ways it’s a subjective term. What’s right in a given situation? CTR gives the person more leeway to decide what is right. This is good because what’s right in one situation can be wrong in another. It fits in perfectly with free will. It’s good points can also be its bad points.

What Would Jesus Do? This is less subjective. If you are in any situation, think to yourself “WWJD?” If Jesus wouldn’t perform that act, then you shouldn’t do it. It’s that simple.

Let’s use Torture for example.

CTR. The internal thinking would be something like this “Should I torture this person? Well, torturing this person might help us back home. That’s a good thing right? Nephi was told to kill Laban, so, as long as it’s for good, I guess torture is the right thing to do…"

WWJD. “Would Jesus torture people? No, I guess he wouldn’t”

WWJD, I think can actually help us keep the savior in mind more often when making decisions than CTR. In some ways I like it better, but probably wouldn’t wear the T-Shirt.

I’m just sayin’

Greater love hath no man than this...

One of my favorite scriptures is John 15:13, it reads "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

Not all of us will be able to do this for others. It's not often that we will have to sacrifice our lives to save another, at least I hope not to be put in that position. Movies where a main character chooses to sacrifice him or herself for the others nearly always touch me in some way, even if it's a lame movie. Unless of course it's Armageddon where Bruce Willis sacrifices himself. I don't mind watching him die :-) The other movie however that breaks me down to tears is Deep Impact. I am touched by the sacrifice of the astronauts and their sacrifice, and the family that sends Elijah Wood and their daughter with the baby off to safety. I always break into tears. You can tell which of the two movies I like the best :-)

What I love to hear more than anything are true stories of this kind of self sacrifice. I read an article today in ABC news of a Navy SEAL who smothered a grenade to save his comrades. I'm sure he could have easily jumped the other direction in an effort to try and save himself. Instead, he must have realized that he could save more lives if he sacrificed himself. That man is a true hero.

I sometimes wonder if I could make that kind of sacrifice. Of course hope that I would. I may never have the chance to jump on a bomb or push someone out of the way of a train or a car only to be hit myself, but I do have the oppurtunity give of my time and talents to my family and friends and to the church. This can be a true challenge. I've heard that it is easer to die for the lord than it is to live for him. I beleive this to be true. This, however, does not take away from those like the Navy SEAL who sacrificed himeself for the greater good. He made the ultimate sacrifice. As Spock said (many times over the period of three movies) "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one". On a side note, Star Trek II where spock dies is also a tear jerker for me. Amazing Grace on bagpipes is always a tear jerker...

SEAL Falls on Grenade to Save Comrades

"Nothing happens in contradiction to nature"

I was watching the X-Files the other day, and I came across this gem of a quote.

Nothing happens in contradiction to nature, only in contradiction to what we know of it. -Dana Scully

To me this summarizes the relationship between Science and Religion. Just because science cannot prove that there is a spirit, doesn't mean that it isn't so. Science has just not reached the point where it can study the spirit. This can be applied to all other gospel concepts that cannot be proven through science.

I'm sure there are others who beleive this, but I love the quote. I'll probably be using it in my signature on discussion forums.

The Truth is out there.

U.S. National Slavery Museum

The U.S. National Slavery Museum project has been ongoing for over 10 years. They want to make a museum dedicated to the rememberance of slavery. I personally think it's a great idea. Slavery was so horribly dispicable that we absolutely HAVE to remember what happened. We must stare the act straight in the eye. By doing this, perhaps we can keep the beast at bay and never partake in it again.

My skin crawls when I think about treating human beings like animals. Slavery is nothing short of turture in and of itself.

I donated to the cause. You should think about it. We can't forget.

Donate
CNN Story

Donny Osmond and Weird Al make a great team.

I am a big Weird Al fan so I have been waiting for his new album to arrive. It will be here on September 26th. Anywho, one of the songs included is "White and Nerdy", a parody of Chamillionaire's "Ridin' Dirty" (a song I hadn't really heard). Al released a video of the song and guess who's in it. You guessed it, Donny Osmond. He's dancing around like a complete idiot. I was laughing so hard. Very funny. Check it out.

Watch the Video here. You have to scroll down a little. Here is a link to a section in wikipedia about the song.

Long live Weird Al.

Hate has a new voice...

When I think about white supremacy, usually skin heads and punk rock music are what I think of. I am not so naive to think that all white supremists are punk rockers or that they listen to punk music, it's just the steriotype.

Anyway, be prepared for kinder, gentler hate. I just heard of two teen twin sisters (say that 10 times real fast) who are making music that is "is intended for white people,". So declares their website.

It's always sad to me to see young people spreading what is ignorance and hate. They claim to be trying to "preserve" the white race, and not spreading hatred. Fundamentally, they feel that the white race is superior. "Preserving the white race" is much more PC than hating all others.

I hope this doesn't start a trend. We already have to worry about sex and violence in pop music, I would hate to now have to monitor "white pride."

I guess this is nothing new, there is plenty of music out there that promotes hatred of white people.

http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=2449483&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312ABC News

What the gospel can do for you...

When I was between the age of 4-5, I had a girlfriend. Her name was Cansey. She had red hair. I once told my parents that she had beautiful blonde hair. I of course thought that blonde was another way of saying beautiful. Probably because I had heard others talk about girls with "beautiful blonde hair". Regardless, this is one of the stories that my mom has told for years. Probably the only reason I remember the story at all. My only brief memory of her is that she kissed me on the back while I was walking home from her house. She moved away before school started, and in the back of my mind I always wondered about her. You know, first love and all. I guess it is one of those fond memories I like to look back on.

Recently, I have started scouring the internet to find people who I used to know. I have recently come in contact with a couple of people from high school and one kid from elementary school who I only remember because I have him in some pictures from a field day, and the fact that we called him kissyfur because of the cartoon by that name and the fact that his name was Kristopher. Anyway, I decided to look up Cansey the other day. I found her, but in one of the most unlikely places.

I went to google and typed in her name. I happen to know her full name so it made things easier. I highly doubt that there are too many people with the same name anyway. I don't remember what exact combination I used, but eventually I found someone with the same name in the same general area that I thought she should live in and the right age. I found her on the county sherrifs web site. No, she isn't an officer there, she is an inmate. The website shows current inmates in the system so she is in Jail as I type this post. It says she is in for parole violation, but a glance at the picture shows sores on her mouth, a dazed look on her face and she has the appearance of a 40 year old. She is 31 as of August. It's pretty obvious that she is there because of drugs.

I can't help but remember that we both were once happy, playful children. We lived in the same trailer park. We were merely three trailers down the road from each other. We are the same age. What a difference time can make. I have three beautiful children and a wonderful family. I have made mostly good choices in my life. I give all the credit to the spirit of God. My parents were also a good influence on me, though they were not perfect and we didn't always go to church (father was a non-member).

I can't help but wonder what went wrong in her life. What influences did she have? My heart goes out to her, and I am seriously considering sending her a letter. I don't know what I would say. Perhaps it wouldn't do any good, but perhaps it would. Maybe I should only pray for her.

It only illistrates to me that anything can happen to anybody. Anyone can make the wrong choices and end up like the sweet little girl I used to know, in peril and in desperate need to the gospel or some other good influence in their lives.

To me she will always be that "beautiful blonde" redheaded girl I knew when I was knee high to a grasshopper.

God Bless you Cansey.

Bush says U.S. seeing religious reawakening

Source

This is a pretty strange claim. To me it's somthing coming from left field. Where is he seeing this "reawakening"? I personally don't see it at all.

Does anyone else have any imput on this subject. Perhaps someone can point out where he is getting this evidence.

Coming to an LDS clothing store near you...

Muslim Swimwear

What do you think? Is this the next trend in LDS clothing?

He! He!

If you had any questions before about Isreal, they have been answered

In my limited reading about the last days and the battle of Armageddon, I had read that all nations would gather against Israel, and that at the last minute, the lord would come and deliver them. Because of this scriptural understanding, I had always, at least in the back of my mind, had support or at least sympathy for Israel.

My question has always been "What would make the world come up against Isreal?"

Well, I think that question has been answered. Granted, I don't think that the time for the second coming is that close. There are far too many things to happen, but what is happening between Isreal and Hezbullah right now makes me wonder what is in the future for Isreal.

The Israeli justice minister Haim Ramon announced on Israeli army radio Thursday that "all those in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbullah."

Source

Apparently though, on Israel’s list of terrorists are children. Sunday morning they bombed a building that housed sleeping civilians, mostly children. Of the 54 deaths, most of them were children.

Why didn't they evacuate the area? Why didn't they leave; partly because Isreal is blowing up many of the vehicles that are leaving? What exactly do they expect the refugees to do?

Source

Well, if the world teams up against Isreal at this point, I can hardly blame them. It also saddens me that the U.S. isn't doing much to help bring about a cease-fire. More and more innocents are dying while we wait for a cease-fire that will be "permanent" and "lasting". I personally don't understand why a temporary cease-fire will be detrimental to a long term resolution.

Orrin Hatch is underhanded

The hoo-ha over the "flag burning" amendment is completely ridiculous. I really don't understand the need to create a law outlawing the desecration of the flag. It stinks of idol worship if you ask me.

It is painfully obvious that this whole thing is another ploy by the Republicans to paint the Democrats as "un-American". Hatch pretty much affirms this when he said "I think this is getting to where they are not going to be able to escape the wrath of the voters,"

He is all but admitting that he hopes that this vote will hurt Democrats. I have noticed that Hatch is fond of being under-handed. I think he is an embarrassment to the church. Not for his stands on issues, but his underhanded and vicious style of politics. He is as bad as Carl Rove.

This is a completely un-necessary amendment. I think it undermines freedom of speech and it is a form of idol worship, something that many people are guilty of. Honoring the flag is one thing, but worshipping it by outlawing any desecration of it is going too far.

What say ye?


New York Times Article

An open apology to a former sister missionary

An open apology.

When I was on my mission in Arcadia California, while serving in the Glendale Stake my companion was a district leader over a pair of sister missionaries. Because they had a phenomenal amount of baptisms, and they were always asking for help, I got to know the pair quite a bit. I felt a kind of fondness for the junior companion. She had a tremendous smile that would win anyone over. She was funny and smart. Most importantly, she thought I was funny.

I went home probably 6-8 months before her release date, so, after I went home I decided to write her. She wrote me back. We began to write each other. I told her that I wanted to visit her in Utah when she got home. I had always wanted to go to Utah anyway.

A few months after I got home, I found a singles ward. I realized how difficult it would be for me to make it to Utah. I’m from a relatively poor family, and I had no college under my belt and the job I had was really crappy. Truthfully, I couldn’t see doing that sort of thing. Frankly, I was ready to get married, and waiting for her to get home, making an overwhelming life change to make it to Utah, and then things possibly not working out for us was a fear.

In the end, I met a wonderful girl and we were married, actually a few months before this Sister missionary I was writing would get home.

Needless to say, I lost track of the Sister Missionary.

One day, shortly after I got married I was thinking about her. I realized that I might have hurt her. I recalled her telling me one time that one of the reasons she had left on a mission was because she had been engaged, and the guy dumped her. This built a lot of guilt for me. I realized that I may have done the same thing to her. I decided I should call her and apologize. I tracked down the other Sister Missionary that served in that area over the Internet and called her. She got in touch with her while I was on the phone. I was told to never call back.

I hadn’t realized I had hurt her that badly. The guilt is still there today. It’s something that I am having trouble getting rid of. I had a dream last night that I saw this sister missionary and I was trying to apologize to her. She kept running away. Telling me to go away. I asked her if we could be friends and she shunned me. This is all I have been thinking about today.

I think I would feel better if I could just tell her that I was sorry, that I was an unfeeling jerk.

So, if you are out there, I am truly sorry. I was un-deserving of you anyway.

-Ian

To eat or not to eat...

When I was in the Teachers quorum and after the sacriment was over, while putting away the sacriment trays etc., we would eat the bread. I don't recall if this was sanctioned by our advisor or not. I never saw a problem with it, and I would rather eat the excess bread than just throw it away.

Has anyone heard anything official about this? Is it sacriledge to eat the bread in this way? What say ye?

Cleanliness is next to Godliness

I have personally wondered who came up with that statement. I have always thought it was bunk, until now. My family decided to try an experiment, we decided to let the house get to be a total disaster and see if we can get close to God, and still be messy.

Ok, so that last statement was mostly a lie. We let the house get messy because we are on the lazy side. Ok, maybe lazy is too weak a word; perhaps I should say that we are both (a) packrats, and (b) slobs. I can say that because my wife usually doesn’t read my blog. If you are reading it sweetheart, I mean slob in the best possible way J. I would also add that I am a bigger slob than she is, for what it’s worth.

So, our house has been messy for say, ever since we have been married. We have been married nearly seven years, and the house has been clean, truly clean only a handful of times. I’m not talking bacteria infested, filthy dirty or anything, I’m talking boxes piled everywhere, clothes hanging off of everything, toys scattered everywhere. Yes, we would clean the living room and the kid’s rooms superficially. Things looked decent, but there was always an underlying mess.

We moved into a rental a little less than a year ago. The rental was brand new, so the owner came by to do a first year inspection for warranty purposes. Since our house was a deep-seated mess, we decided that we didn’t want the owner coming into this place and it be a total mess. My wife, with some help from my Mom got cleaning. It took about three days to get to what most people would call normal. I applaud them for their hard work. Rest assured, I bought my wife flowers. (In my defense, I work full time and am taking two college courses, Math and history, which are like a full time job for me)

Long story short, the spirit in our house has completely changed. My wife feels much more relaxed. She doesn’t feel the weight of a dirty house. She no longer feels like spending a little time on the computer is wasting her time that she should be using to clean. (Oops, maybe she will read my blog now) The kids aren’t fighting as much. Everything is much calmer. I think the spirit may very well be more able to dwell in our home. Perhaps not because of the cleanliness itself, but because it is easier for us to act in ways that invite the spirit in more because of the cleanliness.

I personally feel that, when everything is disorganized, somehow your brain gets all mixed up and confounded and you are more likely to get frustrated and/or angry.

Perhaps cleanliness is next to Godliness.

C.S. Lewis on Mormonism...maybe.

We bought the DVD of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and my kids (6 and 3) love it. I decided to start reading the book to them. I also decided to go through the beginning of the others to find which book was what. In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (my favorite when I was younger), the first paragraph has something in it that I found quite odd. Here is what it says;

There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. His parents called him Eustace Clarence, and he masters called him Scrubb. I can't tell you how his friends spoke to him for he had none. He didn't call his Father and Mother "Father" and "Mother", but Harold and Alberta. They were very up-to-date and advanced people. They were vegitarians, non-smokers and tee-totalers, and wore a special kind of underclothes. In their house there was very little furniture and very few clothes on beds and the windows were always open. (bold mine)

My question is, were Eustices parents Mormon? I mean he seems to be describing the Word of Wisdom, and the wearing of garments. If indeed he was describing Mormons, then I wonder if he was making a statement about Mormons in general. Eustice isn't a very pleasant or smart boy at all. He is a book worm with no imagination and no friends.

I would love to know more about what he thought of the church.

Battle Hymn of the Republic

Having read a post at the Blogger of Jared on The War Prayer by Mark Twain, I decided to look the story up online to learn a little more about it. What I found was another commentary by Mark Twain on war. This time in the form of a parody of the Battle Hymn of the Republic. I think that his commentary is just as valid today as it was when he wrote this piece which was most likely about the Philippine-American War from 1899-1902.

Battle Hymn of the Republic
(Brought Down to Date)
Mark Twain(1900?)


Mine eyes have seen the orgy of the launching of the Sword;
He is searching out the hoardings where the stranger's wealth is stored;
He hath loosed his fateful lightnings, and with woe and death has scored;
His lust is marching on.

I have seen him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps;
They have builded him an altar in the Eastern dews and damps;
I have read his doomful mission by the dim and flaring lamps --
His night is marching on.

I have read his bandit gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
"As ye deal with my pretensions, so with you my wrath shall deal;
Let the faithless son of Freedom crush the patriot with his heel;
Lo, Greed is marching on!"

We have legalized the strumpet and are guarding her retreat;*
Greed is seeking out commercial souls before his judgement seat;
O, be swift, ye clods, to answer him! be jubilant my feet!
Our god is marching on!

In a sordid slime harmonious Greed was born in yonder ditch,
With a longing in his bosom -- and for others' goods an itch.
As Christ died to make men holy, let men die to make us rich --
Our god is marching on.

Snark Wars: The Snarker Menace, or the Empsnarker Strikes Back

Has anyone been following the snark wars here at the Bloggernackle? I have only caught bits and pieces of it. Apparently the Snarker is being too snarky and got kicked off the 'nackle.

So, if they make a movie about it, who will play the snarker? Jim Carrey?

AAAA (American Association Against Acronyms)

I (for the most part) hate acronyms!

Recently, in the bloggernacle, have come across several acronyms that I couldn't figure out. One I have yet to figure out is DH. In context, the H is probably for Husband. What is the D for? In baseball the DH is designated hitter, so is DH the Designated Husband? As I write this I am guessing that the D stands for "dear", but I could be wrong.

Some acronyms are understandable, like LDS. I'm pretty sure that most people in the 'nacle know what that is.

Acronyms are supposed to save time, but I have found that they don't always. They may save time for the writer, but not necessarily for the reader. Just today I was reading a blog and this handy acronym showed up. It was four letters. The sentence that it referenced was not in the post but was in a reply. When I read the acronym, I wasn't sure what it meant. I decided to go up the replies (there were many replies) to find out what it meant. I never did find out what the heck it meant.

So, perhaps I am wondering if we need to post a page with different acronyms that are commonly used so that Acronym Challenged (AC) people can be able to understand some posts better.

You too could be a hypocrite!

One thing I have been pondering for a while is regarding abortion. I have two questions

1. How can one consider themselve Pro Life and yet be pro war and pro death penalty.

2. How can one argue against the death penalty and against all war because of humane reasons, but be pro abortion?

Just some things that don't add up in my mind.

Outcast Genius

I took one of those lame surveys online the other day, and this one was to determine if I was either a Dork, a Geek or a Nerd.

It turns out that I am an outcast Genius.

What that means is that, I am too cool for the Geeks, Dorks, or Nerds, but I am not cool enough for the other people.

In other words, I don't fit in in either group.

This is true. Judging from the fact that I have zero friends. Friends from high school don't even reply to my emails. I can't even get anyone to reply to my blogs. I don't hang out with anyone from church. There was a going away get together for a sister from the ward whose husband had died in a plane crash only months ago, and suprisingly enough, my wife and I were invited (mostly because of my wife). I didn't partake in any conversations because, well, they were about cars or other stuff. I tried starting a conversation or two, but to no avail.

The truth is, I am never interested in the same things as anyone else I meet.

What to do? That's why I started going to blogs. I thought I could meed some really cool people here, have some interesting conversation. I think that I have accoplished that. There are some great people on the bloggernacle and some good conversation. But, alas, i'm not sure that I fit in here either. Again, Outcast Genius.

The Princess Bride

This is one of my favorite movies, and it's a really good book too.

The author claims that it is an abridgement of a book by an S. Morganstern. He says that the book was written many years ago and that he took all the boring parts out.

Well, all of this was fiction. There was no S. Morganstern and there was no other book. He just made it all up. To me, it shows the genious of William Goldman. I was so intrigued by his story.

It's a crazy world isn't it.

Pope elects new Cardinals... Help open china?

Recently, the Pope elected 15 new Cardinals. According to this article, one of the new cardinals is from Hong Kong, and has been outspoken about allowing the church into China.

Hopefully this Cardinal will be able to help move things along in China. I am wondering if anyone knows of the steps that the LDS church is making to help open China? I wonder how the Church and the Catholic church could work together to make this happen?

Gods Faith?

I have been pondering the need for faith recently because of a thread on a discussion forum. The question was "Why do we need faith?". The question was posed by an atheist, so I didn't want to approach the answer by saying "Because that's what the scriptures say." I knew that I would need to use the scriptures though. Here is what I came up with. Perhaps it was a little doctrineally deep, but here is what I said anyway.

Heb. 11: 3
3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

Even God is required to have faith. The world(s) were created through faith. I think that perhaps faith is the glue that holds the universe together.

Christ Said:
Matt. 5: 48
48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

So, we are to become like God. This means that we too must learn to excercize faith.

Yes, God could show us everything, but no lesson would be learned. We will need faith in the hereafter. So, we need to learn, understand it and be able to use it while we are here.

So, my fellow bloggers. My question to you is, what does God have faith in? What does God need to have faith in to create the world(s)?

Tom Trails

Our church library recently got rid of a bunch of film strips, and I snached them up. I then checked out a projector. One of the films I got was Tom Trails. I had never seen it before so I watched the first one. I found it interesting, so I went online and decided to see if anyone had anything to say about it. I found this site tomtrails.com. They have the first five online for your viewing pleasure.

Does anyone have any memories of this film from church?

Love at Home (On tatooine)

This is funny...

What is your Mormon name?

I was browsing the Net and I came across this.

Does anyone know where this perception of weird names comes from. I know that most people would think that names from the Book of Mormon are weird, but do "Mormons", or at least people from Utah have wierd names?

My Mormon name is Irelan Azer Baloo!
What's yours?

A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest, hmmmm

Several months ago I was asked by a discussion forum owner if I would join her forum to discuss Mormonism. She found out through a different blog that I was LDS, and she wanted an LDS perspective on some gospel ideas and she wanted to know a few things about our beliefs.

The discussions went fine for a few months and the forum owner was pleased with my responses and everything seemed hunky dory. A couple of other LDS people came on as well and everything was great. A couple of people were mildly critical of the church, but noting major. Normal stuff really.

Things started going down hill. I must give all the credit to a convert to the church going by the username hitchiker. He knows his stuff much better than I and I think he is a writer by trade. He did a spectacular job of explaining things that I couldn't find the words to say. He has a deeper grasp of gospel principles than I do in some cases. (Hitchiker, if you blog here, drop me a note.

These "christians" were becoming vicious and they continually told us what we beleive etc. etc. ect. The normal stuff that these guys do when they feel somehow threatened by us. They blew off everything we had to say. Recently, I got frustrated that they weren't listening to what we were saying and decided to bow out of the discussions. Neither of us were trying to convert them, we were trying to reach an uderstanding really. Hitchiker finally washed his hands of the situation as well.

But that isn't what this post was about. Ever since I quit posting in this Christian forum, I still go back and read what these guys have to say. There are three of these guys that are all from different christian churches. They all seemed in perfect agreement when they were united in "evangelizing" us heathens. But now that their opposition is gone, they are left to themselves.

Now to the point of the post. They are actually arguing against each other. Two other threads have broken off from the Mormon thread. One is the discussion of the necesity of baptism. Some think it is, some think it is not. The other is a discussion about the different creeds (apostolic, nicene etc.) because some think they are more important than others do.

While they were preaching to us, they made it sound like the principles and teachings in the Bible were cut and dry. According to them, the bible is perfect in every respect.

This begs the question. If the Bible is perfect in every way, then why are some of the most important aspects of the gospel still debated, like baptism, among all the Christians who have the Bible?

Like Simon and Garfunkle said "A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest."

I failed to heed to the Prophets call!

I tried to comply with the Prophets call to read the Book of Mormon in 2005, but I didn't make it. It was 11:59 New Years Eve when I realized that we hadn't finished reading The Book of Mormon. It was too late. If I had only had the foresight to read earlier in the day the 2 1/2 pages we had left, I wouldn't have been disobedient. Oh well.

All kidding aside, about 6-7 months ago, my wife suggested that we take up the Prophets counsel to read the Book of Mormon. We have been married for nearly 7 years and we have not been diligent in reading the scriptures or having FHE. So when she said we should do it, I was all for it. I just wanted to share a couple of things.

First off, I had been struggling with keeping my mind off of worldly things. I struggled and prayed and struggled some more. We have said a prayer as a family for a while now and I nearly always say my individual prayers. But doing this was not enough apparently. Almost immediately after we began reading the Book of Mormon, my mind became clear. I no longer had a desire to partake in the worldly things I'd had so much of a problem with before. It's amazing. Occasionally I will think of going back, but the desire never stays with me.

We are going to try to make some new years resolutions this year.

1. We are going to read through the Book of Mormon as a family, two pages at a time (I have a 1 year old, a three year old and a 5 year old. I'm not going to push it.)

2. We will hold FHE every Monday.

3.My wife and I are going to read each Gospel doctrine reading assignment every Wednesday, and the Priesthood/Relief society manual every Friday.

Perhaps we can finally get our act together.

Has anyone else noticed any changes as they have read the scriptures?