Gotta love the recent attack by Pastor Robert Jeffress who said that people confuse morality with Christianity. Now, does he realize the implications of what he is saying there? It just amazes me the stuff they will come up with to try to discredit the church.
Actually, I recall that the savior did equate Morality with christianity in many places. I was reading tonight in John 13. He said, "A New commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another... By this shall men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" He didn't say "By this shall men know that ye are my desciples, if you beleive in the trinity". Jesus taught that his desciples will be known for their moral choices.
How wrong Pastor Jeffress is.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Making the plunge... (or, why would I go to Utah?)
I've only been to Utah twice. The first time was when I went to the MTC. The other time was when I visited my in-laws there for a week and a half. Now, I am probably going to move there, at least for about 9 months. I am actually enrolling in a program there so I can get some certifications.
I never planned on moving there. I am not a fan of the state actually. First off, the summer is freaking hot, and the drivers aren't particularly polite in my experience. It's just a flat, dry desert. I don't blame people for liking it, just, it isn't nessisarily my bag if you know what I mean. I guess there are probably worse places on Earth.
Well, at least I should be able to attend my mission reunion this year. We'll see if any of my comps that I liked show up...
I never planned on moving there. I am not a fan of the state actually. First off, the summer is freaking hot, and the drivers aren't particularly polite in my experience. It's just a flat, dry desert. I don't blame people for liking it, just, it isn't nessisarily my bag if you know what I mean. I guess there are probably worse places on Earth.
Well, at least I should be able to attend my mission reunion this year. We'll see if any of my comps that I liked show up...
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
My thoughts on the shootings..
Here is the first installment of a two-part discussion. The first thing I would like to talk about is high school itself.
Every time there is a school shooting, I pay attention. I try to learn a little bit about the character of the killer. I think there are two things that are common among these school shootings. One is that these kids/young adults were bullied; the other is that they also suffered from some kind of mental issues, often depression. Usually they suffer from more than one mental problem. Bullying can and does happen outside of school, but I want to talk specifically about bullying inside schools.
I was bullied a lot when I was young. I don’t want to talk about that here, but it’s something that defined me in many ways. When I hear about these killers, a part of me dies inside. I feel for them. I know how much they must have hurt inside. I know that they probably felt that life was unbearable. They saw no way out. They wanted some kind of revenge. Most of the time, these kids don’t even get revenge with the same people who bullied them. They just go into a random classroom or hall and open fire at the world. At least what they see is the world. I can really sympathize with these kids.
In my mind, much of the problem lies in the high school institution.
First off, school sucks. I’m not anti-high school necessarily, but I’m no huge supporter either. For some reason, there is a high-school mindset that kids get. Immediately after I graduated high school, I realized that high school wasn’t real life. While in school I thought that if I did horribly in high school, I was going to do horribly in life. It turns out that high school is nothing like life in the real world. If someone had sat me down and explained to me that there was a huge difference between the two, and would have given me an alternative to high school, I think I would have been better off. I honestly think that if someone had shown these kids that there was more to life, things might have been different for them. Most of them were smart; they probably would have easily been able to move more smoothly into college. All of my college experiences have been good. I never felt alienated or bullied at all in college. It’s a completely different world. I guess the one could argue that Cho was in college. I guess that’s true, but I think that most of the damage had been done by the time he left high school. His perception of reality was way gone by then. From what I have read, Virginia Tech is a lot like a high school anyway. With it’s cliques and such. Maybe Cho would have been better off at a community college. One that isn’t filled with spoiled rich kids etc.
If my kids are bullied, first I will try helping them resolve their problems. If that solution does not work, I will let them drop out. I will help them get their GED or home school them. They could probably even get into college early. I think that the traditional high school system is way outdated and for many kids, completely ineffectual. Some kids thrive in the environment. That’s cool, but I recognize that there are alternatives to the system. I will do what is best for my kids.
Every time there is a school shooting, I pay attention. I try to learn a little bit about the character of the killer. I think there are two things that are common among these school shootings. One is that these kids/young adults were bullied; the other is that they also suffered from some kind of mental issues, often depression. Usually they suffer from more than one mental problem. Bullying can and does happen outside of school, but I want to talk specifically about bullying inside schools.
I was bullied a lot when I was young. I don’t want to talk about that here, but it’s something that defined me in many ways. When I hear about these killers, a part of me dies inside. I feel for them. I know how much they must have hurt inside. I know that they probably felt that life was unbearable. They saw no way out. They wanted some kind of revenge. Most of the time, these kids don’t even get revenge with the same people who bullied them. They just go into a random classroom or hall and open fire at the world. At least what they see is the world. I can really sympathize with these kids.
In my mind, much of the problem lies in the high school institution.
First off, school sucks. I’m not anti-high school necessarily, but I’m no huge supporter either. For some reason, there is a high-school mindset that kids get. Immediately after I graduated high school, I realized that high school wasn’t real life. While in school I thought that if I did horribly in high school, I was going to do horribly in life. It turns out that high school is nothing like life in the real world. If someone had sat me down and explained to me that there was a huge difference between the two, and would have given me an alternative to high school, I think I would have been better off. I honestly think that if someone had shown these kids that there was more to life, things might have been different for them. Most of them were smart; they probably would have easily been able to move more smoothly into college. All of my college experiences have been good. I never felt alienated or bullied at all in college. It’s a completely different world. I guess the one could argue that Cho was in college. I guess that’s true, but I think that most of the damage had been done by the time he left high school. His perception of reality was way gone by then. From what I have read, Virginia Tech is a lot like a high school anyway. With it’s cliques and such. Maybe Cho would have been better off at a community college. One that isn’t filled with spoiled rich kids etc.
If my kids are bullied, first I will try helping them resolve their problems. If that solution does not work, I will let them drop out. I will help them get their GED or home school them. They could probably even get into college early. I think that the traditional high school system is way outdated and for many kids, completely ineffectual. Some kids thrive in the environment. That’s cool, but I recognize that there are alternatives to the system. I will do what is best for my kids.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Wolf in sheeps clothing.
I left church after sacrament this Sunday because I had sick kids, so I didn't see it. As my wife was leaving, there was a DVD on the windshield of our van. On the cover was two pictures. In the top left corner there were the words JESUS CHRIST with a picture of Christ, and on the bottom right there was a picture of Joseph Smith, and in large letters, were JOSEPH SMITH. The whole feel of the cover screams LDS. Someone has obviously worked hard on making it look LDS friendly.
The look and feel of the cover was pretty good, my wife was fooled by it. I think even my seven year old son, the one who actually found it, was a little excited to watch it. I knew immediately because, first off, why would a legitimate DVD need to be snuck under the windshield wipers of cars in LDS parking lots?
Taking a look at the website that is listed on the cover also gives it away. Good for LDS When visiting the website, we find a famillar name on there, Sandra Tanner.
I immediately drove to the church and took all the DVDs off the windshields of the cars. There were about 20 of them out there. They were only on the windshields on the outer edges of the parking lot. They obviously wanted to be as discreet as possible.
When I got home, I explained to my son what the video was and what the people who left it wanted to do. We then threw the videos away.
My wife kept asking "Why would they do this?". I think we all would really like to know the answer to that question. Whay do some people feel that they are pro-Christ by being anti-Mormon?
Sad indeed.
The look and feel of the cover was pretty good, my wife was fooled by it. I think even my seven year old son, the one who actually found it, was a little excited to watch it. I knew immediately because, first off, why would a legitimate DVD need to be snuck under the windshield wipers of cars in LDS parking lots?
Taking a look at the website that is listed on the cover also gives it away. Good for LDS When visiting the website, we find a famillar name on there, Sandra Tanner.
I immediately drove to the church and took all the DVDs off the windshields of the cars. There were about 20 of them out there. They were only on the windshields on the outer edges of the parking lot. They obviously wanted to be as discreet as possible.
When I got home, I explained to my son what the video was and what the people who left it wanted to do. We then threw the videos away.
My wife kept asking "Why would they do this?". I think we all would really like to know the answer to that question. Whay do some people feel that they are pro-Christ by being anti-Mormon?
Sad indeed.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Donny Osmond/Weird Al take 2 (White and Nerdy)
Check this out. It's the unused footage of Donny in Al's video
Thursday, January 25, 2007
How men can be more snobbish on Sundays (scholars, please read)
In the recent discussion on business attire on Nine moons, Tim J. brings up a question that is often used in support of wearing very expensive clothes.
He says: "Why didn’t the Roman soldiers rent Christ’s robe after his crucifiction like they did his garment?"
This is an interesting question, one that I am definitely not qualified to answer. The first thing that one might think is that it was very expensive and they didn't want to ruin it. Therefore Jesus must have been wearing an Armani equivelant robe.
But this also brings a knee jerk reaction. Jesus was wearing expensive clothes, while telling others to "sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven." Something tells me that this isn't the case.
Doing some research on the net didn't really bring me any scholarly answers, just rhetoric and guesswork.
Looking at this occurance from a historical standpoint, why did they cast lots for his coat? Why was it valuable enough to keep?
He says: "Why didn’t the Roman soldiers rent Christ’s robe after his crucifiction like they did his garment?"
This is an interesting question, one that I am definitely not qualified to answer. The first thing that one might think is that it was very expensive and they didn't want to ruin it. Therefore Jesus must have been wearing an Armani equivelant robe.
But this also brings a knee jerk reaction. Jesus was wearing expensive clothes, while telling others to "sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven." Something tells me that this isn't the case.
Doing some research on the net didn't really bring me any scholarly answers, just rhetoric and guesswork.
Looking at this occurance from a historical standpoint, why did they cast lots for his coat? Why was it valuable enough to keep?
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