The Truth!

The Sabbath

2006-08-27T06:10:00.000-07:00

I gave this talk today and am now posting it for your enjoyment/disdain. Enjoy.

Brothers and Sisters good afternoon it is good to be with you. I hope that what has been said in Priesthood, Relief Society, and Sunday School has expanded your knowledge of the Gospel and renewed your commitment to the Savior Jesus Christ, and your determination to be examples of the believers in both word and deed.

While serving as Elders Quorum President I learned many things about the gospel. Perhaps the most important that I learned is the Lord has a pattern for how things are to be done not only in the Church but also in our lives. The pattern he has given is the commandments. I will not take the time to list them, but it is essential to know, that all commandments fall under the umbrella of the two great commandments being loving God, and loving our neighbors as our self. If you think about it, all that is required of us help individuals in keeping the two great commandments; the commandments that will determine our state after the resurrection.

Brother Klein asked me to speak about a commandment. That commandment is keeping the Sabbath day holy. This seemed like a topic that it was not require fifteen to twenty minutes of Sacrament meeting. Since studying for this talk, if we spent the whole time talking about the Sabbath, that would still prove insufficient. An explanation at length is not needed, but an explanation that is definitive, an explanation that captures and conveys the spirit of the Sabbath, and an explanation that provides us with a vision of what the Sabbath day could be to us is necessary regardless of how long it takes.

That was my hope when I prepared this, and hopefully my limited abilities will be up for the task.

Instead choosing a myriad of quotes and going on a chase through the scriptures, lets focus on some choice passages. Doctrine and Covenants section 59:9 through the first part of 16. These passages are in my opinion the definitive passages of what we should do on the Sabbath, and the spirit that we should have with us on the Lord’s Day.

D&C 59:9 And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;

The world that we live in is noisy, irreverent, fraught with sin, and a difficult place to live.

The poet Dante Alighieri captures how I often feel about the world in the opening canto of his work Inferno.

He says:

MIDWAY UPON THE ROAD of our life I found myself within a dark wood, for the right road had been [lost]. Ah! how hard a thing it is to tell what this wild and rough and dense wood was, which in thought renews the fear! So bitter is it that death is little more .

The world can be very much like a dark wood. There are many trees, all which seem similar if not the same, which distort our sense of direction, and many paths to choose which look as though they will lead out of the forest and back to our home with God.

In order to find our way, we need another perspective. We need to rise above the twisted tangled underbrush and rise above the forest in order gain a proper perception of where we are headed. If properly observed, the Sabbath will serve this purpose. We will find the right road, being the Gospel, will avoid being caught in tangled underbrush, being sin, and our fear will be turned to joy and confidence borne of knowing who we really are and which path we must tread.

Gaining the right perspective, and thus increasing our ability to reject evil, or being able to recognize that which would stain our souls with sin requires us to do things differently on the Sabbath then we would do the other days of the week. A Heavenly perspective can be had, if we go up to the Lord’s house and observe the day according to his pattern.

10 For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High;

The Sabbath not only provides us with an opportunity to gain the proper perspective, but also an opportunity to rest and renew ours strength for the six other days of the week; ,the days when we must travel in the dark and dreary wood.

Our spiritual and physical strength is renewed as we rest from our temporal labors. If at all possible, and perhaps at all costs, we should do all we can find to employment that will not require work on Sunday. As part of seeking employment, we should ask God to help us, that we may find work that will allow Sabbath observance.

Not only is the Sabbath a day of rest, it is also a day of worship. By coming here to worship, and by worshipping throughout the day through prayer, scripture study and fulfilling our callings, we can renew our spiritual strength, and receive additional strength to face the challenges of the coming week and ultimately the challenges of life.

11 Nevertheless thy vows shall be offered up in righteousness on all days and at all times;

The Lord not only wants us to remember and renew our covenants on Sunday, but that we should remember them at all times.

The Sacramental prayers do not state that we only remember Jesus Christ during the Sacrament, but that we should always remember him. By taking the Sacrament we promise that we will do this. We covenant to always remember him and be examples of the believers in both word and deed at all times in all things and in all places, even places beyond hallowed walls.

12 But remember that on this, the Lord’s day, thou shalt offer thine oblations and thy sacraments unto the Most High, confessing thy sins unto thy brethren, and before the Lord.

13 And on this day thou shalt do none other thing, only let thy food be prepared with singleness of heart that thy fasting may be perfect, or, in other words, that thy joy may be full.

Verse thirteen helps us understand what is appropriate for the Sabbath day.

President Spencer W. Kimball helps immensely when he said this about the Sabbath.

We have become largely a world of Sabbath breakers. On the Sabbath the lakes are full of boats, the beaches are crowded, the shows have their best attendance, the golf links are dotted with players. The Sabbath is the preferred day for rodeos, conventions, family picnics; even ball games are played on the sacred day. “Business as usual” is the slogan for many, and our holy day has become a holiday. And because so many people treat the day as a holiday, numerous others cater to the wants of the fun-lovers and money-makers .

President Kimball not only offers counsel on what we should not do, but also advice that if followed with the right attitude, the Sabbath day will become a delight, something that we will look forward to and enjoy.

He went on further to say:

The Sabbath is not a day for indolent lounging about the house or puttering around in the garden, but is a day for consistent attendance at meetings for the worship of the Lord, learning and instruction, enjoying the family, and finding uplift in music and song.

The Sabbath is a holy day in which to do worthy and holy things. Abstinence from work and recreation is important, but insufficient. The Sabbath calls for constructive thoughts and acts, and if one merely lounges about doing nothing on the Sabbath, he is breaking it. To observe it, one will be on his knees in prayer, preparing lessons, studying the gospel, meditating, visiting the ill and distressed, writing letters to missionaries, taking a nap, reading wholesome material, and attending all the meetings of that day at which he is expected .

I also firmly believe that we will receive divine aid to keep the Sabbath day holy. For example last the right rear wheel, in a fashion that baffles all explanation, flew off of my car while going fifty miles per hour into the woods along Pinehurst road. I have concluded that I was blessed with an accident Saturday night so that I might keep the Sabbath day.
14 Verily, this is fasting and prayer, or in other words, rejoicing and prayer.

15 And inasmuch as ye do these things with thanksgiving, with cheerful hearts and countenances, not with much laughter, for this is sin, but with a glad heart and a cheerful countenance—

I want to key on a phrase in the preceding verses. That phrase is “not with much laughter”. The Lord is speaking of irreverence.

I enjoy coming to Church and seeing all of you, my friends. But that is not the reason that I regularly attend. I come because partaking of the Sacrament and participating in the classes lifts and renews my soul. I have left our worship services with a sense of renewal that is often found by those who attend the temple. There are times when I have left our worship services feeling the power of the Spirit. While we should meet, greet, and on the third Sunday eat, and catch up with each other, we should do so with reverence.

One of the reasons why the temple is sacred space is because it is treated as such. People are reverent while they attend to ordinance work and the operation of the temple. Just think about what would happen if people were loud in the hallways. If they went in and out of endowment and baptismal session as they pleased. The result would be a diminishing if not a complete loss of the Holy Ghost that should be there.

“Loud laughter” is synonymous with disrespect. Though we may not think so, we are being disrespectful when we arrive late, when at our own convenience we saunter into priesthood or relief society. This demonstrates disrespect.

I don’t think for a minute that anyone does this with mal-intent. This is most likely the result of setting our sites far to low. Many say, “Well at least I am here”. The Lord acknowledges your presence but never wants us to just simply be here. He knows that we are capable of so much more then just being here and is willing to bless us if we worship in both spirit and in truth. Instead of focusing merely on “just being here”, being a warm body filling both time and space, come to participate, to learn, and to worship.

Adjust your Sunday morning schedules such that you will be here on time. Do not think what time does church start? Instead think when do I have leave to get there on time. Church begins at 12:30pm. Be here by 12:15pm prepared to worship. If you are staying out so late that on Saturday night to point that it makes you rise so late in the morning that you are late, then come home early and go to bed so that you come alert, awake, and attentive.

In teaching Elders Quorum as an instructor and later as president, it was discouraging when at the beginning of the meeting our numbers were few, and then by the end they were swelling. Also the side conversations that took place were very distracting. Whether the same is true for relief society I don’t know. I have not been to relief society in over twenty years. The side conversations need to stop in all our classes. If you are discussing things related to the lesson, instead of directing your comments towards the persons next to you, direct them to the class via the instructor to participate. Class participation is what we are looking for and want and is part of being an active learner.

16 Verily I say, that inasmuch as ye do this,

I would to close with a statement from Elder Eyring that helps clarify why we do what we do and why do things a certain way.
He said:

But remember: the things we do are the means, not the end we seek. What we do allows the Atonement of Jesus Christ to change us into what we must be. Our faith in Jesus Christ brings us to repentance and to keeping His commandments. We obey and we resist temptation by following the promptings of the Holy Ghost. In time our natures will change. We will become as a little child, obedient to God and more loving. That change, if we do all we must to keep it, will qualify us to enjoy the gifts which come through the Holy Ghost. Then we will be safe on the only sure rock .

Keeping the Sabbath according to God’s pattern will bring us to Christ. We will come unto Him, partake of his perfection, have our sins forgiven, and as stated above, be building on the sure foundation that will not be compromised.

I have a testimony of the Sabbath day. I know that it is a holy day. I know that making it a day of worship will bring great blessings into your lives as it has brought them into mine. I know that all of us can improve the way we observe the Sabbath day, especially our worship services.

President Weiler paid us a wonderful compliment when he, in effect said, the meat market has closed, and the chapel doors have been thrown wide, and the young saints have come to worship. Now instead of being comfortable with where we are, let us all go on to greater things.

This is my prayer.

1. Dante Aligheri, The Divine Comedy [Hell]. Translation: Charles Elliot Norton. Penn State electronic classics series publications
2. Spencer W. Kimball, First Presidency Message: The Sabbath- A Delight. The Liahona, July 1978.
3.Ibid.
4. Henry B. Eyring, As a Child. Ensign, May 2006 pgs 14-18.

BYU Devotional

2006-08-23T17:58:00.000-07:00

Here is another talk for you listening pleasure. Joseph D. Parry gave it in June of this year. It is entitled “Being a Christian Perfectly” and I love it. Some of the points he makes, makes you wonder, “am I really a Christian?” In short, it is a great talk and I highly, highly, recommend it to all of you and everyone else.

Click here to either read or download it from BYU’s speeches website.

Hope you enjoy.

Heaven's sweet whisperings

2006-08-22T14:07:00.000-07:00

A favorite hymn of mine is “Where Can I Turn For Peace”. The hymn consists of a series of questions and answers. The opening line, “where can I turn for peace, where is my solace?” is a question that many have asked and for good reason. We live in a troubled world. So long as anyone feels troubled, threatened, alone or in anguish there is a need for peace and peacemakers.

I find my peace through the Holy Ghost, through music, prayer, and scripture study. These three calm my soul not only when all seems hopeless but during those discouraging trying moments of life when the rudder is dashed and the sails are tattered. This was the case today.

Other times when I feel peace is during certain parts of films that I enjoy. I recommend that everyone watch “A Bridge To Far” which accounts a disastrous attempt by the allied forces in World War Two to secure bridges in Holland with the hope that they could march straight into Germany and end the war. It did not go according to plan and far too many men were killed or captured during one of the most infamous military operations in recent history.

At the end of the film, battered, bloody, and out of ammunition, a group of soldiers can only sit as German Soldiers approach to take them captive. They begin singing the hymn “Abide with Me”. A line from that hymn even now touches my heart as I think of these men alone, wounded, and far away from the lives, families, and other loved ones who are could not comfort them in this dark hour. “Help of the helpless Lord, abide with me”, was their plea.

Would God leave those forlorn, who call upon him as their last resort?

There are many pressures that all of us are under. Though German MG42 machine guns represent a different kind of pressure that we do not face, the pressures of work, Church, school, and social life can seem just as frightening and distressing. They all add up and it seems as though a millstone of sorrow and distress rests heavily upon our shoulders. I knew that working out would not solve the problem today. I needed heaven’s help.

After work, I went up to my room, said a prayer, read some scriptures. I began to feel tired. I turned on some relaxing music and set my alarm for half an hour. After briefly resting physically, I returned to my reading of the scriptures and found solace of spirit and felt that things will be better. That not all is lost even though the way may not seem clear.

I know I can press forward and can do so with confidence.

At the least, my soul has been comforted, and in that I can rejoice.

A Stranger and a Pilgrim

2006-08-21T18:50:00.000-07:00

"A stranger and a pilgrim" is the title of a BYU-Idaho Education Week presentation by my former professor, Dr. David Peck. The talk is an attempt to help Latter-day saints understand an important work of literature, Dante's La Comedia or Divine Comedy, and see that within Dante's masterwork of poetry are lessons that are very applicable not only for Mormons, but for everyone who considers themselves a stranger and pilgrim to this world.

Click here to go BYU Broadcasting's website. Look for the talk by Brother peck towards the top of the page. You can download the talk for free by left clicking the mp3 icon and then selecting to the down load linked file option (I'm not sure for PC, as per I use a Mac but it should be similar.

If you want a free copy Dante's The Divine Comedy, or other classic works of literature in PDF format click here. You at the bottom of page click the link "return to classics library" to browse the entire library all in PDF format just waiting to be downloaded and read.

Happy listening and reading.

Of the happiness that used to be

2006-08-20T15:25:00.000-07:00

I was released from being Elders Quorum president today and was promptly called to be the Sunday School President making this the third time that I have held this calling. Even though I have done this before, after talking to Ben, the former president, I have some good ideas about what could be done to really serve and make more of this calling then I have in the past.

Being released was great. I met with President Weiler Wednesday night and had a great interview. It was then that I had a vision of what had been accomplished over the past year and a half and a vision of things to sacred to be shared here.

Right now I am working on a two posts. One is an attempt to employ my rough understanding of exegesis to understand the relationship between Nephi and his brother Laman and Lemuel. I started this a month ago, and am still in the drafting process. The Other is a personal essay about how Dante's divine Comedy. The more and more I think about it, I may have to read this poem in its' entirety in order to better understand it.

I am sad to see my summer friends return to school. But am hopeful for happy reunions when they return at Christmas.

Until then I have pictures and plenty of memories..

Come Come ye Saints

2006-08-14T17:25:00.000-07:00

School is back in session. It is good to be back although this will be my last year with my school. You can’t work as a paraprofessional forever (well, you could, but you would never be able to retire).

The thing is this. I am twenty-seven and will turn twenty eight in December and just feel that it is time to press forward with my education and finding a spouse. Also I am getting that feeling that it is time to move on. I have felt that way ever since coming home from EFY and if some feelings and impressions that I have been having come to fruition, then I must take it as a sign that elsewhere is the place for me.

It’s not that I don’t like Georgia, the people at Church, my job, or anything else. I just feel like moving would be a good thing to do. Not sure where, but probably someplace out west.

Since EFY, things have felt different around here. I don’t feel the comfortable or at home anymore. Could my home be “far away in the west”? Perhaps. But we shall see.

Update

2006-08-12T20:34:00.000-07:00

It has been a long week.

As with most things that involve Government, they are always behind. Over the summer the county was supposed remodel our new room and have it ready for when we came back on Monday. Don’t hold your breath when you are relying on Big brother to do anything.

I have learned, as with most things involving Government, don’t expect them to meet any timetables they give you or have things ready when they say they say will. Some would put the blame on the construction company but that would be wrong. They can only work as quickly and as soon as they are given the “go-ahead”.

But complaining gets you nowhere, nor does it accomplish much if no one is listening or cares.

On a happier note The Frighteners was on television tonight. Ever since EFY I have been hesitant about renting movies that bare the forbidden rating for many Latter-day Saints. In fact I have not watched an R-rated movie in months, perhaps a year. To some this may sound silly, but I have noticed a difference in my life as result of my choices regarding media.

So I watched the Frighteners. While I have problems with content such as graphic depictions of sex and nudity and graphic violence, as long as offending content is removed, I have no problems with watching a movie over the air-waves when questionable material has been removed.

After finishing The Book Of Mormon, I am wondering about a different way to study the scriptures. I have not been much one for commentaries. The study guides that are available through institute are not much my speed although I might give them another chance. I think that a written journal of thoughts and impression that I get as the pages turn will be something that is more interesting.

I am resolved that I do not get into graduate school then I will return to school and get the degree in history that I always wanted and would still like to get someday. Might as well with no wife or kids.

Well that is it for today. Take care all.

Letter To Nathan

2006-08-05T07:56:00.000-07:00

I wrote this letter to my Brother. I am more then happy to share it with all of you here and "The Truth". Pretty much this sums up what I think the gospel is and about and my feelings about serving others. Hope you enjoy.

-Chris-

Dear Elder Rusch,

Months ago I thought about writing a long paper full of wisdom about what to do as a missionary. It must have been deleted or couldn’t be found which is good, because the “epistle” was not very good. I was not where I am now in my spiritual journey, and I don’t think you want seven single spaced typed pages. I hope that you will settle for however long this ends up being.

The last word of the last sentence is significant, being. During the past couple of years, being born again has been something that I have tirelessly studied. Jesus said in the New Testament:

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3).

Alma the younger was in torment following the appearance of an Angel warning him that unless he repented, he was going to be cast off. After being delivered from torment, the Lord told him:

Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters; And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God (Mosiah 27: 25-27).

These scriptures, and many others, make it clear that the point of the Gospel is not merely doing good works, but to change men and women into holly beings that are able to receive the God’s glory and live in his presence. The question then is not what are you doing, but through your actions what are you becoming.

A mission serves two purposes. The first is preaching the Gospel and bringing people to Christ. First and foremost this should be your focus and the focus of all those who labor as missionaries. No young man should be sent on a mission to be reformed; reformation and repentance that should take place before he leaves.

The second purpose, perhaps unstated and indirect, is to in part bring about this change in the lives of those who serve. Dedicated Charitable service will change a person and make them more Christ-like, then anything else. A mission most definitely falls under the umbrella of dedicated Christ-like service. Rest assured, there will be plenty more opportunities throughout your life to render Christian service to others. While working with God’s children in such a sacred work, one cannot help but have their hearts touched.

Elder Henry B. Eyering has said:

But remember: the things we do are the means, not the end we seek. What we do allows the Atonement of Jesus Christ to change us into what we must be. Our faith in Jesus Christ brings us to repentance and to keeping His commandments. We obey and we resist temptation by following the promptings of the Holy Ghost. In time our natures will change. We will become as a little child, obedient to God and more loving. That change, if we do all we must to keep it, will qualify us to enjoy the gifts which come through the Holy Ghost (Henry B. Eyering. As a child. Ensign, May, 2006).

Everything that we do in the Church is not an end but means unto an, that end being the Eternal life of God’s Children, our brothers and sisters.

Then end or purpose of missionary work is not merely for a person to be baptized, but to put them on the course of life long conversion, of becoming more like Christ through the Atonement. For all of us to be as the Greek translation of Matthew 5:48 says to be whole, complete, fully developed, lacking nothing (see footnotes to Mathew 5:48. Greek footnotes are labeled GR).

Always remember that the Atonement is the Gospel. Without it, nothing else matters. Without it, no program or auxiliary could stand on its’ own.

On the way home, Mom asked me if I was prepared to serve a mission. I frankly answered that I was not. I believe that my mission was at the end of an era. An era where every young man was to serve, and where the resources that missionaries use were not readily available to the general membership of the Church. I guess the thinking on the part of many local leaders was that if we can just get a young man to stay worthy to serve through high school, then everything else would be taken care of.

Count it a great blessing that there are mission preparation classes and of all things, be thankful for Preach My Gospel. I used it at EFY and it is an amazing resource. The old materials were like a twenty caliber rifle. Preach My Gospel is a howitzer in comparison.

You are more prepared then any of your brothers when we left to serve.

Well, there is not much more to say that has not already been said by any other member of our family or President Weiler.

Take care. Be obedient. And not only be a missionary, but seek to become a disciple of the Savior. While it may not seem like it now, missions come to an end. But discipleship and conversion of the self and others is a lifelong endeavor.

In conclusion consider the words of Moroni the last prophet of the Book of Mormon.
He said:

Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot (Moroni 10:32-33).

Seek to come unto Christ. Seek to bring others unto Christ. That is the whole point of what we should be doing.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

EFY And Life Then

2006-08-01T10:19:00.000-07:00

I finished EFY a week ago and have been thinking during that time about how to convey that experience to everyone who reads The Truth. It is difficult. A day-to-day account of things would not be the best way and would simply end up being the boring anyways. The best thing to do will be to share some of my thoughts and feelings about attending EFY as a teenager, and then returning to work as a counselor almost ten years later.

EFY is part of a much larger narrative and it is my hope that it will be shown how it fits in my life and who I am today.

In 1994, ’95, and ’96, I attend Especially For Youth. This program is run by Church Educational System youth programs which is part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This year EFY celebrated its’ thirtieth anniversary. Since its’ inception in 1976 hundreds of thousands of young men and women in North America have attended. I attended for the first time 1994.

When those who attend EFY return home, they usually say they had a great experience. Some might go so far and say that their lives were changed during that week. Honestly, my first year at EFY was none of those things. I had some fun, but it was nowhere near what other young people I knew made it out to be. I remember going to Emory University for a week, perhaps feeling the spirit a few times, but as far it being a life changing, testimony building experience it was not.

Perhaps this reflects where I was spiritually when I was fifteen.

After moving to Atlanta from Portland, things changed a lot. In so many ways, church became a burden. The “standards”, as my parents called them, were impediments not only my, but to anyone’s happiness. Most of my close friends were not members of the Church and in retrospect, the way they lived their lives at the time was not different from other young people in my ward. In fact bringing one of my friends to Scouts, ended in disaster and he never came back, nor expressed a desire to come back.

As the months went by, I became more and more defiant. More and more I was interested in doing my own thing, and being what I considered was my own person. Grudgingly I went each Sunday and Wednesday, but also took advantage of opportunities to miss Church when they came. When someone asked me if I believed in my religion, I responded that most of it was probably true, but there were some things, the “standards” that were probably not. I regret that to this day.

In so many ways, mostly intellectual, I was on my way out of the Church; most of my friends were not members; I believed and acted in ways most members would consider worldly; I liked feeling the spirit, but had no interest in having personal experiences and probably would have found my way out if not for divine intervention.

In the fall after my first EFY experience, our ward boundaries were redrawn, and our family was in a new ward. Often my parents expressed gratitude that we were put in a different ward. At first I was excited about the change. While I was not all that interested in Church, to me any change was welcome, and if it helped Mom and Dad lighten up that would be great too.

Our ward had a relative new Bishop named Bill Brown. Bishop Brown was a very youth centered bishop. I don’t know much about what he did with everyone else in the ward, but looking back, he did a lot for the youth who attended regularly. I feel that Bishop Brown was a factor in my salvation, and helped me to see that the Church was a good thing. Not the greatest thing, mind you, but something that was worth giving another chance.

I quickly became friends with his Son Jeff, who for a long time was my only real Mormon friend. I seemed to split my time between hanging out with Jeff and with my other friends not of our faith. It was around this time that my non-Mormon friends began doing drugs in a major way. No longer were they merely experimenting, but were dealing and doing them often.

As time went by Jeff and his friends seemed like a better choice. There was always the possibility of getting arrested with my group of Non-Mormon friends for drug related stuff, while that was not a possibility with Jeff.

I also started working for Bishop Brown on the weekends. Most of the other young men and women in our ward were going to EFY in Florida that year, and worked for him on the weekends as well (Bishop Brown is very wealthy and could afford to pay the youth to work and earn money for Scout camp and other things). My parents really wanted me to go, and perhaps signed me up and told me about it later. I did not object.

The months being in the new ward had softened me enough to see that Church was just okay. I had also felt the spirit a few times and had talked to Bishop Brown a number of times about some things I felt needed fixing and was starting to feel that great change was needed in my life.

When EFY in Florida came around, I was in a group with guys who were a lot like me. One was still trying to figure it all out, another had been recently released from rehab, and another who, looking back, probably had some emotional problems as well. While we probably drove our counselor nuts, I know that EFY helped that year helped reinforce the desire to change that began months before, which was an indirect result of the Church taking care of administrative business in re-drawing ward boundaries.

In a testimony meeting at EFY, I had a strong desire to repent. I had not been involved in drugs or immorality. Theft was not a problem. It was more the recognition that my heart needed changing. My attitude about the Church needed to change; and also the kinds of friends that I had needed to change as well.

When I returned from EFY, I did one of the hardest things in my life. Without a word, I cut myself off from my friends who were now using on a weekly basis. In part I know what Jesus meant when he spoke allegorically of cutting off an offending body part. It was hard, I didn’t want to do it, but it had to be done.

When I saw them around the neighborhood, it was not as though they were dead to me and I would not speak with them anymore, simply I limited the time I spent with them to riding the bus in the morning and in the halls and cafeteria at school. Aside from that, I became less a friend to them and more an acquaintance. In the end this was the best thing.

The friends situation at Church did not improve much. Jeff graduated in ’95 and I had a hard time connecting with most people at Church. I pretty much had non-member friends with the exception of two brothers from a previous ward, but other then that, I spent most of my time with people who were not members.

On the whole, my nom-Mormon friends that I had now acquired shared the same moral beliefs about illegal drugs. Our interpretations of the law of Chastity and the rest of the word of wisdom were different, but we shared enough in common where I felt comfortable around them, and they felt comfortable with someone, who in their eyes, might as well have been Muslim or Jewish.

I went to EFY for the last time in ’96. This was really to check out Rexburg as a possible college to attend and to meet girls. I guess that EFY had done all that it could do and I just wanted to have fun. And fun was had.

In examining all this, EFY played a very small roll in my youth. Many of the things that I was changing between fifteen an seventeen came from an inner desire to change, and investigating the Church for myself and seeing that it had much more to offer then I at first realized. If anything, it helped to strengthen a commitment that I had already made, but did not initiate the commitment.

EFY helped me see the Good the Church had to offer. But EFY was not the only place where I was seeing and feeling those good things.

EFY did not save me, but was perhaps a thread in a rope that I used to pull myself out of a dark chasm.

The Night of the Full Moon

2006-07-16T05:17:00.000-07:00

Something happened at EFY last week that will not be soon forgotten.

It was last Friday night. One of the young men in my group locked himself out of his room. After rounding up all the other guys and getting them in their rooms for lights out, I went downstairs to call security to unlock the young man’s door.

I came upstairs to find that a window in one of my guy’s rooms had been broken. Naturally I was in shock at what had happened, and was asking how did this happen?

Here’s how it happened. One of the guys, we’ll call him Frank, decided that it would be cool to climb out on the roof and moon the guys in another room. Frank climbed out of his window, on to the roof and made his way over to the adjoining window, dropped- trou, and thrust his bare butt-cheeks against the window.

Unfortunately for Frank, the windows in the building are antique glass and have lost much of the their tensile strength, and the force exerted by the impact of gluteus muscles against the glass, was enough to shatter the window. Glass was everywhere.

I was not worried about the window. My first thoughts were for Frank and his backside, because glass in the rear would make for a very uncomfortable ride home. Seriously, the health and safety of the youth are first.

There was nothing to be said. He was to the point of tears and realized that what he had done was really wrong. I told him, “We can worry about the window later”. Then asked, “Are you okay?”

Hopefully, Frank has learned to think things through before he goes and does them. Hopefully paying for the window will teach him that there are always consequences to our actions, though we may not perceive them.

All that can be done now is hope. And hopefully the powers that are at EFY will allow him back.

Thankfully, no one was hurt, and thankfully most of us were able to have a good laugh.

The Stairway To Heaven

2006-06-14T08:17:00.000-07:00

I took this picture at Peidmont park yesterday. It is by far one of the best pictures that I have ever taken.

The Spirit of the Game

2006-06-10T11:16:00.000-07:00

When arguing who is the greatest player of all time, most align themselves with either the Shaq, Kobe, or Michael Jordan camps. This author though is thinking completely outside of the box when it comes to who is the greatest player to lace up a pair of high—tops, put some really short shorts, and don a pair of eye-glasses with nothing but a drugstore athletic band to hold them in place.

If you have not figured it out yet, in my humble opinion, the greatest player to set foot on the court was Kurt Rambis.

He had it all. Style, work ethic, and an intensity that has not been matched since he left the game in the mid-nineties. He was the great white hope.

I mean who dives into the crowd after a ball when you are up by thirty in the fourth quarter with two minutes left? Kurt Rambis, that’s who. Watching him play was more then just watching a game, it was not unlike ancient Romans watching a beloved gladiator in the arena.

So here’s to Kurt Rambis, the Chuck Norris of Pro basketball.

2006-06-08T07:13:00.000-07:00

This is my little brother Nathan and his girlfriend. He is leaving on a mission in a couple of months, and she is still in high school.

The Message

2006-06-01T19:38:00.000-07:00

This was painted by my favorite painter of all time Vincent Van Goh, it is also one of my favorite works of art (My current top favorite is "Starry Night" by Van Goh". To me it symbolizes self destruction. What do you thinK?

Craigo's

2006-06-01T06:40:00.000-07:00

I bought a great CD yesterday. But first some history on why I bought this particular cd and why I like it so much.

It was during the winter of 1997, in a pizza place called Craigo’s, when Ryan Probasco, Greg Payette, perhaps Jared Peterson, and I, were waiting for our “pizza bombs”, what Craigo’s called calzones, to come to our table.

We liked Craigo’s. It was a change in pace from the institutional food they served at the Galley, the on campus Cafeteria we ate at everyday. Craigo’s was also cool, because in this bastion of cultural Mormonism, they had MTV2 playing all hours of the Day on a big-screen TV. This was before the hip-hop coup that would overthrow rock and roll on cable TV to give us such shows as “Pimp my Ride” and “Cribs”.

Around 8pm or so, MTV2, the alternative music channel of the time, got even more alternative. If you got really lucky, you could see a Jamiriquai, Radiohead, or Crystal Method video.

Craigo’s was where I heard some great music, two of which, that are now my all time favorites. In particular they are “Karma Police” by Radiohead and “She Runs Away” by Duncan Sheik.

The other day I was thinking that it was shame that I did not have “She Runs Away” in my iTunes library. I felt bad. So I hoped on my P2P service and downloaded a cool live version of the song. Then I jumped on the iTunes music store to check out other things that Duncan Sheik had done. It was there that I listened to samples from an album called “White Limousine”.

Later yesterday evening, I went to Barnes and Noble in Buckhead. I gave “White Limousine” another listen and then decided that this CD was worthy of Purchase. So I went to the counter and whipped out my ten-dollar gift card that had been in my wallet since Christmas and made my purchase.

I am happy with the CD. Good music deserves to be purchased.

Politics

2006-05-20T12:02:00.000-07:00

Last night I caught part of Hannity and Colmes. I usually don’t like their show, but last night was interesting.

One of the guests on the show was Ann Coulter, the consummate cheerleader for the Republican Party, and hater of all things liberal. For those of you not familiar, Coulter has written books, given speeches, and appeared on television and radio speaking vehemently against the Democratic party and its’ platform.

Last night I was expecting much of the same from her, but before I changed the channel she made the comment that the Republican Party has lost touch with who put them in power. She said that right now that the Republicans in Congress are catering to big business lobbies and have strayed from the ideals that put them in power in the nineties.

Here are some things to think about. Republicans, the party of fiscal responsibility, have passed spending legislation all of which the president has signed on thus approving. Last I heard there has not been a spending bill that he has not vetoed.

Most telling of all, why are conservative talk show folks like and Rush and Ann Coulter saying that the party they endorse has lost touch with the ideals of those who put them in power?

Just something to think about.

Alas Power PC, I knew it well!

2006-05-17T16:01:00.000-07:00

Last August I purchased a new computer. I really researched and shopped around, and in the end I settled on an Apple ibook. Of course a Powerbook would have been nice, but when you are on a budget, there are times when you must make sacrifices.

Last year, Steve Jobs, the great high priest of the Church of Mac, announced that they would start putting Intel processors in their machines. He unveiled the new iMac, complete with an Intel dual core processor, and made us all wonder in amazement.

Shortly thereafter my PC friends were saying that it would be so gradual, and that Apple was having problems and would not be able to deliver the computers when they promised, and then fumed about why owning a Mac was akin to being a member of the great and abominable church and so forth; but yesterday I was surprised at what I saw. Apple, like a thief in the night, has phased out all Power PC machines but one, the Power Mac, which one can only assume will receive an Intel chip sometime soon.

I love my Mac. It has been almost a year and I have had no problems. None. No viruses, no spyware, and few if any annoying pop ups. This has been by far the best computer I have ever owned.

So before we leave, let us celebrate in verse the Power PC.

Farewell Power PC I knew thee well,
The tales of websurfing none save you and I can tell.
The hours of joy thou gavest me,
when I fired you up,
my power pc.
Yet to the depths thou must go,
Along with Lisa, and two E, oh no
The intel dual core is here to stay,
I bid thee farewell, so long old friend, and good day.

Poetry to rival Dante and Shakespeare surely.

What's goin on

2006-05-16T07:47:00.000-07:00

After a brief sabbatical, I am back. The school year is coming to a close and things are getting hectic at work. Part of the problem is that we are not sure where we are going to be next year. A few months ago, we were informed that we would be moving into a new room with almost everything that we would need for our students. But now that is unclear, and with a little over one week left in the school year, not knowing if we need to pack up our room, or leave everything put, is beginning to way on all of us.

The trip to Utah during the beginning of April was a lot of fun. Seeing my brother who lives in Provo is always nice, as is seeing friends who have settled in various places along the Wasatch front.

The EFY counselor preparations are coming along nicely. I finished reading the Doctrine and Covenants, something that I have only done a few times. It was good to go through the revelations understanding better the historical context and circumstances under which many of the sections were given. It made more sense and had greater meaning for me this time around.

As far as my other scripture studies are going, I am reading Isaiah with a commentary by Donald W. Perry. I have not used commentaries much in studying the scriptures, but so far I have enjoyed using Brother Perry’s book in my study of Isaiah.

So there you go. A brief entry for Tuesday May 16, 2006, it may seem short, but there are other things in the works.

Chris

What's Going On

2006-04-26T12:24:00.000-07:00

I have been uber busy the past couple of weeks with work, Church, and other personal business that I have not been able to get an entry to the point of being worthy to post. Thankfully Ryan Probasco pointed out some serious flaws with one posted prematurely. Thank you Ryan.

A good portion of my day at work is spent strategizing with our team at school how we will handle new students coming to our class next year. Between this and data collection, the days fly by. It is hard to believe that there are just over twenty days left of school. Thankfully the people that I work with are dedicated to the point of being fanatics. It is great to work with people who so dedicated to their profession. It makes every day exciting and a learning experience. I love my work and am looking forward to starting another year with the same great people.

Church, as always, keeps me busy. The week I spent in Utah was the first time that I missed PEC in months. It was a good break. Also letting councilors handle some things has lifted some of the load. Not that it was too hard to carry in the first place. But it is always good to have people around you who are capable and can do their job.

This summer I will be doing something that I have always wanted to do since the mission but never had the chance because I was saving money for school. I well spend the middle of June until the end of July working as an EFY counselor. I wonder what this will be like. I imagine that a majority of the other councilors will be quite a bit younger then me. But like most generalizations, it may not be entirely true, or a complete falsehood.

In the coming weeks, I am expecting to complete a post about dealing with depression from an LDS perspective, various doctrinal topics, and whatever seems worth writing about. Also look forward to EFY posts from the perspective of the participant turned employee. If it is now, how it was when I attended, it should prove for some interesting thoughts, but more then likely, it is different.

Thanks to everyone who has read the blog and left comments. Good, bad, neutral, ugly, they are all welcome. What makes this partly worthwhile is hearing what you think about these things.

Thank you,

Chris

Lot, Abraham, and a place called Sodom

2006-04-03T23:55:00.000-07:00

Studying the Old Testament in Gospel Doctrine has been good this year. Like most members of the Church, it is the standard work that I am the least familiar with. I have read the book from Genesis to Malachi once and there was much that I did not understand or found applicable. There are, however, books in the Old Testament that I have read several times such as Isaiah, first and second Samuel, selected Psalms and Proverbs, and Genesis. But as whole, I am not familiar with most of it.

One lesson stood out particularly because it directly related to some things that I had thought about often. The lesson was about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

What is interesting is how Lot, Abraham’s nephew, found his was into Sodom. Long before the destruction of Sodom, there was a conflict between Lot and Abraham regarding their flocks. Abraham, wanting to make peace with Lot, let him decide where his flocks would graze and water in, and based upon his decision Abraham would go elsewhere.

Lot chose the good land that was in the plain of Sodom and Gomorrah and this did something that would affect his entire family. The account in Genesis says that Lot pitched his tent towards Sodom. He was now facing what was then a great, prosperous, and wicked city.

Hugh Nibley said that what really matters is repentance and the direction the individual faces with regards to it. He said that someone who his facing the direction of eternal life and has made the first steps forward, is better off then the man who has been on the path for years, but has turned himself around and has taken the first steps in the opposite direction.

Lot’s choice to face Sodom would later cause him to move his family into the city of Sodom. He and his family would suffer greatly because of this choice.

After Lot made his decision, there was an attack on Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot was taken captive in battle. Abraham came to his rescue and helped drive the invaders out of the plain. After the battle, the King of Sodom told Abraham to take his part of the spoils. Abraham refused, saying that he would not take the smallest thread lest the king of Sodom could claim that he had made Abraham rich.

Abraham wanted nothing to do with Sodom. He knew that both it and Gomorrah were wicked and that having any association with them would do nothing but to corrupt him and his those with him.

Abraham would go on to become the father of the faithful, while Lot, after fleeing Sodom, drops out of the narrative after a dubious drunken encounter with his daughters.

Our orientation will determine the direction we will travel, and our final destination. A slight, seemingly insignificant deviation, uncorrected, will make it impossible to reach our distant, desired, final destination.

The book of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon contains an account of people who pitched their tents towards a holy place. Benjamin, the prophet king of the Nephites, knew that the end of his life was near, and that after fighting yet another war with Lamanites, there was a need for the people to reorient themselves towards holy things.

Benjamin’s people gathered together as families to the temple. Those who could not, because of the gathered multitude, enter the temple to hear Benjamin, pitched their tents with door facing the temple. This small act, pitching a tent with the door towards the temple to hear a prophet, would have a profound impact on those gathered and their descendants.

Orientation towards good or evil is based upon decisions that seem small and many that we do not even think about. How we treat our families, our coworkers, and the way act at work, the entertainment we choose will determine whether our tents are facing Sodom or the Temple. The incredible thing is unless two desired destinations are in the same line of travel, you cannot be going towards two places at the same time.

Lehi, the Prophet and Patriarch of the Book of Mormon people, had a vision where he saw a desert symbolizing the world; a straight and narrow path representing the word of God; a fruit tree symbolizing eternal life and the joy that comes from living the gospel in this life; and, among other things, a tall, expansive, lavish, building representing the vain things of the world or Babylon.

Lehi related that those who left the straight and narrow path, the Gospel, wandered in “strange roads” and were lost. Slight changes in the direction they were facing affected their trajectory. These wanderers either drowned in filthy waters, wandered in a barren wilderness, were lost and either starved or died from dehydration, or were crushed to death as the foundationless great and spacious building toppled when the world ended.

Because the current state of things is temporary, having the correct orientation is what will matter in the end. Lot was concerned with his flocks and the possibility of lucrative commercial opportunities in Sodom. He had been wandering with his Uncle for years and probably felt this was an opportunity to get rich and live a life of leisure. Pitching his tent towards Sodom, gave him temporary pleasure, but because of his choice, it would cost him everything the same way that we will lose it all if our hearts are not set upon the right things.

Abraham has since received his exaltation as we learn in the Doctrine and Covenants, where the fate of Lot is unknown for he dropped out of the narrative. Truly what we value will determine our orientation, and our orientation will determine the path we will take, thus bringing us to a chosen destination be it good or bad.

Protestors. Why?

2006-04-02T00:16:00.000-08:00

For the past twenty-seven years General Conference was something that I watched at home with my family or at the local ward building. This year was different as my brothers and I attended the priesthood session at the conference center in Salt Lake City.

I heard that there were protesters General Conference. The Church has harsh critics. Some of the worst are among Baptists and the Evangelical community. As a missionary in small towns throughout northern California I became familiar with their arguments and read some of the tracts they distribute to save other “Christians” from Mormonism.

At first I felt obligated to defend the faith and not only disprove their arguments but prove to them, from the Bible, with an emphasis on the New Testament, why we were right. It became apparent that this was not going to work, nor was it productive, and did not encourage development of attributes needed by a minister of Jesus Christ. In fact it is a transgression to get in heated arguments like this where there is the possibility for bullying and intimidation. In the Book of Mormon, Christ condemned these heated exchanges, saying that such things were not of him but of the Devil who wanted men to contend with each other.

My friend Ryan said that the protestors were at some level not there to convince anyone of the errors of LDS doctrine in a free and open exchange, or that it had to do with Christianity, but had everything to do with intimidation. He also said that some the protestors, were insecure about their own beliefs so they engage in a form of exhibitionism in order to assuage their insecurity; like the person, who doubting if the Church is true, bares a blood and thunder testimony thinking that this will confirm their belief.

Other then the protestors, it was great. I look forward to the remaining sessions of the conference tomorrow and having a great vacation in Utah visiting friends and just relaxing for a week.

Agency: Some thoughts not usually discussed

2006-03-11T09:26:00.000-08:00

I attended Ricks College when it was Ricks College, and then Ricks after it made the transition to BYU-Idaho. In all, about three years were spent in the cold desert of southeastern Idaho.

All of the Brigham Young University campuses have honor codes that are similar but differ in how these codes of conduct are applied. Brigham Young University Provo, the largest and most prestigious, lies in the middle. Their honor code enforcement is very moderate. If you violate your contract to live by the honor code, there will be consequences, but as a whole, people are free to live their lives and pretty much do what they want. They represent the middle ground.

Brigham Young University Idaho, the jealous little brother who suffered crisis of identity when it was pulled under the umbrella of BYU and lost its’ beloved name, is by far the most extreme and has the most restrictive honor code, banning shorts at all times on campus except in the gym, flip-flops, and heaven forbid if you did not shave that morning. The thinking that I found in Idaho was, this the law and you will live it, and we are going to make sure that you will.

I don’t fault them for having an honor and holding students to it, but it is a bit extreme to encourage students to tattle and spy on their roommates. While I was going there, I always had the feeling that I was being watched by someone wondering if I would get one of those dreaded phone calls from the Dean’s office (I had plenty of friends who did get those phone calls, and it was never a pleasant experience). During my time there, I had two roommates who were asked to leave, or rather, “asked” meaning,” we will not let you take any more classes at our institution, so we ask you to find another option for your higher education.”

Then there is BYU-Hawaii, the smallest and by far the most liberal of all the Church’s universities. The Polynesian culture has a strong influence on the way things are done at the University.

Instead of a spy on your neighbor way of doing things, there were those who litterally spied, they simply taught what is expected, and then expected the students to act accordingly. When students mess up, they are usually dealt with, but you will not find the long lines outside their Dean’s office, the way you might find at Idaho.

At all of the Universities, usually during the weekly campus wide assemblies, known as devotionals, at some point, usually at the beginning of the semester, the President of the university will talk about the school’s honor code. At Idaho, many students expressed that their agency had been taken away and that they were forced to abide the code of honor.

This must have gotten to fever pitch because during one of these beginning of the semester talks about the honor code, the president of BYU-Idaho stated that by signing to live the honor code, they gave up their agency.

I thought about this a lot. If I were to write about book about doctrinal principles, it would include a chapter entitled “Agency: A blessing and a burden”.

An important teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that human beings are free to choose between good and evil. This ability to choose has been termed free agency in the past, and moral agency or simply agency in recent times. Names aside, it is held that men and women are free for themselves, to make choices, and live their lives, according to either the will of God, or the will of the Devil, receiving the “wages of those they list to serve”.

Through agency human beings choose either eternal life, or misery and sorrow. But the question that must be asked is it possible for people to give up their agency, and through their choices, can they lose agency?

In reality, when someone signs an honor code, makes a covenant, or signs a contract with an employer, they are just as free as before they made the agreement. After making the agreement, the person can either honor the agreement, or break their contract; literally there is nothing preventing anyone form breaking a covenant then their own freedom to choose between good and evil and their own conscience.

I have often asked others, myself included,” What keeps you from drinking beer, doing drugs, or having sexual relationships outside of marriage?” The answer is you. God will not stop you, he will warn you, even plead with you through the spirit and the words of living prophets to do what is right, but he will never force any of his children to do good. That is not his plan and as long as people are in this mortal probation, they will have the ability to choose good and evil of their own free will.

Even if someone were to put a gun to your head and said,” do this or else” the choice would still be your own as to whether you complied or not. Pressure applied from external sources does not change the responsibility that rests on the individual to make the decision.

So when someone signs an honor code, have they lost their agency? NO! They have not. Their accountability has merely increased. Whether or not they choose to live the honor code remains within the realm of their responsibility.

Agency is a great blessing. Perhaps aside from the atonement of Christ, it is the most important gift that men and women have. While they have the power to choose, it must be realized that upon making a choice, the individual has chosen the consequence that is attached to that choice. A person, who has sex outside of marriage, has chosen temporary pleasure. They have also chosen the misery and sorrow that often comes when a relationship in which there is immorality comes to an end, or the Godly sorrow that is necessary in repenting for such sins.

In my calling I witnessed this in a major way as people who were close to me had to withdraw from priesthood service because of using their agency to choose evil and temporary pleasure. But with their decision to choose evil, they also chose the months required to repent of the things that they did which violated sacred covenants made in sacred places. The choice was always theirs, when they made their decision; they simultaneously chose the consequences to their actions.

In the Gospel we find a continuum of covenants with attached blessings. As people make covenants, they receive blessings. As they progress through the continuum, making covenants and receiving greater light and knowledge, they become more and more accountable. The individual is free to keep or violate the covenants, but cannot escape the wrath that comes from violated sacred promises.

At all the schools, the students are free to choose whether they will abide the honor code or not. While I may disagree with the philosophies that effect the enforcement of the Honor code, I agree with the overall goal of what they are trying to accomplish being; to provide a university education in a an environment of faith.

In the end, no one should forget that they have within him or her, to choose between Eternal life and damnation. There are only two ways, either the way of life and salvation, or death both possibly physical and definitely physical.

With this in mind, hopefully it will be understood that we are all free, but that there are consequences attached. But hopefully these things will help be us be happier and more productive saints.

Modesty

2006-03-05T17:27:00.000-08:00

The following is written mostly to a Mormon audience. Many terms and ideas will only be familiar to those who have been members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints so the reader should not be surprised when they see words written in English that seem odd. They are used within the framework of an individual faith that definitely has its’ own culture and borders on being its’ own ethnicity.

A couple of weeks ago I was at home on Sunday night taking care of some things before retiring for the evening. Flipping through the channels I stopped on BYU television for a few minutes. It must have been an Education Week or Women’s Week talk, because most of the people in the audience were women, and it seemed like something that you would hear at either of the two conferences. The speaker was talking about an issue that troubles many, modesty.

I believe that the standard for modesty found in “For the Strength of Youth” is adequate. If any person will abide by the general principles found in that publication, they will be able to dress in a way that appeals to their own tastes but still maintain a standard of dress appropriate for Latter-day Saint youth and adults. The standard is very general and still, most of the responsibility falls on the shoulders of the reader to determine what is appropriate and inappropriate with the way they dress.

This general guideline, choose for yourself thinking, was in stark contrast to what was being presented that evening.

In about ten minutes it was apparent that she was extolling a standard that went far beyond what was taught in a church publication that has served as the standard for years. For her, it was not enough to merely cover up, avoid extremes in dress, and to refrain from wearing clothes that are overly tight and form fitting; it went far beyond that and also took into consideration quality of fabric, certain combinations such a sport coat with jeans in a casual situation, and other things that most people will not take into consideration when they buy clothes.

I am driven by style, cost, and fit when I buy clothes. If it fits, is cheap, looks good, and if I have the money to spend on clothes, then most likely that article of clothing will find its’ way into my closet and then, eventually, the floor of my room (I am a slob. A whole different essay altogether).

Simply put, following the standard espoused by the presenter went beyond a simple yes or no to a long cumbersome checklist. Whether or not to buy a pair jeans went from being a simple everyday thing, to a matter of salvation. This is ridiculous.

For some time I wanted to write about Pharisees and oral traditions that go beyond a given standard that is meant to allow the member to decide for themselves. This experience prompted me to write what follows.

In Jesus’ day there were different sects of Judaism, each with their own individual interpretations of aspects of the Law of Moses and the gospel that would replace it. They ran the spectrum from libertines to hard line conservatives with few, if any finding the middle ground. While many members of the Church are more familiar with the dangers of being liberal, they often do not consider the dangers of going beyond what has already been revealed and expected of members of the Church.

The group that was not the most conservative, but definitely had the greatest control over the people, were the Pharisees. The Pharisees felt that it was not enough to obey the ordinances and commandments found in the law of Moses and over the course of time, developed a separate set of practices that, if followed, would prevent a person from coming close to violating the commandments in the law. This tradition, or hedge about the law, has come to be known as the oral tradition.

Those familiar with Jewish society will know that the oral tradition was a burden; was not general and open to individual revelation in its’ application as are the standards of today; but spelled out how to act, or what to do in every situation. When the Apostle Paul said that the letter of the law killed but that spirit gives life, he was not only referring to the law of Moses, but to the oral tradition that had become such a burden to the children of Israel living at this time.

In the Gospels, Jesus decried the Pharisees and the oral tradition. He said that they go about the earth to make one convert, but even after person became converted, they became two times more the child of hell then before.

Standards are not an end unto themselves, but are a means of helping individuals living in a way to grow closer to deity. Salvation is found in the Atonement, and Commandments are the vehicle by which we receive of those blessings. Joseph Smith taught the Atonement was the gospel and that all things were appendages to it. Even modesty takes a backseat to the doctrine of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

In the Book of Mormon, when the prophets saw that their people were straying for the path of salvation, they did not focus on behavior specific to the time and circumstances of the people, but they taught them about repentance and salvation through the Atonement. They taught them of resurrection, final judgment and the rewards or punishments that would come in the life hereafter. This either resulted in people repenting and being blessed, or receiving the judgment of God to their damnation.

The Apostle Paul talked about modesty in his epistles, but the majority of his epistles were intended to teach people about how to receive the grace of God, or what is expected of those who had accepted Gospel. He taught doctrine, understanding that this would have the greater effect on people as opposed to teaching behavior.

Recently, our modern Apostles, in their “Epistles” spend very little time teaching about behavior, or spelling out to the letter how one should apply a certain standard, but are teaching doctrine and by and large leaving interpretation up to the members, giving course correction when necessary.

The Gospel is eternal and will never change. Salvation will always be through Jesus Christ and his Atonement. The tastes of the World with regards to fashion, morality, political thought, and pretty much everything else will change. But the Gospel never will. Because the world is ever changing, it will be impossible to apply an oral tradition. More then ever there is a need to teach, and for people to found their lives on unchanging and eternal principles.

While modesty will always be an important topic, in must be kept in its’ proper context as an appendage to, or a teaching that branches out from, the Atonement.

This good sister had the best of intentions. But teaching behavior is much like painting the walls on the Titanic. While the walls may be in desperate need of fresh coat, time would be better spent in figuring how to plug the gaping hole in the hull.

If you want to make a meaningful impact, teach doctrine. As people repent, and are converted, the spirit will lead them to making changes in music, language, dress, and grooming.

There will be times when it will necessary to point out specifics, but the majority of time should be spent in teaching doctrine and then letting the individual act for themselves instead of constantly being acted upon.

Noodling. You what?

2006-02-24T16:00:00.000-08:00

I discovered a new sport today that is unlike anything that any of you could possibly imagine.

It all started at work today when a student asked if I knew a particular teacher and I responded that I did. He then informed me that this fellow was a redneck because he and his friends went “noodling” (pronounced noodle-ing).

I shuddered at the thought of what noodling could be. I mean with a strange name like this and the fact that it involves rednecks, well be careful not to let your imagination run wild.

Quickly my mind was retrieved from the gutter when the student told me that noodling was barehanded cat fishing. I looked it up on line and discovered that this is actually quite popular though you stand the danger of being nicknamed Nubbins all in the name of Noodling (Noodlers are known to loose fingers in this sport). There is a tournament in Oklahoma, imagine that, that is the World Series of barehanded cat fishing.

How does one noodle? Its’ simple.

When catfish spawn, the females borrow into the muddy banks of streams, rivers, lakes and ponds and then lay their eggs in the afore mentioned burrows. After the females lay their eggs, male catfish come along and fertalize the eggs and then hang out in the holes, guarding the eggs until they hatch.

Enter the Noodler. This individual will wade into the water and search for these dark, deep holes that are in the bank. After finding a whole, the Noodler will cram his hands into the hole grabbing the fish and pulling him out of his hole and out of the water.

I looked at some of the fish that were caught by noodlers and could only exclaim,” great googly moogly.” It is not uncommon for these noodlers to catch sixty even one hundred pound plus catfish. The pictures of these beastly fish, like something out of pre-historic times, were incredible. Imagine a man armed with nothing more then his bare hands and a can of beer, purely for the man, pulling a one hundred pound fish out of its’ hole in a muddy murky bank with nothing other then his hands.

So if you like sticking your hands in strange places, this might be the sport for you. But for all future Noodlers beware. These holes in the pond are not all catfish burrows. Beavers, snakes, snapping turtles, and other animals with sharp fangs and teeth live in muddy holes in the banks. And no one wants to be known as nubbins. Imagine trying to explain how you got that nickname. “I was out noodl’n and then….” You get the picture.

One Big Square

2006-02-16T12:17:00.000-08:00

The Internet is back.

On Saturday night the net went down and we were not able to get it back until today. How have I lived without the internet for the past five days, I do not know.

One thing that I have found interesting is the recent scandal with James Frey’s book “Million little pieces”. As it turns out, Frey embellished and even invented things in his popular memoir. Despite the scandal, it seems that people are undeterred and think that this is a great book and are still buying it.

If he can write a book, that is partly made up and call it a memoir, then I can my own drug addict alcoholic come clean autobiography and pass it off as real. So here goes.

“One Big Square: How I got addicted to booz and dope and got clean”

By Chris Rusch

(The following is a complete and utter fabrication. The names have not been changed but no one ever did anything that follows)

The sun had gone down on a cool South Eastern Idaho afternoon. Our small caravan of cars was just pulling into campsite as the last vestiges of day slipped below the horizon, turning the sky and the large cumulous clouds red.

One thing that I had gotten used to was how cold it could get at night in Idaho. I learned that this had to do with the fact that where we were was very dry, so the heat produced by the sun throughout the day quickly dissipated when the sun went down because there was no moisture in the air to trap the heat. I put on my blue checked insulated flannel shirt after getting out of Hugh’s truck.

Our group would go to a campground like this for one reason, and after a grueling week at school, I was ready to find some relief and to mellow myself out with various fermented liquids, i.e. beer and hard liquor.

I was never much one for marijuana. I smoked it once in high-school and it really rubbed me wrong. Instead of a mellow sense of euphoria, paranoia set in, making the time I was under the influence of the THC miserable. A few weeks ago, my friend Jeremy offered it to me claiming that I must have gotten a bad strain. I smoked it again, but the same thing happened. From then I would not touch the stuff.

Greg and Ryan were pulling coolers out of the truck bed and setting them on the ground. Grant and Justin were getting a fire going while Heidi, Lisa, Sherrie and some other girls that I cannot remember were milling about smoking Marlbro Lights. “Gross”, I thought. Despite my own problems with drinking, smoking was something that I always thought disgusting. The smell alone would make me nauseous. It was enough to make me stay away. No one wants to make out with an ashtray.
But that did not matter. Once the music got started, I would drink a few Red and Whites followed by some rum and Coke.

Hugh put the Led Zeppelin’s unnamed fourth album and “Black Dog” began blaring out of the speakers. That was my cue to get my Friday night started……….

So there you go. The first installment, or part of an installment in my fictitious junkie auto-biography. Why don’t you all e-mail me suggestions, or leave them here and I will put them in future blogs, who knows where it will go from there? Maybe Oprah will endorse it and I can quit my Job.

Chris

Certain self destruction

2006-01-26T21:42:00.000-08:00

A couple of days ago I went to the doctor. It had been a while, and after some things that raised concern over the holidays, I made an appointment and went and had a check up. It turns out that things were much more serious then I thought.

My blood pressure was high, and after hearing my symptoms, the doctor said that he wanted me to have blood work done including a screening for diabetes.

This was all shocking, I am twenty seven years old, I am not supposed to have high blood pressure or diabetes. He prescribed some blood pressure medication and admonished me to work out every day, which I have been better about since joining a gym.

This has made me reflect about how we teach the word of wisdom, and what does this revelation really say.

In all of the lessons that I can remember about the word of wisdom, all of the emphasis was placed on alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drug use. The health benefits of abstaining from these things stood out, and to me it was clear that one should avoid these things.

Very little attention was paid to the portions that discussed diet.

I have wondered about some of the people that I have seen at Church from time to time. The morbidly obese man in elders quorum, who will try to split hairs about postum and caffeinated sodas, but who the night before helped himself to three servings of fried chicken, potato salad, green jello-salad and all the deserts at the ward social.

Is he somehow guilty of violating this law, just like the youth who get drunk on a regular basis and then visits with the bishop? When we “pig out” on foods that are not healthy, do we violate this law given from heaven?

The injunctions in the word of wisdom against tobacco and wine are explicit. “Strong drinks”, interpreted as other alcoholic beverages, and illegal drug use, are interpretations that need to be heeded, but what about the explicit portions about diet?

I purpose a physical examination as part of the temple recommend interview. After answering the verbal portion of the word of wisdom section, the stake president then asks the interviewee to the step on a scale. Following this, the executive secretary takes blood pressure, and determines body composition using skin calipers.

An interview might go something like this. “ Well brother Johnson, as soon as you loose twenty pounds and lower your blood pressure a few points, I’ll feel comfortable about signing that recommend.” Or,” Sister Smith, what does it mean to you when I use the phrase sweet spirit?”

Oh well, I guess that I will have to change my lifestyle if I am going to live a long life. I will be at the gym tomorrow if anyone wants to go, and no, we will not be going out for Chinese food and milkshakes following.

The Flat World

2006-01-24T21:23:00.000-08:00

The world that we live in is changing at a rate unparralled then in any other in point in human history. On Sunday evening, I watched a program with Fareed Zakaria and Thomas Friedman, an eminent author who has written extensively on the fact of Globalization.

The next book on docket is Friedman’s book “The World Is Flat” which discusses in detail how the world has become smaller through the recent major advances in the IT community and how to survive in the new flat world. I would encourage everyone reading this blog, purchase this book, read it, and then take part in the lively discussion that will result from taking in the concepts that this book discusses.

Rough Stone Rolling

2006-01-23T22:07:00.000-08:00

Last week I completed the monumental task of reading Richard Bushman’s “Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling”. I had heard about this book while it was being written from Truman G. Madsen when he came to BYU-Hawaii. Madsen endorsed the book and said that this would be “the” biography of the prophet.

Reader beware, this is not the correlated, seminary, institute, Church history that many of us have grown up with. Several reviewers with Amazon said that this book shows it all, warts and all. I agree with that statement. In the book there is nothing to be ashamed of, and Bushman makes this evidently clear.

While some revisionist biographers try to emphasize the weaknesses of their subjects, while ignoring or downplaying their achievements; Bushman does not fall into this trap but even handedly presents Joseph Smith, the Prophet and spiritual leader, and Joseph Smith the man.

One thing that this made clear to me is the importance of being merciful and forgiving of our fellow man. We should do more to support and assist instead of engaging in activities that tear down and detract. If anything, Joseph, Emma, and the early Saints who stayed true, are more deserving of our mercy then ridicule. They were presented with the monumental and what probably seemed like the impossible task of building the kingdom of God, and based upon their circumstances, they did a good job.

Bushman makes it clear that it is impossible to understand Church history, unless we understand the country and time in which the events took place. In some ways, men are the products of the culture and times in which they live. They may do certain things, which to us seem strange, but when viewed through the cultural lens of the past, their actions make sense though not appropriate today.

In conclusion, you should go out, buy, and read this book. This is essential reading for anyone who is serious about Church history, especially the life of Joseph Smith the American Prophet.

Christmas 2005

2005-12-28T18:34:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a long six days it has been. I got back home a couple of hours ago and am exhausted. I was stoked about being home so that I could go to the gym, but once I got through the door I pulled one of those,” I’ll do it tomorrow” that has led to my high blood pressure (I finally had it taken and was startled. I am not going to suddenly drop dead, but it is high enough that I want to do something about it.)

Visiting family was mostly what you would have expected it to be. It was a lot of fun and it was good to spend time with them. It is easier to visit some of our extended family then it is others. My mom’s sisters are the most pleasant. One is a member while the other members of her family are not. Her other sister does not care either way about the church, in fact, she pretty much is not thrilled at all with any religion.

Her Three brothers are where it gets interesting. The relationship she has with each of hem is somewhat distanced compared to what she has with her two sisters. Her brothers were all baptized at one point, but two of them completely fell away shortly after being ordained to the Aaronic priesthood. The third, and youngest of the family stayed active for years, received the melchizidek priesthood and was even endowed, but since the death of his mother, my Grandmother, has left as well.

One of her brothers absolutely hates the church. He resents the fact that his mother found religion and basically made a 180-degree turn in her life and then began to exhort him to do the same. In his mind there is nothing good that can come out of the Church, and he often has negative things to say about. Fortunately he does not say anything at family gatherings.

The highlight of the trip was going to the New York Metropolitan Museum of art. If you ever get the chance this is a place that you have to go to. It is unlike any museum on the planet. Their collection of Egyptian artifacts is superior to anything you will find in Antiquities museum in Cairo. My mother has been to both and she has said that there is more in New York then in any of the museums she visited while in Egypt.

I felt like Hugh Nibley in way, because I could look at Hypocephalous, and other Hieroglyphics and get an idea of what was going on and what they were about. It was cool to look a mummies and sarcophagi from various dynasties. Take your wife and leave the kid with the grandparents and spend a weekend at the Met Museum of art. I am planning on returning and seeing the whole thing over a couple of days.

By far the most impressive was their exhibit devoted arms and armaments from medieval times. Knights were very small people; in fact people were smaller five and six hundred years ago. I would have been a terror on the field of battle. And who knows, maybe because of my height and girth, the Duke or Baron that I served under would have wanted me to mate frequently produce a race of super knights. One can only dream.

All in all, the entire trip was great. The only thing that I did not like was the hotel’s work out facilities. I don’t like exercise bikes.

The Sunstone

2005-12-20T14:05:00.000-08:00

I was over at my friend Phillip’s house just before stake conference two weeks ago. His father and I were talking about, of all things, Sunstone and whether or not we should contribute an article to this publication. The article that we would like to see would be about ideals in Mormon life, and what happens, or what we should do, when things do not meet our preconceived expectations.

I think that both of us are qualified to write such an article considering that we have experienced times in our lives when the ideal and reality have conflicted and even contradicted each other. Both of us had to come to the conclusions that have allowed us to cope with the shattering of our ideal, and how we have moved forward with our lives.

It should be interesting to see what we come up with.

Death

2005-10-29T14:54:00.000-07:00

This past week, our Stake Clerk, Pat Fraley, suffered a brain aneurysm and passed away. Everyone knew that Pat was not in good health. He was a big man that probably had high blood pressure and to some extent, hardening of the arteries. But yet he died of something that could happen to any of us and is not always related to being out of shape and overweight.

For those not familiar with what an aneurysm is, it is when a blood vessel bursts. They can happen anywhere in your body, but can be fatal if they happen in the brain. My Father’s mother died from this, as did a third grade teacher at my elementary school. Aneurysms are a fairly common thing that can end one’s life.

It just goes to show that our time on this planet can end at any time. Pat’s business, after many years of struggle and toil, was beginning to take off. His last child got married a couple of years ago, and he had a happy relationship with his wife. From what I know of him, he was a good man, who did the best he knew how, and helped people as a bishop, and employer.

I have thought about how I might punch my ticket. While working at the glass plant, there were a few times each day where I could have been killed. Each and every day I prayed for safety and was blessed with it. But what is stopping me from having an aneurysm, or be struck by lightening? The answer is nothing.

Oh, it is true that you can eat right, exercise daily, abstain from drugs and alcohol, and still get hit by a semi going down the interstate negating your efforts to live longer in seconds. You could go to a Mongolian grill and, without your knowledge, eat some bad mushrooms and die.

Death is a certainty. We can do our best to put it off, but nevertheless, each and all of us will one day end up toes up. So with that in mind, quit wasting time on things that matter least and spend your time on those things that matter most.

Bad Weather

2005-10-06T13:10:00.000-07:00

Ever since Hurricane Katrina people have been a bit on edge since it ripped through the Gulf Coast a month ago causing millions of dollars of damage and leaving so many without homes, jobs, and even in some cases taking their lives. In the future, those that live in areas that frequently experience these violent storms will hopefully heed the warnings given by state and local government officials when it comes to evacuating; and hopefully Federal, state, and local officials will do more to help those affected by natural disasters.

With that aside I will now go on to criticize those that live in the metro Atlanta area.

For the first thirteen years of my life, I resided in Portland Oregon. This city is well known for being clean and beautiful and over all a good place to live. Portland, and the Pacific Northwest in general, is known for rain, a lot of rain. Literally this city has more cloudy days then not during the course of a year.

Portland also can be harsh during the wintertime with multiple inches of snow in a twenty-four hour period. I remember one winter we had a foot of snowfall over a few days. The interesting thing is that no one freaked out about it. People went to work, the roads were plowed, and in a few days the children went back to school. Life went on.

In ’93 we moved to Atlanta where I have lived on and off for the past 12 years. The longest period being from ’93-’97, since ‘97 I have never been home for more then six months at one time.

During those four years form 1993 to 1997 I worked at a number of part-time jobs. One was at a grocery store. I worked there for a couple of years and noticed some things that were very interesting. If there was even the remotest possibility that snow would fall, the store turned into a madhouse.

People would buy gallons of milk, loaves of bread, and all sorts of odd things such as beer and cigarettes. The point being, people freaked out.

I have watched the Mad Max films and have come to a conclusion. Those people who survived that fictional apocalypse because they did not freak out. They remained calm and figured things out, and most of all did not panic. They formed roaving gangs seeking to steal gasoline in order to power their vehicles.

I guess another thing that helped the people in Oregon was the fact that they smoke a lot of weed in the Northwest. There was an earthquake that did not faze anyone.

Oh well, I guess until I can move elsewhere, I will have to deal with people who freak out when a snow flake hits the ground in the ATL.

Adieu Scroll

2005-10-03T12:14:00.000-07:00

Scroll, BYU Idaho’s student newspaper, has failed to produce any opinion pieces that are worth commenting on. I am disappointed; greatly disappointed that normalcy has penetrated that cold and dreary wasteland of southeastern Idaho. Over the past few months, contributors have been expressing opinions about things that matter and in some cases I agree with what they have to say.

During the time that I spent in Idaho, there was never a shortage of absurd articles that just made you say,” They cannot be serious.” The sad thing is that in many cases the people contributing were dead serious about what they had expressed in their writing.

But then again, commenting on Scroll was like, as one writer whose name I cannot recall at this time, like hunting dairy cows with a scope and high-powered rifle. While it was fun, there was not much of a challenge in it.

Some articles were just so ludicrous putting the stationary cow’s head in the crosshairs was not challenge. All that was left was to pull the trigger.

Now I have to come up with things to comment on instead of commenting on the comment of others. Oh well, in the end it should be fun.

Nukes

2005-09-19T18:57:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a really long time since anything was posted here. For some reason the creative juices that allowed me to post a new blog everyday went dry, leaving me with nothing to write about, or the ability to say enough about something to really make a point.

So I will try to solve the problem by writing a little today on what I consider a lot of topics.

First, there is the war in Iraq. As far as I can see it has been totally pushed aside in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Probably as it should be, this change of attention reminds me of how the popular media can only focus on one thing at a time. On FOX and CNN, all you see is round the clock coverage of a Hurricane that happened three weeks ago.

Now that there is another hurricane brewing off the coast, the media will focus on this for probably days, possibly weeks if there is severe damage.

I ask, where is Iraq? What is happening in Afghanistan? I might have to turn to news sources outside of American media to get information on things that I consider important.

The next thing is nuclear proliferation. The Iranians are dead set on acquiring nuclear weapons, and the ability to deliver those weapons to their targets. This is scary.

One thing that the Middle East is not known for is restraint and thinking things through. I do not think that the Iranians have really thought this through. Do they know what the consequences would be if the attacked Israel with a nuclear weapon?

What most people in America do not know, and I have said this before, is that Israel has and produces nuclear weapons. According to nuclear industry insiders, it is believed that the Israelis have not tens but possibly hundreds of nuclear weapons. From what I have heard, they have the capability to turn every major city in the Arab world, into a glowing hole in the desert.

This is my opinion. I think that we should welcome the Iranians into the club of nations that possess nukes. We should say:

Well done, now that you have them, you must realize that while these things are great in gaining political capital, and getting what you want through diplomacy, there are consequences that come with using them in a first strike against a nation that you consider your enemy.

You have now not only have to worry about retaliation from Israel, but from the behemoth with one of the world’s largest stockpiles of nuclear weapons, the United States and if you should decide to launch, your country, and all those that side with you, will literally cease to exist.

Again, congratulations.

Now I know that this is not politically correct, but the idea of Mutually Assured Destruction, or MAD kept two countries from annihilating each other for forty years until a peaceful conclusion of the so called Cold War.

Well so there you have it. I have squeezed out, about all that I am capable of right now. Stay tuned for future installments.

From within; Instead of without

2005-08-13T18:42:00.000-07:00

In my travels around this great world of ours, I have found that there are many different kinds of interesting people. All of them have their strengths; their weaknesses; their ups; their downs and in general everything that makes them human beings.

For the most part, I like people most of the time. I have a variety of friends from different countries, different ages, and from all walks of life. What I like about them is that they are all different, they keep me entertained, and most of all, keep me interested in the human race and keep me from becoming a hermit.

There are two groups of people that I would like to discuss that have made an impression on me. They are, those that cultivate spirituality from within; and those that count on external sources for spiritual enrichment.

When you spend a lot of you time among the religious, and if you are observant enough, you will begin to notice some striking characteristics of that both possess.

Those that are dependant on external sources run from one event to another seeking the next spiritual experience. They count on others to study and interpret the scriptures for them. They think that spirituality comes from external sources and therefore are looking for books, tapes, music, retreats, fireside speakers, and the like that will let them feel spiritual.

While they often find what they are looking for, what they have found often does not last, and the individual is left marginally better then before. They have little understanding of their faith, great amounts of zeal, and in the end often find frustration and pain when the usual external sources can no longer satisfy their spiritual needs.

I understand this category of people because I used to be one myself. As a young man, I went to the retreats, to the Sunday night devotionals, and spent a lot of my listening to sermons on cassette (CD’s were just too expensive) in my car as opposed to the alternative rock that listened to at the time.

There was a great amount of zeal in my life, but there was little if any understanding. If asked any questions about my faith, I could not provide satisfactory answers. In many ways I repeated what I had heard others say, but my own understanding was greatly limited.

Because I was not able to, or did not know how to cultivate spirituality from within, I was often left depressed, wondering when I have the next spiritual experience.

People who cultivate spirituality from within are often much more satisfied with life. They are happier and have a better understanding of what they believe and are constantly enriching their faith through constant study and prayer.

They are able to enjoy the external sources of spirituality, but are able to take those experiences and fit them within an internal spiritual framework that the external seeker of spirituality more often then not lacks.

In the life of the cultivator, there is greater satisfaction, greater fulfillment, and a quiet commitment that surpasses the apparent and often short-lived great amounts of zeal exhibited by those who depend on external sources for spiritual fulfillment.

Those that have figured out how to have their spirituality come from within by and large stay firm in their faith, as opposed to the external seeker who quickly becomes dissatisfied and often casts aside their faith of the month because it can no longer satisfy.

The question that needs asking is how do I make the transition from being an external seeking to an internal cultivator. The answer is this; instead of being a passive listener, become a doer of things, a seeker who strikes out on their own in search of God. Instead of listening to what others have to say about the scriptures, read them for yourself.

Years ago, I had profound experience that led me to believe that I could have spiritual experiences on my own and that they were not dependant on anyone other then God and myself.

For years a copy of the Book of Mormon sat on the nightstand near my bed. I began reading the book on a whim and was surprised that I actually felt what I only experienced from external sources, except it was stronger, and more genuine. It was that day that I discovered that I could have spiritual experiences almost whenever I sought them through careful study and prayer. It was that day that I began to build a framework that has served me for years.

It is really that simple.

There will be less despair, and the seeker will be able to deal with negative things of life that plague everyone at times. They will be more likely to learn from, be strengthend by them, and move on with life a better person then before.

Do not think for a second that you must be dependent on others to increase faith, and to have powerful experiences.

Until next time, take the time study. Take the time to pray. Start to act and cease to be acted upon.

In the end, you will be a better person then you were before, and you will have a greater sense of fulfillment regarding your faith then you ever thought possible.

Hello

2005-08-05T20:53:00.000-07:00

It has been so long since my last blog, that I’ll bet that no one has been here in a long time. But I really don’t do this for other people, it serves as a way for me to dump the crazy ideas that float around in my head and give my take on the truth.

Tomorrow Austin and I are to a book signing. I know that it sound boring, but when you grow up and quit playing Play Station, you will hopefully want to learn about the world around you for yourself and not through mainstream media outlets like FOX and CNN. I think that both are unbalanced and biased, but I do prefer FOX because it tends to play to my biases. What can I say? I am human.

So we are going to get our new “Fair Tax” books signed by the one and only Neal Boortz. I am pretty excited about meeting the “talkmaster”. I have enjoyed his show for years, and agree with some of things that he says in spirit, but differ with him about the application. I really think that we would be better off if the Government got out of so many things and let the private sector take care of some of the things that government does such a horrible job of anyways.

Until further notice, keep checking the blog for further updates.

From the Archives

2005-07-09T20:04:00.000-07:00

Over the past couple of years I have written some pieces that I did not publish on the net simply because they did not fit the general theme of what I was writing at the time. They have to do with dating, attraction, and relationships. By and large they are downers, but many have said that I have hit the nail on the head with these and that I just have to post them here. But before I do I would like to make an observation.

I think that many, myself included, live a kind of double standard in the way we keep our convictions, the way we balance the sacred and the profane.

On the one hand, the things of sanctity encourage individuals to rise above the world around them, to separate themselves from the debauchery, depravity, and from mores that do not bring out the best in individuals and communities. The Hebrew terms kadosh and segulah convey the meaning that holy people are to be first, set apart (Kadosh), and then becoming a cherished unique treasure (segulah).

A person being segulah, is granted that status through being kadosh.

This idea is set forth throughout the Old and New Testaments, along with many other world religious works, that there is really no need to site them here. To some degree or another, most world religions have a way that they see the sacred and the profane, and the need to separate themselves from those things contained within their belief system that are considered evil.

Being a Latter-Day Saint, I have been taught this idea of being separate for many years. I have been taught that by setting yourself apart from certain things an individual there would be great blessings that would come into ones life. As many individuals came to do the same things, it would change society. Hearing these principles as a teenager made my heart burn. We could change the world.

But, unfortunately we often are not willing to totally leave the profane behind, and seek immediate pleasure instead of lasting happiness. Proverbally, one foot is in Babylon and another foot is in heaven. There are a few areas that I can think of off hand where I am straddling that line of seeking after the joy comes to the faithful, and the pleasure that comes from being in the world. In the end I know that I will be happier once the decision is made and acted upon to be in the camp of the faithful, and to metaphorically flea Sodom and not look back.

In retrospect there are some things that I have observed with regards to dating that have had a profound impact and I hope that is shown in the essays that will follow.

Dating is a game. More specifically, it is a mating dance that has many nuances and subtleties that are not apparent to the casual observer. It can be a cruel game of high stakes poker where only a minute fraction of the players come away from the table with their chips, having gotten what they really wanted and not having to settle for what is around and available.

So here is the first installment: Cameros Cold Oatmeal and the Guy next door.

Cameros, Cold Oatmeal, and the Guy Next Door.

I am at a crossroads in my life, and feel like I am looking down the barrel of a gun in many respects. Next year around this time I will be preparing to graduate from college and will be moving on from being a student to being an adult in the work-aday world. I am not afraid of work. I am afraid of leaving college and not being married.

I have never been very good with women. And they have never been overly interested in me. I have tried for the past two years to initiate things with women, and nothing has come of it. I have gone on dates, gone to dances, gone to activities, and like the fisherman who is having a bad day, my nets have come up empty. This has caused me to reflect on my state, and to ask myself,” What the hell is my problem.”

It is not my hygiene. I shower and brush teeth daily and use deodorant; I wear clean clothing; I am free of fatally infectious diseases; I have all of my teeth, fingers, eyes, and toes; and finally I change my underwear daily avoid using profanity in the presence of women and children. What is the problem? I don’t understand.

They tell you that LDS women are seeking a man who has a testimony and keeps the commandments. It is what is said, but is far from what is reality. Women don’t want the Peter Priesthoods, they are more interested in finding and reforming their Dick Danger, or finding their Exotic Earl from a foreign country. Average white bread Mormon guys just don’t have a chance in today’s market. The reliability of the Camry is passed up for models that require a much more substantial investment. In short, the ideal guy in the gospel sense is just as desirable as cold oatmeal. It will provide nourishment but will not excite the palette or any of the other senses. No one raves about the cold oatmeal they just ate.

The scriptures, in reference to the last days, speak of the daughters of Zion and their worldly ways, and how they will be cursed because of them. What is not mentioned is the large number of guys who will remain single while the women go-a-whoring.

It is sad. There are plenty of guys who would treat many of these women like gold. They would be their peculiar treasure, their equal, and the love of their life. But these women, Latter-Day-Saint women are passing up these good men for the standard that the world holds up as the ideal guy. He’s good looking and he’s rich. He wears the right clothes; has the right car; is in the right major or has the right job; and is more importantly wild. He will take them to dens of iniquity known as night-clubs and fine restaurants; enjoys passionately kissing and premarital physical expressions of love that are so important to these women, and has of all things been on a mission. Not just any mission, but to someplace other then the united states of America or Canada.

Yes, weep. Weep for the daughters of Zion and their vain and false expectations. And weep they will when ten years and three years kids these same men that they have sought after no longer find them attractive, and will no longer engage in physically intimate acts. Yes they will weep when the excitement has gone out of the marriage and the girl has come to realize that her ’86 Camaro is breaking down, when the Camry would still be going strong, still just as reliable and enjoyable to drive as it was the first time you took it out for a spin.

Oh the sadness that they will reap, because of the seeds they have sown. If they had only been more sensible and not had their heads in the clouds, their state would be a happy one, and one of these single guys next door would be married.

Behold; Star Wars

2005-05-20T20:30:00.000-07:00

Why George, has it taken you two awful movies and hundreds of millions of dollars to finally regain the magic that is Star Wars? That is the only question that I propose after having just watched Episode III Revenge of the Sith.

I was skeptical about the final chapter of the Star Wars saga, but from the opening scene it became apparent that all my doubts would be satisfied with this film. In a way, the whole series had been taken down a few notches with the release of the other prequels. Phantom Menace was horrible. There was not a minute of it that I really liked, and after having watched it in my basement almost immediately following my mission, I was glad that I had obeyed the mission rules and not gone to the film like a few Elders that I knew.

Attack of the Clones was better, but it seemed like a caricature of the first three films. All of the digital effects were a bit much for me to take, and there was another kid, not annoying like the brat in Phantom, but it seemed that Lucas was desperatly trying to appeal to a very young audience which is not always a good thing.

What I liked about the First trilogy were not the fuzzy Ewoks, or other things that might be considered cute, but the laser beams, and space ships.

By the end of the film I was pleased that it was not as bad Phantom Menace but left the theatre wanting. I still was of the opinion that nothing could top The Empire Strikes Back, or any of the movies from the first trilogy.

But as I stated earlier, the non-stop twisting turning plot and amazing special effects made this movie worth the second mortgage it costs to attend the cinema these days. I can, with confidence say that this is Star Wars.

The Dead Sea Scrolls

2005-05-16T18:31:00.000-07:00

I was at a “munch and mingle” where I heard a phrase that, had I not been on way out, I would have unloaded on everyone at the table for about an hour. One of the members of our ward said,” Isn’t there something in the Dead Sea scrolls that proves the church is true?” I have recently been studying issues raised by the scrolls and am going to address this phrase here.

The scrolls, along with Apocryphal and Pseudopigraphal writings, are interesting, and have made waves in the academic and thelogical communities and also among Latter-Day Saints. But once it is understood what the scrolls are and are not, much of the conspiracy is debunked.

First, it is true that the scrolls are ancient documents that are of a religious nature. They were carried into the Desert by a sect of Jews known as Esenes, an extreme group that left Jerusalem to form a community based on what was found in the scriptures. Despite some similarities that may be found between what they believed and what we believed, Dr. Andrew Skinner points out that there are also just as many if not more differences in their faith and ours.

The bottom line is that they were not Mormons and reflected the general state of apostasy of the time.

Second, Section ninety-one of the Doctrine and Covenants deals with how we should treat both Apocrypha and Psuedopigraphic documents. Basically this section says that as long as members have the spirit they will benefit from what they read, but that they should bear in mind that these documents contain “many interpolations of men” and therefore are not as reliable as say the Book of Mormon or other books of LDS scripture.

While Biblical scholars argue about the antiquity and authenticity of the books of the New Testament, many Apocryphal writings are confirmed later, being attributed to the fourth fifth and even tenth century AD centuries after the Four gospels and epistles that make up the New Testament were written.

I look at it this way. While these things are interesting, and do contain some truths, all the truth that the documents contain and then some are found in the five standard works. One could spend a lifetime and only learn a fraction of what the scriptures teach.

Thirdly, there is no conspiracy surrounding the scrolls. You can buy translations of the scrolls at most bookstores or at Amazon.com. They have been available to the general public for a few decades. They are not being held back. The only thing that would hold you back from getting your own copy would be insufficient funds.

Finally, do they prove the church? The Lord has set forth the way that he proves truth, and that is through the Holy Ghost. If you have not read Temple and Cosmos: Beyond this ignorant present I suggest that you read this book this enlightening book, and pay close attention to what Hugh Nibley says about if all of these ancient documents and similarities between what we believe and what is found other ancient documents prove the Church.

He says that they do not prove the Church. He says that a testimony from the spirit is what proves whether or not the Church is true, and that testimony is non-transferable from one person to another. It must be gained on a individual basis.

In the end, read the Book of Mormon and the other books in LDS cannon, they contain all that you will ever need to know about Jesus and his gospel. If you feel so inclined to read Apocryphal writings, remember the counsel given in section ninety-one and make sure that you have the spirit, otherwise it is very possible to be thrown far astray.

Pink Floyd. Their a band. Not a person.

2005-03-30T17:46:00.000-08:00

The first time that I ever a song by Pink Floyd was during my sophomore year of high school on the way from cross country practice. I was in the car with Nathan Ivey when "Breathe" for the album "Dark Side of the Moon" came over the speakers. I did not only like what I heard, but was fascinated by how mellow and beautiful the song was. I had to know the artist and the name of the album. Since then, Pink Floyd has been one of this writer’s favorite bands. For a time, there was nothing else that I considered worthy of passing through aural cavities (fancy way of saying ears).

One song in particular is call Us and Them. Even eleven years later, this song remains among my all time favorite songs. The song is so romantic that I just want to grab a girl and slow dance during this seven minute masterpiece. Maybe even make out a little.

The Krispy Kreme Encounter

2005-03-19T17:42:00.000-08:00

There is an old but somewhat wise saying that money cannot by everything. Last night I met a girl at a “Krispy Kreme” shop that lived by this philosophy. She was attending a prestigious all girls college here in Atlanta and was majoring in English. Not English education, just plain English with an emphasis in American literature. When she graduates, her only options will include fast food or graduate school. Hopefully after a summer of witnessing at “Frontera” she will figure out that she needs to rethink what she is doing. Her friend with her, was majoring in philosophy at the same school.

Now getting a liberal arts education is fine, broadening the mind, and learning more about the world around you is necessary for social and economic survival in today’s world. But there is some wisdom in what Matt Damon’s character said in Goodwill Hunting. He told a snobby student that the same education he was getting from his college could have been gained from late fees at the local library. He is right.

In my own honest opinion, if you want to study just English, don’t drop the 30k a year that many prestigious universities charge and attend your own local state university. For a fraction of the cost you will probably come away with many of the same experiences that you would have had at “Big Dollar U”.

Another thing that I have discovered is that you can learn so much more through your own personal study of a subject then if you took a class. In many cases teachers do not leave it up to the students to gain their own opinions or views on a subject but push their own agendas on those enrolled (I saw this so much it was crazy).

So, think for yourself and don’t be fooled into thinking that you have to pay a lot of money to become the person you want to be. If you want to study, pop on down to Barnes and Noble or your local library and go to it. If you want to write, start writing on your own about whatever you become interested in (Tom Wolf has had a great career doing this).

In the end it is up to you. If you want to spend your money go ahead, but understand that you can major in business management and still be an acculturated person.

The Truth Deal With it.

The Rebuttal to Chad

2005-03-15T15:58:00.000-08:00

Dear Chad Phares

My name is Chris Rusch. I am a former student of BYU Idaho and am an aspiring author. While I was attending BYU-Idaho reading the opinion section of the newspaper was a favorite pastime of mine. A fond memory is of my friends and I sitting in the Galley and having a good laugh at our fellow classmates expense who were so bold to tell others that they were going to hell for one reason or another. Some of them were so opinionated that it was comical, and others were so myopic that flames would shoot out of my ears after hearing them on their soapbox bickering about caffeine and movie ratings.

After having our immature fun at the expense of others the latest edition would end up in a trash or recycling bin because we did not really care about anything that was going on around campus, and turned to such outlets as CNN and Fox News to be informed of what was going on in the rest of the world.

Opinion pieces are the most fun because they portray humanity at its’ best and worst. From time to time I will look up the Scroll online to see what human beings are thinking about in Rexberg and am hardly disappointed. The flames still shoot out of my ears and I still manage to have a good laugh, or at other times say,” You can’t be serious”.

But your article struck a particular chord. You should know that I did not laugh at your expense nor did flames shoot forth from my aural cavities ( A fancy way of saying ears). No, your opinion piece was motivating and I have been totally consumed the past few monthts with writing a response to your article entitled Choose Lds book cautiously-avoid doctrinal deceptions. I have written and rewritten this letter and think that I have finally gotten it right.

What I can say is that I completely agree with your title. Care should be taken when selecting all forms of media. Time and again we have heard leaders instruct that we should select things that uplift and edify. You are dead on here. There are probably a few movies, CD’s, and books that should go to the only place worthy of them, the dump. After I graduate from school at BYU- Hawaii, I will take into inventory what I own and purge my collection of that which does not uplift and drives the spirit from my life.

I will be the better for it.

One question that I want to ask is can a writer of LDS fiction really hurt the only true and living church. Is there anything that can stop the progress of the restoration of the Gospel in these the latter days? Is this church the stone that Daniel saw was cut out of the mountain without hands that would itself become a mountain and fill the whole the world? Or consider the Standard of truth. Has it been erected? Have persecution calumny, apostasy, and writers of bad fiction defamed? Will the truth of God go forth boldly and independent until it has reached every country and sounded in every ear?

I believe that there is nothing that can stop the progress of the Church. Where some fall away, others will take their places and the Church will continue to grow regardless of what stupid members do. J. Golden Kimball said that the church must be true or ignoramus missionaries would have destroyed it long ago.

Church history is full of examples of how the individual apostasy of some merely presented bumps in the road but ultimately could not stop the spreading of the Gospel. Apostate fiction writers are no different.

Lets consider some events in comparison to the current crisis of certain member’s writing works of fiction. If you know your church history you probably have heard about the failure of the Church owned bank in Kirtland Ohio. Truly this was a dark day in the history of this dispensation. Hundreds, if not thousands, left the Church convinced it was not true because the bank failed. But an amazing thing happened. Just when it looked like the Church was about to go under, thousands of converts from England were made and took the places of those whose faith wavered. The church did not fail, but continued to flourish in the face of opposition.

Or what about the Martyrdom of Joseph Smith the prophet? The testimony of many died along with him. But even the death of the prophet could not stop the progress of the Church. Brigham Young succeeded Joseph and lead the saints west, and from there the Church continued to grow.

Even the persecution that came from the federal government could not stop the Church. Time and again God has delivered his saints, and will ever deliver them so long as there are some that are faithful. I think that the church will survive idiot members, who want to write bad fiction.

You also said that some of these authors are merely seeking fame and fortune. That may be true, but why limit it to artists. Are there not members of other fields that do not have the best interests of Zion at heart? Is it possible that there are some students in the Business program who only care about being rich and want to heads of companies? Is it possible that there are doctors, lawyers, teachers, and others that don’t have the best interests of Zion at heart? I will leave you to answer this for yourself.

Recently I attended a performance of The Forgotten Carols by Michael McClean. The show is supposed to be about a woman who discovers the true meaning of Christmas when she spends the holidays with an eccentric old gentleman. But throughout the show you got the feeling that it was a big advertisement. McClean frequently informed the audience that his items were for sale in a rather tounge and cheek manner. It was funny at first, but after about the fifth time you began to wonder if this was not just a big advertisement to buy stuff with his name on it?

The show gave you the impression that making money was a big part of his agenda. What made me even more suspicious was that he made references to the spirit and even provided the audience with the feel-good experience or singing “we can be together someday” and then let the members loose to purchase his products. I have a problem with that. But you just get the idea that if McClean was willing to do whatever necessary to make a sale, and he is one of the mainstream “faithful” LDS artists.

McClean is what could be considered a safe mainstream artist. But if he is consumed with greed then he does not have the best interests of Zion at heart even though he may appear to be an upstanding LDS artist who inspires. Ask Dr. Robert Marrot of the religion department what he thinks about a lot of LDS entertainers.

What of Orson Scot Card, the LDS novelist that you and others seem to have a problem with? Card is a fascinating author because he has not only enjoyed success in the LDS market, but he has enjoyed phenomenal success in the secular market with his science fiction novels. He has appeared on the New York Times bestseller list throughout his career and is respected in his field of writing science fiction.

Card should be an inspiration that LDS writers can be successful and make a living doing what they love. Compared with popular novels today, Card is safe. His book Ender’s Game is considered a high water mark for writing, and amazingly the book is free from much of the profanity that plagues so many novels today.

Many don’t know Card is LDS because for years he was not what would be considered an overt LDS writer. In his books you will find elements of Mormonism, but Card is not bearing his testimony in what he writes, the same way that my Dad does not call upon his co-workers to repent at work. There is a time and place for everything and perhaps Card feels that speculative fiction is not the place for missionary work to be done. Frankly, I agree.

With regards to his novel about Joseph Smith, what makes his fictional portrayal different then from Gerald Lund’s in his widely read The Work and The Glory Series? Lund probably took some Liberties in his portrayal of the prophet and other historical figures. In the end we should not take our cues about what to believe about Church leaders from works of fiction. I found it disturbing that members of the Church made references to Lund’s books in their testimony meetings, which you would probably agree is inappropriate.

Card is by no means a dangerous LDS writer. In fact he is probably a great asset to show that Zion is just as capable of producing people that can and will excel in all the arts and sciences.

One of the problems with literature is that you never really know what the writer is intending because they are not always available to comment on their work. We don’t know what Card had in mind when he was writing his book, and he is not exactly available to answer every query that we may have about his writing. It is possible for the reader to miss the author’s intent, like with this piece. I hope that you do not think that I am ridiculing you, for what you wrote, but I am just responding to what you wrote.

As for Card’s A Storyteller in Zion, I found it fascinating that he has given us a chance to go inside his head and to see what makes him tick when it comes to writing. Card has just about as much authority to declare doctrine for the Church as you have to condemn authors that write LDS fiction.

But what I find alarming is that you claim that if someone is not a General Authority that they could not possibly uplift and edify others. Why can’t a book be written by someone who does not hold any Church office not be able to uplift another? Card was never declaring doctrine for the Church when he wrote the book, and why should anyone assume so now?

It must be very hard for you to sit through sacrament meetings when there are no General Authorities present and sister Smith is talking about how we can find strength by being faithful.

But if you are right, and General Authorities are the only people who could possibly uplift and edify others and teach doctrine, then I, as Sunday- School president of the BYU-Hawaii 19th ward will personally request that all teachers be released and that only past General Conferences be shown during Sunday school.

For that matter, members should not teach the gospel in their own homes because they do not have the authority necessary to uplift and edify. Why bother calling missionaries to uplift and edify the world when they do not hold any special authority other than the right to preach the gospel on a full time basis? Or for that matter, all full-time and volunteer seminary teachers, along with religion and institute teachers that teach college students and do so much good should resign because of the futility found in being able to edify that comes along without being a General Authority.

Why did Apostles speak at the funeral of Hugh Nibley? He was a prolific writer that was held in high esteem by many of the brethren but did not hold any special office in the Church. For more years then my father is alive, Nibley wrote prolifically on a variety of subjects and became an expert on the writings and sermons of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Early Christianity, Near Eastern Culture in the Book of Mormon, Ancient and Modern Temples, and the list continues.

Wouldn’t it be a shame if this man, with so much knowledge kept it all to himself because he held no more authority then you or me? It would be a shame (By the way, Elder Packer Quoted Nibley extensively in a 1974 General Conference).

Chris Stewart was one LDS author that was worthy of your ire because you felt that he was making a lot of money off of fictional books about the premortal life and plan of salvation. To me, his books, along with most LDS fiction just does not look all that inviting. The story seems absurd. But what does anyone really know about the life before?

Stewart is probably not trying to declare doctrine for the Church. He is a writer that had what he thought would be a good idea for a story and went with it. As for authority to write such things, he has his agency and can use it how he wants, and if he wants to use it to write pulp fiction, then that’s his deal.

As for how much money he makes off of royalties, how do you know how much he makes or what he uses it for? Some LDS authors donate their royalties to the Church’s humanitarian fund, as did one of the professors at BYU-Hawaii with a book that took him ten years to put together. If Stewart is making a lot of money who cares? If Michael McClean is driven by the flow of cash into his bank account then in the end does it ultimately matter to my eternal salvation and me? No. I simply express what I think about their work by not buying it.

Shane Whelan is an interesting duck. I do not disagree with his excommunication for writing salacious things about the practice of plural marriage. The Church leaders reserve the right to excommunicate those that pose a threat by leading members astray. But what I have found is that most dissfellowshipped and excommunicated writers don’t ever go into what their leaders had to say to them, and their leaders rarely comment. The member disciplined for their writing usually sing the same song that the Church’s hierarchy and so on wronged them. But it is not even worth talking about because the only parties that should be involved in matters regarding membership are the Lord, the Church, and the individual.

Hang around Sunstone, or any other Mormon intellectual group that has large numbers of those no longer fellowshipped and you will hear the same thing (And boy does it get old).

Authors need to be held accountable for their work, and if they are not in this life, then they will be in the final judgment. Whelan is entitled to his opinion and can believe what he wants, but ultimately he is the one who is responsible for what he has written.

Has the Church written any books that should be used by members? Yes and no. The scripture study manuals along the Sunday school manuals and the Priesthood Relief society manuals are official Church publications and are the closest thing to official church doctrine.

In fact what is official Church doctrine? The question, “ Is that official Church Doctrine?” is one only asked when someone is not sure about what is being taught, or when someone disagrees and does not want to believe what is being taught. There really are only two kinds of doctrine, true and false. Either what is being taught is one or the other. It is either true or false regardless of who writes it and the responsibility to find out rests upon the members. . Time and again we have heard that members need to gain further testimonies of what is being taught in conference by going to the Lord the same way that they went when inquiring about the Book of Mormon. This is not an easy church to be a member of with all of the searching and asking if things are right.

Again, there is no such thing as “official church doctrine”. Either what is being taught is true and we are bound by it, or it is false and should cast it aside. But signatures and other things that we think validate statements do not make them true, it is the content of the statement itself that determines whether it is true or false.

In the end members will continually waste their time. But in my opinion, I would rather have wasting time and salvation with “trashy” LDS romance novels then with things such as pornography and video games, two things that we have been warned about time and again.

Thank you for the effort you put into putting together your article. I will miss your opinion pieces but know that “Scroll” (really needs a “The”) will continue to amuse and inform in the future.

Best regards,

Chris Rusch

P.s. Dean Hughes wrote some books about a family during world war two that you might like.

Out of Retirement

2005-03-13T19:08:00.000-08:00

I have not posted a blog in quite some time. I was beginning to consider that I had a good run and decided to hang it up, much like Seinfeld, while I was on top. But now, like the greatest basketball player of all time Michael Jordan. As of now, I am back in the blogging game. I commit to my dedicated readers that I will provide both pithy and serious blogs of the past.

Let's start by revisiting an old topic. My battle with Chad Phares of BYU Idaho's student newspaper. I spent many hours crafting a response that never made it on my page. But now why not start my comeback in a big way.

To lay the foundation, here is Chad's original article in all of its' glory.

by Chad Phares
PHA98001@BYUI.EDU
Scroll Senior Writer
An oddity is in progress. Thanks to the growth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the LDS literature business has increased in production and popularity, allowing members of the Church and those of other faiths alike a chance to read a bevy of books relating to the gospel.

The oddity: Some of these books aren’t helping the Church — they’re hurting it. Critically.

Although writing LDS literature has turned into a profitable venture for some members of the Church, some of the authors are merely seeking fame and financial gain — not the welfare of Zion.

Granted, there are several books written by lay members that are written for the general welfare of the church and teach correct doctrine. In addition, the books written by general authorities should be read with confidence that correct doctrine is being taught.

These books, however, are difficult to find thanks to other books that exist which spew false doctrine and intermingle fact with fiction page after page.

Orson Scott Card is a successful science fiction novel writer who dabbles in fictional church history novels just enough to confuse both members and those of other faiths.

Several who have read Card’s book, Saints, said they feel like he portrayed Joseph Smith as a power hungry leader intent on living in secretive polygamous relationships.

The problem with the book is if the reader doesn’t know Card is LDS, he might believe that he is an anti-Mormon writer.

Card himself readily admits in his book A Storyteller in Zion that he isn’t a scholar, and his role in the Church gives him no special claim to inspiration for the body of the Saints.

Apparently, this hasn’t stopped him from attempting to do so in his essays in the book.

One essay is about the importance of establishing Zion, while another discusses the importance of Book of Mormon principles.

Important topics? Yes.

Edifying? If written by an apostle — yes.

Written by Card — no.

Another book, Chris Stewart’s The Brothers, is the first in a series of books that will follow the history of the plan of salvation from the premortal existence to the resurrection of all men.

The book tells of the relationships between Ammon, Luke, Peter, Michael, Lucifer and Moses in the premortal existence (dialog included).

So what gives Stewart the authority to write this book? Did he receive a special revelation? Was he commissioned by the Church to write it? Does he even know more than the average church member about what Lucifer said to Ammon in the premortal existence?

Nope. None of those things. The book is, however, making him a good deal of money.

LDS genre books occasionally take the focus off of the basic doctrines of salvation, leading to fanatical study of things like the last days, polygamy or the location of Kolob, rather than the core principles of the gospel.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie warned against fanatical study of gospel topics.

“Stable and sound persons are never fanatics; they do not ride gospel hobbies,” Elder McConkie said.

Shane Whelan, author of More than One, was excommunicated from the Church in 2002 after refusing to denounce his book on polygamy.

Whelan’s response: “I still believe this is the Lord’s church, but I think there is a lot wrong with some of the people who are running it.”

And this is who we have writing church literature?

The Church has written and authorized certain books as doctrine of the Church that are intended to be used by members. In addition to The Book of Mormon, Holy Bible, Pearl of Great Price and Doctrine and Covenants, missionaries are allowed to take five other books with them into the mission field.

Each of these five books has been approved as official church doctrine and they allow missionaries to be sure they are reading and teaching correct principles.

If there were a need for a book about polygamy or other misunderstood doctrines to be written, it would be — perhaps by an apostle.

But right now the need doesn’t exist, so lay members should try to steer clear of things they don’t understand.

Elder M. Russell Ballard cautioned members against believing all things they read in books not authorized by the Church.

“There are those who, without authority, claim Church endorsement to their products and practices,” Elder Ballard said. “Beware of such.”

President Joseph F. Smith taught that such teachings might lead to apostasy and loss of eternal life.

Meanwhile, despite the warnings, members continue to read and write their way toward unhappiness and false doctrine.

Wise members don’t waste time and salvation reading the literature, although peculiarly enough others still do—regardless of the warnings received from Church leaders.

And that really is odd.

Dating

2005-02-27T18:25:00.000-08:00

Living outside of Utah, Idaho or even any place that does not have a high concentration of Latter-Day Saints presents some challenges especially for young single adults who have made the commitment to marry in the temple.

With this end in mind, temple marriage, it really rules out who you can date seriously. Therefore, going to a singles bar or any other place where singles meet is pretty much ruled out. Therefore you are limited to the offerings of the YSA association.

I went to a dance about a week ago and came to the conclusion that not much had changed with these things in these last twelve years ago. Literally I have been to hundreds of these and can say that not much changes.

Depressing isn’t it. The music is on the edge of what many consider appropriate, but most importantly people stay in little circles talking all night to people that they have known for years not meeting many new people.

Perhaps some innovation is needed. Or perhaps at the next dance, I will snub those that are already known to me and try to meet and dance with those that are unknown and increase my circle of friends which will improve my chances of marriage in the right place at the right time to the right place.

The Second Coming?

2005-01-13T11:20:00.000-08:00

All of us are stunned by the recent disaster in Southeast Asia. The death count now is in the hundreds of thousands and will continue to increase as disease and starvation set in over the weeks ahead. Aid just cannot get there fast enough to help the victims of the biggest natural disaster in recent history. There are also members of the Church who will over the next few months, point to this disaster and say,” The end is coming soon.” and other things along those lines.

In fast and testimony meetings, a large number of people will stand up and say these things. On the other hand, people like me will give aid through financial contributions and prayer for those effected, but will not consider this a sign of his coming until further word comes from Church leaders.

I used to get uneasy whenever there were renewed hostilities in the middle east or when natural disasters would strike but now I am more reserved and optimistic about the future and when the actual coming of the Lord will take place. Wilford Woodruff described how we should live our lives with regards to the Lord’s second coming. He said that he would live as though it would happen tomorrow, but that he would still plant cherry trees. For those of you that do not know, cherry trees, or any tree for that matter, take a long time to grow.

The saints in the dispensation after the Christ’s first coming believed that he would come within their lifetimes. The Apostles had to write letters to the Saints basically saying that it would be a while before he came. They said that there would be an apostasy first followed by a restoration that would usher in the Lord’s return.

As far as I am concerned, the second coming could happen today, which is very unlikely, or it could happen when I am an old man. Either way, if I am not prepared to meet the lord now, and were to get hit by a car and die, I would be just as bad off as those who were not prepared for the great and terrible day to come.

When will Jesus return? The answer is none of us know. There is only one person who knows, The Father, and he has not yet seen fit to reveal when it will happen, nor do I think that he will ever fully reveal the exact timing. We have the scriptures that help us gain a general idea, but cryptic codes predicting the exact day and time supported by the Bigfoot crowd, are the last the things that I am going to give my attention to.

Disasters happen. In fact this disaster is not the worst in world history. There were catastrophes in Asia hundreds of years ago that make this one pale in comparison. This one will stand out because it is recent, and we have not seen anything like this for decades.

So repent of you sins and plant some trees, and remember that He will return someday and pay no heed to those who Second Coming nuts who will be flying off the handle. Make plans as though you would live to be eighty and live as though you would die tomorrow.

Mormon Elite

2004-12-14T13:26:00.000-08:00

Ryan Probasco wrote this over the past couple of days. When he told me about what he was trying to do, I just could not wait. I emailed Ryan telling him that the public could wait any longer, he needed to complete his essay. So here it is. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.

The Rise of the 'Mormon Elite'

I hear it all of the time these days: people complaining about 'Mormon culture' in the 'Book of Mormon Belt' (you know--west side of the Rockies; Utah, Idaho etc.). Good grief. It seems that these folks just can't handle being criticized by other Mormons for their supposed 'high art.' Don't get me wrong--I watch as many 'R' rated
movies as your average 26 year-old American male, but I also acknowledge other Mormons' right to partake in entertainment that suits their individual tastes. In fact I respect these purists for their resolve and conviction not to stoop to the level of what the rest of the world often deems appropriate.

Every time I hear people criticizing 'Belt' Mormons, I am reminded of America's liberal elite as they criticize their conservative counterparts. No matter how often these people are ridiculed with names like 'hick', 'redneck', and 'bible-thumper,' they remain blissfully content with their culture and way of life. There is such a striking resemblance between these two groups that it makes me wonder: are we seeing the rise of a 'Mormon elite'--a group so irritated by the mere culture of surrounding it that it lacks the ability to politely abstain?

Forget what you think you know about Mormon culture for a moment and visit the Book of Mormon Belt with me. I, myself, was born in Utah (Ogden actually), but had only lived here briefly a few times before reaching adulthood. Of all of the places I have lived around the world-Great Britain,South Korea,The Netherlands, California, and Washington-I have never seen the kind of strength and resolve that exists in the church in Utah. And I'm not talking about testimonies based on Mormon culture either. There are so many smart, good, and wholesome people here that it boggles my mind that they could possibly all live in one place!

Sure, there are a few exceptions: spoiled kids who can't act responsibly, proud arents who can't put anything before themselves. But in my experience, these are few and far between. Of ourse, it's not really these folks that the Mormon Elite take ssue with. It's the stay-at-home moms who listen to Kurt Bestor. It's the young women who read Jack Weyland novels. It's the young men of the priest's quorum who enjoy Orson Scott Card science fiction.

Does anybody else see how ridiculous this is? Instead of finding ways to strengthen one another's testimonies these elitists are mocking the attempts of others to do so. In fact some of the Mormon Elite even go so far as to suggest that prominent Mormon entertainers are (intentionally or unintentionally) hurting the church by poisoning the testimonies of members with horrible pseudo-doctrine.

This is a call to all practicing Mormon Elitists out there. You know who you are. Get off your high-horse and let others have the moral high-ground. You know that the entertainment you partake of is not wholesome and that Mormon entertainment (no matter how aesthetically lame it is to you) can be intellectually stimulating to others without the added sex and violence. Don't try to pretend that their choices
are destroying testimonies when it is more likely your choices which are doing so. No one is forcing you to listen to John Bytheway--don't pressure others to partake of your 'high art.'

Why Am I here

2004-12-03T15:07:00.000-08:00

I was attending BYU Idaho when I began the application process. About midway through the 2001 fall semester I was miserable and needed to make a change. I had tried for months to make things work socially and spiritually.

Spiritually I was hanging on only because of a testimony and a desire to live up to that precious knowledge. Socially it was a wasteland. Or a “cloneland” where individuality and diversity were not valued and conforming to prevalent social mores, wrong or right, was the thing to do. The student body by and large was not tolerant of differing worldviews and culture. Among the things that I did want to accept were that non-committal make outs or NCMOS were okay because they did not involve sexual intercourse, viewing people as commodities to be consumed, being conservative republican because it’s God’s party, conspicuous consumption, pride, rushed marriages and pressure to marry quickly, and a whole list of things that I will not name here.

I did not want to change to fit in, which would have brought some temporary happiness, and felt that I would be betraying my faith as a latter-day saint if I did. So I decided to try out another Church college believing that they were not all the same.

I knew that Hawaii would be different because of the large number of international students and the fact that it was outside of the culture that dominates Utah and south eastern Idaho. I felt safe because it is a Church college and to large extent would not be exposed to what takes place on many other campuses.

While applying I prayed night and day telling the Lord that I that this was what I really wanted, and if it was his will to make it happen, but at the same time was willing to accept his will in all things if I was not accepted. I don’t ask God for many big or miraculous things, but his was something that I just knew that I needed.

The answer to prayer was when the letter of acceptance came and the minute that I got off the plane in Honolulu. At both times I felt the spirit that this was the right thing to do and did not bother applying to any other schools. The classes that I have taken; the teachers that I have had; the friends that I have made; the wards that I have been in has reinforced this testimony on an almost daily basis that this was where I not only was supposed to be, but was needed.

Ryan Chimes in

2004-11-27T23:58:00.000-08:00

Ryan Probasco is another person that has interesting things to say about Chad Phares recent article in the BYU-Tehran (Idaho) newspaper that they crank out every week. Ryan read many of the same opinion peices over the years and had some great things to say about opinions published.

The following was written by Ryan Probasco and is worth reading.

It makes me wonder for which reason Chad Phares is writing about the church (in Chad's own terms): "fame" or "financial gain?" I'm assuming it's fame: and not only because the Scroll is free.

It's interesting that despite not being a general authority (one way to avoid his criticism) Chad's writing is mysteriously safe from the "spew false doctrine and intermingle fact with fiction" designation he freely pronounces on the work of his peers. I wonder what office of the priesthood Chad holds that gives him the authority to receive revelation on the truthfulness of LDS books for Scroll readers?

Last time I checked, the church owned bookstore Deseret Book was stocking and selling a whole array of Orson Scott Card books includingSaints. If this book is really critically" hurting the church why haven't the Apostles pulled it? This is a question that Chad can't
answer because to do so he must either call the Apostles stupid or he must admit that his motive for writing isn't pure.

So why is Chad Pares making a big deal about LDS books he doesn't like? My guess is that he's trying to stir up controversy in hopes that it will win him fame as a writer. Chad's writing unwittingly reveals his own hypocrisy and ill-intent before it even begins to displace any of his famous peers.

Chad Pares' article:
Important topics? No. Why not write about something truly critical like the rise of pornography among church members?

Edifying? If written by an apostle--an apostle wouldn't waste time writing about such a ridiculous topic.

Written by Card--Card didn't get a large audience by criticizing his peers.

Nice try, Chad.

Shem Speaks

2004-11-24T23:41:00.000-08:00

The following was written by Shem in response to the Chad Phares Article. He presents some very good arguments althoug I do not wholly agree with everyone he says. It was just to good not to post.

Thank-you Shem and feel free to respond to anything that I write in the future with your insite and wit.

Well, I finally found your blog. I dunno. Maybe you can be more specific as to what you disagree with. Some of what he said struck a chord of agreement with me. Here's my spin on it.

In Utah, and more than likely Idaho as well, there is this horrible cloud of "pseudomormonism" as I will call it. The thought of it sends chills up my spine. A seething mass of people devoid of independent thought. And because they cannot think for themselves, they turn... to the church and solid doctrine? no. To the Deseret Bookstore. Because if you fill your home with enough Janis Kapp Perry music and your kids read all of the Tennis shoes among the Nephites books, your kids will not end up doing drugs and getting pregnant. That's the theory, I guess.

Mind you, I'm illustrating the worst case scenario. But oh, how I loathe the barren wasteland where people quote from the same miserable faith-promoting stories and myths and poems but not from the scriptures. Where they can talk for three hours about the Work and the Glory, but never actually mention Christ in their testimony because they're too busy thanking people and talking about food storage. People who can give you ten explanations about the origins of the dinosaurs or why blacks didn't have the priesthood, none of which are doctrinal, but yell at their kids and kick their dog.

I know no one is perfect. But I've seen people with real genuine faith, where things like charity and kindness mean more than the position of Kolob or the latest John Bytheway talk. And I prefer that to this cloud of mormon culture that so often obscures anything even close to the truth.

I had a seminary teacher who cried as he bore his testimony of Star Wars episode I because the Jedi building looked like a temple and the Yoda's council had 12 people like apostles. He was a nice man, I sincerly love him, but please. Teach me of Christ, of repentance not Yoda or Ender or Micheal McClean. Not that any of these things are bad in and of themselves. But "Sunshine for the LDS Soul" won't save me on Judgement Day. Neither will Temple and the Cosmos or any of your "deep doctrine" about the name of Heavenly Mother and stuff like that. Take me away from this cursed land where everything is too shallow or too deep. Let's get back to basics.

Plus, I work in the library, and every day we get another LDS romance book. These things are crap. Take the cheesiest drug store romance novel you have, change the sex scene into a talk about the temple and the characters into a relief society president and a BYU football star, and you've got the story.

Terribly written, and there's a billion of them. These folks would never be published in the real world. But I guess we're so desperate for something clean that we crank out this "Charly" crap.

Same goes for music and in some cases even art. And so not only are the people deprived of real literature and music because they favor the dumbed-down pop-mormon counterfeit, but the shelter-bubble gets bigger and they become even less able to relate to anything non-mormon. While simutanously they drown in the sleaziest, stupidest mucus the world has to offer, just so long as it's PG-13 and not R. Okay, I'm done.

All this aside, there are lots of people in Utah and everywhere else who humbly, consistently live the true gospel. If you look for the good, you'll find it, if you look for something to complain about, well, it's here too.

Why!

2004-11-23T23:15:00.000-08:00

Shem posted a very long response to Chad Phares article which I think is great. I agree with prety much all he said. I suggest to everyone that they read his response. I am going to make it a post on my blog soon, so check back soon.

Why did this article strike a chord with me? Well here are just a few reasons.

Chad uses the term "official church doctrine" in his article. When you hear someone asking if something is "official church doctrine" one of two things is going on with this person. Either they are not sure about what is being taught, or they disagree and refuse to believe what is being taught. When someone plays this card, they are throwing up a smoke screen for what they really think, they are afraid to say, "I think that this is wrong," or ," I am not sure about what you are teaching?".

There are really only two kinds of Doctrine, true and false. Either what is being said , not matter who is saying it, is true or false with regards to Doctrine. Whether Elder Holland, or sister Jones is saying it, if it is true their can be no further arguement. It is doctrine.

Another thing that set me off was that when he said that it is not possible for someone to write edifying things regarding the book of Mormon or anything else that can uplift another person. I personally will someday write a collection of essays on the Book of Mormon and will attempt to have it publshed. This was another thing that set me off because I believe just the opposite. Members have a duty to uplift and teach each other doctrine from the scriputres. Why call a teacher if they cannot uplift?

One last reason that phares is way off is that he assumes that writers of LDS literature, both fiction and non-fiction, are declaring doctrine for the Church in their writings. This is simply not so. A good author will have the gumption to say that they are wholly responsible for what they are writing and that their work does not necessarily reflects the views of the Church. If it does not, read with caution. If the Author fails to do this, Desert book, probably under the auspices of the Chruch prints this in every book that it publishes.

These and many other reasons are why I took issue with Phares in his article and am working on a letter that is now seven singles spaced typed pages long.

It will fully explain why this article has made me a man on a mission.

Stay tuned.

The Battle Begins

2004-11-23T17:49:00.000-08:00

About a week ago Chad Phares wrote this article in Scroll, the BYU-Idaho newspaper. Think of a longer Ke Ala Kai and you get the idea of how good this newspaper is. Chad wrote this article and sparks flew out of my ears when I read what he had to say about LDS authors. If this does not make you just as mad, then just forget you even read the article in the first place.

Choose LDS books cautiously — avoid doctrinal deceptions

by Chad Phares
PHA98001@BYUI.EDU
Scroll Senior Writer
An oddity is in progress. Thanks to the growth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the LDS literature business has increased in production and popularity, allowing members of the Church and those of other faiths alike a chance to read a bevy of books relating to the gospel.

The oddity: Some of these books aren’t helping the Church — they’re hurting it. Critically.

Although writing LDS literature has turned into a profitable venture for some members of the Church, some of the authors are merely seeking fame and financial gain — not the welfare of Zion.

Granted, there are several books written by lay members that are written for the general welfare of the church and teach correct doctrine. In addition, the books written by general authorities should be read with confidence that correct doctrine is being taught.

These books, however, are difficult to find thanks to other books that exist which spew false doctrine and intermingle fact with fiction page after page.

Orson Scott Card is a successful science fiction novel writer who dabbles in fictional church history novels just enough to confuse both members and those of other faiths.

Several who have read Card’s book, Saints, said they feel like he portrayed Joseph Smith as a power hungry leader intent on living in secretive polygamous relationships.

The problem with the book is if the reader doesn’t know Card is LDS, he might believe that he is an anti-Mormon writer.

Card himself readily admits in his book A Storyteller in Zion that he isn’t a scholar, and his role in the Church gives him no special claim to inspiration for the body of the Saints.

Apparently, this hasn’t stopped him from attempting to do so in his essays in the book.

One essay is about the importance of establishing Zion, while another discusses the importance of Book of Mormon principles.

Important topics? Yes.

Edifying? If written by an apostle — yes.

Written by Card — no.

Another book, Chris Stewart’s The Brothers, is the first in a series of books that will follow the history of the plan of salvation from the premortal existence to the resurrection of all men.

The book tells of the relationships between Ammon, Luke, Peter, Michael, Lucifer and Moses in the premortal existence (dialog included).

So what gives Stewart the authority to write this book? Did he receive a special revelation? Was he commissioned by the Church to write it? Does he even know more than the average church member about what Lucifer said to Ammon in the premortal existence?

Nope. None of those things. The book is, however, making him a good deal of money.

LDS genre books occasionally take the focus off of the basic doctrines of salvation, leading to fanatical study of things like the last days, polygamy or the location of Kolob, rather than the core principles of the gospel.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie warned against fanatical study of gospel topics.

“Stable and sound persons are never fanatics; they do not ride gospel hobbies,” Elder McConkie said.

Shane Whelan, author of More than One, was excommunicated from the Church in 2002 after refusing to denounce his book on polygamy.

Whelan’s response: “I still believe this is the Lord’s church, but I think there is a lot wrong with some of the people who are running it.”

And this is who we have writing church literature?

The Church has written and authorized certain books as doctrine of the Church that are intended to be used by members. In addition to The Book of Mormon, Holy Bible, Pearl of Great Price and Doctrine and Covenants, missionaries are allowed to take five other books with them into the mission field.

Each of these five books has been approved as official church doctrine and they allow missionaries to be sure they are reading and teaching correct principles.

If there were a need for a book about polygamy or other misunderstood doctrines to be written, it would be — perhaps by an apostle.

But right now the need doesn’t exist, so lay members should try to steer clear of things they don’t understand.

Elder M. Russell Ballard cautioned members against believing all things they read in books not authorized by the Church.

“There are those who, without authority, claim Church endorsement to their products and practices,” Elder Ballard said. “Beware of such.”

President Joseph F. Smith taught that such teachings might lead to apostasy and loss of eternal life.

Meanwhile, despite the warnings, members continue to read and write their way toward unhappiness and false doctrine.

Wise members don’t waste time and salvation reading the literature, although peculiarly enough others still do—regardless of the warnings received from Church leaders.

And that really is odd.

Long Blogs`

2004-11-20T23:31:00.000-08:00

I think that one of the keys to good bloggin is brevity. Keep it short and sweet and you have a good blog. Well maybe?? er I dunno.

Love Actually?

2004-11-18T18:04:00.000-08:00

A lot of couples that engage in Public Displays of affection are not expressing their for each other. In my expert opinion they are trying to convince each other of the love between them by saying, or rather shouting, “ Hey, look at us swap DNA. We love each other so much.”

I think that there are some public displays of affection that are acceptable. Holding hands, putting an arm around a loved one at a movie, or giving a hug at an airport, all of these, along with others are acceptable forms of public affection. But love, and the expression of it, goes far beyond physical interaction. Love manifests itself in many other ways.

An unfortunate thing is that in the English one word describes this multifaceted thing that we call love. In ancient Greece there are three words that were used to express love. They were Eros, this is erotic or passionate love that drives a couple to sexual activity, Agape, the kind of love that exists between parents and children, and Philia, the kind of brotherly or plutonic love that can exist between both men and women. But all of these are taken and lumped into one word, love.

Frankly, couples that are passionately kissing are playing with fire, they are running with scissors, they are walking a tight rope straddling two pools, one is full of hungry great white sharks, and the other is full of Jelly Belly jelly beans, and many other clichés that we could use in our discussion about passionately kissing.

I consider myself an observer of life. My hope is that through my observations of other actions that I can learn something that will make me a better person and that I will not fall into the same traps that they have fallen into. On more then one occasion, close friends have come, prior to their wedding, and have said that they wished that they not used physical means to express their love. The best thing to do is to save these signs of affection until we have been properly pronounced man and wife.

Death of Dating

2004-11-17T01:12:00.000-08:00

It is official. I was just informed that Dating passed away last night in her home outside of Provo. "Dating" is survived by her children "Hanging Out" and "Hooking Up". Since '97 "Dating's" health was in decline and had turned the day to day operations of providing interaction between the single sexes to her children. Meanwhile "Dating" went into semi-retirement.

It was hoped that "Dating's" health would improve during a much needed sabatical, but it was clear to all associated with "Dating" that she was in decline and despite many "creative" attempts, it was only a matter of time. In late 2000 it was clear that "Dating" was improving, but shortly the decline in health continued.

Finally by 2002, "Dating" went into full retirement leaving the corperation to her children. After two years of being in and out of the hospital and assisted living homes "Dating" slipped into a coma and it was clear that she would not recover. After a week both "Hanging out" and her brother "Hooking up" jointly decided to take their mother off of life support Tuesday morning. She would pass away later that night in her Provo home.

"Hanging out" had this to say," Our mother has made so many happy over the years, it is regretfull that she will not be around to affect lives of generations to come."

"Dating's" ex-husband "Breaking Up" could not be reached for comment.

Frustrating People

2004-11-11T01:45:00.000-08:00

I thought that I had found sanctuary in the Mac lab on our computer barren campus. There I could blog and surf the net in peace. Then the IT people come fiddling about with things and now they don't work quite the same. Why can't they just leave well enough alone. I don't know what they did, but now they are just about useless.

It is not a frustration with Apple, but with people who do not know how to care for a computer, no those who think they do and end up ruining what was a sweet integrated experience. I've had the same laptop for almost four years and have never had any problems for one simple reason, I know how to care for a computer. I know that it is a good idea to run a defragmentation program and a scan disk from time to time and have done other simple maintenance things that ensure that it runs great all the time, everytime. Well, about as good as you would expect from a PIII 700mghz VAIO laptop that is running Windows Me.

I can't wait to upgrade. I can't wait to get the computer of my dreams. Well, what I can afford. And then no one will touch it but me.

So with that in mind, before you go a tinkering, make sure that you know what you are doing, or find someone who does.

Nuts to Halo 2

2004-11-10T01:23:00.000-08:00

I used to love video games, but the older I get the less and less I like them. Case in point is Halo 2. My roomate went to Kaneohe and waited in line for forty five minutes to get a special collectors edition that came with a dvd that chronicles the making of the game, and various things related to Halo. I really like video games, not so much for the gameplay, but for the stories.

Metroid,The legend of Zelda, Metal Gear Solid I and II, and Final Fantasy along with countless other games are fun for me because of their stories. If these were all made into movies, I would throw down the bones to see them. But really, the gameplay kind of gets in the way for me. Honestly, if someone would play the game and advance the story, and then let me sit in to watch, I would be fine. Why did I stay up until 4:30 on a Saturday morning playing Metal Gear? The further that I got, the better the story became.

Mindless shooting is not my cup of tea. There has to be a reason behind it. I played Doom for about two weeks before I put it down and never picked it up again. There was no story, just shooting, and that can only carry a game so far. Betrayal at Krondor is another Great game that I would play, even today, because of the rich story, and sub-plots that add to the gameplay and make it all worth it.

In short, why these be movies. The cinematic sequences in these games are almost animated movie quality. Why expend the effort to turn them into great movies? You could make money on both ends. Sell the game and the movie at the same time and make a bundle? But that probably will not happen.

Until then, keep on gaming

back in it

2004-11-08T17:35:00.000-08:00

Okay let’s get right back to it. Science and religion has been posted and the follow up is on its’ way. Expect it sometime later this week. I like the way that it is, but am thinking about strengthening the position with some authoritative quotations to make the point. I like it the way that it is and think that it holds water, so wait and see.

I had allot fun writing a total of ten typed pages in such a short period of time, a sign of what a motivated writer and his computer can do.

So what’s next? The election is over and there is really not much more to be said. Bush won, and Kerry lost. No amount of saying that it is not so will change reality. It refreshing to see that many did not by into the Michael Moore propaganda machine and voted for the right things. Another victory against the kind of socialism that has taken Europe and bankrupted them in terms of morality.

New Star Wars Film

2004-11-08T14:49:00.000-08:00

I do not care about what many have said about he last two Star Wars films. The first film did leave many wanting for more, but second film was much better and satisfied everything that I would expect from a Star Wars film. Movie goers should remeber that the first films were special because nothing like them had been done up until that point. Since then we have been bombarded with science fiction, and three movies that have probably dethrowned Star Wars as the greatest movies in all geekdom.

Who would thought that the LOTR films would be as good as they were.

I will see Episode three when it is released and think that it will be everything that I expect it to be.

Science and Religion

2004-11-05T14:32:00.000-08:00

(The following Represent the views of the Blogger and should be regarded as such)
Science and Religion
Science and religion are two schools of thought that have been at odds with each for as long as can be remembered. Members of the clergy in all ages of human existence have persecuted individuals in an effort to eliminate any debate about what they are saying. The gods have spoken, and their word is enough. The religious feel threatened by science, and can you blame them? Prominent scientists make statements and support ideas that go against doctrines and beliefs that many hold dear. The religious feel a need to defend themselves and their beliefs.
I should know. I used to fall into the camp of the theologically threatened. After having served a mission, it seemed blasphemous that such things as organic evolution would be taught at a church university. It seemed as though there was need to drive these ideas out of the minds and off of the campuses of church schools. But something happened that would change the way that I would look at science and religion forever. This change of heart came in of all places a geology life of the past class. This class was devoted to studying life throughout the history of the earth, and even dealt with theories that attempt to explain how the earth itself and the very universe we live in was formed.
The class seemed interesting because it would cover the idea of organic evolution in great detail. We would learn about Charles Darwin and his amazing voyage on the S.S. Beagle as the ship’s naturalist. For the first time, I would understand that there is room enough for science and religion, and that the religious can believe in what is dear to them and not feel threatened when a scientist is making a statement that goes contrary to what the faithful hold dear.
I hope to share my ideas.
Science is not founded upon fact, but theory. Natural scientists seek to find ways to explain why things in the world happen the way they do. After much experimentation and observation of natural phenomena, the good scientist will come up with a theory that will attempt to explain why certain things happen the way they do. Scientific theories become more and more accepted when different scientists conduct experiments and come to the same conclusion that was reached by previous experiments.
If, over long periods of time, the theories hold true, they can eventually be taken as fact. The theory of gravity remains the best way to explain why things stay on the earth instead of floating off into space, even hundreds of years after Newton was beaned on the head by the apple. But more often then not, one theory will give way to another. An example of this is Einstein’s theory of general relativity. For years this was held as an important theory that was indisputable. Then the study of quantum mechanics came along and in many respects supplanted much of what Einstein did. This happens over and over in the history of science. A very good theory will come along that is very good at explaining why certain things are, and then days, months, or years later, a new theory will replace the old theory and will be touted as the answer. But eventually that idea gives way to a new one.
The problem with organic evolution, like gravity, is that no one has been able to sufficiently come up with a way to explain the opposite. It could come tomorrow, next week, next year, or next century, but the possibility remains that it could happen.
With the transitory nature of science, all sciences in mind, it stands that the religious can breathe a sigh of relief as I have. Organic evolution is a good theory, but a theory nonetheless. It has stood for hundreds of years, but there is a possibility that it could be disproved.
Another reason that the religious should breathe a collective sigh of relief is that God will always know more then any scientist, or collection of scientists. No think tank can come up with an explanation for everything, and even if all the scientific minds were gathered together, they would still know nothing compared to what God knows. God reveals to men knowledge about things as he sees fit. I see certain scientific innovations as ways of furthering God’s purposes and the spreading of his word. Imagine if we never figured out how to get an aircraft off of the ground, or generate electricity, or any number of things that we take for granted. Perhaps God is really working behind the scenes to make the lives of his children better through technology.
Many quote Einstein as saying that the more that he studied, the more he is convinced that there is a God who is really the author of a universe that is filled with so much order. The religious can breathe another sigh of relief to know that there are people who live in both camps. Who can spend all day in the lab and then come away with a greater appreciation for God and his creation. At the same time, the religious should take a look at themselves and ask why are Catholic priests, people who are supposed to be in touch with the divine, sexually abusing young boys, and why can’t the Vatican come up with an acceptable way of dealing with the offenders.
Holding to one of the articles of faith, we should realize that there are many things that God has yet to reveal to his children regarding his kingdom, which can be defined as pretty much everything that is on Earth, or in the heavens above. The story is still unfolding, and it is necessary to realize that God will justify the righteous. If you want to study science, go ahead and study science, if you want to be religious be religious. But understand that both have their limits. Science cannot explain everything all at once, and God has not revealed all that he knows with relationship to what is on earth and in heaven.
Presidents David O. Mckay and Spencer W. Kimball were two men who held this point of view, and ever since I took this point of view life has, become so much easier with regards to the question of science and religion. On the other hand, President Brigham Young, and Joseph Fielding Smith, and Elder Bruce R. McKonkie had a different point of view. Who is right and who is wrong? We must simply wait and see, but we must also understand that while prophets should be revered, we must also realize that they are men, albeit holy men, but men just the same. And they are not infallible in all that they say. When they are speaking as prophets, seers, and revelators is when we should not question what they are saying. But when they appear in T.V. interviews, when they asked about their opinions, we are not bound.
President George Albert Smith was a vegetarian. He made it clear that this was a personal preference, and that as prophet, he would not expect anyone to change their diets to reflect a personal preference that he had. When President Hinkley speaks about pornography in general conference, it should be clear that this is not only his position but God’s position on the matter, and that the saints would do well to follow the council that is given.
Have prophets spoken out against science in an official context? The only official statement that I can think of that has any bearing on the matter is the statement of the first presidency about the origin and destiny of man. With that taken care of, it still leaves allot of room for every other question that science attempts to explain through the theory making process of experimentation and observation.
In fact, the religious should pursue the study of their fait with the same rigor that scientists treat an experiment in the lab. It is amazing that there are people who have gone to church for years and know relatively nothing about the faith, while a biology, or chemistry student, by putting forth the effort can learn what would have taken years to learn with only casual perusal with which many treat their faith.
I have to keep studying and learning about my faith, for in the moment I say that I have it all figured out is when I am the most vulnerable to losing my faith. The same is true for science. The minute that they choose to think that they know it all is about the time when a new theory comes along that will show the error in what was previously held.
In the camp of religion, there is also widespread laziness. The members of most faiths do not take the time to figure out why their faith is right, but simply accept it based on the words of higher authorities. While religious leaders, who are worthy, should be venerated, it should not negate the need for study on the part of the disciple.
Really, what is science? Here are some definitions:
The observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical

explanation of phenomena.

Such activities applied to an object of inquiry or study.

Knowledge, especially that gained through experience.

An activity that appears to require study and method: the science of purchasing.

With these definitions in mind, science does not merely include what we traditionally think of as science, but should include art, literature, history, economics, politics, and even religion. A new category could be created called the theological sciences.
In conclusion we should believe all that god has revealed, all that he does now reveal, including that which he reveals, that comes out of the laboratory, and we should believe that he will yet reveal many great and important things that will explain why things are in the heavens and in the earth. This is my own modified article of faith, and both the scientists and religionists would do well to give this some thought.

Of all things

2004-11-04T23:21:00.000-08:00

The election is now over. Bush is still our guy. And Liberalism is in its’ death throws.

<>Now that the storm has passed, we can all get on with our lives. Well, us conservatives. I was at the heart of the liberal web today, to check out what allot of liberals are saying about the defeat of their candidate and you would not believe it. They were making allot of the same claims that they were making after the 2000 election. <>“The nightmare continues” said one article. Another made the claim that once again “Bush stole the election”. If anyone hates to lose, it is the Democrats. They can’t stand the fact that American’s have a backbone when it comes to morals, and do not give into the rationalizing objectivism that has swept Europe turning it into a moral wasteland. The only people that the Democrats have to blame for losing the election are none other then themselves.

But with that aside let’s talk about science and religion and can the two ever be reconciled. This last Sunday my friend Scott shared an essay that he wrote about how the two must build bridges between each other. But I hold that bridges cannot be built, that they are already there, and that it is up to us cross them. I am going to get to work on it if I have the time. I am of the opinion that there is much that we have yet to learn about both science and religion, and that the same care that goes into studying science should also go into the study of Religion.

<>
I shall be interesting to see what happends.

Stay tuned

Oh Happy Day!!!

2004-11-03T11:19:00.000-08:00

I went to bed last night expecting to wake and still not know who the president would be. When I woke up this morning and heard those sweat words from Jeffery Christley that Kerry conceded, I could not help but feel a sigh of relief. That's right, Bush is the president, and to put the icing on the cake Tom Daschle was booted from the senate. I guess being chummy with Michael Moore did not win him any love in the state he represents.

Modern Liberalism just took a big blow. Republicans have decsive majorities in the house and the senate. I hope that we can count on more tax cuts and stability in Iraq and cakes and rainbows for all.

Hawaii Standard Time

2004-11-03T01:44:00.000-08:00

It is now 11:46pm HST (Hawaii standard time) and their is still no clear winner as to who is the President. Jared is saying that is Bush, and I would agree whole heartedly if it were not for Ohio, who as of now has not finished counting all of their votes. I hope that this is not a repeat of the 2000 election with endless recounts and finally a supreme court decision to put an end to the electoral mess of that election year.

Fox news is confident, and is touting Bush as needing only one more electoral vote. Cnn is showing its' liberal colors by saying that it is still unclear who the winner of the state is. Drudge declared Bush the winner earlier this evening, but then updated his page to reflect that it is not quite over yet.

So who do I want. In a perfect world, Michael Badnarik would be the president elect and lead us out of federal government bondage. But alas, that is not the world that we live in. Badnarik, who was a clear voice of reason, who had some great ideas, was shut out by the two party system.

Oh,well.

There will not be a winner declared until later this week. Kerry and Edwards will not concede until the higher powers that be tell them that it is over. And they will complain that twice have Republicans stolen the election.

So, lets watch the tv tomorrow and see how it will all play out. I am going to check Fox and CNN one more time and then go to bed.

Go Bush.

A thorn in the side removed

2004-11-03T01:12:00.000-08:00

Tom Daschle has lost his seat in the Senate. Oh happy day!!!!!!
It is only fitting that the man, who embraced Michael Moore after a special screening of Farenheit 9/11 was ousted by John Thune.

Oh Happy Day!!!!!!

Perhaps one of the most liberal voices in congress is gone, and hopefully never to be heard from again. If only the same thing would have happend to Cynthia Mckinney in my home state of Georgia. For those of you who don't know, Mckinney lost here seat to Denise Majjette, but because she was able to run in a new district, and win.

Well, you can't win them all. But at lest, there is one less liberal in Congress.

Nothing to Watch Nothing to do

2004-11-01T13:36:00.000-08:00

In May George Lucas will release the final chapter of the Star Wars saga thus concluding a story that has been thirty years in the telling. Finally questions that have been hot issues of debate in comic books shops and basement apartments around the country will be answered.

We will discover how Annakin Skywalker became Darth Vader. We will also know how many other things came to be that I will not take the time answer now. (Really it is because I do not know what other questions that need to be answered.)

Which brings me to another point, what am I going to have to look forward to. Lord of the Rings has concluded. Really all that remains is watch the extended version of Return of the King and then after that, it is all over. (A film version of the The Hobbit anyone?)

So what is out there worth watching right now? The answer is not a whole lot. Unless you dig foreign and independent films, then you have all you would ever want and then some. If I am going to pay the exorbitant cost of going to the cinema, or rent a DVD it had better be well worth my while. The last movie that I watched was Sky Captain and the world of Tomorrow, and can honestly say that was barely worth the drive to Mililani and the eight bucks needed to gain admittance.

What about foreign films? Well that is really hit or miss. Some are really good, but most of the time they don’t have the same kind of budget that Hollywood films have and make sacrifices which can take away from the film. Case in point is the Korean film Musa, The Warrior. Musa would fall into the Braveheart category, if there is such a category, of films. The costumes were great, as was the acting and story. But they obviously did not have access to good special effects and an actual musical score (It sounded like the music you would hear in a Chinese buffet. I hope that gives you an idea of what the music was like.) Certain fight scenes, where people get decapitated, ended up looking just bad and almost comical.

But why do you have to go to the movies? Why don’t you stay at home and read a book? Take your mind to new places and learn something.

The Wise Words of Neal

2004-10-29T14:28:00.000-07:00

"Don't believe anything that you hear on this program unless it is consistent with you already know to be true, or if you have researched it and found for yourself that you know what is said here not to be true". This is what can be heard throughout the Neal Boortz radio show, and I am going to hold myself to the same standard.

He is the Talkmaster, I am the Blogmaster.

I am willing to remove any posts if I can be sufficiently proven wrong on whatever I am writing about. So if you think that you have got what it takes to take on the Blogmaster, then step right up and lets get it on!!!!

Praise to Ryan Probasco. We squared off and Ryan sufficiently proved me wrong about Apple computers. Celebrate the day Ryan, because the Blogmaster is ever ready for any challenge whether he knows allot about a subject or nothing at all.

So if you have info that could prove me wrong, then step into the ring and lets get it on!!!!!

Russians??

2004-10-29T01:41:00.000-07:00

Well I guess that this is turning into a political blog, and there are many of them. But hey, I love politics. Well, not that much. I must say that I enjoy talking about current events with a very hardcore conservatarian slant. (I am a Libertarian on allot of things, but conservative on others.)

So, I have one question for you. What do explosives, Russian special forces, Syria, and the weeks leading up to the War mean? According to some it means allot.

The Washington Times ran a story that alleges that there was much more going on in Iraq before the war then we were lead to believe or even knew about. Apparently in the weeks and days leading up to the war, Russian special forces were deployed in Iraq to take care of a few matters of housekeeping. Among them, destroying documents that show a relationship between Saddam Hussein's Iraq, and to move weapons out of the country, namely the explosives from a facility whose name I can't recall.

If this is true, and the info is not just from our own, then this really changes what was going on in Iraq and has the power to change the commonly held beleif among the media that Saddam Hussein was up to nothing but rainbows and sunshine before the war.

I'll spell it out. Aside from us, Russia is the only other country that has large stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. While we have drastically reduced our own stockpiles of chemical weapons, we still maintain a large stockpile of nuclear weapons.

We know that the oil for food program was merely a means of lining the pockets of Saddam Hussein and other members of the UN.

Do the math. Saddam Hussein uses money from the oil for food program to pursue purchasing weapons of mass destruction from Russia.

John Kerry rightly brought up the the topic of loose Russian Nuclear weapons floating around. And if Saddam Hussein was courting Russians, possibly rouge units of the military, it is totally conceiveable that he could have gotten a hold of these weapons.

I know that it may far fetched, but in a world where people beleive the logic that Michael Moore uses in his movies, then anything goes.

I'll take this one step even further to demonstrate how dangerous this situation could have gotten if I am right.

Saddam purchases a few tactical nukes or chemical weapons from the Russians. Saddam cannot do anything with them because of sanctions, but he can put these things into the hands of those who could do allot of damage.

Enter one Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden, who is a multi millionaire, buys, most likely, chemical weapons from Hussein with the promise that he will use them against the west. You figure out this equation.

If these things are true, then deposing Saddam was totally justified.

Well, so much for keeping conspiracy theories and politics out of this blog.

Bombs

2004-10-27T19:39:00.000-07:00

The liberal media is screaming now about missing explosives in Iraq. According to the Washington times, a very Pro-Bush newspaper (I hope that you sense the sarcasm) explosives were moved out of the country by Russian, can you believe it?, Russian special forces into Syria before the war even began. It is no wonder why the Russians and others are mad about the war. We cost their countries income.

Yet the leftists at the big three are not going to pay one bit of attention this fact that is going to be screaming in their faces. They are simply going to shut their eyes and say that it is not so. They will simply say that Drudge is biased, and will attack him til the sun goes down instead of looking into whether or not this is true. Really, Drudge is not the one that they should be looking at, but the Times and whether or not it is true.

If it is true then I guess that Russia will not be a part of the grand coalition that Kerry is going to build when he gets elected to get the job done. Liberals live in a dream world where they can say that things will happen, and believe that they will with all of their being, when they clearly will not. France, Germany have said that no matter who is in the white house will not commit troops to Iraq. I guess that the Russians were already committed to something in a Iraq. What it was, we will have to wait and see.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it!!!

Writing a Novel

2004-10-27T01:02:00.000-07:00

Well it is official. Couple of weeks I ago I got religion about writing my novel. I bought and borrowed a couple of books about it and thought back to my high school classes about how to write a story. I have found one thing to be paramount above everything else.

It is hard. Harder then any of you would ever think.

I take my hat off to anyone who in the course of their life has written just one novel. There is really so much that goes into it, even the worst of em. Yep, you sit down and try to write a book and you will see for yourself why people who do not write think that it is so easy.

So for those of you who are interested, I will be posting bits of my writing from time to time at my other blog. It is at www.atimetodie.blogspot.com

I will have things their from time to time.

Until I have something better to say.

Peace out.

Chris

Getting Wrecked NOV 3rd

2004-10-23T16:12:00.000-07:00

Well if you have not decided who you are going to vote for by now, you have two options. 1) Get yourself informed and cast an educated vote or 2) Stay at home and get wrecked.

Personally, I have been following this election quite closely and it is going to be a squeaker. The Dems are poised with legions of lawyers at the ready to challenge if it is close. So basically, you can count on endless recounts and people claiming to be disenfranchised by complicated ballots. Honestly, if you can't read a ballot, then you probably should not be voting. It may sound harsh, but the line must be drawn somewhere.

Actually the test should be, drink three beers or the equivalent, and then fill out a ballot. Those that score above a fifty percent will be allowed to vote.

If John Kerry gets elected the only way that I will be able to survive is booz. Yes, for four years I will have to be in a constant state of intoxication to handle all of the bad news that will be on CNN. I don't watch CNN, but once the Dems ban FOX news, I will have nowhere else to turn. I would rather do any number of unpleasent things that will not be listed here instead of watching the big three.

If such companies as Johnny Walker and Wild Turkey are reporting record earnings it will be because of the many of us who just can't take it. We'll have to have something as the government steals from us to give unemployable crack- heads health care and as they try to get the UN involved (I don't know if that is allowed. I just used the word "Involved and UN in the same sentence.) in Iraq by signing on to all kinds of things that will basically turn America into Europe. Well if they turn us into the Netherlands. Being in a drug induced wonderland will be better then the Mordor that we will be living in.

In the next election I guess one of the issues that I will be looking into is federal funding for liver transplants. I will probably need one by then.

So starting november 3rd take my keys and lock up my gun, because Chris is hitting the bottle. I will be drinking more then a Russian sailor on a shore leave.

Hukilau

2004-10-23T16:01:00.000-07:00

Today I can say that my Hawaiian experience is complete. I attended an actual Hukilau, or pulling of the net. For those of you who do not know, which would include everyone other then myself, a Hukilau is a village fishing experience. I giant net is taken out beyond the reef and put in the water. After twenty minutes of or so, everyone pulls this gigantic net in.

Today we did this. Unfortunatley the net broke a couple of times. Finally after so much work and anticipation we looked upon the net with disapointment. With a fifty yard net we caught only three fish. It looks like our village will starve this winter. First ship that comes along I'm on it.

Really it was great. I am going to hold my own "Hukilau" when I get back home. It will not be so much pulling a net as eating bbq. The fish will be most likely pork or chicken. But I am going to invite our neighbors and will make the best food that I know how.

So if you are in Atlanta around December or January give me a call and we will "Huk" it up.

Not a bad guy that Steven King

2004-10-22T21:41:00.000-07:00

Steven King. Perhaps the twentieth century answer to Edgar Allen Poe, is a normal guy. "Wait a minute" you say. "Have you ever read any of his books." The answer is yes, I have read some of his books. The guy is not crazy, just creative. A creative genius if you ask me.

Here are some of the facts. King has been married to the same woman for almost thirty years, has two kids, and lives somewhere in New England. He is a political democrat, booh, and has been clean and sober for over twenty years.

I saw him on one of those communist network morning shows doing an interview with Kruzchev's wynch Katie Couric and thought, this guy is normal, if not nerdy.

So before you cast judgment, remember, there is a little crazy in all of us. It just manifests itself in different ways. It's how we deal with our crazy that sets us apart. Me, I like to sit in my room with the lights off, and look out the window at people in the parking lot through the scope of a high powered hunting rifle. Now if that's not normal I don't know what is.