New Blog

I have recently created a new blog called The Trumpet Stone. This blog will be limited to discussions about LDS temples and these will mainly be about temple architecture. I will basically be reviewing temples as I attend them. I have decided to place these posts on a separate blog because this blog (Scott's Blog) can get political and is really open ended. I wanted a more limited blog for my temple reviews. You can read this blog at http://TheTrumpetStone.blogspot.com/

Civil Discourse

I find it deeply ironic that Dallin H. Oaks (member of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) gave a talk at BYU-Idaho in part about the decline in civil conversation and was then uncivilly mocked, ridiculed and insulted for speaking. Here is the entire speech. It is really good and not the least bit controversial despite what Keith Olbermann and others may say.

Most of the controversy comes because of this quote:

It is important to note that while this aggressive intimidation in connection with the Proposition 8 election was primarily directed at religious persons and symbols, it was not anti-religious as such. These incidents were expressions of outrage against those who disagreed with the gay-rights position and had prevailed in a public contest. As such, these incidents of "violence and intimidation" are not so much anti-religious as anti-democratic. In their effect they are like the well-known and widely condemned voter-intimidation of blacks in the South that produced corrective federal civil-rights legislation.

People have been making all sorts of comments since about how Mormons haven't been murdered over Proposition 8 while blacks were and other things because of this quote. You'll note that I emphasized exactly what Oaks said, not that we were treated exactly like blacks but that the effect of targeting people who spoke out on proposition 8 and firing them, vandalizing property, etc. to keep them from voting to end gay marriage was the same. The people were using intimidation to stop a group from voting in a way the intimidators didn't like. This is what was done against the blacks to stop them from voting for people who would end racism. Certainly the tactics were more harsh against the blacks, but the effect is the same. It was an effort to keep religious people (or anyone opposed to gay marriage for that matter) from voting or speaking up on this issue.

So Keith Olberman spoke out and put Dallin Oaks on his list of worst people. He said that Elder Oaks needed to "Shut the ---- up!" and ridiculed him. You should watch this. It is funny. It is really a Saturday Night Live skit but it is really not far from how Countdown with Keith Olbermann really is.

Read the talk. Dallin H. Oaks clearly knows what he is talking about and is not offensive. He even spends a good portion of it talking about not reviling against those who revile against you, respecting other people's rights to vote, even if it is against our viewpoint, etc.

It is also good to note that Elder Oaks was a justice on the Utah Supreme Court, and a law professor at the University of Chicago among his other qualifications. His talk is obviously well reasoned - so much in fact that those who ridicule what he said are in danger of knowingly lying when they express outrage. If anyone has seriously read the talk they couldn't make the arguments they are making.

It is also interesting that Elder Oaks posted additional information online after the talk. Among the things he says is that his analogy about the efforts to get blacks not to vote works although the intimidation of Proposition 8 supporters is obviously not as extreeme.

Read the talk, watch the additional information and realize that the controversy is made up.

Comrad Obama

Don't let the title of this entry fool you. I am not an Obama hater, a birther, etc. I got the title from an episode of 30 Rock where the character Jack refers to Obama as Comrad Obama.

I want to talk about Obama's recent attacks on Fox News. White house spokesmen have started going around on the record stating that Fox News isn't really a news station. White house communications director Anita Dunn called Fox "the research arm . . . of the republican party" and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said that Fox was not a news organization. You can read more here.

Everyone knows that Fox is conservative. The main news isn't so bad, but editorial shows such as Glen Beck and Sean Hannity certainly are hyper conservative republican. But by the same token MSNBC and CNN have liberal biases and have many hyper liberal democratic shows. The White House is only bashing/boycotting Fox because it disagrees with them.

This raises two questions.

First: Isn't this press boycott (the White House is talking about not giving interviews etc. to Fox reporters/shows) is a bit like censorship. It seems awfully un-american and would be the type of thing that I would expect liberals and democrats to normally speak out against and oppose.

Second: Doesn't this violate Obama's policies of bipartizanship and listening to opposing viewpoints and working together. Fox is being boycotted and belittled by the White House primarily because they have been critical of the President's policies and appointments. Apparently crticisms cannot be tolerated (see question 1 and censorship)

I did support Obama and I still support a lot that he does; however, this battle against Fox News is troubling to me and I think it is a losing hand for the White House. I expect more that talk about bipartisanship and listening to differing views - I actually want bipartisanship and listening to differing views. These recent attacks reek of censorship.

The Patience of Job

I recently thought that I should start writing on my blog and luckily I have come up with 3 things to write about. I'll start with Job, then move to the other items in later posts.

I have been reading the Book of Job in the Bible again recently. I've noticed some things about Job's patience and what it means. About a month ago I was also sitting in a Sunday School class in church and we were discussing Doctrine and Covenants Section 121. In this section Joseph Smith prays to God and pleads for help and asks "O God, where art thou?" (v1) etc. God then answers him. Well in class some people said that the Lord was gently chastising Joseph. They said that God says "Thou art not yet as Job.." v10 in a rebuke, basically saying that Job took his persecutions without complaining and questioning so so should Joseph Smith. I didn't and don't like this interpretation and in re-reading Job I have a very good reason for my belief.

I don't think those who made comments about D&C 121 had read Job or at least not recently. Job loses everything in the first two chapters and then he does a lot of questioning. Here are some examples:

Why died I not from the womb?.. ch3 v11

Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I longed for! Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!" ch 6 v 8-9

Job clearly wants to die and he asks God why he has to go through these things. It isn't faithless. He doesn't curse God. But Job knows he is righteous and asks why these things are then happening to him.

Those people who said that God was rebuking Joseph Smith might want to be careful in what they say. God says that JS is not yet as Job because his friends still stand by him. What did Job's friends do? They criticized him for complaining or pleading with God.

Job's patience wasn't that he kept quiet when going through trials. He questioned and pleaded and struggled and suffered through his afflictions. He tried to understand why God would allow such things to happen to him. This wasn't faithless asking. He cursed the day he was born but didn't curse God. He asked why but didn't turn away from God. If we are to have the patience of Job we can do the deep thinking, soul searching, pondering and pleading that Job did. Job questions a lot but he also says "I know that my redeemer liveth" ch19 v25 and asserts that even after his sicknesses destroy his body, he dies and worms destroy his corpse that he will be resurrected and see God. This isn't wrong. Joseph Smith's pleadings weren't impatient or wicked. God's answer was a merciful answer, not a soft rebuke. Saying that JS was not yet as Job was giving comfort that although it certainly was bad, God wasn't going to let it get that bad.

Charge Man

I thought I'd post on a ridiculous Mega Man villain. Charge man. I'm not sure what the programmers were smoking when they came up with this boss in Mega Man V. He is basically a train, only one that for unknown reasons stands on feet so the train parts of him aren't used. Then his lair is on another significantly larger train. So we have a train robot riding on a train (instead of himself). You've got to love mega man. From robotic chickens that lay robotic eggs that attack you, to a robotic dog that turns into a platform, spring, balloon and some other silly things, this game hasn't made much sense in any of its many versions.

It sure is fun to play though.

The immorality of torture

There have been a lot of articles in the news recently about the Bush administration's policies involving torture. The administration allowed torture in several cases. This consisted of sleep deprivement, waterboarding, mild beatings, all the perverse sexual abuse at Abu Ghraib (I admit the last one has officially been said to have been not known about by high leadership) and other things. I've argued to friends for some time that the fact that we are threatened does not justify us using whatever means necessary to protect ourselves. We should still have rights, order, and morality. I want to prove this using the scriptures.

Moroni 9 is a hard chapter to read in the Book of Mormon because it tells the horrible crimes of the Nephites and Lamanites. In verse 8 we learn that the Lamanites are killing the husbands and fathers of prisoners and feeding them to their wives and children. They are also depriving the prisoners of water. Then in verse 9 and 10 we learn that the Nephites are even worse. They raped their prisoners, tortured them to death, and ate their flesh. These acts are strongly condemned by Mormon.

The Book of Mormon was written for our day. I think these verses are telling us that morallity still must be maintained in war. Both sides are condemned for atrocities. Also, in the Book of Mormon a common theme is that if we are righteous God will fight our battles. In fact this is taught in detail in the Bible as well in Leviticus 26. In verses 3,6-8 it tells us that if we are righteous the Lord will fight our battles and give us peace. This implies to me that we need not lower our standards and torture and rape and deprive people of rights. Whatever information we are lacking from not torturing will be made up for in God's protection.

To fight evil we cannot become evil.

The Name of the Forgery

I was looking online today to get an update on the City Creek Center progress. While doing so I came across a web page about the project done by the Salamander Society. It was no big surprise that the page simply insulted the church a lot and made sacrilegious comments.

I found it interesting that this apparent anti-mormon group calls itself "the Salamander Society" This is clearly a reference to the Salamander letter from the 1980s. At the time it was a huge controversy - a document that seemed to put much of the LDS church's origins in doubt. Then Mark Hoffman, the letter's forger, murdered several people with bombs and accidentally hurt himself with one. Pretty soon it was discovered that he had done a ton of forgeries of early LDS documents in an effort to harm the LDS church and appear to prove it false. One of these documents was the salamander letter.

So I found it funny that an anti mormon group would use the name of this forgery to name itself. It is basically saying "we are a lie, we are trying to prove the church wrong by lying about it". The anti mormon group's name implies that what they are teaching is false. How ironic. How well suited.

Somali Pirates

I was just reading an article on pirates. I was thinking about the similarity between pirates and Gaddianton robbers. I particularly noted that in the article it says most people won't stand up to the pirates which is leading to this problem. This sounds similar to the problems with the Gaddianton robbers in the Book of Mormon. Eventually the Nephites combined for protection and overcame the robbers.
I'm going to leave this post a little unresolved (it feels unfinished). I see a parallel between pirates and robbers.

WoW addendum

I was thinking about my last post and realized a great example of following the WoW in refreshments. In a recent stake fireside I attended we had granola bars and yogurt instead of the usual cookies and other junk. This provided a lot grain which is a major emphasis in the WoW.

Word of Wisdom

The other day in class, my professor who isn't LDS was talking about the fact that there is cow fat in cupcakes you get in a vending machine. He's a vegetarian so this concerns him. Well, he said to one student, "This is for you," and then wrote 89 on the board. He was referring to the Word of Wisdom being in Section 89 of the Doctrine and Covenants. This same professor apparently was having dinner at a restaurant and when another professor ordered a steak he said "Is it a time of famine or winter?"

My professor has a sense of humor and was joking; however, he is right. We so often treat the Word of Wisdom as no coffee, tea, alcohol, tobacco or drugs. While it is this, it is also about having a healthy diet. My professor focused on meat. The WoW does tell us to eat meat sparingly with exceptions for winter or famine. Now this doesn't forbid meat, but it tells us to not eat much. I think a lot of us violate this in nearly every meal we eat. At the same time the WoW advises us to eat grain and mentions the "fruit of the vine" in such a way that it seems to mean fruits and vegetables. So basically the commandment in the WoW is to eat a lot of grain, eat fruits and vegetables, and eat meat sparingly (besides the usual things we focus on). That explaination will suffice for my argument.

So how do we do with the WoW? I've already mentioned that we as individuals often violate the dietary instructions. I personally have been recently trying to eat healthier. Several members of my family have told me they are doing the same. We try to work in vegetables, decrease meat portions, and increase grain. I like this. I feel better when I do it. Now what about the church? I was at a ward overnight activity. We were indexing all night long so we had food to keep us awake. The problem is it was mostly junk food. We had oh 40 types of candy, some chips, pizza and then 1 bag of vegetables with dip. While I appreciate the vegetables, I think we could be doing better. Now, think about the ward dinners/ linger longers that you have been to. I've been to plenty that are 1 part ham, 1 part potatoes and 0 parts vegetables or grains. While I might be happy about the huge portions I have to wonder why we so blatently ignore the WoW in church refreshments and dinners.

We can and should do better. I believe we can have good, healthy, tasty food that is in accordance with the WoW and within budget. I think if we can impliment this we will be blessed. Wouldn't it be great if an example for the proper way to live the WoW was set at all church activities? Next time you are planning a ward activity (or cooking for yourself) think about this. Your food choices can help us all be healthier, happier, and more obedient to God.

Gadianton Robbers

A few months ago I was in church and we were discussing the Book of Mormon. We talked about the Gadianton Robbers and then the teacher asked about what Gadianton Robbers could be in our day and how to avoid/ overcome them. She said that gossip could be a Gadianton Robber and turned the whole discussion in that direction. This really annoyed me. I hate it when we take something in the scriptures and change it (supposedly to relate it to us) far beyond its meaning. In this case we ignored the very real modern day examples of Gadianton Robbers so we could talk about gossip (and other unrelated topics).
Let me explain what the obvious and relatable modern day Gadianton Robbers are. Gangs, terrorists, the mafia, drug lords and smugglers, political assasins.... I could go on. It seems to me that you could compile this list and then say, "What does the Book of Mormon teach us about how we can overcome gangs in our community". This is great because it is relatable and a real threat to us in the same way the Gadianton Robbers were for the Nephites. Gangs cause huge problems in modern society, operate in secret, work against laws, and can cause our destruction. Because of this the solutions found in the Book of Mormon will have some resemblence to the solutions to the gang problem. It is the same for terrorists or organized crime - both very real problems in much of our current world and both extreemely similar to Gadianton Robbers.
My point is that when we discuss the gospel and try to relate it to us we shouldn't decide that we want to talk about something else and just say that the subject doesn't directly apply to us and change it to something else we want to talk to. Let's find the actual modern day meanings and learn what we are supposed to! Let me give you an example. The Bible uses the word "sorceries". Today we might be inclined to say that we don't have magic etc. so any discussion of sorceries as used in the Bible is irrelevant (outside of places like Africa where people still believe in magic). But the Book of Mormon mentions sorceries twice and it was written for our day. So what are modern day sorceries? An institute teacher told me the Greek word translated as sorceries is "pharma" (or at least it comes from that). That is the same root as the word "pharmaceuticals" or drugs. It could be that sorcerers are potion makers and that potions aren't really magical but substances that make you hallucinate and get high, drugs. If we can see the modern parallel then we can see how to avoid it. If we try to say that sorceries are, lets say, not reading the scriptures, then we will completely miss what we were supposed to learn, avoid, do, whatever.
This post has been hastily written and is probably choppy, but I think the content is true. Let's find the real meanings of things so we can deal with them.