On the Sauls in our lives

My Thoughts on being Paul; first some background.

It seams in restoring his church God, (  THE LORD, Jehovah, YHWH) has in the past used a dual track process, using formal leaders and informal leaders.

Question, Why;

First the formal Leadership

Jesus appointed Twelve and Seventy Two men to lead his church and spread his gospel to the world. 

The Calling of the Twelve.

'Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. '(Mark 3:13-19, NIV)

'And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ (Matthew 16:17-19,NIV)

The Seventy-Two

'After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
....
‘When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal those there who are ill and tell them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.”' (Luke 10:1-9, NIV)

Second the Informal Leadership. (Saul/Paul, Mary Magdalene, Cornelius;gentile and Roman Centurion,

He born, Saul, a strict Jew of the Pharisee 

 "circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;" (Philippians 3:5,NIV)  

and Paul a Roman Citizen.

"As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?”

When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. “What are you going to do?” he asked. “This man is a Roman citizen.”

The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”

“Yes, I am,” he answered.

Then the commander said, “I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship.”

“But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied" Acts 22:25-28 (NIV)

He born with dual names and dual citizenship.

He studied under Rabban Gamaliel,

"Rabban Gamaliel was a leading authority in the Sanhedrin in the early-1st century CE." (Wikipedia:HTTP://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamaliel )

In his zeal to promote the Jewish Kingdom he persecuted the Christian Sect. 

But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison." (Act 7:55-5;Acts 8:2,NIV)

He was present at the stoneing of Stephen  

"But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ (Act 22:3-5, NIV)

Saul/Paul's conversion

"Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’

‘Who are you, Lord?’ Saul asked.

‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. ‘Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.’ (Acts 9:1-19 NIV)

Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James, and Salome

"When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, ‘Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?’

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

‘Don’t be alarmed,’ he said. ‘You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, “He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”’  (Mark 16:1-8,NIV)

My question is;

I see a pattern here of Christ appearing both to the appointed leaders of his church and to persons outside the traditional leadership of the Church,

Why.

I believe Jesus called Twelve and Seventy-two men to preach his gospel to the world, lead his church.

These men were called to preach his gospel and administer the ordinances of the church.

The risen Lord first appeared to two woman at the tomb, not to the Twelve or the Seventy-two.

Leadership blinded by the traditions of their training.

“When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.

After-wards Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either.

Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.” (Mark 16:9-14, NIV)

Cornelius calls for Peter

"At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, ‘Cornelius!’

Cornelius stared at him in fear. ‘What is it, Lord?’ he asked.

The angel answered, ‘Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.’

When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.”

Peter’s vision

“About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’

‘Surely not, Lord!’ Peter replied. ‘I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.’

The voice spoke to him a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’

This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simone's house was and stopped at the gate. They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.

While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, ‘Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.’

Peter went down and said to the men, ‘I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?’

The men replied, ‘We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.’ Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.

......

Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realise how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached – how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him." (Acts 10:1-38,NIV)

Our task in seeking the modern day Paul's.

I have come to recognize that there are modern day Paul's in his church. These are persons outside the traditional power and leadership structures of the church.

As a Latter-day Saint I believe there are men today who are the modern day version of the Twelve and the Seventy-two. These are men commissioned by God to lead and administer the ordinances of the church.

I know enough history of my faith to know that these men are sometimes blinded by the traditions of our  past leaders.

Look at the history of black ordination to the priesthood. Joseph Smith approved of the ordination of a black man, Elijah Abel, to the Seventy and send him on a mission.

Brigham Young struggling to hold the church together after the death of Joseph Smith, lost his own battle with racial prejudice and denied black members the priesthood and Temple ordinances.  

Sometimes, even in restoring his church he allows tares, to grow,  among the wheat.

  

My Faith is a restored faith, 

not a revealed one 

or a reformed one.

Gadfield Elm Chapel England; pre-restoration

When you restore a structure 

some of the damaged fabric of the old building must remain 

while new timbers are prepared 

and installed in the church

Gadfield Elm Chapel England; post-restoration

Let us be patient with God as he continues to restore his church. 

 Let us seek by the whisperings of the spirit to identify 

and follow those who are called of God 

as were Saul, Mary Magdalene and Cornelius .

We can learn much from these men and woman.

https://steven-bassett.blogspot.com/2010/11/suppose-that-great-commotion-arises-in.html

On a Covenant Marriage

 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 

(1 Corinthians 13:4-7, NIV)

"Like We Never Had A Broken Heart"

Don't be afraid to hold me tight

You know I won't brake in two

What we're doing here tonight

Sure beats what we're going through

We both loved and lost before

You know the sadness it can bring

Tonight let's close the door

And hold onto the nearest thing

Let's keep hangin' on

So we won't fall apart

Let's make love tonight

Like we never had a broken heart

Writer: Patrick Alger

Copyright: Polygram Int. Publishing Inc., Universal Music Corp.

On making love with a broken heart....

"Like We Never Had A Broken Heart"

Don't be afraid to hold me tight
You know I won't brake in two
What we're doing here tonight
Sure beats what we're going through

We both loved and lost before
You know the sadness it can bring
Tonight let's close the door
And hold onto the nearest thing

Let's keep hangin' on
So we won't fall apart
Let's make love tonight
Like we never had a broken heart

Don't be afraid to close your eyes
Pretend I'm someone that you love
And I won't have to tell you lies
'Cause it's not you I'm thinkin' of

Let's keep hangin' on
So we won't fall apart
Let's make love tonight
Like we never had a broken heart

Tonight we'll just pretend
We've been in love right from the start
Let's make love again
Like we never had a broken heart
Let's make love again
Like we never had a broken heart

Don't be afraid to close your eyes



Writer: Patrick Alger
Copyright: Polygram Int. Publishing Inc., Universal Music Corp.

On Seeds Scattered in Rocky Soil

 

There is a great difference between a mystery of God

 that no man understands,

 and a mystery of God laid hold of,

 let it be but by one single man. 

The latter is already a revelation; and,

 passing through that man's mind,

 will be so presented,

 it may be so _feebly_ presented,

 that it will not hurt his fellows.

 Let God conceal as he will:

 (although I believe he is ever destroying concealment,

 ever giving all that he can,

 all that men can receive at his hands,

 that he does not want to conceal anything,

 but to reveal everything,)

the light which any man has received 

is not to be put under a bushel;

it is for him and his fellows.

 In sowing the seed he will not withhold his hand

 because there are thorns and stony places and waysides.

 He will think that in some cases

 even a bird of the air may carry the matter,

 that the good seed may be too much for the thorns,

 that that which withers away upon the stony place

 may yet leave there,

 by its own decay,

 a deeper soil for the next seed to root itself in.

 Besides,

 they only can receive the doctrine who have ears to hear.

 If the selfish man could believe it,

 he would misinterpret it;

 but he cannot believe it.

 It is not possible that he should

. But the loving soul,

 oppressed by wrong teaching,

 or partial truth claiming to be the whole,

 will hear,

 understand, rejoice.

 (George Macdonald, Unspoken Sermons)

On the gods communications.

Do the gods of different nations
talk to each other?

Do the gods of Chinese cities
speak to the ancestors of the Japanese?

To the lords of Xibalba?
To Allah? 

Yahweh? 

Vishnu?

Is there some annual get-together
where they compare each other's worshippers?

Mine will bow their faces to the floor
and trace woodgrain lines for me, says one.

Mine will sacrifice animals, says another.

Mine will kill anyone who insults me, says a third.

Here is the question I think of most often:
Are there any who can honestly boast,

My worshippers obey my good laws,
and treat each other kindly,
and live simple generous lives?

excerpt from "The God Whispers of Han Qing-jao"
(Children of the Mind, Orson Scott Card)

On Doubt, Evidence, and Choice

Freely chosen belief cannot be coerced upon us by evidence.
I have come to learn that there must be good evidence for belief as well as disbelief.
 If there is not, then belief cannot truly be a free choice.

“But belief itself is a choice I wrestle with God for,
somewhere in a dark swampland,
my inner landscape;
where not only God’s credibility,
but my own are at stake”
(Wendy Ulrich).

I believe because I choose to believe.
Just as God freely chooses to “sustain a loving relationship” with me,
I freely choose to reciprocate that relationship.

God does not tolerate me,
he loves me.

I do not tolerate God,
I love God.

Because of that love,
I am called upon,
 not to tolerate others,
but to love them;

I pray that those with whom I share the pews at church
will reciprocate that love towards me.

It is within my Mormon faith,
a faith that has been given to me by my parents,
that I have found and felt God’s infinite love.

http://rationalfaiths.com/why-i-am-mormon/
Michael Barker

On Two Famous Rabbis

“Chapter 16 -- The Fence

A great rabbi stands teaching in the marketplace. It happens that a husband finds proof that morning of his wife's adultery, and a mob carries her to the marketplace to stone her to death. (There is a familiar version of this story, but a friend of mine, a Speaker for the Dead, has told me of two other rabbis that faced the same situation. Those are the ones I'm going to tell you.)

The rabbi walks forward and stands beside the woman. Out of respect for him the mob forbears, and waits with the stones heavy in their hands, "Is there anyone here," he says to them, "who has not desired another man's wife, another woman's husband?"

They murmur and say, "We all know the desire. But, Rabbi, none of us has acted

on it."

The rabbi says, "Then kneel down and give thanks that God made you strong."

He takes the woman by the hand and leads her out of the market. Just before he lets her go, he whispers to her, "Tell the lord magistrate who saved his mistress. Then he'll know I am his loyal servant."

So the woman lives, because the community is too corrupt to protect itself from disorder.

Another rabbi, another city, He goes to her and stops the mob, as in the other story, and says, "Which of you is without sin? Let him cast the first stone." The people are abashed, and they forget their unity of purpose in the memory of their own individual sins. Someday, they think, I may be like this woman, and I'll hope for forgiveness and another chance. I should treat her the way I wish to be treated.

As they open their hands and let the stones fall to the ground, the rabbi picks up one of the fallen stones, lifts it high over the woman's head, and throws it straight down with all his might. It crushes her skull and dashes her brains onto the cobblestones.

"Nor am I without sin," he says to the people. "But if we allow only perfect people to enforce the law, the law will soon be dead, and our city with it." So the woman died because her community was too rigid to endure her deviance.

The famous version of this story is noteworthy because it is so startlingly rare in our experience. Most communities lurch between decay and rigor mortis, and when they veer too far, they die. Only one rabbi dared to expect of us such a perfect balance that we could preserve the law and still forgive the deviation. So, of course, we killed him.

-- San Angelo, Letters to on Incipient Heretic, trans. Amai a Tudomundo Para

Que Deus Vos Ame Crist o, 103:72:54:2”

(Orson Scott Card, The Speaker of the Dead)

On sharing Mammas Burden

“I ride east every other Friday but if I had it my way

Days would not be wasted on this drive

And I want so bad to hold you

Son, there's things I haven't told you…”

"So I'll drive

And I think about my life

And wonder that I'll slowly die inside …"

“A day might come and you'll realize ….

…. if you could see through my eyes

There was no other way to work it out

And a part of you might hate me

But son please don't mistake me, For”
One  “that didn't care at all.”

I remained deeply angry with my mother for the better part of two decades. 

Growing up, my Mom was not present in my life.  I got up when I wanted, left for school by myself and came home to an empty house.  When food was available, I fixed myself something to eat.  I learned to clean my own laundry and wash my own dishes.  Mom and Dad came home somewhere between 8:00 pm and 10:00 pm.  I knew little of how they lived their lives.  Their evenings were spent with my Dad’s younger brother  When Mom was home, she was not present. 

She consumed television,
like cheap whiskey.
I came to share the pain,
she mask so long ago.

My mother kept a pack of cigarettes in the car.
Mom calmed her her nerves with long drives
and a drag on a cigarette.

My Mom knelt with us at an alter
and made a covenant with god,
that she would carry my fathers burden,
the thorn in his flesh.

This was the start of their covenant marriage.

Helpmeets they were, they completed each other.

My wife and I have a covenant marriage.

Mom died a few years ago
in helping my 
Father 

I carry the burden.
I live in her world.

In understanding my father,
I  understand myself.
I recognize the source of her pain.

She deeply loved my father and never wanted the world to see
the man she knew and loved. 

“So when you drive

And the years go flying by

I hope you smile

If I ever cross your mind

It was a pleasure of my life

And I cherished every time

And my whole world

It begins and ends with you

On that Highway 20 ride ....”

Writer(s): Zachry Brown, Wyatt Durrette

Copyright: Angelika Music

On a "Highway 20 Ride"

I ride east every other Friday but if I had it my way

Days would not be wasted on this drive

And I want so bad to hold you

Son, there's things I haven't told you

Your mom and me just couldn't get along

So I'll drive

And I think about my life

And wonder why I'll slowly die inside

Everytime I turn that truck around, right at the Georgia line

and I count the days and the miles back home to you on that Highway 20 ride

A day might come and you'll realize that if you could see through my eyes

There was no other way to work it out

And a part of you might hate me

But son please don't mistake me

For a man that didn't care at all

So I drive

And I think about my life

And wonder why I'll slowly die inside

Everytime I turn that truck around, right at the Georgia line

and I count the days and the miles back home to you on that Highway 20 ride

So when you drive

And the years go flying by

I hope you smile

If I ever cross your mind

It was a pleasure of my life

And I cherished every time

And my whole world

It begins and ends with you

On that Highway 20 ride....

Writer(s): Zachry Brown, Wyatt Durrette
Copyright: Angelika Music

On Same Sex Attraction

My thoughts on same sex attraction.

I live in a biologically evolved, fallen world.  There are many biological factors, I cannot explain.  One factor is the parasitic wasp. This wasp injects its victims with a neurotoxin.  This toxin leaves the wasps victims immobilized.  The victim is alive but unable to act independently. The wasp lays its eggs in the victim where its offspring slowly consume the host leaving the vital organs intact. 

Why would a benevolent creator, engineer such a creature? 

Pregnant women emit a hormone that prepares men to be better fathers.  If more then one women share a household the dominate one will soon adjust reproductive cycles of the non-dominate women to match her reproductive cycle.

I have a biological factor that has left a thorn in my flesh.  I inherited it from my father and grandfather.  It lies in the Autism Spectrum. Its gift is that it gives me very high academic abilities.  I can hyper focus to learn subjects that interest me.  It is a curse because it leaves me socially color blind.  I walk in a room full of people and I am flooded with social clues. I find these clues difficult to process.  I have passed my parents on the road numerous times and not noticed of their presence.

Elementary school was a tough time for me.  I had not yet learned to process these feelings.  I can remember sitting in the playground not knowing how to interact with my classmates.  I often sat by self in a corner trying to figure out the rules of the games.  I was shunned by my classmates.  I spent my free time in the library reading dictionaries because they were easier to comprehend. 

Junior high was a much better experience.  I joined an orchestra.  The children accepted me.  The conductor began in a kind, loving and humorous manner to teach me how to process my feelings.  People smiled at me as I passed them in the hallway.  I learned to socialize.  I was no longer shunned. I felt loved and supported. 

 I have loving memories of my friendship. in Junior High. I have spent many years thoughtfully praying about this issue.  I am still coming to understand the biological effects of my own chromosomal errors. As my friends in Jr. High gave me the grace to grow; I offer this same grace to my family members with same sex attraction. I lead more effectively from a place of compassion; then I can drive from a place of shame. Christ leads from a place of compassion. The adversary drives from a place of shame.

• We shall not be compelled to consecrate their marriages in our temples or chapels.  
• May we support their marriages performed in the community by our civil magistrates?  
• Can we slide over and make room for them in the pews when then desire to come and worship with us? 
• Can we invite them and their children to attend our Primaries, Sunday Schools, Men’s and Women’s Meetings?  
• Can we bring in meals when their families are ill?
• Can we support good jobs for them in our communities and safe homes to shelter their families? 
• Would the God that we worship ask any less of us?

On a "Whiskey Lullaby"

Brad Paisley Alison Krauss

This song haunts me. I have a friend who started a similar story, but is choosing a different ending. I deeply admire his efforts to rebuild a relationship with the mother of his children.

"He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger .... While the angels sang a whiskey lullaby"

It takes courage to step away from the bottom of a bottle and to make a better choice.

Our Eternal Father would have us make this choice. Can we learn to love as he and is son do. To love deeply, strongly and Eternally. The example was set in Judea 2000 years ago.

They sought to redeem all of Gods children. They loved Pontius Pilot, Herod, and Saul of Tarsus as deeply as they loved Peter, James and John.

"She put him out like the burnin' end of a midnight cigarette

She broke his heart he spent his whole life tryin' to forget

We watched him drink his pain away a little at a time

But he never could get drunk enough to get her off his mind

Until the night

He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger

And finally drank away her memory

Life is short but this time it was bigger

Than the strength he had to get up off his knees

We found him with his face down in the pillow

With a note that said I'll love her till I die

And when we buried him beneath the willow

The angels sang a whiskey lullaby

The rumors flew but nobody knew how much she blamed herself

For years and years she tried to hide the whiskey on her breath

She finally drank her pain away a little at a time 

But she never could get drunk enough to get him off her mind

Until the night

She put that bottle to her head and pulled the trigger

And finally drank away his memory

Life is short but this time it was bigger

Than the strength she had to get up off her knees

We found her with her face down in the pillow

Clinging to his picture for dear life

We laid her next to him beneath the willow

While the angels sang a whiskey lullaby"

Bill Anderson

Copyright: Mr. Bubba Music Inc.

Sony/ATV Tree Publishing

... on being less common

Today is Boxing Day. 

In England it is the day the Common Folk become less common 

and the Aristocracy become more , 

at least for a for a day. 

I am a very Vulgar Man, in the traditional sense. 
I am a little more common then most.  

Perhaps the myth of America is that we all strive to be a little more red-neck every day.  

Like Lake Wobegon "

...where the woman are strong, 
the men are good looking 
and the children are all above average." 

( Garrison Keller)

In England, the future Queen is a Nouveau Riche daughter of a Web-site founder. 

Not since the time of Henry VII a has a more common heritage come to inherit the future thrown. 

Perhaps three fourths of the royal blood line is not blue blood.

Perhaps; I strive to be more then I am. 

That I seek to ...

• " .... mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, ..." (Moroni 18:9), , 

...most days I fail to meet the target.

If you see me today be a little more kinder

then  necessary,

and I will strive to do the same.

Seek to lift and to embrace.

Choose to love and to serve.

On Prophetic Error, or traditions of the Fathers.

As I drove into work this morning, this thought was on my mind. That prophets have always been human and subject to error.  Jonah ran away from his mission to Nineveh.  Peter apposed Gentiles in the church.  Paul\Saul persecuted the church.

I have spent the better part of a decade and a half studying black ordination history. When I look at this issue I am confronted with Elisha Ables and his ordination by Joseph Smith.  Joseph sent him as a Seventy to minister to the runaway slaves in Canada. 

It is hard to separate the pre 1848 Brigham Young from the post 1852 Utah Territorial Governor.  Something happened to Brigham Young on the open prairies of the western United States where he lost his personal battle with racial prejudice.  

Maybe it was the loss Joseph or  his homes in Nauvoo and Missouri to mob violence.  I will not try to justify it or explain it away.  I can only say it happened.  

I lost my grandfather, Alvin  Horr, on this same plain.  He was buried in an unmarked grave.

Prophets do effect the people they lead.  We as a people do have an effect on the prophets who lead us.  Moses first offered the priesthood to all of Israel but later restricted the priesthood to only his tribe, the Levites. The tribe, or race, who he, Moses trusted more.

The real picture is for us today do we do the hard work for ourselves of receiving a witness of his teachings from the Holy Ghost.  We are instructed to listen to the brethren then seek our own witness by the Holy Ghost.  Far too many members today rely on their testimony of the Book of Mormon, and fail to seek and independent testimony from the Holy Ghost. I do think it is possible for a prophet to lead us astray if we do not seek an independent testimony of the truth.  Just look at a recent example of Gordon B. Hinkley’s purchase of the Salamander Letters.

I have never spoon fed my children their testimonies but have hoped they would desire to gain one for themselves.  I want them to have a testimony of Jesus Christ and of his Gospel independent of any individual including their father.  I think this is the essential truth to be garnered here.

Written in response to a Facebook post to my friend Derek Hale.  The post was in response to the an article on LDS.Org about blacks and the priesthood. 

https://www.lds.org/topics/race-and-the-priesthood?lang=eng

Faith: Hope: Love: Service Doubt and Faith

Perplext in faith, but pure in deeds,

At last,  he beat his music out.

There lives more faith, in honest doubt,

Believe me,  than in half the creeds.

("Faith: Hope: Love: Service Doubt and Faith",

 Alfred Lord Tennyson)

On Honesty, and Truth

I have discovered it was possible to be honest

but not truthful.

I could honestly hold a belief

that the world is flat

but that would not make it, truthful.

Only by being honest

about my beliefs, can

I discover their errors,

and discover a finer truth.

Given a small enough surface area

my belief the world is flat

is a good first level model.

Further thoughts on" Ender's Game"...

...“Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die.” (Herbert Hoover, addressing the 1944 Republican National Convention)

"‘In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him." (Orson Scott Card, voice of Ender Wiggin: Enders Game)

"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play." — A computer named WOPR in the film WarGames

On Doubt as a sign of Faith

 

 

 

I doubt;
Therefore I believe.

Dubito;
Propterea credo.

Steven L. Bassett
{a word play on René Descartes}

To Behold my Mother

Things I have never seen my mom do.

run a dishwasher

do a load of laundry

console her mother

embrace her father

consume alcohol

smoke a cigarette

save money

be free of debt

nurse her child,

abandon the same

approach death four times,

to deliver a child

lose a fifth before birth.

leave a friend,

 stranded

work a day,
without pain

rest her soul through the night
at peace with her past mistakes

break a promise,

tell a lie

read the bible,

bear a testimony,

talk of christ,

rejoice of christ,

teach of christ,

fail to support a son,
on a  mission

take the sacrament

at home
in her final years

Steven Lynn Bassett
        

On differing perceptions of death

By my grandfather's bed, my mother is reading,

Psalm 62, God is our refuge,

My grandfather stirs, could it be,

He is waking, one final time,

He has something to say,

If you only knew what lies awaiting

If you could only see what I can see

If you could only hear the music playing

The angels singing sweet victory

Oh, if you only knew, if you only knew,

How much he loves you

By my grandfather's bed, my mother is broken,

Psalm 17, O God I call on you,

She doesn't want to hear

Any words about leaving

My grandfather says

"Fear not, this is my time,

And into his presence I'll fly"

If you only knew what lies awainting

If you could only see what I can see

If you could only hear the music playing

The angels singing sweet victory

Oh, if you only knew, if you only knew,

How much he loves you

(Randy Travis , If You Only Knew)

On the Direction of Another One's Vice

A thousand ways, is there no black or white?
Ask your own heart, and nothing is so plain;

'Tis to mistake them, costs the time and pain.
Vice is a monster of so frightful mien*,
As, to be hated,
    needs but to be seen;

Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,

We first endure,
    then pity,
        then embrace.

But where th’ extreme of vice, was ne’er agreed:

 




Ask where’s the north?
    at York, ’tis on the Tweed;
    In Scotland, at the Orcades;
and there,

    At Greenland, Zembla,
        or the Lord knows where.

 

 
No creature owns it in the first degree,
But thinks his neighbour farther gone than he;
Even those who dwell beneath its very zone,
Or never feel the rage, or never own;
What happier nations shrink at with affright,
The hard inhabitant contends is right.

Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man

*Definition of MIEN

1: air or bearing especially as expressive of attitude or personality
: demeanor <of aristocratic mien>

Richard Phillips Feynman - The Last Journey Of A Genius

On Doubt as a call to Faith

I know I am grateful for a propensity to doubt,
because it gives me the capacity to freely believe. ...

The call to faith is a summons to engage the heart,
to attune it to resonate in sympathy with principles
and values and ideals that we devoutly hope are true
and which we have reasonable ....

                                        ...but not certain grounds for believing to be true. 

There must be grounds for doubt ...
                                         ...as well as belief,
 in order to render the choice more truly a choice, ...
                                              ...and therefore the more deliberate,
and laden with personal vulnerability and investment.

An overwhelming preponderance of evidence on either side 

would make our choice as meaningless 

as would a loaded gun pointed at our heads.

 (Terryl Givens; Letter to a doubter)