How Goes Same Sex Marriage in California?

I really enjoyed this editorial entitled “Arnold Schwarzenegger Hates Gay People.” Like the prophets of God, I believe that legalizing same sex marriage is a serious threat to the institution of marriage and public morality. Apparently, an overwhelming majority of Californians agree, notwithstanding the disgusting performance of their state legislators and judges. I am especially pleased to learn the information in this column because I have never had much respect of Governor Schwarzenegger. I consider him a RINO (Republican In Name Only), and he is far too liberal to suit me. But he has gained some stature in my eyes for using his veto in this case. Three cheers for the Terminator! Maybe we should send some missionaries to preach the gospel to him.

Is Astrology a Sin?

In this short but interesting piece about the occult arts, Mormon scholar Robert J. Matthews reviews the scriptures in which the Lord gives us his Word about astrology, spiritualism, witchcraft and other black arts. We are often prone to think of astrology and spirit mediums as harmless superstition, but that is not how the Lord feels about it. A false prophet teaching false doctrine leads us away from God and is hence evil and therefore dangerous. What do you think?

Big Problems on the Church Website

I have big problems with the Church website because of flaws in the search functions. Many times I search for something that I know for a fact is there, but it doesn’t show up in the search results even when I use the exact “string” to search for it. Often when I limit my search to a specific author, it produces a huge number of hits that include many other authors. There does not seem to be a very effective ranking according to “relevance.” And Google “advanced” search, which I use constantly from my Firefox context menu using a Firefox extension, cannot do a site: search for some reason. Boolean operators are poorly implemented on the Church website, and the search inadequacies frustrate me no end. I love the Church website for what I can do with it, but the search frustrations ruin much of the site’s usefulness, in my opinion.

Have any of you had similar frustrations? How can the LDS online community make a big enough issue with this to get the Church to do something about it? The search technology is available to do a much better job than is currently being done. Maybe the Church needs to get some help from one of the major search engines or consult with tech people in the search industry that know the technology better than those currently in charge of searching on the official Church website. What do you think?

Condemning the Righteous and Letting the Wicked Go Unpunished

In Helaman 7:5 there is a scripture that has always fascinated me because it seems to describe our own day so well:

“Condemning the righteous because of their righteousness; letting the guilty and the wicked go unpunished because of their money; and moreover to be held in office at the head of government, to rule and do according to their wills, that they might get gain and glory of the world, and, moreover, that they might the more easily commit adultery, and steal, and kill, and do according to their own wills.”—

What do you think? Are we seeing any of this in our own day? Do the guilty go unpunished because of their money? Do our government leaders commit adultery, steal and kill to get gain and glory? What about wars fought for profit rather than for national defense? Is any of that going on today? If so, isn’t that killing for “gain and glory?” Perhaps I’m being paranoid, do you think? Tell me I’m wrong. Convince me it isn’t so. I would be a lot happier with the world I’m leaving to my children and grandchildren if I could be disabused of this negativity which I hope is just a paranoid delusion.

Is Jesus a God of Vengeance?

Call me bloodthirsty, but this is one of my favorite scriptures:

“And the Lord shall be red in his apparel, and his garments like him that treadeth in the wine-vat. And so great shall be the glory of his presence that the sun shall hide his face in shame, and the moon shall withhold its light, and the stars shall be hurled from their places. And his voice shall be heard: I have trodden the wine-press alone, and have brought judgment upon all people; and none were with me; And I have trampled them in my fury, and I did tread upon them in mine anger, and their blood have I sprinkled upon my garments, and stained all my raiment; for this was the day of vengeance which was in my heart.”

Is Jesus a God of vengeance? Will he right the wrongs that we see daily around us throughout our lives? Will the abusers get their just desserts? I know that God is love, and that he forgives those who repent of their sins. But will he see that justice is done for those who have been abused? Are the wicked going to get their comeuppance? Can those who refuse to seek revenge against their enemies count on the Lord to settle their scores? I love the God of mercy. But I also derive great satisfaction from all those scriptures that assure me he is also a God of justice. I have to forgive everyone, the repentant and unrepentant alike. But God can forgive whomever he pleases to forgive. And without repentance, there is no forgiveness through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Is part of heaven seeing justice done?

Seek Not For Riches But For Wisdom

For me, one of the most comforting scriptures is D&C 6:7 which reads:

Seek not for riches but for wisdom, and behold, the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto you, and then shall you be made rich. Behold, he that hath eternal life is rich.

I guess one of the reasons I find this verse so comforting is that it seems to let me off the hook when it comes to being financially successful, something that I have never had a gift for. If I had to stroke my own ego by pointing to my great financial or business success, I would be in sore need of an ego boost.

But how does one go about effectively seeking wisdom? Is it just a matter of keeping the commandments and practicing ones religion? Or is there more to it than that? I recently read a short introduction to philosophy at this website. Among other things it suggests

The word philosophy has meant different things at different times, often reflecting the culture of the day. Usually we understand the term to denote the love of wisdom, from the Greek; in this sense, as it was apparently used by Socrates, it gives the impression of someone who is seeking wisdom, not one who has found it. Thus we would only call someone a physicist, say, if he or she actually had some knowledge of physics; but we call by philosopher someone who is aiming at wisdom without necessarily achieving it.

Is this true? Is a study of philosophy necessary to a search for wisdom? If not, is it helpful? Can it be counterproductive? If a study of philosophy is useful, are all philosophies equally so? If not, how does one go about judging among them?

I would really like to answer some of these questions, but I don’t know how to begin. I have a few maxims that have always been among my favorites, but they hardly constitute a philosophy.

When you have a good thing, don’t mess it up.

The greatest of all ignorance is the ignorance of ignorance.

Try not to say things that will permanently damage your most important relationships.

Very little is actually what it seems to be.

Religion is more important than politics.

The Apostate Cat by Tom Matkin

He prowls around
His Master’s yard.
Searching
In the
Dark
and Dismal
Spots.

His prey is not
what a cat can eat.
But
Anything
That
Rots!

Proudly
to the Master’s Home
he drags his
Useless
Prize.

The Master
Always
Disapproves.
The Cat,
He
feigns
Surprise.

How to Prove Mormonism Scientifically

According to the scientific method as I understand it, in order to be accepted by science, an hypothesis has to be proven by performing a real world experiment that demonstrates it to be true by direct observation in an experiment that can be repeated by other investigators, preferably many others. Only by demonstrably repeatable results can a claim be regarded as proven by the evidence. It is also helpful if there is some way that the claim can be proven false. Or in other words, a scientifically provable hypothesis has to be something that could be proven false if it were in fact false. Perhaps there is more to the scientific method than this, but that is my understanding of the gist of it.

Fortunately, the scriptures contain a way to use this method for proving whether or not the gospel of Jesus Christ as taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is correct and true. All one needs to do to prove it to himself is perform the experiment.

Keep the commandments of Jesus Christ as taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and see what the results are. Are there promised blessings? Do they ensue from performing this experiment? Can others perform the same experiment and achieve the same results? Can performing the experiment prove the claim to be false?

The Savior himself said that if we will do the will of the Father we will learn whether or not the doctrines are from a man or from God. Alma made a similar claim in Alma 32:26-34. Consider an agricultural scientist, if he should find himself with an assortment of seeds, and he wanted to find out which ones among them were alive and fertile, how could he more scientifically determine which were alive and which were dead than by planting them to see which ones sprout and grow? Is this not the scientific method? Is not the growth of the living seeds scientific proof that the seeds are alive?

I don’t know the mathematics behind this principle. I am not a mathematician or a trained scientist. But I imagine that if the principle is true, there is some what to express it mathematically. And for my own purposes, it is self-evident truth. This is the way that I have scientifically proven the gospel to myself. And I know many others who have performed the same experiment and achieved the same results.

Parenthetically, I have also performed a negative of this experiment. I set out to violate the commandments of Jesus Christ to see what would happen, and I found out that personal disaster ensued just as my religious leaders said it would. I know many others who have performed this experiment too and achieved the same results. The gospel is actually quite provable by the scientific method.

Reflections on Secular Anti-Mormonism

We all are familiar with the mean-spirited and bigoted anti-Mormonism of some Evangelicals, but what about secular anti-Mormonism? Is there a good answer for the humanists and pseudo-intellectuals who attack the Church on purely logical grounds demanding “empirical” evidence of our faith? Daniel C. Peterson of FARMS gives his thoughts on the matter in an essay entitled Reflections on Secular Anti-Mormonism. I really enjoyed it. Perhaps you will to.

I particularly liked this quote from Dostoevsky:

“If there is no God,” says Dostoevsky’s Ivan Karamazov, “that means everything is permitted.” Why? Because nothing matters at all; everything is meaningless.

To me this is a self-evident truth. I’m sure that some philosopher or philosophy student could explain to me some other foundation for morality than “what God approves,” but I cannot imagine what that might be.