Journal Entry

First, weather some obscure tidbit of information makes us doubt, or we realize some widely accepted belief is wrong.   Does that make everything wrong? Or am I just looking for a reason to ditch my way of life.

You have probably noticed that I comment on articles.    One reason is I need more room than is allowed in the comment fields, and the reality for me is that very few people read the comments.  The most comments I have read on an article may be 8 or 10, sometimes out of the hundreds and thousands of comments.  I would also like to keep my comments consolidated in one place.  Because most of the time I am sure my comments on articles are even more lost than the ones I am posting here.

Todays article is from the New York Times Some Mormons Search the Web and Find Doubt.   They article tells the story of a former Area Authority that is having doubts because he found out some things about the church he was not comfortable with.  The first thing he found out that was Joseph Smith was a polygamist.  I wonder why he didn’t know that before.  I have heard that Joseph Smith was a polygamist for most of my life.  I also heard that his wife hated the idea and Joseph was afraid to tell her about it.   I didn’t realize, until I looked on the internet it was a bunch of women, Here is a list of 44 women supposedly were married to wikipedia list of Joseph Smith Wives.  I will address later why I think this doesn’t really matter.

There were also a couple of other topics that were mentioned.  The Blacks and the Priesthood and the Mountain Meadow Massacre.   I believe the reasons that blacks did not hold the Priesthood is because of prejudice in the church.  In my mind, it just that simple.   As a Church we have moved past this.  However, we need to admit that is was wrong.  I am also open to the idea that someday in the Future women may hold the priesthood and Homosexuals may be able to marry.   I don’t agree with those things now.

The Mountain Meadow Massacre is definitely a tragedy that shouldn’t have happened.  I believe it was a isolated and has no relevance in a religious discussion.  It was just a bunch of idiots, which I believe, were on both sides.  And it just happened that the Mormon side of things enacted the most vile part of the story.  This is not how Mormon’s act now or how 99.9999% of the church has ever acted. That is why I don’t believe the MMM has any relevance in a discussion about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I am sure some could argue that.  But they can do that where they may.

All of the issues I have raised, except for the MMM, could be looked at in this way. Look at what the church teaches:  the Ten Commandments, the Teachings of Jesus, and a few new things.  Eternal Marriage, the word of wisdom and the Relief Society.   of those things mentioned in the previous sentence the basic beliefs are love God, Love your neighbor, don’t steal, don’t lie, try to help people, donate to the poor, don’t put things in your body that are harmful and keep sex in marriage between a man and a woman.  Following these things will help keep us free, healthy and happy.

So let me try to see it from outside what I believe.  Let’s say Joseph Smith was a liar and the God does not exist.  That is not what I believe, but that is what many believe.

Let’s look at some scenarios; What if everyone was nice to each other and tried to help each other out.  There would be more freedom and more happiness than we have now.  That is obvious.  What if people didn’t steal and lie.  There would be more freedom and more happiness.  What if people didn’t use substances that were addictive and impair  behavior.  There would be more freedom, better health and more happiness.    What if people stayed only had one sexual partner throughout their lives.  There would be little risk of STD, no broken hearts and broken families.  There would be more freedom, better health and more happiness.

The church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Even if Joseph Smith is a fraud and God doesn’t exist.  The principles are still sound.  Proving Joseph Smith is a fraud and that God doesn’t exist is really just  a ploy to prove the things they taught do not need to be followed.

Why is this never discussed in the articles.  Show me a way of life that gives me more freedom from negative consequences, increases lasting health, and produces more lasting happiness than the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints and I may change my views.

The truth of the matter for me is also about fear.  Life is hard.  I have made choices in my life that do not agree with the tenants of the church, I have also discovered that sometimes the negative consequences are difficult to handle.  More difficult than if I would have made choices that matched the teachings of the LDS faith.   Life is hard for me and I am afraid if I choose another way it will eventually get harder.  Like I said before, If someone will show me a way that will be easier for longer I will definitely take a look.

In an article from CNN it discusses Six Type of Athiests.  They all say there is no God.  I even have a friend, like all these famous people, that believe it’s up to the individual to come up with their own morals.  Sometimes I believe this because they are hoping that if they don’t believe in God it will make them fell less guilty about the things they have done wrong and the guilt they feel. Of course they will say they are totally happy without a God.   They try and find happiness in doing what they believe is good.  Those are the best Atheists.  Then there are the atheist that try to displace the guilt they feel with substance abuse.  Those are the tragic atheists.

I have said this before that if I look at it from a completely risk mitigating stance.  Or in other words I am trying do reduce the amount of risk.  I look at it this way.  What if there is no God, what will it hurt to try to believe in him and follow his commandments.  Love one another, turn the other cheek, Don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, and don’t kill.  The world would be a truly better place if we all lived this way.  If we die and there is no God there is no harm done.  However, if there is a God and he has rules that we are to live by.  Then I am going to be in some serious trouble if I continually say there is not a god and I am going to make up my own rules.

I believe there is a God, that he loves and cares about us, and following him is going to make us happy.

In a completely different direction.  Paige finished her soccer camp at BYU today.  She really enjoyed it and had some good experiences.  She also made new friends and learned new things.  I am happy it went well for her.

It’s sad that Hollywood professes that being beautiful, having lots of money and being famous brings happiness.  They are all so thin and smiling.  However, now and again the facade breaks down and the truth is revealed.

Last week with the death of Cory Monteith, a TV star, is truly a tragedy.   I am hoping that this tragedy will be seen in the correct light.  It is painfully obvious that fame, fortune and good looks do not bring lasting happiness or safety.    In contrast, following the commandments, may not bring an easy road in this life.  But, it will bring happiness and freedom.

I have a hope that all of humanity will someday see this truth and strive to live in such a way as to bring the most happiness and freedom.  I really hope this is the case.

Every now and then, a song comes along that almost consumes me.  Sometimes, it’s only for a few moments.  Sometimes, it lasts a day or two.  And occasionally, it will consume me for months.  The great thing about music is that after some time that song can bring all that back.  I have a list  that is about 475 songs.  I randomly go through these songs in between new discoveries.   Sometimes music grows on me and sometimes It consumes me quickly and then I discard it.  Either way the best way to describe my relationship with music is “addiction.”

Music can change my mood, it can carry me away or it can help me focus.

I have also discovered over the years music is totally personal.  While people may like some of my music and I may like some of their music, the overlap is usually small.  Luckily, my wife and I have more of an overlap.  Our tastes are similar.  She likes some of the late sixties and early seventies music, like Simon and Garfunkel, Cat Stevens and others more than I do.  But one of my to 50 songs is “The Boxer.”  I really like Trance style electronic DJ type music, my wife only likes a few of the songs.

I am to the point where I am very selective about the music I recommend to people.  I do like to share my experiences with music with people I know.  For instance, I have a subscription to a music service called Rhapsody.  Every Tuesday is the day they release most new music.  One Tuesday I saw Willie Nelson had released a new album.  I thought to myself, “That is cool, he has to be 70+ and he is still putting out music.”  I pushed the button to play the album, mostly because the first song was called “A Horse Called Music” which I thought was a cool name for a song.  The song was okay.  The second song started playing and I wasn’t paying much attention, then I heard a voice I didn’t expect to hear.  Then I started paying attention to the lyrics, “…. roll me up and smoke me when I die”  The chorus seemed completely appropriate for Willie, but who was this new voice.  He sounded vaguely familiar but I wasn’t sure.  So I looked at the title of the song, featuring Snoop Dog.  I started to laugh.  Once again, totally appropriate for him too.  I was amazed, amused and happily surprised to see that both Willie and Snoop have a sense of humor and are not taking themselves too seriously.  I like to share those type of experiences with my friends and family.  There have been several other songs; for which I am pleasantly surprised at the lyrics and story.  Brad Paisely’s “Karate” and “Harvey Bodine.”  There is LL Cool J’s “Not Leaving You Tonight featuring Fitz And The Tantrums, Eddie Van Halen”

Music can be fun.  Music can be happy.  Music can be relaxing.  Music can be motivating.  And Music can be grand.

My advice; just listen!

Not that I can control it, and it’s totally obvious, how time just marches on and without resolve things get left undone.

Yesterday was Sunday.  In the Gospel Principles class we talked about the Holy Ghost and his role.    One of his main roles is to testify of truth.  I think that is something I need to be seeking after more often, the verification of truth through the Holy Ghost.  I am going to be testing this out over the next several weeks to see if I can push my testimony to a new level.  The first thing for which I am going to focus is on is the Savior.  There is so much of the world that doesn’t even know about the life and mission of Jesus Christ.  In this day and age there are many that ridicule the belief in Deity or religion.  I need to strengthen my belief and therefore am going to try an experiment on searching for truth.  I am fully planning on that truth to be verified by the Holy Ghost.

That’s all I have for now.  I probably need to get on the road