05 November 2008
02 November 2008
01 November 2008
An open letter to Steve Young and all those disinclined to support California’s Proposition 8, especially LDS.
Shame on you.
We graduated BYU the same year. We even had a class together. I thrilled when you did so well in Football: The final game winning touchdown catch against Illinois in the Holiday Bowl; Your $40 million contract with the Express; Your great career with the 49ers.
So it is with utmost respect and brotherly love I say, you are wrong.
Now, I don’t know your specific reasoning for opposing this piece of legislation. You may have huge pressure from family or loved ones. I myself have people close to me whom I love dearly, who live a homosexual lifestyle or who struggle with those desires. I can only guess what your motivation is. Most LDS who oppose this proposition and who have trouble with other moral issues like it, such as abortion, wrongly think that establishing laws (actually in this case we are upholding a law) to proscribe behavior is somehow “forcing” people to behave in a particular way and therefore wrong. This arises from a misunderstanding of Agency and Our Heavenly Father’s plan.
It is not Satan’s way to make laws and punish for their infraction. That is how Heavenly Father works and how a good parent trains their child. Satan works by lying, persuading, obfuscating, He lied in the Garden of Eden and he lies today. Agency does not imply unlimited freedom to choose. A simple look at our world will show that each one of us has a differing level of freedom to choose. It would go counter to Heavenly Father’s plan to give everyone the same opportunities in this life.
Many people act like this is the natural progression of society, the natural next step. It is natural for society to tend ever increasingly towards permissiveness and amorality. But, it is not Progress. It leads toward no good.
Many people think homosexuals were born with a predisposition toward their unrighteous behavior. Be that as it may. Perhaps I was born with a predisposition to be promiscuous. That fact would not absolve me of the duty to obey God’s commandments and be bound by them.
Some homosexuals seek for relevance and approval for one of their behaviors. Since biology and nature marginalize them, in our day of brash open wickedness they make their homosexuality their most significant trait and thrust it on society to accept them. There was a time when Society’s mores kept amoral behavior in check. The shame of society kept unrighteous behavior hidden. You may say it is hypocritical to hide the truth. But, it does serve a purpose; to keep the encroachment of wickedness at bay.
As Pat Buchanan so eloquently said: “Homosexuality has gone from "the love that dare not speak its name" to "the love that won't shut up."
Some people say that allowing homosexuals this small insignificant favor does no harm. A careful study of the Atonement will bring you to realize that any wrong, any infraction of a Commandment, even an innocent offense contributes to the overall burden of the Savior and thereby does harm. It drags our world further away from its rightful place as a Heavenly world. There are no victimless transgressions.
You find yourself at odds with the Lord’s Prophet. That does not seem like a good place to be. I assume that you believe your great grandfather was a Prophet. At what point did our current Prophets lose their inspiration and direction from the Lord? At what point has the Church gone astray?
Our society has gone so far down the road toward ruin; it may be too late to rescue humanity. Perhaps the line must be drawn here. This may be our last stand. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed when it became impossible for the children to be taught correctly and have a chance to succeed in righteousness.
Satan has taught some of our society to see good as evil and evil as good. He paints with great skill and makes it difficult to see the way. He continues to try to thwart Heavenly Father’s plan by lying and persuading and telling us that we won’t have to face the consequences of our crimes. Despite those mocking from all quarters we have to hold to the truth and stand for what is right.
Shame on you.
You may call me a hater. But, I am not. You may call me intolerant. But, I am not.
UPDATE: I understand now that news releases of Steve's opposition to 8 may have been premature. He may be in a very hard place between his own views and those of his wife.
We graduated BYU the same year. We even had a class together. I thrilled when you did so well in Football: The final game winning touchdown catch against Illinois in the Holiday Bowl; Your $40 million contract with the Express; Your great career with the 49ers.
So it is with utmost respect and brotherly love I say, you are wrong.
Now, I don’t know your specific reasoning for opposing this piece of legislation. You may have huge pressure from family or loved ones. I myself have people close to me whom I love dearly, who live a homosexual lifestyle or who struggle with those desires. I can only guess what your motivation is. Most LDS who oppose this proposition and who have trouble with other moral issues like it, such as abortion, wrongly think that establishing laws (actually in this case we are upholding a law) to proscribe behavior is somehow “forcing” people to behave in a particular way and therefore wrong. This arises from a misunderstanding of Agency and Our Heavenly Father’s plan.
It is not Satan’s way to make laws and punish for their infraction. That is how Heavenly Father works and how a good parent trains their child. Satan works by lying, persuading, obfuscating, He lied in the Garden of Eden and he lies today. Agency does not imply unlimited freedom to choose. A simple look at our world will show that each one of us has a differing level of freedom to choose. It would go counter to Heavenly Father’s plan to give everyone the same opportunities in this life.
Many people act like this is the natural progression of society, the natural next step. It is natural for society to tend ever increasingly towards permissiveness and amorality. But, it is not Progress. It leads toward no good.
Many people think homosexuals were born with a predisposition toward their unrighteous behavior. Be that as it may. Perhaps I was born with a predisposition to be promiscuous. That fact would not absolve me of the duty to obey God’s commandments and be bound by them.
Some homosexuals seek for relevance and approval for one of their behaviors. Since biology and nature marginalize them, in our day of brash open wickedness they make their homosexuality their most significant trait and thrust it on society to accept them. There was a time when Society’s mores kept amoral behavior in check. The shame of society kept unrighteous behavior hidden. You may say it is hypocritical to hide the truth. But, it does serve a purpose; to keep the encroachment of wickedness at bay.
As Pat Buchanan so eloquently said: “Homosexuality has gone from "the love that dare not speak its name" to "the love that won't shut up."
Some people say that allowing homosexuals this small insignificant favor does no harm. A careful study of the Atonement will bring you to realize that any wrong, any infraction of a Commandment, even an innocent offense contributes to the overall burden of the Savior and thereby does harm. It drags our world further away from its rightful place as a Heavenly world. There are no victimless transgressions.
You find yourself at odds with the Lord’s Prophet. That does not seem like a good place to be. I assume that you believe your great grandfather was a Prophet. At what point did our current Prophets lose their inspiration and direction from the Lord? At what point has the Church gone astray?
Our society has gone so far down the road toward ruin; it may be too late to rescue humanity. Perhaps the line must be drawn here. This may be our last stand. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed when it became impossible for the children to be taught correctly and have a chance to succeed in righteousness.
Satan has taught some of our society to see good as evil and evil as good. He paints with great skill and makes it difficult to see the way. He continues to try to thwart Heavenly Father’s plan by lying and persuading and telling us that we won’t have to face the consequences of our crimes. Despite those mocking from all quarters we have to hold to the truth and stand for what is right.
Shame on you.
You may call me a hater. But, I am not. You may call me intolerant. But, I am not.
UPDATE: I understand now that news releases of Steve's opposition to 8 may have been premature. He may be in a very hard place between his own views and those of his wife.
25 October 2008
Prop 8
Many opponents of Prop 8 in California ask why we are so against gay couples living their lives they way they want to. Yet, no one has pointed out how the failure of Prop 8 would change the way they are living right now.
24 October 2008
Movies
Between 11 and 19 October I may have set a new record for seeing first run movies at a real live theater. I saw:
Errand of Angels
Ghost Town
Eagle Eye
Journey to the Center of the Earth
I listed them in order of how good I thought they were. A few comments:
Journey was fine. It introduced a really cute new actress; Icelander Anita Briem. The story was silly enough. Kinda fluffy.
Eagle eye was maybe only slightly better than Journey. I mostly like Shia LeBouf. I could have done without so much action. make it a little more cerebral. But, okay.
Ricky Gervais often annoys me with his over the top caustic, sardonicism. But, he was kept within a box by something or someone on this film and it helped immensely. The message was very sweet. Tea Leoni's somewhat asymmetrical face of her youth maybe mellowing. She was a little easier on the eyes.
Errand of Angels managed to show mission life fairly accurately without demeaning it or opting for sophomoric LDS self deprecation. If you've been on an LDS mission you will probably relate. If you are planning for one it would be some good mild heads up and encouragement.
During the same time period Lenore saw all these movies plus the new Mummy movie. It was a Brendan Fraser week for her.
Errand of Angels
Ghost Town
Eagle Eye
Journey to the Center of the Earth
I listed them in order of how good I thought they were. A few comments:
Journey was fine. It introduced a really cute new actress; Icelander Anita Briem. The story was silly enough. Kinda fluffy.
Eagle eye was maybe only slightly better than Journey. I mostly like Shia LeBouf. I could have done without so much action. make it a little more cerebral. But, okay.
Ricky Gervais often annoys me with his over the top caustic, sardonicism. But, he was kept within a box by something or someone on this film and it helped immensely. The message was very sweet. Tea Leoni's somewhat asymmetrical face of her youth maybe mellowing. She was a little easier on the eyes.
Errand of Angels managed to show mission life fairly accurately without demeaning it or opting for sophomoric LDS self deprecation. If you've been on an LDS mission you will probably relate. If you are planning for one it would be some good mild heads up and encouragement.
During the same time period Lenore saw all these movies plus the new Mummy movie. It was a Brendan Fraser week for her.
22 October 2008
Another thought on Agency:
Satan could have sought to thwart the plan by not having us forget the pre-existence. The veil of forgetfulness seems like another essential element of the Plan and Agency. In the Garden of Eden he is surprised that Adam doesn't remember. He is all about getting them to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. Perhaps he expects them to remember their pre-existence immediately upon partaking of the fruit.
16 October 2008
Mission Call
Ailsa is going to serve in the Houston, Texas Spanish speaking mission. She enters the MTC on 7 Jan and is excited.
07 October 2008
Ailsa is in Comics!
At Laser Quest there was a lot of these comics lying around and some of the workers got inventive. Notice the Soleil was changed to Si-Je, her Laser Quest moniker.
06 October 2008
Santita' al Signore
Yay! A temple in Rome. We've been praying for this for years. Care to contribute to the Lillywhite family fund to attend the dedication?
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