The time has come for us to exercise greater faith and diligence in learning the doctrines of the gospel and establishing Zion in the earth. Each of us has sacred stewardship over several areas, and it is imperative as members of God's Kingdom here on earth that we live up to this stewardship. May the coming year be one in which it can be said of us that we went about doing good.
Happy New Year 2010!
A very dear friend of mine received an email that had been forwarded around to a lot of people. She asked me my opinion on the matter and I felt that the issue was worth discussing here in some detail.
I ignore or delete 95% of the emails I get that have been forwarded more than once. If I do read them, I’ll usually laugh or say, “hmm that’s interesting…DELETED!” People who forward forwarded emails are showing that they have a low IQ regardless of their beliefs and viewpoints. I usually put a forward from someone I know on equal footing with SPAM. If someone keeps sending me forwards all the time I will filter out anything from them with a subject line containing Fw, Fwd, or the like. I don’t get too riled up about the content or the ideas because they are usually pretty stupid anyway.
I think of the “don’t buy gas from anyone next Wednesday — that'll show 'em” type protests against the gas companies who were “price gouging.” Often these are calls to boycott certain products or movies. I believe that in the free market system we vote everyday by the way we spend our money, and most the time I am against organized boycotts because they don't work and there are better ways of making statements. Again, I question the intelligence of people who come up with these ideas and even more so that of those who forward them around. If you get something worth forwarding on to your entire email list, at least take the time to copy the relevant content, add your own thoughts, and then send it out as something original — crediting the source of course.
Too many people take stuff at face value. I believe our mothers always said to us as we were growing up, “you can’t believe everything you see on tv.” And now we are having to learn that you can’t believe everything you see: in a photograph, in a newspaper, on the internet, on Wikipedia, or in an email. This just further shows how mindless so many people are.
I would like to interject here that the founders of our country understood how the masses could be stirred up and incited to become mob like. This is why they created the electoral college to elect the president and why originally the state legislatures elected the members of the US Senate (until the 17th Amendment). Our country was set up as a representative Republic, not a democracy, contrary to what far too many people believe.
I did a quick search and came up with these references:
Original Email
Local Story: posted on Sunday, November 17, 2002
Another Story : posted on 16 Dec 2002
"Let me explain, no, there is no time, let me sum up." =)
The story is 7 years old — making it even more ridiculous that people are still forwarding it around. In 2000 a US House resolution was passed that “encouraged” the display of the motto “In God We Trust” in public buildings. Some guy in Texas took it upon himself to put up some displays that he made carrying the motto. Apparently there is a law that no unofficial signs can be posted in public buildings — a reasonable law. So the post office took the signs down, but then after a fire storm of media attention they replaced them with official signs containing the motto.
Writing “In God We Trust” on the mail is just a knee-jerk reaction to a inaccurate story. The US Postal Service is representative of people’s frustration with government and is probably the branch of government with which we have the most frequent dealings, and so it becomes a target and a caricature more often than it probably deserves — but maybe not… However, the idea of trying to make a statement to the entire postal service by writing "In God We Trust" on all of your mail is not going to accomplish anything, and what it was trying to accomplish didn't even need to be accomplished! This is how silly these ideas can be.
Too many people come up with really unintelligent solutions to what they see as the big problems of the day, and their harebrained solutions usually involve getting other people to do things they themselves are unwilling to do — thus circulating misinformation around through emails is most people's idea of political activism. Our country has a political process. Far too many people are ignorant of the process, and the result is thousands upon thousands of ridiculous calls to action which would accomplish absolutely nothing.
Every day on blogs, posting comments, and talk shows you can read and hear all of these so called great ideas that in reality have not been given an ounce of thought, but they are probably doing their best. When we see things going wrong in the country we are justified in being upset, but too many people will just jump on a bandwagon with a bunch of other people who are also upset. Most don't even know where they're going — they just know they're upset and darn it they're doing something about it. We are all ignorant of different things in the world because one can only become a psudo-experts on so many topics, but I must say it is humorous to see ignorant people when they get upset. However, we must be respectful of the fact that people even care enough to get upset. I think this is why many people "stay out of politics;" they care more about not getting upset or upsetting others than they do about what is going on around them, but that's another topic for another day.
Religion is under attack in our country — and around the world. It always has been and always will be, but the assault is becoming increasingly brutal each day. In this environment anything that strikes at our religious nerves is going to get a lot of attention. Not everything is as bad as it is sometimes made out to be, but I think the worst thing we could do is become insensitive to those forces that are trying to secularize our society and thereby diminish the role of religion in our public discourse.
The US is a religious country. Its foundation is religious. The very God of heaven oversaw the founding of this nation for His purposes. Our nation will only continue to thrive and prosper if it continues to serve the God of this land who is Jesus Christ. When we cease to do that we will become vulnerable, and our nation may even be destroyed, depending on what happens to the righteous in the land. My thoughts are that a very powerful undercurrent is constantly eroding away our religious foundation, and it will cause everything we have built to come crumbling down unless we are actively building, strengthening, and reinforcing that foundation.
I found an interesting study about religion in America from 2001. Even though the data is eight years old it is still insightful. What stands out most to me is 80.2% of Americans claim a religious affiliation. Out of the remaining 19.8% it is safe to assume that a large percentage of them believe in God — this is a nation that believes in God. I think that with 76.5% of people self-identifying as Christians we can say that the United States is a Christian nation.
There are a small number of those who do not believe in God and/or are hostile toward religion in general and Christianity in particular. Again this is nothing new, but the important thing to recognize is that it is a very small number of people who are making all the noise. This country is very open and accepting of other religions and of the non-religious. I don’t think you could find another nation on the earth that has as much religious diversity and tolerance and acceptance as the US: Another interesting site: Adherents.com.
It seems to me that the intolerance and discrimination come from those who do not believe. To say, “I don’t believe in God or religion so I don’t have to adhere to religious principles and anything religious in American government is "establishing religion"" is to say something that cannot be — namely, that we must reorder society to accommodate certain individuals because they are different and this country is a melting pot and is about accepting others and their differences. The truth is that in a society built upon ordered liberty we must all be excepting of others — even those in the minority. Our nation wants to protect the minority from the majority, which is one of the primary reasons for the bill of rights. However, this argument about changing society to accomodate the few is used far too often to excuse ideas and beliefs that undermine who we are as a nation, a nation founded upon belief in God and adherence to certain traditions and codes of conduct. I can see why so many people are upset when our traditions are trampled upon and disrespected and when our religious liberties are infringed upon by those who do not believe.
When others start to push for laws and regulations that inhibit the free exercise of religion it is going to upset a lot of people — and rightfully so! It is safe to say that there is a trend toward more secularism in America. Though their numbers are small, more and more people are becoming less religious and often irreligious. The adversary is orchestrating this opposition. He is also well aware of the agitation felt by those who believe and he seeks to exploit it for his own purposes.
Some of the most challenging of Christ’s teachings are the commandments to love our enemies and to turn the other cheek. But this does not mean that we shouldn't or can't challenge those who confront us; and it does not mean we have to be pacifists, nor does it imply that we cannot speak out and even criticize others when they are wrong. The people of Ammon did not sit idly by while Korihor went around trying to undermine the faith of their people, but “took him, and bound him, and carried him before Ammon,” Alma 30:20
The original email that began circulating did not contain the words “sit down and shut up.” That was added later by someone who has not learned the lesson about taking the higher road. As for everyone who forwarded the email with that statement, we are all subject to the passions of the flesh and those can be used against us, even when or especially when we stand up for what is right.
What I take away from all of this is that:
This is a book that every Latter-day Saint in the United States should own and regularly read from. If every American understood what it said it would be a benifit to the country and the Church. Knowing what is in the Constitution, understanding it, and supporting it through our beliefs, actions, and votes will help to secure a safe future for us and our children and get us off the dangerous path we are now on!
The last post spoke about the importance of language and its proper use. Now here is a warning found throughout scripture about why we need to be very careful of the words of those around us.
Many forces seek to corrupt language and confuse man's understanding — I believe Satan is fully aware of the power and influence that words can have over the minds of men. I believe we are in the midst of a great battle over language as much as anything else right now. Daily we are confronting "evils and designs which exist in the hearts of conspiring men" and one of the designs these conspirators use is the hijacking of the words of freedom and liberty and the twisting of them to appeal to and ignite the passions of the people. We must understand what they are doing and reclaim the language and help others to see clearly what is going on around them.
To do this we must dissect the language used by those who are "learned" and who have "a perfect knowledge of the language of the people" and who "use much flattery, and much power of speech, according to the power of the devil." (Jacob 7: 4) This is how Jacob described the words of Sherem the antichrist. The Bible Dictionary says the following under the word antichrist:
A word used by John to describe one who would assume the guise of Christ, but in reality would be opposed to Christ (1 Jn. 2: 18, 22; 1 Jn. 4: 3-6; 2 Jn. 1: 7). In a broader sense it is anyone or anything that counterfeits the true gospel or plan of salvation and that openly or secretly is set up in opposition to Christ. The great antichrist is Lucifer, but he has many assistants both as spirit beings and as mortals. See 2 Thes. 2: 1-12; Rev. 13: 17; Jacob 7: 1-23; Alma 1: 2-16; Alma 30: 6-60.
One of the primary tools of those who set up counterfeits to the true gospel is the use of flattering language. Flattery is used to win the hearts and minds of the people. They are usually led down the path of iniquity so as to blind their minds from being able to perceive the deception. Here are some examples of this:
After Zeniff died, his son Noah began a wicked reign that led to great misery and destruction among his people. The scripture says he "changed the affairs of the kingdom." The people followed King Noah down the path of destruction because they turned from righteousness to wickedness due to the flattering words of the king and his priests.
Mosiah 11:7
Yea, and they also became idolatrous, because they were deceived by the vain and flattering words of the king and priests; for they did speak flattering things unto them.
13 And they did humble themselves even to the dust, subjecting themselves to the yoke of bondage, submitting themselves to be smitten, and to be driven to and fro, and burdened, according to the desires of their enemies.
14 And they did humble themselves even in the depths of humility; and they did cry mightily to God; yea, even all the day long did they cry unto their God that he would deliver them out of their afflictions.
15 And now the Lord was slow to hear their cry because of their iniquities;
Case study two takes place only a short time later. The two groups of people that stemmed from the previous story — Limhi's people and Alma's people — both joined the rest of the Nephites in Zarahemla after being freed from their servitude and bondage. With liberty restored the process of deceit and flattery began once more:
Mosiah 26:6
For it came to pass that they did deceive many with their flattering words, who were in the church, and did cause them to commit many sins; therefore it became expedient that those who committed sin, that were in the church, should be admonished by the church.
Now the sons of Mosiah were numbered among the unbelievers; and also one of the sons of Alma was numbered among them, he being called Alma, after his father; nevertheless, he became a very wicked and an idolatrous man. And he was a man of many words, and did speak much flattery to the people; therefore he led many of the people to do after the manner of his iniquities.
The two lessons to focus on in this discussion are: wicked people will always use flattery as they seek to deceive the people, destroy their liberty, and bring them down into bondage; the second lesson is the wicked are spared for the sake of the righteous, but as soon as the wicked overcome the righteous destruction is imminent.
Hel. 13: 14
14 But behold, it is for the righteous’ sake that it is spared. But behold, the time cometh, saith the Lord, that when ye shall cast out the righteous from among you, then shall ye be ripe for destruction; yea, wo be unto this great city, because of the wickedness and abominations which are in her.
5 And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God.
I took Religion 325 (D&C) from Steven Harper, a religion professor at BYU and author of Making Sense of the Doctrine & Covenants
The Book of Mormon itself, makes reference to the word "language" in 25 different passages, and "word" in its various forms is used in 196 different passages. The most frequent use of "language" is when it refers to the "manner" in which one was speaking, ie. "this was his language." But the important passages are the ones that speak of "language" being preserved either by the plates and records or by the instructing of sons by their fathers. Language is also referred to often in the context of the spiritual gifts associated with speaking and interpreting. The preservation of language is important, and how we use words and the way we speak is a crucial part of a society.
From this brief discussion I would like to point out the importance of journal writing, educating ourselves and our children, and studying the Word of God. Let us learn the words of the scriptures and treasure them up in our hearts, for the words found therein are sacred and have a power second to none when compared to any other written work.
The word tax, in its various forms, appears in four Book of Mormon passages.
And even I, myself, have labored with mine own hands that I might serve you, and that ye should not be laden with taxes, and that there should nothing come upon you which was grievous to be borne—and of all these things which I have spoken, ye yourselves are witnesses this day.
15 For behold, we are in bondage to the Lamanites, and are taxed with a tax which is grievous to be borne. And now, behold, our brethren will deliver us out of our bondage, or out of the hands of the Lamanites, and we will be their slaves; for it is better that we be slaves to the Nephites than to pay tribute to the king of the Lamanites.
• • •
22 And all this he did, for the sole purpose of bringing this people into subjection or into bondage. And behold, we at this time do pay tribute to the king of the Lamanites, to the amount of one half of our corn, and our barley, and even all our grain of every kind, and one half of the increase of our flocks and our herds; and even one half of all we have or possess the king of the Lamanites doth exact of us, or our lives.
3 And he laid a tax of one fifth part of all they possessed, a fifth part of their gold and of their silver, and a fifth part of their ziff, and of their copper, and of their brass and their iron; and a fifth part of their fatlings; and also a fifth part of all their grain.
• • •
6 Yea, and thus they were supported in their laziness, and in their idolatry, and in their whoredoms, by the taxes which king Noah had put upon his people; thus did the people labor exceedingly to support iniquity.
5 And it came to pass that Riplakish did not do that which was right in the sight of the Lord, for he did have many wives and concubines, and did lay that upon men’s shoulders which was grievous to be borne; yea, he did tax them with heavy taxes; and with the taxes he did build many spacious buildings.
6 And he did erect him an exceedingly beautiful throne; and he did build many prisons, and whoso would not be subject unto taxes he did cast into prison; and whoso was not able to pay taxes he did cast into prison; and he did cause that they should labor continually for their support; and whoso refused to labor he did cause to be put to death.
I make the casual observation that confiscatory taxation is not right in the sight of the Lord. The king of the Lamanites taxed Limhi's people at 50%, which was "grievous to be borne;" but Noah's tax or 20% caused "the people ot labor exceedingly to support iniquity."
Now what should we say about the current state of taxation in the US?
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