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Subscribe!Mon - Sep 15, 2008 : 03:23 pm
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Conspiracies? What?
A little bit ago i was checking out a 'community' site that has something to do with "LDS" and "Freedom", and i saw the most ridiculous thing ... a whole topic based on "does president Monson really know what happened on 9/11"?
essentially, those posting were of the "9/11 was an inside job" conspiracy - that theory which has been disproven again and again. They were intellectualizing the gospel, intellectualizing the validity of President Monson as being a true prophet of God by trying to determine if there is some secret agenda to his recent 1st Presidency message in the Ensign.
The fact that there are people who still question whether or not 9/11 was a result of terrorists really bothers me ... i mean, we're free to believe what we want to believe, but when there is so much evidence that the "story" we've heard IS the truth ... how can some still go on claiming it was the president or some secret operation of the illuminati or whatever?
More disturbing than that is that some members are willing to question a prophet of the Lord because his views do not match their own. Don't we learn over and over again in the scriptures ... biblical as well as in the BOM that God knows more than we, and that god speaks through His prophets? don't we learn that one of the first steps toward apostasy is to "lean unto our own understanding"?
I know the church does not have an official partisan affiliation, and i know a lot of good people who disagree with each other as to which party or politician to support. That's all good ...
I do have a problem, though, with those people who bear 'false witness' at the expense of our country's integrity. They weaken our country with their conspiracies, their hatred and accusations of the President or a particular party. They refuse to believe that "a house divided against itself cannot stand".
I am against abortion. I know the church has said :in some cases ...", but i was a victim of 'pro choice'', and i have the right to voice my opinion: ABSOLUTELY NOT! in my case, i was foolish, i was away from the church and getting into a lot of trouble. my girlfriend became pregnant as a result of our combined immorality. i was terrified, not ready to 'be a father', but i knew i had to step up to the plate and accept the consequences. i searched online for financial and medical assistance, i began gathering my personal belongings to sell for some extra money, and i began to say "goodbye' to my lifestyle, preparing to be a father.
she, on the other hand, had different ideas about how to deal with the situation. she reminded me it was "her body" and "her freedom" that would be compromised. she reminded me that she was "still young" and "wouldn't be able to party" if she had a child. her buddhist lesbian friend (serious, not namecalling) came over and nearly convinced me that "(my) god loves all of his children, so if we terminate this one, he would give it a new body" ... and if that weren't enough, a group of their friends told me if i was a 'real man', i would drive her to the clinic and hold her hand while she had this 'proceedure'.
i was terrified. despite having not been to church in years, despite my lifestyle, i felt that any participation would mean i was "going to hell". i toyed with the idea of kidnapping her and tying her up for 9 months, but i knew i'd go to jail, i couldn't care for her in the ways i'd need to care for a pregnant woman, and the baby would likely be hurt as a result.
she made the appointment and demanded i take her to the clinic. i did. i sat five feet from the nurses as they used a manual vacuum aspirator to chop up and remove parts of my child from her womb.
until that moment in my life, i was "on the fence" about abortion. i figured "pro choice" was "pro agency", so it was "in line with the gospel". i figured "i don't know when life begins, so it's none of my business if other people have abortions".
after that moment, i knew that "Pro Choice" means that one of three people gets a choice, and the other two lose their agency. in knowing that, when faced with a difficult problem (or a choice between two evils), the best choice is the one that benefits the most people (the choice made when nephi slew laban, or when Eve partook of the fruit in the garden of eden), i know that "pro choice" is not the best choice.
i can't support a party that is "pro choice", any more than i can support a party that wants to stomp all over something sacred (marriage!), and promotes specific sins as "diversity". in the Book of Mormon we learn that the righteous went to war in defense of their country or in the defense of others who were oppressed , so i can't support a politician or group that demands we let oppressed peoples fight their own wars.
i will not support a party that continually bears false witness. I will not support a party that wants to deprive me of the right to defend myself and my family. I will not support a party whose followers riot, vandalise, and commit arson to 'get their point across.' (part of me wonders if the recent arson at the minneapolis temple is related to the recent arson and vandalism that happened in the protests a week before).
there was a general authority ... i think it was neal a. maxwell, but i may be wrong ... who once talked about how the gospel and truth are plain and simple, yet people like to gravitate toward complex philosophies because it stimulates their pride in their own intellect, and with each complex theory or idea, more complexity has to be added on to adapt it to reality. soon, the complexity is overwhelming, and we use that 'overwhelming complexity' as a ready-made excuse to 'give up'.
the 9/11 "inside job" conspiracy is not plain and simple. it requires a vast amount of ignorance, manipulated data, and background to 'make sense', and therefore, i don't believe it to be truth. i believe the truth is pretty straightforward: the terrorists who claimed responsibility did it. it was a terrible, terrible evil, and it was done to innocent people. Our president was not involved (regardless of how much he 'talks funny'), and our government was not involved. the "inside job" theory is as insulting to those who died, those who lost loved ones, and those who tried to clean up the mess, join the military, or run the country in that terrible time ... as the "holocaust never happened" theory is to the people who died at the hand of the nazis.
the theory is part of a greater conspiracy, one planted in the minds of some people by the father of all lies himself, and is part of a great plan to further weaken and confuse our country, so that leaders more susceptible to his plans to furhter degrade and erode the structure of family will be rushed into office. the adversary thrives on contention, on lies, on anger and violence and suspicion ... he is strongest and we are most vulnerable where there isn't peace and unity.
essentially, those posting were of the "9/11 was an inside job" conspiracy - that theory which has been disproven again and again. They were intellectualizing the gospel, intellectualizing the validity of President Monson as being a true prophet of God by trying to determine if there is some secret agenda to his recent 1st Presidency message in the Ensign.
The fact that there are people who still question whether or not 9/11 was a result of terrorists really bothers me ... i mean, we're free to believe what we want to believe, but when there is so much evidence that the "story" we've heard IS the truth ... how can some still go on claiming it was the president or some secret operation of the illuminati or whatever?
More disturbing than that is that some members are willing to question a prophet of the Lord because his views do not match their own. Don't we learn over and over again in the scriptures ... biblical as well as in the BOM that God knows more than we, and that god speaks through His prophets? don't we learn that one of the first steps toward apostasy is to "lean unto our own understanding"?
I know the church does not have an official partisan affiliation, and i know a lot of good people who disagree with each other as to which party or politician to support. That's all good ...
I do have a problem, though, with those people who bear 'false witness' at the expense of our country's integrity. They weaken our country with their conspiracies, their hatred and accusations of the President or a particular party. They refuse to believe that "a house divided against itself cannot stand".
I am against abortion. I know the church has said :in some cases ...", but i was a victim of 'pro choice'', and i have the right to voice my opinion: ABSOLUTELY NOT! in my case, i was foolish, i was away from the church and getting into a lot of trouble. my girlfriend became pregnant as a result of our combined immorality. i was terrified, not ready to 'be a father', but i knew i had to step up to the plate and accept the consequences. i searched online for financial and medical assistance, i began gathering my personal belongings to sell for some extra money, and i began to say "goodbye' to my lifestyle, preparing to be a father.
she, on the other hand, had different ideas about how to deal with the situation. she reminded me it was "her body" and "her freedom" that would be compromised. she reminded me that she was "still young" and "wouldn't be able to party" if she had a child. her buddhist lesbian friend (serious, not namecalling) came over and nearly convinced me that "(my) god loves all of his children, so if we terminate this one, he would give it a new body" ... and if that weren't enough, a group of their friends told me if i was a 'real man', i would drive her to the clinic and hold her hand while she had this 'proceedure'.
i was terrified. despite having not been to church in years, despite my lifestyle, i felt that any participation would mean i was "going to hell". i toyed with the idea of kidnapping her and tying her up for 9 months, but i knew i'd go to jail, i couldn't care for her in the ways i'd need to care for a pregnant woman, and the baby would likely be hurt as a result.
she made the appointment and demanded i take her to the clinic. i did. i sat five feet from the nurses as they used a manual vacuum aspirator to chop up and remove parts of my child from her womb.
until that moment in my life, i was "on the fence" about abortion. i figured "pro choice" was "pro agency", so it was "in line with the gospel". i figured "i don't know when life begins, so it's none of my business if other people have abortions".
after that moment, i knew that "Pro Choice" means that one of three people gets a choice, and the other two lose their agency. in knowing that, when faced with a difficult problem (or a choice between two evils), the best choice is the one that benefits the most people (the choice made when nephi slew laban, or when Eve partook of the fruit in the garden of eden), i know that "pro choice" is not the best choice.
i can't support a party that is "pro choice", any more than i can support a party that wants to stomp all over something sacred (marriage!), and promotes specific sins as "diversity". in the Book of Mormon we learn that the righteous went to war in defense of their country or in the defense of others who were oppressed , so i can't support a politician or group that demands we let oppressed peoples fight their own wars.
i will not support a party that continually bears false witness. I will not support a party that wants to deprive me of the right to defend myself and my family. I will not support a party whose followers riot, vandalise, and commit arson to 'get their point across.' (part of me wonders if the recent arson at the minneapolis temple is related to the recent arson and vandalism that happened in the protests a week before).
there was a general authority ... i think it was neal a. maxwell, but i may be wrong ... who once talked about how the gospel and truth are plain and simple, yet people like to gravitate toward complex philosophies because it stimulates their pride in their own intellect, and with each complex theory or idea, more complexity has to be added on to adapt it to reality. soon, the complexity is overwhelming, and we use that 'overwhelming complexity' as a ready-made excuse to 'give up'.
the 9/11 "inside job" conspiracy is not plain and simple. it requires a vast amount of ignorance, manipulated data, and background to 'make sense', and therefore, i don't believe it to be truth. i believe the truth is pretty straightforward: the terrorists who claimed responsibility did it. it was a terrible, terrible evil, and it was done to innocent people. Our president was not involved (regardless of how much he 'talks funny'), and our government was not involved. the "inside job" theory is as insulting to those who died, those who lost loved ones, and those who tried to clean up the mess, join the military, or run the country in that terrible time ... as the "holocaust never happened" theory is to the people who died at the hand of the nazis.
the theory is part of a greater conspiracy, one planted in the minds of some people by the father of all lies himself, and is part of a great plan to further weaken and confuse our country, so that leaders more susceptible to his plans to furhter degrade and erode the structure of family will be rushed into office. the adversary thrives on contention, on lies, on anger and violence and suspicion ... he is strongest and we are most vulnerable where there isn't peace and unity.