My dad was in a car accident when I was young. His van flipped several times on some highway in the middle of Wyoming. He'd be dead if he didn't have his seat belt on. While I have only been in 2 car accidents my whole life, I wear my seat belt all the time. The probability of getting in an accident is SUPER low, when you look at the thousands upon thousands of hours I spend at the wheel. I also have a fire extinguisher and smoke alarms in my house. How many homes burn down each year in the United States? It's got to be some insanely low number, I am sure. Yet I still prepare for those possibilities. I keep my hunting backpack, complete with a sleeping bag and 72-hour kit in my car. As well as snow gloves, boots, and a winter hat. What are the chances I will ever need those things? Again, very low. It's the same with a lot of things we do in life. We prepare for the worst, but always hope for the best because the worst is so UNlikely to happen.
The extreme majority of people in the world are good people. The murder rate in Utah is about 2.3 per 100,000 people. The US average is more like 4.8 per 100,000 (2005). With over 300 million Americans, about 1.4 million become victims of violent crime. That's less than one half of one percent. As I look at these numbers it becomes evident that some people are sheep and some people are wolves. Sheep do not generally possess violent natures. Wolves do.
I consider myself neither of the above. I am a peaceful person. I do not cause mayhem or commit crime. I obey the laws of this land. But the ability to be aggressive is within me. I could not stand by and let someone harm me or my family. I prowl the figurative 'perimeter' of my home, sniffing the wind and watching for the wolves to appear.
As I was watch various episodes of '24', I have no problem picking out the bad guy or seeing bad things before they happen. Lisa commented on this and said something like, "You're just always looking for the worst to happen in these shows." Not totally true. I just see them coming and can't help commenting. Then I mentioned that it just seemed to be built into me that I watch out for bad things. It's not that I create bad things, I just want to be protected against them when they happen. It doesn't matter where I am, I am always vigilant for anything out of place.
A lot of sheep don't like my mentality. They see me as alarmist or slightly paranoid. Maybe that definition is slightly true. But I don't do it because I think everyone is a bad person, I just do it because I don't like wolves. I don't like the way in which they victimize or take advantage of the weak and I believe I possess the ability to protect them and myself.
As Dave Grossman quoted in the link below, there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it's just what I choose to be. While some folks might run away from the bad guys, I look forward to engaging them and seeing them brought to justice.
The basis for a lot of the sentiment in this post stems from an article that can be found here.
Me, Myself and I
- Mateo
- I am a Mormon...married to Lisa. We have 5 awesome children. I am a gun rights advocate and believe the 'right to keep and bear arms' refers to an INDIVIDUAL right, as affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court. I like to hunt big game, although I have only ever killed a single buck deer. I am an actor of sorts and have been in many local plays and musicals.
11 February 2009
20 January 2009
Vice is a Monster
"Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,
As to be hated needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace."
~Alexander Pope, 'Essay on Man', Epistle II, section V~
The above excerpt goes well with this scripture from the Old Testament: Isaiah 5: 20 "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"
The scriptures define a lot of sinful behavior, which is overly abundant today, according to a prophet. In fact, some civilizations which have been destroyed by God in ancient times were even less sinful than we are now. That's a little scary, but it also denotes the fact that there must be a lot of righteous people living on the earth. Hence, we, as a people, are not RIPE for destruction. That's comforting, I guess. But if we hang around sinful behavior too long we begin to pity the sin itself and eventually embrace it as acceptable. Each murder we hear about on the news becomes less and less stinging. Seeing and hearing about sexual themes in television and movies cheapens the true purpose behind sex which is to create children. Marriage was an institution created by God, NOT mankind. HE defined marriage as between a man and woman and, as far as I know, has not seen fit to alter that definition. Yet those who defended that heavenly-defined thing in supporting Proposition 8 were seen as evil, hateful, and prejudiced.
Sexual sin makes lots of people very wealthy. It surrounds us and permeates the media. I saw a commercial the other day where a pretty woman was seen blowing kisses and making suggestive poses at some unseen person in the background. Turned out to be a cow. It was a commercial for Angus beef hamburgers from Arctic Circle. What hamburgers and sex have to do with one another is beyond me.
Satan seeks to cheapen and dilute marriage. Why? A critical point to our beliefs and to the Plan of Salvation was that all God's *spirit children come to the earth to receive a body. I believe this number is *finite. When that number is reached and there are no more spirits waiting to come to earth, the Second Coming can occur and Satan's reign on earth will be through and he will be bound for 1,000 years. By wrecking the family, re-defining marriage, and cheapening sex, he is, in effect, lengthening out his time here on the earth. The more humankind participates in sexual deviancy, thus postponing the creation of children, the more souls he will gain.
You may ask, "How does sexual deviancy equate to a decrease in the number of children born on the earth? Wouldn't it increase that number???"
Let's think about it. Are teenagers who get pregnant outside of wedlock more or less likely to have more children? Studies say less likely because they do not have the support system that traditional marriage would provide. See here.
What about homosexuality? Universal homosexuality would cause the entire human race to die out in a single generation. That's as self-destructive as it gets.
I'm not judging homosexuals, just homosexuality and sexual sin. I count myself a sinner just like everyone else. That's why I go to church each Sunday and try to repent; to become a better person. I'm just stating the facts as they occur to me.
As a bit of a side note this article and this article speak to the increase of multiple births in the world in the last 20 years.
As to be hated needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace."
~Alexander Pope, 'Essay on Man', Epistle II, section V~
The above excerpt goes well with this scripture from the Old Testament: Isaiah 5: 20 "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"
The scriptures define a lot of sinful behavior, which is overly abundant today, according to a prophet. In fact, some civilizations which have been destroyed by God in ancient times were even less sinful than we are now. That's a little scary, but it also denotes the fact that there must be a lot of righteous people living on the earth. Hence, we, as a people, are not RIPE for destruction. That's comforting, I guess. But if we hang around sinful behavior too long we begin to pity the sin itself and eventually embrace it as acceptable. Each murder we hear about on the news becomes less and less stinging. Seeing and hearing about sexual themes in television and movies cheapens the true purpose behind sex which is to create children. Marriage was an institution created by God, NOT mankind. HE defined marriage as between a man and woman and, as far as I know, has not seen fit to alter that definition. Yet those who defended that heavenly-defined thing in supporting Proposition 8 were seen as evil, hateful, and prejudiced.
Sexual sin makes lots of people very wealthy. It surrounds us and permeates the media. I saw a commercial the other day where a pretty woman was seen blowing kisses and making suggestive poses at some unseen person in the background. Turned out to be a cow. It was a commercial for Angus beef hamburgers from Arctic Circle. What hamburgers and sex have to do with one another is beyond me.
Satan seeks to cheapen and dilute marriage. Why? A critical point to our beliefs and to the Plan of Salvation was that all God's *spirit children come to the earth to receive a body. I believe this number is *finite. When that number is reached and there are no more spirits waiting to come to earth, the Second Coming can occur and Satan's reign on earth will be through and he will be bound for 1,000 years. By wrecking the family, re-defining marriage, and cheapening sex, he is, in effect, lengthening out his time here on the earth. The more humankind participates in sexual deviancy, thus postponing the creation of children, the more souls he will gain.
You may ask, "How does sexual deviancy equate to a decrease in the number of children born on the earth? Wouldn't it increase that number???"
Let's think about it. Are teenagers who get pregnant outside of wedlock more or less likely to have more children? Studies say less likely because they do not have the support system that traditional marriage would provide. See here.
What about homosexuality? Universal homosexuality would cause the entire human race to die out in a single generation. That's as self-destructive as it gets.
I'm not judging homosexuals, just homosexuality and sexual sin. I count myself a sinner just like everyone else. That's why I go to church each Sunday and try to repent; to become a better person. I'm just stating the facts as they occur to me.
As a bit of a side note this article and this article speak to the increase of multiple births in the world in the last 20 years.
03 March 2008
A Land of Promise: Terrorism
A coworker and I were recently discussing the upcoming presidential election and other political matters when he gave his opinion about the War on Terror. Here is my reply, based mostly on teachings found within the Latter-Day Saint cannon of scripture:
The Book of Mormon teaches us that North and South America are regarded as a “Land of Promise”. Time and time again we are told that this land is “a land which is choice above all other lands.” In fact, God has, several times throughout history, led various prophets and peoples to this land as a land of inheritance for their righteous living. Examples of past ‘heirs’ of this inheritance would be the Jaredite nation who inherited this land after the fall of the Tower of Babel; Lehi and his sons who left Jerusalem after threat of death for preaching the gospel in about 600 B.C.; the people of Mulek (who was the last living son of King Zedekiah), as well as the current inhabitants referred to as the “Gentiles” (us).
When the Lord has offered this land as an inheritance, it has always come with a few stipulations. All who have inhabited these “American” continents have been warned to not disobey the commandments of God. I quote Nephi, son of Lehi, directly with this quote:
2 Nephi, Chapter 1, verses 9-10
“Wherefore, I, Lehi, have obtained a promise that inasmuch as those whom the Lord God shall bring out of the land of Jerusalem shall keep his commandments, they shall prosper upon the face of this land; and they shall be kept from all other nations, that they may possess this land unto themselves. And if it so be that they shall keep his commandments they shall be blessed upon the face of this land, and there shall be none to molest them, nor to take away the land of their inheritance; and they shall dwell safely forever.
"But behold, when the time cometh that they shall dwindle in unbelief, after they have received so great blessings from the hand of the Lord—having a knowledge of the creation of the earth, and all men, knowing the great and marvelous works of the Lord from the creation of the world; having power given them to do all things by faith; having all the commandments from the beginning, and having been brought by his infinite goodness into this precious land of promise—behold, I say, if the day shall come that they will reject the Holy One of Israel, the true Messiah, their Redeemer and their God, behold, the judgments of him that is just shall rest upon them.”
As we look back to these ancient nations, we see that all of them were eventually destroyed by the hand of God because they failed to live up to their end of the bargain. That is, they failed to live righteously. Each society denigrated into heartless, evil people who were destroyed. The demise of 2 of these nations can be traced back to a single group of people which were a divisive group which held posts in and affected every piece of the government. They were a secret society once called the Gadianton Robbers. They infiltrated many high posts in the government and even used murder to obtain their positions.
The Lord makes strong warnings for those who dabble in and support these secret works of darkness. The Lord made similar revelations to Alma, Nephi, and Lehi as well as others. However, God did not simply condemn those who support terrorism and secret combinations, He actually commanded us to seek them out and destroy them from among us. He told the following to a Jaredite prophet:
Ether, Chapter 8, verse 22-26
"And whatsoever nation shall uphold secret combinations, to get power and gain, until they shall spread over the nation, behold, they shall be destroyed; for the Lord will not suffer that the blood of his saints, which shall be shed by them, shall always cry unto him from the ground for vengeance upon them and yet he avenge them not.
"Wherefore, O ye Gentiles [that's us], it is wisdom in God that these things should be shown unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins, and suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you, which are built up to get power and gain - and the work, yea, even the work of destruction come upon you, yea, even the sword of the justice of the Eternal God shall fall upon you, to your overthrow and destruction if ye shall suffer these things to be.
"Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you; or wo be unto it, because of the blood of them who have been slain; for they cry from the dust for vengeance upon it, and also upon those who built it up.
"For it cometh to pass that whoso buildeth it up seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries; and it bringeth to pass the destruction of all people, for it is built up by the devil, who is the father of all lies; even that same liar who beguiled our first parents, yea, even that same liar who hath caused man to commit murder from the beginning; who hath hardened the hearts of men that they have murdered the prophets, and stoned them, and cast them out from the beginning.
"Wherefore, I, Moroni, am commanded to write these things that evil may be done away, and that the time may come that Satan may have no power upon the hearts of the children of men, but that they may be persuaded to do good continually, that they may come unto the fountain of all righteousness and be saved."
I uphold the War on Terror fully. I support President Bush in his efforts to remove these secret combinations from the earth. I believe that doing so will make the WORLD a better place and that this is not being done JUST to benefit our Great Nation. It is for the benefit of mankind.
The Book of Mormon teaches us that North and South America are regarded as a “Land of Promise”. Time and time again we are told that this land is “a land which is choice above all other lands.” In fact, God has, several times throughout history, led various prophets and peoples to this land as a land of inheritance for their righteous living. Examples of past ‘heirs’ of this inheritance would be the Jaredite nation who inherited this land after the fall of the Tower of Babel; Lehi and his sons who left Jerusalem after threat of death for preaching the gospel in about 600 B.C.; the people of Mulek (who was the last living son of King Zedekiah), as well as the current inhabitants referred to as the “Gentiles” (us).
When the Lord has offered this land as an inheritance, it has always come with a few stipulations. All who have inhabited these “American” continents have been warned to not disobey the commandments of God. I quote Nephi, son of Lehi, directly with this quote:
2 Nephi, Chapter 1, verses 9-10
“Wherefore, I, Lehi, have obtained a promise that inasmuch as those whom the Lord God shall bring out of the land of Jerusalem shall keep his commandments, they shall prosper upon the face of this land; and they shall be kept from all other nations, that they may possess this land unto themselves. And if it so be that they shall keep his commandments they shall be blessed upon the face of this land, and there shall be none to molest them, nor to take away the land of their inheritance; and they shall dwell safely forever.
"But behold, when the time cometh that they shall dwindle in unbelief, after they have received so great blessings from the hand of the Lord—having a knowledge of the creation of the earth, and all men, knowing the great and marvelous works of the Lord from the creation of the world; having power given them to do all things by faith; having all the commandments from the beginning, and having been brought by his infinite goodness into this precious land of promise—behold, I say, if the day shall come that they will reject the Holy One of Israel, the true Messiah, their Redeemer and their God, behold, the judgments of him that is just shall rest upon them.”
As we look back to these ancient nations, we see that all of them were eventually destroyed by the hand of God because they failed to live up to their end of the bargain. That is, they failed to live righteously. Each society denigrated into heartless, evil people who were destroyed. The demise of 2 of these nations can be traced back to a single group of people which were a divisive group which held posts in and affected every piece of the government. They were a secret society once called the Gadianton Robbers. They infiltrated many high posts in the government and even used murder to obtain their positions.
The Lord makes strong warnings for those who dabble in and support these secret works of darkness. The Lord made similar revelations to Alma, Nephi, and Lehi as well as others. However, God did not simply condemn those who support terrorism and secret combinations, He actually commanded us to seek them out and destroy them from among us. He told the following to a Jaredite prophet:
Ether, Chapter 8, verse 22-26
"And whatsoever nation shall uphold secret combinations, to get power and gain, until they shall spread over the nation, behold, they shall be destroyed; for the Lord will not suffer that the blood of his saints, which shall be shed by them, shall always cry unto him from the ground for vengeance upon them and yet he avenge them not.
"Wherefore, O ye Gentiles [that's us], it is wisdom in God that these things should be shown unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins, and suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you, which are built up to get power and gain - and the work, yea, even the work of destruction come upon you, yea, even the sword of the justice of the Eternal God shall fall upon you, to your overthrow and destruction if ye shall suffer these things to be.
"Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you; or wo be unto it, because of the blood of them who have been slain; for they cry from the dust for vengeance upon it, and also upon those who built it up.
"For it cometh to pass that whoso buildeth it up seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries; and it bringeth to pass the destruction of all people, for it is built up by the devil, who is the father of all lies; even that same liar who beguiled our first parents, yea, even that same liar who hath caused man to commit murder from the beginning; who hath hardened the hearts of men that they have murdered the prophets, and stoned them, and cast them out from the beginning.
"Wherefore, I, Moroni, am commanded to write these things that evil may be done away, and that the time may come that Satan may have no power upon the hearts of the children of men, but that they may be persuaded to do good continually, that they may come unto the fountain of all righteousness and be saved."
I uphold the War on Terror fully. I support President Bush in his efforts to remove these secret combinations from the earth. I believe that doing so will make the WORLD a better place and that this is not being done JUST to benefit our Great Nation. It is for the benefit of mankind.
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