4 weeks ago we noticed our kids were constantly bickering with one another. They were at each other's throats and yelling and teasing and being mean. You know, weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth, backbiting, and all other forms of devilish behavior.
Lisa and I talked about what to do and I remembered a priesthood lesson we had a few months back. Each person in the room had to say something nice about everyone in the room. It turned out to be one of the most spiritual lessons we've ever had.
So we sat down for Fanny-Hone-Eening (Family Home Evening) and made the kids say one nice thing or something they liked about a sibling. It was a loooooong FHE. Took Mitchell a solid 5 minutes to say something nice about Mallory. Nonetheless, they all did it and were visibly sheepish at the end of the night. So we continued this each Monday night for the last month. Each week it became easier and easier for them to say nice things about each other. Last night's FHE was especially good. Previous weeks we had made specific assignments. That is, Bryce had to say something nice about Blake. The next week Bryce had to say something nice about Mitchell, and then Mallory the next week and so on. This time, all of them said something nice about EVERYONE. It's neat to see the change in their behavior when they are forced to think of and SAY nice things about each other.
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.
24 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.
08 July 2008
Fasting
This will hereafter be known as The Week of Bryce in blogger land. I jest. However, I am talking about Bryce quite a bit because he has such an exciting, pubescent life.
Sunday was Bryce's first attempt at fasting. We had a little pep talk the night before and made sure we all started our fasts with a prayer and a purpose. Bryce woke up the next morning and was fine. He never eats breakfast anyway (like his father). I headed to PEC at 9:30 AM and brought Bryce with me since he had to do fast offerings. I got home from my meeting around 11 AM and got the story. Bryce had arrived at the church and very few fellow deacons had shown up to help. This left Bryce and Gaven working together to get 2 fast offering routes done. The day was quite warm and when the boys arrived at our house, Bryce was dying. If you count the sleeping part, he lasted for about 14 hours. Pretty good for a n00b.
It reminded me a lot of fasting experience I had on my mission. Imagine not eating or drinking for 24 hours while tracting in 108 degree temperatures with 80-100% humidity. It was highly dangerous. Looking back, I should have curtailed my tracting during those 24 hours and simply stayed at our flat. It would have made for a much more meaningful fast.
I also remember "fasting" at a much younger age than 12. However, my fasting consisted of not eating anything from the moment I arose Sunday to the moment I entered the house after church. It was never done with a prayer and never had a purpose. I was just starving myself. Kind of useless.
For me, fasting is a great way to overcome physical addictions, as seen here: Sugar Addiction I also have a friend who went on that 10-day Master Cleanse in order to rid himself of some eating addictions. It worked as well. My feelings about fasting have run the gamut. I've loved it, I've hated it. But most of all I've learned that it's necessary to overcome this physical beast which we have to tame here on earth. It's the best way to sacrifice that which is animal in us on the proverbial altar.
Sunday was Bryce's first attempt at fasting. We had a little pep talk the night before and made sure we all started our fasts with a prayer and a purpose. Bryce woke up the next morning and was fine. He never eats breakfast anyway (like his father). I headed to PEC at 9:30 AM and brought Bryce with me since he had to do fast offerings. I got home from my meeting around 11 AM and got the story. Bryce had arrived at the church and very few fellow deacons had shown up to help. This left Bryce and Gaven working together to get 2 fast offering routes done. The day was quite warm and when the boys arrived at our house, Bryce was dying. If you count the sleeping part, he lasted for about 14 hours. Pretty good for a n00b.
It reminded me a lot of fasting experience I had on my mission. Imagine not eating or drinking for 24 hours while tracting in 108 degree temperatures with 80-100% humidity. It was highly dangerous. Looking back, I should have curtailed my tracting during those 24 hours and simply stayed at our flat. It would have made for a much more meaningful fast.
I also remember "fasting" at a much younger age than 12. However, my fasting consisted of not eating anything from the moment I arose Sunday to the moment I entered the house after church. It was never done with a prayer and never had a purpose. I was just starving myself. Kind of useless.
For me, fasting is a great way to overcome physical addictions, as seen here: Sugar Addiction I also have a friend who went on that 10-day Master Cleanse in order to rid himself of some eating addictions. It worked as well. My feelings about fasting have run the gamut. I've loved it, I've hated it. But most of all I've learned that it's necessary to overcome this physical beast which we have to tame here on earth. It's the best way to sacrifice that which is animal in us on the proverbial altar.
01 June 2008
P.S.
I was right.
Mike Chappell is our new stake president. John Parker (my former Elders Quorum President) is his 1st counselor, and Dave Finch (Erik's brother) is his 2nd counselor.
As each name was called, I was absolutely thrilled. I have great respect for each of those men. I have admired them for years. Although I don't know Bishop Finch very well, I am sure he will prove to be a great leader and gain great respect in our stake.
Good, good day.
Oh...and Elder Perry was awesome. He speaks with power and authority and is definitely Called of God.
Mike Chappell is our new stake president. John Parker (my former Elders Quorum President) is his 1st counselor, and Dave Finch (Erik's brother) is his 2nd counselor.
As each name was called, I was absolutely thrilled. I have great respect for each of those men. I have admired them for years. Although I don't know Bishop Finch very well, I am sure he will prove to be a great leader and gain great respect in our stake.
Good, good day.
Oh...and Elder Perry was awesome. He speaks with power and authority and is definitely Called of God.
30 May 2008
Passing the Torch
Last night I went to the Jordan River Temple. It was our "Stake Day at the Temple". It's not just Stake Temple Day in our stake. The stake leaders actually request that, if possible, you take the day off work and spend the WHOLE day at the temple. So Lisa did some initiatory work in the morning and I did the 8:00 PM session with the rest of my stake. Robert L. Backman spoke to us in a little chapel session beforehand. Our stake filled the entire session. 24 of those people were from MY ward alone. That's nothing new. The Welby 9th Ward has always been a top performer in the stake when it comes to service assignments and such. 9th Ward rocks!!!
It was also neat because our stake presidency is being reorganized in stake conference this Sunday. L. Tom Perry is our visiting church authority. We're going to dinner with the Finches right before the Saturday Adult Session. Always a good time.
Presidents Gardner, Dahlgren, Jensen, and Christensen, did a great job for 10 years. They will be missed.
My guess for the new stake president: Mike Chappell.
It was also neat because our stake presidency is being reorganized in stake conference this Sunday. L. Tom Perry is our visiting church authority. We're going to dinner with the Finches right before the Saturday Adult Session. Always a good time.
Presidents Gardner, Dahlgren, Jensen, and Christensen, did a great job for 10 years. They will be missed.
My guess for the new stake president: Mike Chappell.
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