Batman...

I'm shutting down the March and Suffer blog.

To all of you who follow the March and Suffer blog, I will be shutting it down effective February 1st. While I do believe that a healthy discussion of topics inappropriate for most Sunday quorums and classes can and should have a forum for lively thoughts and opinions, sadly this blog site is not achieving the goals I had hoped for it.

I researched and prepared a catalogue of topics for discussion that were cause for doubt and uncertainty in my faith. In the process of doing this I came to a few realizations.

1. No discussion was occurring. It was probably because many of my posts were not conversation-inducing. I accept the blame.

2. My list of things that I don't have answers to, the things that don't have answers, the things that don't make sense...that list was a lot longer than I realized. If I had died unexpectedly, someone may think I had been preparing a book about "Why You Should Doubt The Mormon Church."

3. The Matrix does exist.

My goal in starting the blog was to address issues that could not be discussed during the Sunday block. In doing so I hoped that the exchange of ideas and information would connect the missing link between faith and reason, if one even exists. We are commanded to "seek learning, even by study and faith" (DyC 88:118). To me, the Lord distinguishes two methodologies by which we learn. Physical and spiritual evidences.

All to often in the church, when physical and spiritual evidences seem to be in opposition, the unfortunate tendency is to simply shrug off the physical evidences in favor of the spiritual evidences. The argument always tends to say that the truths of science are limited by the technology of the time to reveal them. The fallacy is that those who make such comments fail to see that their arguments are also valid against them as well.

Or you can follow President Monson's advice and just accept the spiritual truths by ignoring physical truths and to quit trying to explain or prove them: “I propose to stay with my faith, with the faith of my people. I know that happiness and contentment are there, and I forbid you, agnostic, doubting thoughts, to destroy the house of my faith. I acknowledge that I do not understand the processes of creation, but I accept the fact of it. I grant that I cannot explain the miracles of the Bible, and I do not attempt to do so, but I accept God’s word. I wasn’t with Joseph, but I believe him. My faith did not come to me through science, and I will not permit so-called science to destroy it.”

Current spiritual evidences are limited by the societies that they live in. If current societal values allow for slavery, then it is allowable for us to discriminate against certain races of humanity even within our own church. We can stand up for traditional marriage while less than two centuries ago, our Prophets, Seers, and Revelators were labeling monogamy as "the foundation for prostitution and the evils and diseases of the most revolting nature and character under which modern Christendom groans…” (Apostle Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 13, page 195).

As humanity progresses, so does the gospel. Does that cause conflict? It does to me. Hence, the blog.

This is not my resignation from the faith nor does it signify my attempt to re-enter the Matrix. My faith has a solid foundation in Jesus Christ. I have had experiences that I cannot deny away but I also see physical evidences plain as day that do not, as yet, have answers.

I will continue to hope that the spiritual foundation I have will one day coincide with the physical evidences available to humanity. My current answer to those whose struggles with this have caused them to turn and walk away is honest and all I can offer:

I have hope in Christ that one day things will be made clear and my faith will be rewarded with knowledge.

But in the meantime, that does not alleviate me of my responsibility to seek learning...

Morrissey - I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris

The new album is officially set to release on February 16, 2009. It is entitled: "Years of Refusal."

The video probably won't last long so enjoy it while you can...

44th President Barack Hussein Obama

"A New Era of Responsibility..."

Prop 8 Is Not Over...

A shout out to Dissenting in Part.

From Equality California:

"We would be making a grave mistake to view Proposition 8 as just affecting the LGBT community," said Eva Paterson, president of the Equal Justice Society. "If the Supreme Court allows Proposition 8 to take effect, it would represent a threat to the rights of people of color and all minorities."

In a brief filed on January 14, 2009, the California Council of Churches and other religious leaders and faith organizations representing millions of members discussed the harm Proposition 8 poses to religious minorities.

"Proposition 8 poses a grave threat to religious freedom," said Rev. Rick Schlosser, Executive Director of the California Council of Churches. "If the Court permits same-sex couples to be deprived of equal protection by a simple majority vote, religious minorities could be denied equal protection as well—a terrible injustice in a nation founded by people who emigrated to escape religious persecution. If the Court permits Proposition 8 to take effect, religious discrimination similarly could be written into California's Constitution."

And from former LDS 1st Presidency member, J. Reuben Clark Jr.

"The Constitution was framed in order to protect minorities. That is the purpose of written constitutions. In order that minorities might be protected in the matter of amendments under our Constitution, the Lord required that the amendments should be made only through the operation of very large majorities--two-thirds for action in the Senate, and three-fourths as among the states. This is the inspired, prescribed order." (J. Reuben Clark, Conference Report, April 1944, pp. 115–116; quoted in "Political Thought and Life of J. Reuben Clark, Jr.", speech given by Marion G. Romney at BYU, 21 Nov. 1972).

Herein lies the problem with Prop 8. Are the minorities being protected? According to J. Reuben Clark, the citizens of California in amending the Constitution by a 50% +1 vote are not following the Lord's "inspired, prescribed order." Amendments should only be afforded when "very large majorities" ascribe them to be so.

And religious groups, of any denomination but especially the minority groups, should see the gravity of this situation. What happens when one religious group begins to dominate? All they will need is a 50% +1 vote and then who is next to be discriminated against?

An Analysis of The Creation by Ricky Gervais

For those easily offended at religious comedy or don't like British humor...please don't watch.

For the rest of you, laugh your heads off. Thanks to Ricky Gervais, we have The Office.

Much has been said about Marriage in the wake of Prop 8...

What did our early Prophet and Apostle Mormon forefathers have to say on the subject of preserving the sanctity of marriage? Hmmm... also posted at http://unafraidoftruth.blogspot.com/

“It is a fact worthy of note that the shortest lived nations of which we have record have been monogamic.(sic) Rome…was a monogamic nation and the numerous evils attending that system early laid the foundation for that ruin which eventually overtook her.”
Apostle George Q. Cannon, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 13, p. 202
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“…the one-wife system not only degenerates the human family, both physically and intellectually, but it is entirely incompatible with philosophical notions of immortality; it is a lure to temptation, and has always proved a curse to a people.”
Prophet John Taylor, Millennial Star, Vol. 15, p. 227
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“Monogamy, or restrictions by law to one wife, is no part of the economy of heaven among men. Such a system was commenced by the founders of the Roman empire….Rome became the mistress of the world, and introduced this order of monogamy wherever her sway was acknowledged.

“Thus this monogamic order of marriage, so esteemed by modern Christians as a holy sacrament and divine institution, is nothing but a system established by a set of robbers….

“Why do we believe in and practice polygamy? Because the Lord introduced it to his servants in a revelation given to Joseph Smith, and the Lord’s servants have always practiced it. ‘And is that religion popular in heaven?’ it is the only popular religion there…”
The Prophet Brigham Young, The Deseret News, August 6, 1862 (note: the “Deseret News” is still published today).
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“This law of monogamy, or the monogamic system, laid the foundation for prostitution and the evils and diseases of the most revolting nature and character under which modern Christendom groans,…”
- Apostle Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 13, page 195
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“We breathe the free air, we have the best looking men and handsomest women, and if they (Non-Mormons) envy us our position, well they may, for they are a poor, narrow-minded, pinch-backed race of men, who chain themselves down to the law of monogamy, and live all their days under the dominion of one wife.

“They ought to be ashamed of such conduct, and the still fouler channel which flows from their practices; and it is not to be wondered at that they should envy those who so much better understand the social relations.” Apostle George A Smith, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 3, page 291
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“I have noticed that a man who has but one wife, and is inclined to that doctrine, soon begins to wither and dry up, while a man who goes into plurality [of wives] looks fresh, young, and sprightly.

“Why is this? Because God loves that man, and because he honors his word. Some of you may not believe this, but I not only believe it but I also know it. For a man of God to be confined to one woman is small business. I do not know what we would do if we had only one wife apiece.”
Apostle Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses Vol. 5, page 22
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“Just ask yourselves, historians, when was monogamy introduced on to the face of the earth? When those buccaneers, who settled on the peninsula where Rome now stands, could not steal women enough to have two or three apiece, they passed a law that a man should have but one woman. And this started monogamy and the downfall of the plurality system.

“In the days of Jesus, Rome, having dominion over Jerusalem, they carried out the doctrine more or less. This was the rise, start and foundation of the doctrine of monogamy; and never till then was there a law passed, that we have any knowledge of, that a man should have but one wife. “
-The Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses Vol. 12, page 262.

The Unpatriotic Patriot Act

This is mostly a continuation of the blog debates started with a Dixie Chicks post, of all things...ie, Could Bush have mismanaged this war any worse?

We always say that history repeats itself but optimistically say that the bad parts of our history, well, those we would never do again. We vowed after World War II when the US Government rounded up Japanese Americans and put them in internment camps, we as outraged Americans would never allow that to happen again.

Oops...Why is this still being allowed? Why are there not more angry voices? Is it because it doesn't affect us?

Part I:


Part II:


Part III:

For obvious reasons...