A Post to Give Offense

Mingled With Scripture

This posting is not intended to give offense, but it will. Please read the whole thing before deciding.

We are all reading the same scriptures. Yet we pick and choose scriptures to support worldly philosophies we are already in love with.

Marxism

Some in the church preach Marxism, mingling it with the words of King Benjamin.

This is wresting of the scriptures and an affront to one of the best men who ever lived. Benjamin must now be grieved to hear us use his words to promote the plan of Satan. This is an excessive yet real example of people using one scripture to justify a belief in the New York Times. Some develop this pernicious belief because they have been brainwashed by propaganda (they hear Sunday school lessons once a week, but school lectures five times a week). Some do because they are “part of the system,” working for a collectivist organization and fear that “if we leave his employ, what will become of us?” Some just lack the gift of discernment, so cannot judge between good and evil.

The Ten Commandments forbid stealing. If we steal from the middle class to give to the poor, however needy they may be, we are stealing.

On the other hand, many members use the words “idler shall not eat the bread of the laborer” to justify withholding their substance from the poor, in direct violation of Benjamin’s counsel to share without judging. If someone struggles financially, we think the person must be an idler, or was an idler earlier in life so was too lazy to get an education. But in fact we cannot know the whole story. It is impossible. That’s why Benjamin expressly told us not to pass judgment on other people’s financial situations.

Martial Spirit

Many in the church feel that the Way of the Warrior is righteous, and the thirst for the blood of our enemies is pious. They cite Captain Moroni’s defense of freedom to justify hatred and war lust. This is also pulling out one example from the scriptures and applying it to a worldly philosophy.

Moroni was a righteous man who exerted extreme courage when his liberty was threatened. But he also knew that the Lord would not justify his aggression. He was to always act in defense.

When I was growing up, I would watch R-rated movies if they were so rated only because of violence, but would not watch anything containing nudity. That policy has since been stopped by the realization that violence is repugnant to the Lord. When the Nephites became wicked, they were immoral. But at the end, when they reached the very depth of their depravity, they became insensitive to violence. That is when they needed to be destroyed. Callousness to violence is not only unrighteous, it can be the extreme level of unrighteousness.

Environmentalism

Some in the church believe that environmentalists are called by God to declare repentance unto us. Confusing “stewardship of the earth” with “pretending to care for the earth in order to destroy liberty” should not be difficult but apparently is for some.

This is no different from the children of Israel worshipping Ba’al, then adding in the hollow forms of true ceremonies to give justification to false worship. Worshiping the true and living God, in the way He has prescribed, is actually easier because it does not require us to continually rationalize out behavior.

Maybe the warming of the earth trend that began 10,000 years ago was caused by SUVs. Maybe the general cooling trend of the past few years proves global warming is not valid, Either way, this writer is unconcerned. What is concerning is the tendency to adopt a worldly philosophy, then justifying that belief with a scripture either taken out of context or misapplied.

New Age Healing

Other religions and philosophies can be useful in facilitating emotional healing from the effects of abuse and trauma. But why push a handcart, now that the automobile has been invented? The gospel of Jesus Christ can heal emotional and spiritual wounds from trauma FASTER than the various new age “modalities” so popular now. But it does require adherence to truth and behavior.

The new age philosophy has two problems. First, it is amoral. It allows you to “just be true to yourself” or “ask the universe to give you whatever you want,” regardless of what the Lord wants. The second problem is that it is based on Hinduism. We are not Hindu. We worship the true and living God. We declare: “he that hath eternal life is rich.” That is far superior to “abundance,” which is generally used to “attract” money to one’s self. Money is cheap compared to what we can potentially have.

I have heard people in the church use new age healing scripts, awkwardly adding in the name of Christ. They are essentially chanting Hindu-based prayers, substituting the name of Lord Shiva with the name of Jesus Christ. If done extensively, it can bring relief from pain. But this writer believes that yanking the logo off a Cadillac and gluing it to a Kia does not make the cheap car a Cadillac. A better option is to park the Kia across the street, search through the miscellaneous utility drawer in the kitchen until the garage key is located, and begin driving the Cadillac long locked up in the garage.

Racism

One of the political parties in the U.S. fought the other party to abolish slavery, desegregate schools, bring civil rights to African-Americans, and equalize all citizens before the law. The other party, literally late to the party, established social policies that rob African-Americans of self-respect and thwart their family ties. (According to a growing body of research by black scholars, African-American family ties were stronger than white families prior to LBJ’s programs). But the later party has somehow convinced us all that they are the party of civil rights.

However, the problem is not who gets credit, but that some of those who identify themselves with the first party have not only fallen for this reasoning, they further believe racism is justified in order to be loyal to their own party. This is not just inaccurate based on the civil rights record, but it is evil, because we believe that all are children of God. This reasoning is a lie based on another lie. Double bad.

Church of the Devil

Categorizing another church, movement, or person as “the church of the devil” is contrary to what the Book of Mormon tells us. The Church of the Devil is a general philosophy that fights the Kingdom of God. It destroys liberty, encourages immorality, and seeks to perpetuate itself. It is the basis of many trends, but is not the name of a specific group. Applying it to someone else is usually done in anger, not under inspiration. A better explanation was given by Elder Neil A. Maxwell, which can probably be googled.

These are a few man-made philosophies that I see justified by the mingling of scripture. Others undoubtedly exist. I am probably doing the same thing myself. I’m waiting to decide what I believe until I can read the op-ed page of tomorrow’s New York Times.

Autumn

I rarely write anything person on this site, but my experience represents the Nauvoo area.

This week I raked about 35 cubic meters of leaves in the yard. Seriously.

Nauvoo Mapping Committee

In late August I was invited to participate in a committee tasked with mapping a plan for economic development in Nauvoo. I'm not sure if I was invited because they were seeking diversity, and had not yet filled their quota of eccentric people, or if they just needed seats filled.

A team of three people from Western Illinois University, who do this sort of thing for a living, led the group in brainstorming plans for development ideas. Some good concepts have come out of the process, but as the conversation becomes more granular, concrete ideas are more difficult.

Also, the process seems to be bring out buried hostilities. Whether this is by design, or if it is by error, I don't know. The consulting team asks the group, which has now grown to about 50 people, to identify things we like and don't like about Nauvoo life. It seems to follow the pattern that corporate brainstorming might follow, using SWOT analysis to identify strengths and weaknesses. But identifying weaknesses in a corporate environment is less risky, because people feel less emotional attachment. When you ask a person what they dislike about where they live, an emotional outpouring of all life's disappointments springs up. In a group environment, the intensity is multiplied.

I hope the process will not become bogged down in histrionics and anger. I wish it to succeed.

Squirrel Industrial Accident Rates

It is time for the Nauvoo Commuter's update on wildlife preparations.

The raccoons are getting fatter, as they do every autumn. But the most astonishing development seems to be the tragic slaughtering of squirrels by cars.

Automobiles crush squirrels throughout the year, but the numbers have surged recently. Perhaps the squirrels have become hasty. As they haul their winter gatherings throughout the year, they dutifully watch both ways before crossing the streets, as their mothers had taught them to do.

But as the prep time grows short, they panic. Omigosh, the squirrels individually say, I don't have enough for winter. They stop their cautious travel policies. And the roads are covered in squirrel inards, as they have ne'ery an OSHA inspector to guard them.

Where have all the taxes gone?

I pay $400 every month in property tax on a modest home. I don't mind, because the money can be used to build schools and improve roads.

The problem is that all of the roads in our towns are full of chuckholes, and my children attend school in a building that should be condemned (it was built before WWI). I estimate that between $50,000 and $100,000 is collected monthly from residential and church properties (non-farm), but no one knows where it has gone. Many believe it goes to Chicago or Springfield, where Daley and Blagojevich, etc. spend it on social programs, but that seems to be an extreme view.

I wish only to refute the charge that a fiscal conservative is unchristian, the charge that they don't like to share. A friend recently commented on his blog that the Bible teaches that the charge to minister to the sick implies we support universal health care.

Such people believe that Jesus taught:

"I was an hungered, and we stole from the rich and gave meat to me; I was thirsty, and ye used the police power to take from him whom ye thought had abundance; I was a stranger, and ye took homes from the upper middle class and gave to me; naked, and ye forced corporations to allocate clothes for me in their annual budget; was in prison, and ye freed me even though ye knew I would kill again."

But Jesus in fact taught that we should give of our substance, not leverage OPM (other people's money) to provide. Stealing is stealing, even if the intent is to do good.

Conservatives, on average, are much more generous than liberals. In fact, liberals want to do good, but they fear giving more than others, so they want to "even out" the generosity. That is the purpose of using the police power of the state to force everyone to be generous in an equal amount. It prevents a situation where liberals lay awake at night wondering if they gave more to the poor than I did.

If universal health care were really about helping people, then Obama would have appointed Mitt Romney to solve the health care problem. He has the track record to do it. But Obamacare is in fact not about providing health care; the purpose is social engineering. If you haven't read the 1,000+ page plan, then wait until it is too late.

This post has nothing to do with Nauvoo. But for my whole life I've been called a cheapskate and a jerk by people who contribute far less to charity than I do.

Pageant

The 2009 Nauvoo Pageant is done for the year. The show was splendid, and the results, written on the hearts of nearly everyone who experienced it, were marvelous.

Some protesters from out of town came for two days to spread calumny. In large, yelling voices, they confessed the sins of the Mormons, though some of it was a bit incoherent, as though they had been under the influence of some courage-inducing chemicals. The contrast between their darkness and the brilliant light of the pageant's message was startling. They didn't annoy pageant attenders as much as they annoyed Chamber of Commerce members, who depend on tourism.

Clean up is expected to last until Thursday.

Must-See in Nauvoo

Planning a trip to Nauvoo?  In this posting, the Nauvoo Commuter will explain the most important sites to see. To see everything would take over a week, so the aim here is to help you prioritize. Most people, unfortunately, decide their itineraries after arriving in Nauvoo. 

If you only have one day in Nauvoo, here are the sites you must see:

- LDS Visitors Center

Here you can get information on events and shows particular to the season. Also, they offer a horse and wagon tour that gives a good overview of the sites.

- Carthage Jail 

        About 30 minutes from Nauvoo...  Warning: call first to verify operating hours.

- Joseph Smith Historic Site

The Mansion House and Joseph Smith Homestead are operated by the Community of Christ. They charge a $2 fee, but give a high-quality 45-minute tour. If you have time while waiting for a tour to start, check out the artifacts on display in the visitors center. 

- See a few original homes. If you have energy left, you could try some of the below. The rest could spill over into the rest of your trip if you are staying longer than a day.

Particular suggestions from the Nauvoo Commuter are:

• Browning Gun Shop (because the company that today makes hunting rifles and some of the Army's most sophisticated weaponry started in a little brick building in Nauvoo.)
  
• Heber C. Kimball Home (which is the home that was purchased by a descendant, sparking the whole Nauvoo restoration that we enjoy today.)
  
• The Nauvoo Temple (is of course difficult to miss, but don't bother coming to Nauvoo without at least seeing the front.)
  
• Seventies Hall
  
• Trail of Hope (starts from the Seventies Hall and proceeds to the Mississippi River, about two football fields.)
  

Again, the above might be more than you could do in a day unless you were very energetic, but are some recommendations. Another caveat: if you are in Nauvoo during the pageant, then everything else should be scheduled around that event. 

Another suggestion: if any of your ancestors lived in old Nauvoo, wouldn't you want to know where?  The Land and Records Office can show you where they owned land. 

So many more interesting sites exist, such as the Family Living Center, where you can get a more hands-on view of pioneer life. Note: If you ever have questions or needNauvoo-related recommendations during summer 2009, feel free to stop by our shop at the Nauvoo Quilt Company, on the path between Zions Mercantile and the Temple House Art Gallery. We'll give an opinion on any subject.