Choice, the problem is choice.

Today I watched an interesting video about global warming entitled Interesting, Argument About Global Warming Video. The videographer did not ask me, the viewer, to take a stand for the skeptics or the believers of global warming. Instead, he gave me some simple information required to make an informed decision and in-turn take actions on the decisions I personally made. After you think about the information given you are asked to choose either yes or no. Yes, meaning you would act to stop global warming. Or no you wouldn't act to stop global warming. These choices of yes or no are in rows. The choice of true (meaning global warming is true) or false (meaning global warming is false)are in columns. The videogepher asked the viewer to not think in true or false but rather "What's the worst that could happen?"

Global Warming	Yes	No
False
True

Instead of believing if we, as humans, are contributing to global warming we should ask ourselves. . . . what is the worst that could happen.

{I will come back to this point later in the my post.}

Today I was also thinking about the second Matrix movie, The Matrix Reloaded. In which Neo, the star of the show, has a meeting with The Architect, the creator of the Matrix. In their conversation Neo says "Choice. The problem is choice." In the same conversation The Architect states "Hope, it is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest strength, and your greatest weakness." He tells Neo he is exhibiting ". . . an emotions designed specifically to overwhelm logic and reason."

{I will come back to this point later in the my post.}

When the missionaries came calling to my house they asked me to pray to see if the Book of Mormon was true. I accepted the choice to pray about it. They told me the sign of it being true would be a burning feeling in my "Bosom". They told me to employ "an emotion specifically designed to overwhelm logic and reason." They told me about heaven and living with heavenly Father again in the desire I would "hope" to receive that blessing. In all my teachings over the 10 years they have been coming over, they never told me that the real problem with what they were offering was choice. Choosing if the Book of Mormon was true or false. They then asking me to take an action of Yes or No to baptism.

Well, I asked myself what is the worst that could happen? Lets take a look at that one.

Book of Mormon	Baptism
	Yes	No
False
True

There are three degrees of Heaven, Kingdoms, or Glory. One of thee eternal goals in Mormonism is to attain the Celestial Kingdom. We can attain the Celestial in many ways (we won't get into the higher degrees of the Celestial in this post):

1. Die before we reach the age of eight
2. Heed the Word of the Gospel by
1. Being valiant in as well as receiving a testimony in Jesus Christ
2. Be washed and cleansed from all sins
3. Obey the commandments of God
4. Be baptized in the name of Christ
5. Receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost
6. Continue to obey the commandments of God.

We can attain the Telestial Kingdom by:

1. Received a testimony of Jesus after dying but had rejected it while on earth.
2. Be honorable but allow ourselves to be blinded by the crafty people.
3. They were not valiant in their testimonies of Jesus Christ.

We can attain the Terrestrial Kingdom by:

1. Rejected the gospel, the testimony of Jesus, the prophets, and the everlasting covenant both on earth and the afterlife.
2. Were liars, adulterers, murderers, thieves, and all others who didn't keep God's commandments.

Weather you believe the Book of Mormon is true or not, I ask you what is the worst that could happen if you do not choose Baptism? And when I say baptism think of it as short for attaining the celestial kingdom and all that goes along with it.

Book of Mormon	Baptism
	Yes	No
False
True	XX	X

X   = What you Believe
XX = What is true.

Option A
If you live a good life and you choose to say no to baptism, then what's the worst that could happen if the Book of Mormon turns out to be true? The worst that could happen is you would live in spirit prison until someone does your Temple Work. At which time you [just for this case study] accept the Gospel. Them you would be translated to the Celestial Kingdom to live with Jesus Christ but not with God the Father who does not dwell there.

Option B
If you live a good life and you choose to say no to baptism, then what's the worst that could happen if the Book of Mormon turns out to be true? The worst that could happen is you would live in spirit prison until someone does your Temple Work. At which time you [just for this case study] do not accept the Gospel. Them you would be translated to the Terrestrial Kingdom to live with out Jesus Christ and God the Father because they do not dwell there.

So that is the worst that could happen.  

Book of Mormon	Baptism
	Yes	No
False	X
True	XX

X   = What you Believe
XX = What is true.


Option A
If you live a good and valiant life and you choose to say yes to baptism, then what's the worst that could happen if the Book of Mormon turns out to be true? The worst that could happen when you die is you will live in the Celestial Kingdom for all eternity with God and Jesus.

Option B
If you don't live a valiant life and you choose to say yes to baptism, then what's the worst that could happen if the Book of Mormon turns out to be true? The worst that could happen when you die is you will live in the Telestial Kingdom for all eternity with Jesus but not God.

So that is the worst that could happen.

Book of Mormon	Baptism
	Yes	No
False	X	XX
True

X   = What you Believe
XX = What is true.

Option A
If you live a good and valiant life and you choose to say yes to baptism, then what's the worst that could happen if the Book of Mormon turns out to be false? The worst that could happen is before death, you have spent 10% of your income further a fraud. You've waisted time at the temple participating in temple ordaninces that went unnoticed by the people who it was intended for. After death you've found out you told people who are still living an inadvertent lie about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. Every moral and truthful thing you believed about the Church turned out to be a lie. As well as your temple marriage, as well as being sealed to your family forever, as well as etc. (the whole Church hinges on the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon). If Book of Mormon = not true then Church = not true. . 

Book of Mormon	Baptism
	Yes	No
False
True		XX/X

X   = What you Believe
XX = What is true.

Option A
If you live a good and valiant life and you choose to say no to baptism, then what's the worst that could happen if the Book of Mormon turns out to be false? You didn't give into a fraud. You spent your money on what you wanted to. Your time was your own. You didn't try to influence anyones perspective about what would happen in the afterlife. You would be spiritually Karma Free. (Seeing that you did these things listed above).

So that is the worst that could happen.


There are so many other angles this delusion would take. Like who holds exclusivity to moral judgment? If God's plan was so perfect why would only 13,000,000 members accept it out of 6 Billion people on the planet today. Some say it comes out to .5% that is one half of 1% of the people on the earth today are members.

Take this information above and use it when someone asked you if you think the Book of Mormon is true or not. Instead ask yourself what is the worst that could happen? If you choose with logic and reason you are choosing with what God gave us inatly. If you are choose with an emotions designed specifically to overwhelm logic and reason you too are choosing with what God inatlly gave us.

But whichever you choose remember choice is the problem.

I saved this post for when I could research a little on the subject.One of my main concerns about joining the CoJCoLDS centered around this topic.

Once while I had the Missionaries over for discussion I brought up the topic of The Journal of Discourses and what Brigham Young spoke about interracial (white and black) relationships. The topic was so shocking to me, I had to have my two sons (Age 7 and 15) leave the room. You see my wife is of French Canadian, Scottish stock and I am from Ethiopian, West Indian descant. So if they would have stayed it might have brought up questions I didn't have the answers for.

I asked them point blank about the The Journal of Discourses and why did the church believe Gods Law stated "If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain (Black People), the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so." [Journal of Discourses Volume 10 Page 110 Spoken in the Tabernacle in Great Salt Lake City, March 8th, 1863.]

The answer was shocking to me. I guess it was more shocking than finding that passage. They said "A Prophet speaks many things but not all of those things are directed from God. But my question to you is do you believe the Book of Mormon to be the true word of God?" You have to remember that these words were spoken by the Current Prophet in the Tabernacle on Sunday, the Holy Sabbath Day while saying "Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race?"

I asked my wife about this subject. I told her that someone in the church knows the truth but no one is telling why. We had this conversation while in our hot tub. The conversation didn't go well. We didn't go back into our hot tub for a while after that.It wasn't an enjoyable time.  

Here is a little back history of Jedi Jamie. My Third Great Grand Father was born in 1827. This was 37 years before Brigham Young's statement and 3 yeas before the church was started. My Second Great Grand Parents were married just 4 months before the death of Brigham Young and just 14 years after the Law of God statement. These ancestors as well as myself are of Mixed Race Heritage. If Prophet Young had his way with my ancestors, I would not be here today in a the church he helped sustain, holding the same priesthood he held.

Boyd K. Packer in a talk stated that "We've always counseled in the Church for our . . .Caucasians to marry Caucasians . . . The counsel has been wise. You may say again, "Well, I know of exceptions." . . . I say, "Yes--exceptions." . . ."We'd like to follow the rule first, and then we'll take care of the exceptions." ["Follow the Rule" Boyd K Packer's devotional address at Brigham Young University January 14th 1977 while he was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and while the priesthood ban was in full effect.]

Some say the only reason the church gave the black people the priesthood was because of the 30 October 1978 dedication of the São Paulo Brazil Temple It was announced in 1975 and dedicated in 1978. As you know there Brazil has had is a mixture African Heritage for so long one could not determine what race a person was just by looking at them. Another reason was because other College teams refused to play ball with a racist BYU. Other speculations were because it couldn't win church members and be against the civil rights movement.

I asked one of the missionaries what All worthy males meant? The white missionary couldn't say. I asked the Tongan Missionary and he stated the Priesthood was always available to them. This Tongan gentleman had darker skin than me.

When I was 8 yeas old the CoJCoLDS lifted the ban on the priesthood. When I was 36 I joined the church. 28 yeas have passed and I cannot find anyone who can give me a good reason why the priesthood was banned for me and my ancestors or why the second Prophet of the church preached in Gods name that my ancestors should be 'killed on the spot'. I just wonder will this 'always be so'?

In Rant Mode 'Jedi' Jamie

Last night a member of the bishopric and his wife came over to speak to my daughter (which I baptized Mormon). A sub-topic of the discussion was about the unchanged church. The man proclaimed:


Just before he said that I thought there are at least two changes I can think of.Official Declaration 1 and Official Declaration 2 And then I thought about the others:

1. The Change in the Temple Ceremony
2. The Change in having Plural Wives
3. The Change in Priesthood Holders
4. The Change from Wine for Sacrament to Water
5. The Changes to the Book of Mormon since 1830
6. The Change in the Word of Wisdom from Hot Drinks to meaning Tea and Coffee.
7. The Desolution of The Council of Fifty
8. The Age of Temple Goers from 8 to 12
9. The Change in Etcetera, Etcetera, Etcetera.

I an under the impression "I Was Never Told" about these changes because if these are changeable and rendered un-true, what else is changeable and untrue. This hurts the integrity of the church but many member of the church do not know these things. Or know them but don't believe them. Or worse know them but don't talk about them.

That reminds me of a quote from an episode of "Family Guy"


Family guy - Everything I Say Is A Lie - These bloopers are hilarious

Thruthiness

Truthiness is a satirical term to describe things that a person claims to know intuitively, instinctively, or "from the gut" without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or actual facts.

I was at a CoJCoLDS testimony meeting before I joined. I noticed there were people that we standing up and stating, “I know the Church is True”. I wondered if they were lying about their knowledge to this. The reason I thought this was simple. A young kid that was progressing in the priesthood stood up and stated I know the Church is true, I know that Joseph Smith is a Prophet.

I first thought – “When I was 12 years old my understanding of the world was so limited that I wasn’t even a sophomore (Wise Fool). How can this kid and every kid in this church claim such a drastic position on something so beyond their common experiences?” 

But as I have evolved in learning about the church and had members of the bishopric over to my house, I realize that most LDS lie knowingly. The 9^th question they ask you when you’re requesting a Temple Recommend is:

Are you honest in your dealings with your fellowmen?

If this isn’t a question that you cannot answer in the affirmative you will not be getting a Temple Recommend.

Our Gospel Doctrine teacher was speaking at a baptism when he broke from the words of encouragement and proclaimed “I believe in the truth of the Gospel.”  But he never stated the church was true or Joseph was a prophet of God. I noticed that there was a very smooth tiptoe through these words. They were calculated and rehearsed. He had learned about the Truthieness of the church and still decided to stay.

I got it. It came to me. These people have someting tremedous at stake. If you do not follow the teachings of the church you will:

1. Loose your cuture.
2. Loose your family.
3. Not get into celestial heaven.
4. Banished to outer darkness.
5. Etc.

Taking away these two things from a person would not constitute an affimative on Temple Recommend Question #9

I really do believe that "All organizations are flawed and some more flawed than others". But don't expect me to be Truthful [with a capitalized T] in my dealings with you while you feed me Truthieness [with a capitalized T]. 

 

"Jedi" Jamie Trwth

This past Sunday the topic of discussion was "And Nothing Shall Offend Them" by Elder Bednar. It is about being offended in the Church and still coming back. I guess it was about not loosing your blessings in the church even if someone takes advantage of you or step on your toes. A fellow in the Elders Quorum presented this nicely.

I stayed after to speak to the President of the Elders Quorum about an activity planned for the summer.
As our meeting closed he looked me in the eye and told me. "Just one more thing. This goes to the topic on "And nothing shall offend them". You might want to take out your ear rings as you are progressing in the priesthood."

(You see I had a meeting with the Bishop on progressing in the priesthood earlier this year.)

"As you can see there are no men that wear ear rings in the church. We know you are doing your best because you wear "The White Shirt". Give it a thought and if you have a problem tell me and we will go from there." (Paraphrased)

My first thought was "I have had my ears pierced for over 22 years I'm a 37 year old man, the last people that told me to take them out was a Pentecostal Preacher (Who said God spoke to him about it.) and my mother but I was under age. My earrings are a sign of strength and courage. Who is he to tell me to take them out?"

And my second thought was "I wear The White Shirt?".

I joined this church knowing full well that before 1978 none of my family had a chance in this church; that one of their prophets would rather see my ancestors dead than in his site (My family is of Mix-Racial background as far back as my 3rd Great Grand Father. He was born before the book of Mormon was published or before The CoJCoLDS was on this earth). I knew that Joseph Smith lied about polygamy, defrauded people in bank deals and even murdered two human beings while he was in jail (The Church teaches if you Murder someone you will not get into celestial glory.); that the book of Mormon isn't accurate and has been changed over the years; that the Temple ceremony that no one talks about had to be talked about to be changed in the nineties.

In my opinion The Church forces people to chose and hangs a carrot of celestial glory above their heads as bait to stay in the church.

Now on top of all this they want me to ware a uniform and conform. The missionaries never told me this in the descussions. And if this what next?