A Curious Instrument

Isaiah 2:2-3 2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.  It has long been a belief among members of  the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that this Isaiah reference speaks of Temples of the Lord, first the temple in Salt Lake City in Utah and subsequently dozens that have been erected around the world. These truly are abodes of Christ where his disciples can come to learn from him and make covenants to "walk in his paths" toward sharing exaltation with the Father and the Son. I go to the temple of the Lord very often and always feel clo...

It seems some people have offended God and, although the Lord is reported to feel great love for those who follow him and obey his commandments, the scriptural record uses words such as "wrath" and "indignation" to describe Christ's attitude about those who work against him. Doctrine and Covenants 87:6 And thus, with the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn; and with famine, and plague, and earthquake, and the thunder of heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the wrath, and indignation, and chastening hand of an Almighty God, until the consumption decreed hath made a full end of all nations; These are not pleasant ends for "the inhabitants of the earth". However, Jesus in his mercy extends repentance under certain conditions on those otherwise under condemnation. Doctrine and Covenants 98:47 But if the children shall repent, or the children’s children, and turn to t...

Years ago, I conceived a society that works with females at its head. It recognizes what women value on a deep level, instead of the sophomoric effort of just pasting a girl's face on a man and saying that will work. This is what feminism is, a foolish replacement of men with women with a total performative ignorance of what either sex truly wants and needs. We are awash with crazed men and women who think the "better way" is simply to switch places, sometimes by physical "trans-gendered" operations that embed the "switcheroo" feminist lunacy more deeply. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0082RAFM6# In my book " Escape ", women behave as women by nature will do, as do the less mentioned men. The ruling of this society is performed by women, but in ways that are far more sensible for women to do. Many will find the fictional aspects of the story not far enough to make the story into a fantasy novel, and I certainly didn't write it that way. No as...

After Isaiah catalogues the performative actions of piety and the Lord's rejection of them, he instructs the children of Israel in the thing the Lord desires.  Isaiah 1:16-20 16 ¶ Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; 17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. 18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: 20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. It is customary to see "judgement (or the application of Judgment) as a bad thing, always employed to punish the wicked. In verse 17 above, Advice is given to "seek judgement" and to "judge the fatherless", without the implication th...

I can't approach Isaiah in the same ways that I worked through the Book of Mormon .  There are not a few scripture snippets that can be expanded upon, but it seems like, at least in this particular chapter ( Isaiah chapter 1 ), it is almost circular reinforcements of a theme. Although the people were doing the performances required of the Lord in Isaiah's time, the remembrances and symbolism were not effecting the personal devotion and changes the Lord desired in them.  They are becoming hypocrites with a public face of piety and harboring evil in their hearts. Isaiah 1:4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. Isaiah 1:10-15 10 ¶ Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. 11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lo...

It is a matter of prioritizing obedience to the oldest commandments and associated blessings over short term fears of not having a full cornicopia of society's "essential" marriage ingredients, such as a great job, high pay, or deep maturity. In some ways, many cultures actively discourage marriage with pushing these expected "requirements" that can rarely be met. I found this view of attitudes going into marriage to be interesting and helpful to re-enshrining "holy" marriage:  Beyond Hollywood Type Love: Choosing Commitment Over Chemistry In addition to viewing marriage as a devoted commitment, rather than a impossibly life-long romantic infatuation as so many demand, we often forget God's take on marriage and making it a priority in our lives. Genesis 2:18   And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. Genesis 2:24   Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cle...

It's important to remember that accepting the trials of mortality has, until very recently, been just a fact of life (no obvious pun).  My parents did it, my grandparents and my further ancestors all married and had children (obviously), never giving it much more thought than these institutions are what everyone was expected to do and it was the basic sign of being a respectable adult. We live in a "modern" time that the age-old expectations or marriage and family have been pushed aside by a growing group of DINKs, singles, NEETs, and so on. Sloughing established standards seem to have become something of a flaunted recreational sport, usually by showing young single women traveling the world's tourist spots or pulling dogs into their liberated and well-heeled "van lives". Some six-thousand years ago, Adam and Eve set the standard, eschewed the easy man-child Eden, and took the choice to stay together as a married couple and face mortality together and natur...