A Curious Instrument

As I move slowly through the Book of Mormon , I have reached Helaman 13 , which is the first part of a prophecy from the prophet Samuel, a Lamanite .  This is a tough chapter, as it brings to light what could be considered by many to be some of God's more unsavory attributes. As I shared what I was reading with my wife, for example, she was expressing her own concerns that I was becoming critical to prevalent attitudes about God and what I was seeing as the projection of a kinder, gentler, somewhat ineffective God that can readily be ignored or simply dismissed. The God that Samuel speaks of here would likely be described in modern terms as harsh, demanding, and even hateful and vengeful when unheeded.  It is not surprising that many people choose to reject God because: they see steadily declining evidence of God's influence on people; or they only see God as a fictional character in some ancient morality story from a cruel age; or they find their own modern virtues and wa...

Many people have a mistaken idea that, because God loves them, they can do as they wish with their lives and plead for mercy later through demands that "love conquers all". This concept of laziness flies in the face of God's work to develop us into people who can become like himself. "Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:  But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him." - Acts 10:34-35 God is not a respecter of persons.  He must judge us in an impartial way and he cannot make special exceptions for anyone. All must be judged by the same set of rules - this is the nature of justice. Also, God cannot abdicate his role as judge because he loves you - he will not throw aside required repentance and growth through appeals to his love. Under earthly circumstances, a judge with a close personal relationship with the litigants would have to recuse themselves. God...

As I prepare for Sunday School lessons at the local congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints , I read this from Dallin Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from the October 2007 General Conference : But here is a caution for families. Suppose Church leaders reduce the time required by Church meetings and activities in order to increase the time available for families to be together. This will not achieve its intended purpose unless individual family members—especially parents—vigorously act to increase family togetherness and one-on-one time. Team sports and technology toys like video games and the Internet are already winning away the time of our children and youth. Surfing the Internet is not better than serving the Lord or strengthening the family. Some young men and women are skipping Church youth activities or cutting family time in order to participate in soccer leagues or to pursue various entertainments. Some young people are amusing themselves...

I have often been hard to pin down politically over the years.  My family is stuffed full of conservative-leaning folk and, on a personal level, I also hold many fiscally and socially conservative views. If you have read any of my writings at all, that should be clear enough to see. I often have a unique take on things, but I end up coming to a pretty conservative stance , usually because our founding fathers chose to enshrine some very important ideals long ago that I find wise. I am a priest of God  twice over and I work to espouse his aims as I see them. I also don't want some theocracy where people are forced to do God's will. God wants you to be free to act in your own way and, as one of his servants, I want the same thing for each of us.  When I tell you what I think a good person should do , I want your behavior to be exercised in an environment where you don't have to do what God and his servants say. I am an enemy of big government. The deep state is e...

There have been a lot of changes to the online world and the security and privacy requirements for public vendors of content are getting more and more difficult to meet. Some services have chosen to be shuttered rather than take the risk of losing money in the new environment. I have run my own web server for many years and put essay collections there among other things, but usually put newer essays meant for general consumption on Blogger and lately advertised each through Facebook.  It has worked well, but I have been feeling the need (call it inspiration) to publish upcoming essays alongside the collections on a server that I control and maintain. If a vendor like Blogger or Facebook chose to walk away from the services that I use right now, I may lose the ability to get essays to you fine readers. I suppose I could move to other vendors when my present circumstances fall apart, but I would rather take control of the situation now before I get pushed against some wall....

Parents let their kids run the family. Education panders to the desires of students and their despised and dismissed parent-lackeys. Governments coddle childishness for their own political ends. The immature majority lust for the irresponsibility of socialism and the lure of "free stuff" stolen from others through police-state democracy. Disclosure:  I work for a college and make a living from tuition and state education funding. Let's see an example that I know something about:  college education. College tends to care too much about the student and too little about their actual training. How a person feels about their educational experience isn't germane to what college should be doing, which is  inculcating a body of knowledge and practice that produces success along a specific professional path . Your professors should know more than you do about the proper way to shape you for a chosen path and a student should submit to their training. That is the relation...

The posts have been a little heavy-handed of late, probably because I am actually a very heavy-handed guy!  To lighten up things a bit, how about my perennial favorite, The Perpetual Computer Buyer's Guide ?  I haven't changed a word in it in over ten years and it is still really good advice for getting your next computer, if I say so myself (which I do).  Enjoy!