General Conference

It's General Conference weekend, which is like a twice weekly Super Bowl for LDS. Because I don't want to compete with them, there will no blog today. I'm sure they appreciate it.  No matter what religion you are, happy Saturday! 

Good Friday

Not my tattoo, but a gorgeous tattoo that in my view shows the love of Christ-dying for you as he extends his hand to you. 

No album of the weekend today, because of it being Good Friday.

My baseball bet III

So, last year I made a bet with a friend regarding our favorite baseball teams. You can read about it here and here. I lost, and I had to pay 10$ to the Democratic National Committee. It was a tough blow, and this is what I wrote on my FB when I ponied up. 


I choose the Ayn Rand Institute because I knew he'd hate writing a check to them. He's a good friend of mine even though we disagree on many issues.  

This year, we made a different bet. I no longer choose the Tampa Rays because of their offseason moves (I'm still a partial season ticket holder, and I hope to be for many years to come). Instead, I bet on Aaron Judge suffering from the sophomore slump and Giancarlo Stanton having a hard time adjusting to NYC. Hopefully Bryce Harper, Max Scherzer and Stephen Stratsburg have great years and the Nationals continue their great play-my ten bucks and bragging rights are counting on it. 

Changes to LDS policy

Because of the MTC scandal and a widespread and popular petition, the LDS church has recently made some changes to it's policies about interviewing children and women. These changes are a good thing, and I welcome them. 

Some of the changes:

Members should never be encouraged to remain in a situation that is abusive or unsafe. This should be obvious to all of us, and it's for sure the right thing to do. I'm glad women and children (and men, for the record) will no longer be advised or counseled to stay in situations that might put them in harm. 

When a member of the stake presidency or bishopric or another assigned leader meets with a child, youth, or woman he should ask another person to be in an adjoining room, foyer or hall. A great idea to keep the meetings private but keep someone nearby just in case. 

If the person being interviewed desires, another person can be in the room. Another great idea. Seriously, these reforms are overdo and very welcomed so far. 

Church leaders should never disregard a report of abuse or or counsel a member not to report criminal activity. I can't imagine a bishop giving advice otherwise, but I'm also glad that is now official policy. 

At least two adults must be present for all church sponsored activities regarding children. Another good idea, and one that was already followed more or less by everyone in the church. 

Some great reforms. Glad they are finally official. 

Anti gun marches

Yes, the people marching have every right to do so. In this country free assembly and speech is guaranteed to all of us, not just those we agree with. However, when you participate in public demonstrations (and I have as well) you open yourself up to criticism. Just because you had something terrible happen to you doesn't mean you are above criticism either, so don't say, "How dare you critique victims of a school shooting!" If you meet with a victim of a mass shooting who supported less restrictions on gun rights, it would be fine to critique them as well.

When adults march with minor children, it really makes me angry. No matter what the cause is, minors should never be used as political props. I get the feeling that some of these kids wren't old enough to really understand the gun issue, but they were carrying signs that had political slogans on them. It bothers me when pro lifers do this, it bothers me when anti-gun people do it. Children need to rise above parisian issues strictly because they aren't old enough to fully comprehend the subjects and they usually are being told what to think by their parents.

The gun issue is incredibly complex and won't be solved by marches and protests. Like it or not, we have the right to own guns in this country. While I support the rights of the marchers, I also support the second amendment.

Reporter comes out as HIV positive

A Los Angeles reporter for the ABC station came out as HIV positive. Good for him-I hope and pray that he remains healthy for a long period of time. And in this day and age, the treatment for HIV has gotten so much better than you can expect to live a long and healthy life with the disease. Yes, too many people still die from AIDS and that's horrific-but in many cases numerous lives can be saved thanks to mediation. Reason number #209 I'm so happy to be alive today.

While I am not HIV positive and I don't have to deal with the stigma, I'm not sure that the stigma is the same today as it was back in the 90's when ignorance about the disease was everywhere. There is no excuse for prejudice against HIV positive people (there was no excuse for prejudice against HIV positive people in 1996 either, but anyway)and I'm surprised that this man struggled with making his identity open. It's a deeply personal thing of course and you certainly don't have to be open to the public about your heath problems, but if you choose to be open with it, than God bless you and hopefully you'll be able to inspire others to go get tested.

Scripture Sunday Helaman 12:1-12:26

Like the little description before the passage says, men are evil, unstable and quick to do foolish things. In the final day of judgement, we will no longer be able to hide. It'll be eternal life or eternal damnation for all of us.

An atheist might find the concepts of "eternal punishment" and "eternal rewards" frightening and disturbing, and I can see why at least in part. If you don't believe in an afterlife than what others think of it shouldn't bother you. If I think you are going to Hell and you don't believe there is one, than who cares what I think? The same can be said for Heaven as well.

For me, this passage does provide some comfort. To often in life we see evil people getting away with it and having absolutely no punishment. Justice delayed is this life is justice denied. I don't want to live in a world where Adolph Hitler and Mother Theresa go to the same place in the afterlife.

School safety and reporters

No one will believe it, especially in light of recent events, but schools are actually getting safer. Before I go any further, I am not trying to diminish or downplay the horror that happened in Florida-my heart still breaks for what happened in my state.  So while school shootings (and mass shootings in general) are in decline, even one incident is one too many.

Statistics are sort of a harsh mistress. They don't care about emotion or what your views are. You are free of course to ignore them just as you are free to ignore gravity. That doesn't mean that statistics are always right, they could be an outlier or irrelevant to the main point but usually under proper research they are accurate and we can learn a great deal from them.

It doesn't fit the media narrative. The media knows that "if it bleeds, it leads" and with viewership declining they need to step it up a notch.  I don't think it's a major conspiracy, they don't sit behind their desks and purposely ignore stories that won't fit their bias (some might, but it's not a major problem) the situation is actually worse. They aren't skeptical of both sides equally. No one wants to give a harsh question to a student who survived a school shooting. No one wants to ask a parent who just lost their kid how gun control would have stopped a shooting. I don't blame the reporters for that. What I blame them for is letting their emotions still dictate their news several days after the shooting.

Album of the weekend

Everybody Wants-The Struts

To me, this sounds like a retro New York Dolls album. You've probably heard the song, "Could Have Been Me"-it was very popular in 2015. The entire album is pretty good with all the songs being catchy, brief and slightly tongue in cheek. Even the ballad, which I don't generally like-is worthy to listen too. I can see myself dancing to this in 8th grade.

The Struts (a band I didn't know too much about until I found this album) are from a different era, an era where glam bands ruled the world. Good modern day glam music is a rarity, in fact it's borderline impossible to find, but I think we've found one here.

Toys R Us, RIP

Another retail giant fades to black. As a Generation Xer, I'm supposed to feel terrible and sad seeing this store go out of business. But I don't. I feel absolutely nothing, other than fascinated. I'm not an expert in business but I see the obvious. The obvious is that nostalgia will only get you so far. You need money, and for money you need customers. Toys R Us did not have customers, so they didn't have money. Ergo, they have gone out of business. Take notes every other retail store-this is how you eventually fade away.

With Toys R Us though, it's a bit more complicated. Kids are no longer into bikes, trains and video games. It's a different world and while I don't have kids I can see that their interests in toys has clearly changed. If it hasn't, than Toys R Us would still be in business. It's obvious that many people my age are feeling nostalgic more for their childhood than the actual store. They wrongly think that our childhood was a simpler time (it wasn't, its was just as complicated and dangerous as childhood is in 2018) and the toys that Toys R Us falsely gives them the impression that it was. 

I'm very interested in todays children will view their childhood when they get older.

Former Mission president sexual assault scandal...

A former mission president in Provo is being investigated for a sexual assault that happened several decades ago.  Let's get this out of the way right now-if this occurred, no matter how old he is, he needs to be brought to trial and prosecuted for his crimes. Immediately. There is no excuse for this type of behavior and the church isn't defending it. As of right now, the church is doing the right thing by releasing a statement about it and cooperating with law enforcement.

The church isn't stupid. They know how devastating scandals like this can be to their reputation. If this happened and there was a cover up or someone knew about and did nothing-then the damage to the reputation of the church justifiable and it is nothing compared to what happened to the victim of the sexual assault. Just to be clear I do believe in innocent until proven guilty, but a brief look at the evidence shows that this man (Ironically named Joseph Bishop) has a lot of explaining to do.

 It's a different world we are living in today, and thank God for it. Institutions of all types have to accept that. Like I mentioned before so far the church is doing the right thing by being open about it.

Atari making a new console

I love Atari. I have a working 2600 and one of my tattoos is the Atari logo on my shoulder. I am one of the maybe three people out there who remembers the Atari Jaguar even though I never particularly liked that system. Console gaming was one of my first loves, and it's a love that will always be there. I'll never outgrow video games.

But I'm not sure about this new Ataribox. Console gaming is already an overcrowded and sadly, declining industry. Sega learned the hard way that nostalgia will only get you so far, even though the Dreamcast was an amazing console. Sega no longer makes consoles and their games-which at one time were among the most groundbreaking and cutting edge games out there-have never recovered. Atari has a bad reputation with consoles as well. While it's true, their last system was over twenty years ago-very few gamers even remember the Jaguar. 

I'm not sure this will end well. 

Taxpayer funded stadiums

A boring topic? Not to me.

I love sports, in particular college football and baseball. I have seasons tickets to the Tampa Rays and to the Florida Gators baseball teams. I'm a sabermetric geek and I love watching every bowl game I possibly can at the end of the year. I also like arena football (sadly Arena football has collapsed in Florida, leaving only a team in Jacksonville in Tampa) boxing, hockey, basketball-so yes, I'm a sports fan.

But not everyone is. Taxpayers are already fleeced to the bone and forced to pay for so much that they don't agree with and might even find offensive. You are forced to pay for illegal wars, the death penalty, contraception-and that's just getting started. When local politicians start talking about building new stadiums-the smart person knows to smile, grab your wallet and get the hell out of there.

Politicians will talk about how stadiums will "bring jobs" to the local economy and help out there. But that's nonsense. It's usually doesn't work in the long term-once the stadium is built the construction jobs are over. Minor league stadiums are much, much worse because of the high turnover of the teams. Minor league franchises rarely stay in one place for very long. Civic pride is another reason politicians like teams being built-but that's nonsense too. Civic pride is a good thing but a minor league team won't do anything to help it

Scripture Sunday Moroni 7:37

Like I've mentioned before many times, faith is a funny thing. It's easy for those who have seen Jesus to command all of us to have faith. The apostles and prophets hopefully understand this because after all, if you've seen Jesus and we haven't than telling us to simply "have faith" can be a bit difficult to comprehend.

This passage says that it is by faith that miracles are wrought and it insinuates that the reason that there are no miracles today is because of unbelief, and unbelief is all in vain. I agree, and it's fairly obvious. If you have no faith than you won't believe in miracles. Will miracles still happen? It's largely about perception. If you think everything is a miracle I'm going to tell you right now that you are wrong. A baby being born isn't a miracle, in fact we know quite well how babies are born. It's blessing and a wonderful thing-but it's not a miracle.

We live in an increasingly secular world, and believing that miracles happen today makes you seem backwards in some way. Do I think they happen? Yup. Do I think that people are too quick to use them as an excuse for whenever something good happens? 100%.

Student walkout

First off no one, absolutely no one, is in favor of senseless gun deaths. No, not even members of the NRA.Next, no one has a monopoly on virtue in this argument. One side painting the other as "evil, immoral, naive or bloodthirsty" is part of the problem in politics in 2018. Good people can and do disagree on all sorts of issues, including this one. Not all students are in favor of gun restrictions and yes, even students who had terrible things happen to them are worthy of having their ideas criticized.

If you are in favor of the walk outs fine, that is certainly your right. Would you feel the same way if the students walked out to protest an idea/political issue that you disagree with? What if they were protesting abortion rights? What if they were against raising the minimum wage?Or, what if :: gasp :: they were advocating for increased freedoms on the rights to own a gun? You need to ask yourself if it's the walkout that bothers you, or if it's the issue they are supporting that does.

Album of the weekend

Better than Ezra-Friction, Baby

One of the forgotten pop bands of the 1990's, Better than Ezra is a bit hard to place. Their sound is too hard for generic, simple pop and it's too soft for grunge or rock. They remind me of a lighter sounding Creed (a guilty pleasure band of mine). Some of their songs are quite good and lack of a better word, more macabre than what is remembered. "Desperately wanting" is a great song about looking back in your childhood and feeling that you'll never recover the joy and innocent that you once had. It's not a feeling I share, but it conveys those feelings perfectly.

The full album has that kind of feeling-it's radio friendly and popish, but it's also kind of dark and melancholy. While perhaps forgotten in this time and era, it's a certainly an album to look into getting.

Stephen Hawking RIP

The famous scientist Stephen Hawking passed away at the age of 76.

I'm not going to claim to be devastated by the loss. In fact, I don't think I've thought of him much in the last decade or so of my life. No, that doesn't mean that I'm afraid of science or too stupid for it, it just means I lack an interest in the subject. Science was always my least favorite topic in school and I've forgotten all the science classes I took in college. Seriously, I don't know how I passed freshmen college biology.

During the celebration of the life of Dr. Hawking, I was thinking of something. He lived with an absolutely horrible disease until the age of 76. If he was born 50 years before, or 100 years before, his life would have been drastically shorter and much more horrific. He wouldn't have been able to communicate at all. ALS is the among the worst diseases in the world, it's horrific what happens to the body. My heart breaks for Steven Hawking because of this, and even though he was an ardent atheist, I think it's a miracle he lived as long as he did. Hopefully his suffering is over at this point.

RIP.

Student loans

College is expensive and sometimes can be a massive waste of time. If you major in anything ending with the word "studies" it's probably going to be hard to get a job once you leave college and yes, it's at least partially your fault. Before you can say "hypocrite" yes, I majored in English but the big difference is that you don't hear me complaining about lack of employment offers or student loan debt.

At least some of the blame for massive debt falls on the borrower. Close to 75% of it. Fundamentally no one forces someone to go to college, and there are other options available to you if you don't want to go to college. I also think that many careers shouldn't require a college education. Teaching, for one. If you want to be a teacher some training is probably a necessity but no, a four year degree might be overkill. Thats not an insult to teaching in the least, so don't take it as one. I also freely admit that there are other some professions where heavy training and education are mandatory.

College administrators are an odd breed. They love to preach about social justice and helping the poor, but when it comes to their huge salaries and endowments, not a word is said. They are also guilty of the student loan debt crisis because it fattens up their own checkbooks.

I feel bad for young people starting life in so much debt but if you borrowed money than yes, you do have the moral obligation to pay for it. It's unfair to the lender to go bankrupt or just decide not to pay because you don't like the life choices you made while no one was forcing you.

Should a high school apologize when beating a team 93-7?

A high school team in Massachusetts has issued an apology after beating a team 93-7. At first, I thought it was just another indication of how we are babying and pampering high schoolers coddling them so they don't see how the real world really is. And I still sort of do. However at a college baseball game my attitude was a little different.

I was watching the Florida Gators (the number one ranked school in the country) dominate a small college from up north, Siena. Some jackass in the crowd said something offensive about Siena. I thought it was ignorant and foolish, like most things people shout out at sporting events. In reality, a small college like Siena should be lauded just for showing up to play a team that is clearly their superior.  You also have the troubling aspect that this isn't the pros. If you are getting paid huge amounts of money to play a sport, after being heckled you go home and cry on your paychecks. No sympathy. For college and high school kids, I do have more sympathy.

If your team loses 93-7, it's sad, and yes, you can play armchair coach and say that the reserves should have been brought in, a mercy rule should have been announced, or they just should have called the game. The apology was a bit too much in my view, but I understand where the superintendent was coming from.

Mitt Romney

Even before I became an LDS, I've always had respect for Mitt Romney. He's a highly accomplished businessman who became a somewhat conservative governor for the bluest state in America. He saved the deeply corrupt 2002 Olympics in Utah. He ran for president twice and frankly, he got a raw deal both times. Putting aside political views there is no question that he would have provided grace, class, and manners to the White House. Something deeply lacking there in 2017. Do I think his religion cost him the election? I do not.

What cost him the election is not being a bomb thrower. He's from a different generation and he's also LDS. So he's very mannerly and doesn't understand how to throw bombs or be crass and confrontational. So his demeanor comes across as "fake" to the base of the GOP. He also doesn't agree with the base on 100% of their views, so that'll cost him too. Demanding idealogical purity is both naive and foolish, and that'll cost the GOP dearly in the long run as well. 

Mitt Romney is only 70 years old, and in 2018 that is still young enough to have some kind of career in politics. He has decided to run for the seat that Orrin Hatch is giving up, and I think he has a good chance of winning. It's not a guarantee-this ain't your daddy's Utah anymore-but I hope he wins, we need his voice in the national conversation. 

Scripture Sunday Moroni 9:25

I've talked a lot about how Mormons are Christians, and how our scriptures have numerous references to Christ being the savior. In this passage, Moroni seems to understand that the overall tone of the book of Mormon can be a bit of a downer. After all, each civilization listed has been destroyed, there has been numerous wars and deaths all around him, and well, yes you can see how it might sort of a buzzkill.

Moroni here is reminding future readers of the book of Mormon to have faith in Christ, and not let the world surrounding them get them down. It's an incredibly wise and insightful comment and sadly, the words are just as meaningful today as they were back in the time of Moroni.

Trump vs Stormy Dainels

I'm old enough to remember when republicans and conservatives were shocked-shocked, I tell you that a president would be a flagrant adulterer and would cheat on his wife. It happened all the time when I was growing up in the 1990's. Some conservatives will say that they cared more about Clinton obstructing justice than his sexual escapades, but that's nonsense-they cared about his infidelity and they tried to take the moral high ground.

In fact, many Americans cared about it. That's partially why Bush won in 2000. People associated Gore with Clinton and they wanted a break. David Frum, back when he was a conservative wrote a great book called "The Right Man" about the presidency of George W Bush. In it, he said "Over half of the country wanted a president who would do one thing-stay off the interns." He was right, and Bush did do that.

Now conservatives are ignoring a sexual scandal because their man is the one who got caught. The same people who demanded Clinton be removed from office are the ones who are saying "Nothing to see here, move along." Trump didn't break any laws, but you know, he needs to leave for the dignity of the office.  I don't believe he has to leave the presidency of course, it's just funny to me to see republicans suddenly defend someone who is so openly unfaithful to his wife.

Album of the weekend

Kiss-Creatures of the Night

This is their second album with Eric Carr and their first album with the amazingly talented yet amazingly self destructive Vinnie Vincent. Kiss was going through a troubled time in their history. Dynasty and Unmasked sounded nothing like Love Gun, Destroyer, Dressed to Kill, etc. Then, in a desperate attempt to appear more talented then what they are, the album right before Creatures was "Music from the Elder". So Kiss needed to show what they were with this album. 

In my view, they did. Creatures is one of the their better albums, it's in my top five of theirs. The influence of Eric Carr and his heavier style of drumming is obvious and works very well with the Vincent's style of guitar playing. For all the supposed issues with Vincent that guy could play guitar. The self titled "Creatures of the Night" is a great intro and like "I Stole Your Love" from Love Gun, I wish they'd play it live more. "Saint and Sinner", "I Love it Loud"  and "War Machine" are also great Kiss songs. 

Kiss is a band that has produced some truly terrible albums, but this isn't one of them. It's from their "dark ages" but it certainly deserves a second look. 

The Bachelor

So, while watching The Bachelor with my significant other we had an interesting discussion, not just one about why we were watching such a tawdry and exploitive show. We like most reality tv shows, and the Bachelor falls into that category quite easily. Before I go any further yes, I know the show is heavily produced, manufactured, and about as real other scripted shows. The couple apparently had a "real breakup" that happened after the main star changed his mind and decided to break off his engagement with the girl he had chosen.

It was tough to watch, but only because it was so boring. Their break up didn't really provide any drama to me. In fact, it was sort of boring. Of course the Bachelor (Arie is his name) shouldn't have done what he did, but I do wonder if his name was "Alexa" instead of Arie and if it was The Bachelorette who did this what the reaction would be. I get the feeling that the general public would be much more forgiving towards a bachelorette who did this rather than a bachelor.

Double standards can apply to both genders.

Peter Rabbit allergy jokes

What's more sad about this-The fact that allergy sufferers bothered to complain, or that Sony apologized in the first place?  We are living in the most thin skinned and fragile culture that I've ever seen. You can't just blame millennials either-there are thin skinned members of every generation-but you can partially blame the internet, which is very good at making a big deal out of nothing.

All humor is, to some degree, based on cruelty. Part of you is laughing at the screen because it's not happening to you. Oh sure, in theory a joke about anything can be taken too far, but we've become so sensitive that any writer or comedian has to be extremely careful of the people effected by said joke will post on their Twitters and Facebook how outraged they are.

I think the like playing the victim card. Every can play the victim card at one point or another in their life but strong people usually find ways to overcome jokes (whether the joke is playful or hurtful or both) and move on. If the biggest complaint in your life is about the jokes in Peter Cottontail, than your life is going quite well.

A depressing news story, that's for sure.

Stores not selling certain types of firearms

We've all heard in the news that various stores aren't selling types of guns. It's their right of course, even if I personally disagree with it. To me, something lost in this debate is how both the right and left are ignoring their other views when it comes to this. Consistency is politics is a funny thing. We twist and turn our views in order to make them suitable to whatever the hot, trendy issue of the day is.

Retail stores, like bakers, have every right to pick and choose what they want to sell. The left is happy that Wal Mart no longer sells guns to anyone under 21. The same people on the left will jump up and down and go into cardiac arrest if a baker chooses not to decorate a wedding cake for a gay couple. You know where I'm going with this. The right supports the rights of the baker to do what they please, but Wal Mart raising the age when people can buy guns is a threat to the second amendment.

Antonin Scalia said that a good judge will not be happy with every ruling they make. He's exactly right of course. If you want to be logically consistent, you'll come to outcomes that you don't personally like. To me, both the baker and Wal Mart have every right to do what they are doing. Do I agree with either one? No, but my personal views are irrelevant when it comes to what I would require or not require another person to do.

The Oscars

The Oscars were last night and no, I didn't watch it. While I don't go so far as to say that "No one cares about the Oscars" (obviously people do) I do think that interest in the movies and the Oscars are declining. Fewer and fewer people go to the movies in theaters. Of course movies aren't going anywhere-people still watch them on Amazon Prime and Netflix. However I do think that movies aren't as popular as they once were. In 2018 we have so many choices for our entertainment and movies have to compete with a lot. This isn't 1950 anymore where you didn't have much to do aside from radio shows and movies.

Actors and actresses are still very influential-that's not going anywhere-but they aren't as influential as they used to be. The sad part is that they still grossly overvalue themselves. When you live in a bubble (and make no mistake, all successful actors live in a bubble that protects them from the horrors of the real world) you begin to think that everyone should obey what you think. Many are shocked that the rest of the world doesn't do what they say or dares to challenge what they believe on political and social issues.

Of course everyone, even people I disagree with, has a right to be vocal with their opinion. So yes, saying they should "Shut up and sing/act/play basketball" is foolish and frankly, unAmerican. They have a right to say whatever they wish, but fewer and fewer of us are listening.

Scripture Sunday Jacob 3:11

In culture today we rarely talk about sin or Hell. In fact, it's something that it rarely mentioned even in churches. It makes us uncomfortable to think about-after all, eternal damnation isn't described the best way in the scriptures of any holy books. Jacob 3:11 is no different-it talks about the pains of hell, fire and brimstone, and other cheery images.

This passage also mentions something that is rarely talked about-how the torment of Hell is a "second death" to those suffering in it. I completely agree with this, but for different reasons. I'm not sure that the true despair of Hell will be the fire and brimstone-it'll be inhabitants knowing that they are eternally separated from God. That will be a "second death" again and again, every day for eternity.

Diane Feinstein endorsement

It's been a couple of days since this happened, and I've been thinking about it. Not because I have any particular love for Diane Feinstein or California-but because I think it shows the delusion that both parties are under. Feinstein was recently denied an endorsement by her party for her upcoming election.I'd never vote for her, and I don't have to think about it because I'm not from California.

But it goes to show how the parties have generally lost their minds. I disagree with Feinstein on virtually every single political issue out there but she is a reasonable and sensible voice for her views. The democratic party has taken a shift left recently, and in California it's much worse. When Diane Feinstein is too moderate for your tastes, it's time to get a clue.

Yes, this goes for republicans too. When Ted Cruz gets challenged in the primary by someone who is more right wing than he is, than yes, I'll consider that to be insane as well.

Album of the weekend

As Cities Burn-Son, I Loved You at Your Darkest

If anyone says Christian rock/metal/screamo is lacking in some way, they might be prejudiced against Christianity or they've never listened to Christian screamo. Screamo is an odd form of music that you either love or hate. I'm not sure there are many screamo fans out there that are just "moderately" into the genre. First off, the obvious-yes, this is a Christian band and yes, if you are looking for lyrics that you can understand you might want to look elsewhere.

That doesn't mean it's not good. It is, if it's what you are looking for. Without question this is an album you need to try on Youtube before you buy it. For a Christian album there is a sense of foreboding and darkness that this album has-you sense impending doom from start to finish. It was at the time, a refreshing twist on both the Christian music genre, and the screamo genre. 

LDS bishop interviewing youth

It's been in the news lately, and with good reason. There is even a petition going around requesting that the LDS leadership do a massive overhaul on how their bishops interview youth when it comes to matters dealing with sexuality. I can see both sides of this issue.

On one hand, the questions seem inappropriate and uncomfortable. I've read and heard some stories online that make me cringe. I do not have kids, but I'd demand to be there when anyone speaks of that nature to my own child, and it's a non negotiable issue. After the priest scandal in the Catholic church the issue is not one up for debate in my mind. Granted, the odds are against anything horrific happening, but I don't care. The risk is small but I couldn't sleep at night if anything did happen. Paranoia can have it's benefits, and if my child is at risk than I thank my paranoid and untrusting nature.

But I do think most bishops wouldn't even consider harming a child. In fact, they are asking these questions because in their mind they want to protect the child from what they think is sinful behavior. If you don't understand that, than you won't understand why bishops ask the questions in the first place.  To an active LDS, the salvation of the child is at stake and the questions must be asked.