Scripture Sunday 1 Nephi 4:6

LDS often talk about being "led by the spirt" and it's a statement that is virtually impossible to describe to non believers. "Feeling the spirit" is much more intense than just "happy smiley feelings" and yet it is my fear that many believers take the phrase simply that way. If something feels good, it must be the spirit speaking to us. It's not that simple to me.

If we don't know what to do when faced with a problem or a big life decision we should follow the Spirit-but we should also follow logic and common sense. Relying strictly on what you think is the spirit will probably lead to some difficult situations in life. Just to be clear the spirit is a wonderful thing and we should absolutely try our best to determine where it is going to lead us-but life requires us to stop and think as well sometimes.

Oprah for president

I saw this on a meme (it's not my own words, but it sums it up perfectly): Oprah in 2020 because it'll be interesting to see republicans slam a populist with no political experience and democrats embrace a billionaire and certainly a member of the 1%. Of course if you run for president, you have to be a member of the elite but everything else about the meme is accurate. If Oprah decides to run she'll probably win in a landslide-but then again, I thought Trump would lose in a rout so lately my political predictions haven't been deadly accurate.

People are tied of politicians, and I can't blame them. Soon enough actors and celebrities will take over the political process. This will happen on both sides. Perhaps the election of 2016 was a harbinger of what is to come in the future.

Album of the Weekend

Lita Ford-Dangerous Curves

My respect for her as an artist is huge. In the testosterone filled world of 80's hair metal, she stood out there as the dominant female artist. Hopefully, she gained the respect of everyone not because she was a female, but because she was outstanding. Her guitar work was great, her songs were great, her refusal to be dismissed as just a "female performer" in a male dominated industry was great-in other words, she deserves her title as legendary.

This is my favorite album of hers, because I love the songs "Shot of Poison" and "Playin' with Fire". Both are certainly hair band anthems and are correctly viewed as one of the final great hair band songs before grunge took over. This entire album is like that really. It was 1991 and music was about to change. So the final hair band albums from the very early 90's are like your favorite boxer winning one last fight before he starts to be realize his career his basically over. Not saying that about Lita Ford-she would go on to several other albums-but her hair band era was completed with this album.

It's worth a total download, but the two songs I mentioned are clearly the best.

Say it ain't so Stan...

Stan Lee has been accused of sexual harassment and misconduct. Say it ain't so Stan. Say it ain't so. Stan Lee will always be one of my idols, flaws and all. While I accept that he surely isn't perfect, I'm hoping and praying that these accusations are false. Original sin affects all humans and while that isn't an excuse for disgusting behavior it is important to remember. I think the "me too" movement has done more good than harm but my grave fear is that it'll turn into a witch hunt.

Stan Lee, like everyone else is innocent till proven guilty . Matt Lauer is no longer innocent until proven guilty because he admitted that he has acted horrifically. Stan Lee is from a different generation but to me, that doesn't justify this kind of behavior. His behavior, if it's true, crosses many lines. It's sad that towards the end of his life he has to deal with this scandal.

My final thoughts on the New York Times and Thomas Monson

I don't think the bias against Thomas Monson was an anti-LDS thing. It was more an "Anti-Christan" thing. When Billy Graham passes away or when Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI dies, I'm virtually assuring you they'll talk about Grahams aversion to gay marriage or the Catholic priest scandal that Benedict didn't deal with. Oddly, when an Islamic scholar passes away there will be nothing but praise for him-poltical correctness trumps everything in elite circles, and any critique of Islam is forbidden.

That doesn't mean that I expected a glowing obituary for President Monson from the New York Times. Respect doesn't mean "worship" and no man, not even Thomas Monson deserves to be worshipped. I'm one hundred percent confident that Thomas Monson himself would agree with that. In fact, he probably just wants the entire thing to go away and for us to move on.

So I will move on. I'll let Thomas Monson rest in peace, and all of us should as well.

New York Times vs the LDS community

There is a petition going around calling for the New York Times to change the obituary for Thomas Monson.  It's apparently gotten a lot signatures, but I don't think it'll do much. For the record I do read the Times but only on Sunday-I missed the obituary. It appears that the obituary talks about gay marriage, female ordination and nothing about the life of Thomas Monson and the good works that he did. Nothing about the compassion he brought to the church or how he lead the church through the early millennium.

I don't expect the New York Times to get on their knees and worship the prophet, and unfortunately this petition will do absolutely nothing. Was it in bad taste? Of course it was. But this is how the writers of the New York Times think. They view religious people with general disinterest and many times, outright disdain.They are baffled as to how anyone could be religious, much less a religion that has views on sexuality and gender that no one (and I'm being literal here. No one) at the New York Times agrees with.

So was it tacky and rude? Of course it was. I can promise you with iron clad certainty though that if President Monson declared that gay marriage was acceptable (something I agree with) or approved female ordination (something I agree with too) his obituary would have been written completely differently.

Raw water?

File this under the "are you kidding me?" section.  Look, it's a free country and if you want to snort cocaine, eat tree bark or drink raw water knock yourself out. So I am not saying that you don't have the right to do that, you certainly do.

But just because something is "natural" or "raw" doesn't mean it's a good idea. In fact, it often means it's a terrible idea. In theory, getting attacked by a bear is natural but that doesn't mean it's a good idea. The Ebola virus is also natural, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea either. Like it or not, modern science and technology are your friends and how they purify water and food is nothing short of a miracle.We live in a very spoiled world right now. People rant about vaccines and worship organic food but in realty, our ancestors from 100 years ago to 1,000 years ago would have absolutely loved the technology and science we have. It's easy to preach about natural cures when you aren't dying at age 2 of diphtheria or the diseases carried by "raw water".

Drink up.