My Life

I realize that much has been said on this topic over the last several years. My purpose in writing this particular post is to answer two questions: 1) Why do homosexual people wish to be allowed to marry? and  2) Why do heterosexual people wish to prevent them from doing so?  I am not an expert.  I have not studied this topic in any formal setting.  I do not have a degree in theology, morals, or any related subject.  I speak merely from my own personal experiences as a dedicated Christian and also my acquaintances and friends.  In commenting on this post, I ask only that you speak politely and intelligently.  Please do not make any remarks that are insulting, offensive, or overly critical.  I tolerate debate and discussion on the matter--I allow people to take any position they wish to on the matter--but I will not tolerate bigotry or logical fallacy insofar as it may hurt an individual or group of people. To the matter at hand, why do homosexua...

The day my yard (and my basement) turned into a swimming pool. The river flowing around the base of my oak tree, in the hopes of draining the water away from the house. That is about 3 or 4 inches deep in parts, particularly right next to the house.

I posted this video on my Facebook page a while back, but I just wanted to take a little time to explain a bit about why I like it so much. Here is a link to Katy Perry talking about her inspiration and purpose for this song: http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D1VClUOTOwTc%26feature%3Drelmfu&h=f3c01 I think she's having budget issues because she couldn't afford the top half of her dress in that interview, so you may want to just listen and not watch that video. Anyway, I am a really sarcastic person. I constantly tease people, make jokes, and don't take things seriously very often. But, in all of this teasing and sarcasm, I never mean to hurt anyone. I only mean to have fun and make people happy. In all seriousness, I do want people to be happy and to feel good about themselves. I don't feel like I've had any big self-esteem problems lately. In fact, I feel very good about myself. I try my best to help other ...

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe in absolute truth--universal moralism, if you will. That is, we believe that to every question in the universe (excepting those that are personal opinion, such as favorite colors etc) there is precisely one correct answer. For example, to the question "Does God exist?" there is exactly one correct answer, and the answer is "Yes." I would like to clarify what absolute truth is and what it isn't. While it may be the case that every question has an answer, that does not necessarily imply that the answer to the question is known. From the example above, we see that there are questions that we have answers to, such as the fact that God exists. However, there are clearly questions that we do not have answers to, such as "How tall is God?" or "How much does God weigh?" These questions have answers--each has exactly one true answer--and yet I cannot answer them because I do not kn...

Has there not been enough sorrow, throughout the history of the world, that has been spread about in the sacred name of our Heavenly Father?  Has there not been enough of the Crusades?  Has there not been enough of the Inquisition?  Is there no balm in Gilead which may be applied liberally to those wounds already existing and not only caused to remain open but oft times even exacerbated by the bigotry and prejudice of the world?  How many more words will be uttered in hatred and anger, in the very name of the Prince of Peace? I just watched the movie Prayers for Bobby , which I recommend to everyone.  It is a touching tale of a young man who is made to feel sinful and unworthy of the love of God due to circumstances out of his control.  His mother, upon discovering that Bobby is oriented homosexually, incessantly reminds her son of the evil nature of homosexuality, posting scriptures all over the house in the attempt to cure him of his sickness.  She...

There is a book called The Miracle of Forgiveness , written by one of the past leaders of the LDS Church, which gives many good ideas about how to repent and receive forgiveness from God.  For the longest time in my life, I always felt like the miracle of forgiveness was that after a person repents, God forgives them of their sins and remembers them no more.  While I still believe this is a wonderful and miraculous thing, I have recently arrived at the conclusion that the real miracle of forgiveness is when someone else has offended us and we are able to forgive the person fully and frankly.   I was involved in an automobile accident on Tuesday.  I could easily have blamed the other driver for coming down the hill too quickly, or for not stopping in time and ramming my car.  I could also point the finger of blame at her for driving off after the accident, rather than waiting for the police to arrive and assess the situation.  I do not see the point in the ...

Throughout my life I've had varying views on conformity.  There were periods of time, mostly in grade school and maybe middle school, where I kind of felt like I should conform and that I wanted to be like other people.  At the same time, I remember sitting by the school building on the playground watching other kids play and feeling like I was just not part of it. Anyway, I definitely went through a phase in high school where I refused to conform merely for the sake of nonconformity.  I wore my bookbag on the front and I walked around conducting music to songs that were playing in my head.  In fact, one time this guy saw me walking down the hall when I wasn't conducting and he asked "Is the band on break today?"  I do have to admit, I thought that was pretty funny.  But there were other things I did just to be different.  I didn't walk at my graduation because I didn't like the idea that there was one company that had a monopoly on cap and gown rent...

I'm not a big fan of music--at least not stuff written after about 1940.  But, when I hear a song with beautiful lyrics I am awe-inspired.  Due to the talk I gave on love this past Sunday, that I posted in my previous post, I felt like it was appropriate to include this song now.  Perhaps the song was written with a romantic love in mind, but I feel like it can apply just as well to any situation where one friend reaches out to bless the life of another friend through love, compassion, and care.