- RLD on Latter-day Saint on Joe Rogan: ““I’m just so tired of the meanness!” Amen.” Oct 12, 00:56
- on When Peace Is More Than Personal: “If you myopically look at this and a few other instances of official violence, this is a bad situation. Overall, violent crime is down dramatically in much of the US over the past few years. Drug overdose deaths have also been dropping. Many point to increased border enforcement and targeting of illegal alien criminals as prime reasons. I have seen some who want ICE agents to get significantly more training in proper use of force, conflict resolution, etc. This would probably help, but would require an increase in funding for federal law enforcement. Many of the most vocal in opposition to this type of enforcement would not want that. I would have loved to protest or stop the many abuses from federal and local governments against many US citizens from a few years ago. It took several years and multiple congressional elections before some serious changes started. I have not heard of a similar ICE encounter in my locale. I think that the local law enforcement will turn over arrested criminals if ICE asks. Raymond Winn, I can remember President Trump wanting to make a deal with congress on border security 7 years ago. He insisted on lots of funds to build a bigger border wall and increase border patrols. He was flexible in many other areas in negotiations, but congressional leaders did not want to make a deal. Many of the congressional leaders who are the loudest opponents of current ICE tactics could have probably got a deal with Trump to get ICE to use their preferred tactics back in 2018 or 2019. I suspect that a deal could be made now on ICE enforcement, but Trump would need a win in other areas to make that deal.” Oct 11, 23:39
- on The Bronze Threads of Fate: A Handbell Journey: “I had to smile at the Smash Bros album. I owe my love of orchestral music to childhood exposure to a record (yes, vinyl–I’m old) by the London Philharmonic with the Star Wars soundtrack on the front and Holst’s The Planets on the back.” Oct 11, 21:44
- on Latter-day Saint on Joe Rogan: “RLD, I have a strong testimony. I’m active and committed. I’m not going anywhere. I’m just so tired of the meanness!” Oct 11, 21:37
- on Attention Spans and Spiritual Diets in the 21st Century: “I think Anon and Roger D. Hansen bring up needed discussion points. Most short form content is not good for our spiritual well-being. On the other hand, I also think Roger is right, too many books and movies these days are too long, way too long. Some might get upset here, but that’s partly why I don’t like Brandon Sanderson anymore. Most of his books have become way too long and repetitive, both in messaging and characters. Personally, I felt that many of his female characters were just variations of Vin, who I deeply loved, but it became boring more or less reading the same story. Stephen: To push back gently, if you don’t find The Iliad to be exciting reading, the same can be said of the Standard Works. I’m mainly speaking about the OT and BofM, but the NT and D&C aren’t that much better. Objectively speaking, one could argue that The Iliad is more exciting than all of our Holy Writ, because it has a fairly tight narrative, etc. What I’m getting at, and you touch upon it in your post, is that there are things more important than just being “exciting”. If we’re being honest, most of the Great Books, both in the East and West aren’t all that exciting. However, the vast majority of them are deeply spiritual or philosophically important to the development of our civilization. I would argue that this constant need/search for excitement is spiritually damning to our souls. I’m not going to argue that this is a uniquely modern problem, since sin, especially sexual, lives off of constantly needing new excitement. Put simply, we need to make Psalm 46:10 a part of our lives, especially within the temple: “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”” Oct 11, 21:10
- on The Bronze Threads of Fate: A Handbell Journey: “Jonathan, it’s a great aspect of handbells. I’ve been collecting stories of how each ensemble that exists in Utah came to be, and there is a lot of that. A couple of those stories even involved teenagers going out and doing fund raising by selling sandwiches or candy bars to be able to purchase a set of bells. It’s fun. Thanks, Mom! You’re definitely one of the heroes of this story.” Oct 11, 20:46
- on Latter-day Saint on Joe Rogan: “@PWS: “The gift of testimony is deeply personal. It is received in the intimacy of our relationship with God and shaped according to our unique experiences, circumstances, and needs….Your testimony may be different from mine or that of other family members or fellow Saints. Please trust it, nurture it, and bear it, because it is uniquely yours.” –Elder Gérald Caussé (last week) “Preserve, then, the freedom of your mind in education and in religion, and be unafraid to express your thoughts and to insist upon your right to examine every proposition. We are not so much concerned with whether your thoughts are orthodox or heterodox as we are that you shall have thoughts.” –President Hugh B. Brown There will always be voices calling for orthodoxy in the Church as well as voices that value differences. That’s rooted in human nature and some of the fundamental ways people differ. At the leadership level, it feels like those who value differences are ascendant, or at least ascending, perhaps because exposure to the global Church makes them realize the gospel doesn’t make everyone the same. But your ward may vary. I hope you’ll insist on participating in your ward whether you’re welcome or not. It’s your Church too. And in my experience, if you contribute to the community you’ll eventually convince people you really do mean well and will be accepted. As someone told Eugene England, “Gene, you’ve got to keep your hair short and always do your home teaching, to show you’re really OK despite your liberal ideas.” (I’m not endorsing the hair part.) Sing in the choir if you can. Not only is it a good way to contribute; you’ll find good people there. @Lion of the Lord: Seems to me that as the mainstream right has lost its way in the United States it has become easier to see that the Church was independent of it all along. You’re absolutely correct that it doesn’t work to try to fit the Church onto the left/right spectrum. The pluralism that President Oaks endorsed in his recent speech on the Constitution used to be a bedrock of the American creed, but now it doesn’t really fit in either party.” Oct 11, 20:42
- on Latter-day Saint on Joe Rogan: “Jonathan Green: Keeping Elder Cooks words in mind from GC, I would like to kindly push back on some of what you said. Though the Church has moved more to the center, I still see it as more conservative then the Republican Party on certain issues, such as sexuality. From where I am standing, I mostly see Trump and the Republican Party as moderate, with its stance on immigration being one of the only things that is Right of center. If I’m being honest with you, I only agree with about 50% of Republican policies, mainly because I don’t see them as being all that conservative, it having acquiesced on many social issues, along with it being weded to big business. As for Bishop Caussé’s environmental talk, from the blog post you shared, I am probably one of the few right of center members that didn’t hate it, but actually saw it as being conservative in nature. I mainly get this view because I’m a conservative in the vein of Russell Kirk, who wasn’t a raging capitalist, and cared about the environment. I personally hate how anti environment the Right has gotten, but that’s mainly because the Left has gone bonkers. Defacing Stonehenge, along with a Van Gough painting did not help. Anyway, sorry for being so long winded, and I truly hope you have a great rest of your Sunday.” Oct 11, 18:20
- on The Bronze Threads of Fate: A Handbell Journey: “You did not mention how much you practiced the piano,the organ, then the bells. I think you helped the nudges along the way by your diligence. This article made me tear up several times, thank you for sharing it.” Oct 11, 16:16
- on Latter-day Saint on Joe Rogan: “So if just finished listening to the whole podcast, and I actually think this particular podcast was great vis-a-vis the Church. It was brought up with a light enough touch but in a favorable enough light that it was about as good as could be hoped for, even coming from a nonbeliever :) (Incidentally, it’s interesting that everybody got hung up on the issue of his beliefs which I didn’t mean as any kind of attack or jab, but nobody commented on the last sentence which I did very much mean as a bit of a jab).” Oct 11, 15:21
