The "Christian" Thing To Do

We live in a complex world and it is only becoming more so. Nothing is more complex, it seems, than Christianity. It seems like everyone who claims to be Christian has a different opinion of what real Christians do, and everyone else must be wrong. 

Homosexual Marriage

One camp believes that marriage is a thing that can be defined any way the participants want. Another camp believes that marriage is and always has been defined as one man and one woman. There are some that believe multiples of one gender can be married to one of the other gender. I am in the second camp (which actually came first chronologically). I don't believe marriage between two individuals of the same gender is valid to God or his Son, Jesus Christ. 

That said, I believe Christianity teaches us to love sinners. We are not supposed to love the sins, but the sinners we are commanded to love. This means we need to be willing to let people make bad decisions. This goes both ways in the current debate. 

When two people want to marry against God's law we do not need to support the decision but we do need to approach the situation in loving ways. A church that will not perform such weddings is definitely within their right to refuse. When those same individuals want to worship in the church they should be allowed to.

If a business chooses to withhold their services it is probably a bad decision but they should be allowed to. In today's social and economic climate they probably are damaging their chances of success in business. They should be willing to serve those with same gender attraction for other events in any case. 

The Muslim Question

Another place where a lot of Christians seem to have lost their bearings is in relation to those of other faiths, particularly Muslims.

Jesus told us to love our enemies and do good to those that despite fully use us and persecute us. When asked how many times we should forgive he said not 7 times as the law of Moses said but 70 times 7. This doesn't mean we should keep count until 490. It means we should forgive so much we stop counting and just keep forgiving. 

The Muslims who perpetrate terrorism are not the ones we regularly see on the street. I do not believe that all Muslim people are out to kill all Christians or Jews. 

I also believe that the evil forces in the world rejoice when they see people of faith cutting each other down. If they can get Christians to cut down Muslims and Jews and get Muslims to cut down Christians and Jews and get Jews to cut down Christians and Muslims then their job is a lot easier. The real battle is, and should be, people of God vs. godless people. Instead of fighting each other Christians should join forces with Jews and Muslims to win the war with evil. 

Christians vs. Christians

The hardest one to understand is the fight between Christians of different sects. In Rome Christians were persecuted, until they became the dominant religion. Then they started persecuting and they've been doing it ever since. 

Protestants were persecuted by Catholics then Protestants persecuted Reformers and their new churches. Reformers and Protestants then persecuted Quakers in the new world. I have Quaker ancestors that were persecuted by Puritans in Massachusetts just a few short years after the Puritans fled persecution in England.

When my religion arose through the Restoration through Joseph Smith they were persecuted by all types of Christians. Now that we have the 5th or 6th largest Christian denomination in the world members of our religion have learned how to persecute others. 

Why? What is the justification? It certainly is not in the words of Jesus Christ or his Apostles after his ascension. There is no mention of how to persecuted your neighbors in the Bible. 

I'm Wrapping Up Now

The bottom line is that the Christian thing to do is to love people. Love your family in all their weirdness. Love your friends, even when they turn on you. Love your enemies, especially when they hate you with a passion. Be kind to everyone in every way you can. 

I am not perfect in any of this. I want to be someday and I am trying to be more each day. 

Election Time Again

It is time for voting again next Tuesday.  It is about time!  I am so tired of the never-ending campaign ads on TV.  If I were ever to run for an office high enough to do TV ads I like to think I would do it differently. Here are a few points I would remember when making my ads:

• Government does not create jobs.  If you are the incumbent you did not create jobs.  If you are the challenger your opponent didn't kill jobs.  Sorry, it didn't happen.  Private companies and individuals create jobs.
• Government is already several times the size it was designed to be here in the United States.  We don't really need new programs.  Whatever new programs you want to introduce, we don't need them.  Whatever programs you want to keep but change, we didn't need them when they started.  If you want to cut programs, where would you like to start and how can I help you get started?
• The incumbent and the challenger are both human. There is no sinister intention in your opponents motives. I was on the City Council for 4 years and met a lot of people in elected positions.  Not one of them was trying to screw people.  Not ONE.  They all think they are doing something good for others. Some are really wrong, but not evil.

So, as you go to the polls remember to vote for someone you can trust to do what you want done.  I don't always vote for major party candidates.  The result is usually very similar regardless of which party they are in.  I believe the only wasted vote is a vote for a candidate that isn't the best one running, regardless of their ability to win.  I never regret it.

Zefram Cochrane

Last night I was watching the movie "Star Trek: First Contact" again.  In this movie the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation come to the aid of Starfleet during a Borg attack.  As they destroy the Borg vessel a smaller vessel emerges from the large one and jumps through a temporal whole that takes them back a few centuries.  The Enterprise follows the Borg back to the time of Zefram Cochrane, the great scientist that developed the Warp Engine in the mid 21st Century.

First the Borg tries to destroy Cochrane and his group of scientists to keep them from succeeding and make them easier to assimilate, a plan that is again thwarted by Captain Picard and his amazing crew.  The Borg also try to build a communication device to contact the 21st Century Borg to have them come and assimilate Earth at that time.  This is also unsuccessful.  Eventually they manage to help Cochrane succeed and make first contact with the Vulcans and save the Earth from assimilation and destroy a 24th Century Borg queen in the 21st century.

When they first meet Cochrane they don't find the heroic figure they've all been taught about in school.  What they find is a slobbering drunk who happens to have a great idea and less noble motivations (in the mind of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenbury anyway) than what everyone has been taught for 300+ years.  At every turn Enterprise crew members are watching Cochrane's every move in awe and utter fascination until finally he tries to run away from these fanatics.

This makes me wonder what I would do if a bunch of people showed up, purporting to be from the future, and started hanging on my every word and action.  What if something I was doing that didn't seem that great to me was something that would change the world and make the future better because I had lived.  I guess such a thing may be happening.  There is a famous quote that says:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.  (Marianne Williamson in A Return to Love)

Maybe she's right.  Maybe we should step up and let ourselves be great.  It may be that we are needed to make the world a better place (we are).  On the other hand there is a danger in being prideful.  Just ask Saul (Old Testament), David, and Solomon as well as many others in the scriptures.  They started out humble and did great things when they were trying to just do the everyday right things.  It was when they decided they were great that they made their biggest mistakes.  Maybe there is another quote that could also apply:

Don't try to be a great man, just be a man. And let history make its own judgments (attributed to Zefram Cochrane in 2073)

I guess I am willing to give it a try.

 

Lanes not Trains, but also ...

About 2 months ago now I attended the Republican State Convention in Rochester Minnesota.  I am a fan of Jeff Johnson and I strongly supported him from the start and was pleased when he was endorsed.  While there I got this button:

This is, of course, a reference to adding lanes to highways and major roads instead of adding light rail corridors in the Twin Cities area.  I believe in this.  Each new Light Rail track costs more than the previous one.

The Green Line that was just finished cost taxpayers over $1,000,000,000 to build (I apologized for the lack of specific numbers).  The Blue Line, as it is now known, cost almost $1,000,000,000 to build and the Bottineau Line, which is an extension of the Blue Line is expected to cost over $1,250,000,000 to build between now and about 2020.  The Southwest Line is also slated for somewhere in the same range.  This is money that WE WILL NEVER SEE AGAIN.  The Line while in operation DOES NOT make money, it loses money on each and every fare, to the tune of 2:1 ratio.

Proponents claim it is needed to serve people in underserved neighborhoods.  The Hiawatha (now Blue) Line travelled along a road with the nearest residential areas more than a block away.  There was no unfilled need.  It has resulted in new construction, which was what they were aiming for, but even with that new construction it will never be able to create enough ridership to not cost more than it makes.  The trains can't hold enough people to make a profit.  This is also true of the Northstar Line Commuter Rail, by the way. The Central (now Green) Line travels down the middle of University Ave and has, in one month of operation, resulted in more train-car collisions than the Blue line has had in several years.  It also loses money and has the added bonus of eliminating A LOT of parking in front of businesses causing it to be economically detrimental to the areas served.  There are few places to add new housing, so it can't do the same social engineering that the Blue line did.

Future lines include the extended Blue (Bottineau) and Green (Southwest) Lines as well as another Red Line on the end of the Green Line (maybe we could call it the Santa Claus line) and a possible line to the middle of a farm field in Washington County.  Bottineau would connect Target Field and the Target Center to Target's campus in Brooklyn Park (shouldn't that be called the Red Line?).  The Southwest Line connects downtown to Eden Prairie, because we all know how much the rich people on that course use public transit.

So I don't want tax dollars spent on dumb projects.  I drive, so sue me.  I don't like that my vehicle and gas taxes to go projects that at the least don't make my driving experience better and at worst make commuting a headache.  I don't like throwing good money after bad.  I favor using taxes charged to drivers to improve the drive.  So "Lanes not Trains" works for me, to a point.

I try to think rather than follow blindly.  I know that an acre is 43,560 square feet.  I know that lanes are around a rod in width (16.5 feet) and a lane-mile uses about 2 acres.  If you add a lane each direction you are adding about 4 acres per mile to a road or highway.  Through North Minneapolis there is a section of I-94 that it 5 lanes in each direction, or about 20 acres per mile, about 1/32 of a square mile per mile.  It is actually quite a bit more than that because of median width and side vegetation areas.  That is a lot of acreage used on one road.  If all highways were 5 lanes each direction it would be FANTASTIC for driving, but you would have to displace a lot of people from their homes.  I know this can't be the right answer.

My objective in writing this post is not to provide the ultimate solution to all problems.  I think it is important for all involved to think about the future.  While I don't think trains are the answer I also realize that you can't just keep adding lanes forever.  I have witnessed the opening of lanes and the heaven it creates, for a few years.  I have also seen expanded roads become jammed again. I know that part of this is due to people changing their route from unexpanded roads to the newly expanded roads and that some of the new congestion would go away if we expanded all of the highways like they need.  I also know that at some point we will need more new lanes as population grows.

One solution I heard while in college was for people to work from home in small communities away from city cores.  This was a great idea and it would work NOW if employers didn't distrust employees working from home and if employees working from home actually wouldn't give employers a reason to distrust them.  I have a home office that I have been working from for about 8 years without any problem.  5 of them have been working for myself.

Now it is your turn.  Think about what you could do to make things better.  The country is in need of your brain, in gear.  After you think, go out and act.

Ordain Women

Recently at General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints there was a protest.  It was not the first time the group calling themselves "Ordain Women" had protested and it likely won't be the last.  One of the leaders of this movement, Kate Kelly, was excommunicated this June (2014).  This will probably only incite more protests.

I have mostly avoided writing on this topic because I have a feeling that these women don't want to hear what a man has to say on this issue.  The fact of the matter is that in the Church men are more friendly to the idea of ordaining women than most women are.  I don't think the Lord is going to change the operation of his church to ordain women.  It may happen and I'm OK with that, but I would not hold my breath.

In the Church there are many opportunities to serve.  Some of them require priesthood offices or keys but most do not.  Some require a female touch and can't be done by a priesthood holder.  Actually about half the callings are that way.  There are no auxiliaries for women or girls in the church that are presided over by men.  The Primary, which includes boys, is presided over by women in every congregation in the church and in the church as a whole.  The priesthood quorums are presided over by men because they are composed of men and boys.  There are a few examples of men presiding over both genders, such as Bishops and Sunday School Presidents.  I will stop the litany of callings at this time except to say that most other callings in the Church are available to be held by either gender.

I think there are many reasons why individuals in the world think it is important to ordain women.  In the history of the Christian churches throughout the world and throughout time priests have used and abused their positions to get gain or power over others.  In our religion this is referred to as a sin called Priestcraft. The scriptures tell us that "no power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood..." (see Doctrine and Covenants 121:41-46).  The priesthood in our church is NOT a sign of higher status, but is a service opportunity.

Another pressure point has to do with the history of court decisions.  In the US the supreme court has said the separate is inherently not equal.  The idea is that if you can't have equal things you can't be equal.  There is no such thing as equality in this mortal existence.  Miss Kate Kelly is an attorney, so I can see where she was blind to this fact.  Often attorneys get confused on this because their whole profession is based on taking people who are unequal and making things equal.  They don't realize there is no way to make everyone perfectly equal in this life.  All people are equal before God, who is the only true source of justice.  This doesn't mean they are equal in things.  The more we try to make people equal the less equal they tend to be.

The thing that "Ordain Women" misses the most is that women are treated better in our church than in most churches or organizations in the world.  They think they want equality, but they already have the closest they can get.  Priesthood would be a step downward and we don't want to do that to the women we love.

Perfection

In the scriptures we are told to be perfect.  "Be ye therefore perfect ..." was the admonition from Jesus.  We are also told that when we are resurrected we will have a perfected body.  I have always believed that this meant we would all have two arms with a hand and 5 fingers attached to each, two legs with a foot and 5 toes attached, a straight spine, perfectly spaced ribs and organs that work, a full head of hair, etc.  That is probably what it really means.

I have recently thought a little about this.  I have started watching a new show "Growing Up Fisher" about a guy who is blind and a lawyer.  In the first episode he cut down 4 trees with a chainsaw while his family watched and he also parallel parked a car.  It is supposed to be based on a true story.  It is a funny show and it makes me think.  There are people with no hands that eat and change diapers with their feet.  There is a famous motivational speaker with no limbs.  Beethoven composed his last symphony after he was completely deaf, and it is extraordinary.  Stephen Hawking has written several books by typing with his eyes because he is completely unable to move from Lou Gehrig's Disease.  People do amazing things and some of them have never had anywhere near a "perfect" body.

I think about people I know.  People are each unique.  I wonder if perfected bodies would mean the things that make some people special would be gone.  What would it be like for someone who was blind their whole life to see in the eternities.  What about someone who learned to do everything with their feet suddenly having arms.  I guess this is what they dream of, but I wonder if this would make them a different person than the one we love.  I hope not.

Maybe the admonition to be perfect means to be perfect in our own way.  Maybe the real goal is to become our own best self and to perfectly love others the way they are.

Baptism Day

Today I attended a baptism for a new adult member of our congregation. I thought I could share a little about why I like to attend baptism services.

The first thing is the feelings related to the experience. There is something special about a baptism service. The Spirit always seems to be in extra abundance to witness to us the correctness of what we are witnessing. Another thing is the combined feelings of those in attendance. Being there with a couple dozen other people to support our new friend feels loving and peaceful. The feeling is so strong that it is hard to describe in words.

Another thing that impresses me about baptism services is the unique aspect that we hold the service in the Primary Room. This is the room the children meet in. I find it as a gentle reminder that we are told to be like little children in our faith. Christ said that if we would humble ourselves and become like a little child we could return to live with Him and our Father in Heaven. At this service we had an opening song from the Children's Songbook, "When I Am Baptized."  The closing song was "I Am a Child of God" which is also traditionally a children's song. It is so loved that it has been added to the Hymn Book. I love that we, as members of Christ's church, love our children's songs. I think they help us to be like children the way He meant us to be.

Finally, the new member gave us her testimony after being baptized. I enjoyed hearing how she feels good about her new understanding and how accepted she feels here. This is the right result. With faith and a lot of love we can make it home to our Father together.

This is not my last time attending this great event. Welcome to the church, sister.