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Bro Simon Says
June 23, 2016
Originally posted on The Book of Mormon Translation Challenge:
Click on the graphic to study Ether 2-3 To me, the book of Ether is full of “Life Lessons”. There are many parallels between the experiences the Jaredites had and the way that we need to live our lives. We ended yesterday’s reading by beginning the…
Bro Simon Says
June 23, 2016
Originally posted on The Book of Mormon Translation Challenge:
Click on the graphic to study Mormon 8-Ether 1 “IT SHALL COME IN A DAY WHEN”: …it shall be said that miracles are done away …the blood of saints shall cry unto the Lord, because of secret combinations and the works of darkness …the power of God shall be denied, and churches become defiled…
Bro Simon Says
June 21, 2016
Originally posted on The Book of Mormon Translation Challenge:
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf shared the following message on his Facebook page today, June 21, 2016: Not long ago, the Church published photos and background information on seer stones [see “Joseph the Seer” and “Book of Mormon Printer’s Manuscript, Photos of Seer Stone Featured in New Book“]. People have…
Bro Simon Says
June 21, 2016
Originally posted on The Book of Mormon Translation Challenge:
Click on the graphic to study Mormon 5-7 Imagine how Mormon must have felt as he witnessed the devastation of the final battle between the Nephites and the Lamanites. He had labored his entire life to do the will of the Lord and had tried over and over to…
Scott Knecht
June 21, 2016
“For every thousand hacking at the leaves of a problem, there is one striking at the root”
That quote is attributed to Henry David Thoreau and I’ve seen it rendered in a few different ways but the model above is the most common and expresses well the idea. Every evil has a root that allows it to grow and then be expressed in a variety of ways. The expression of evil is the leaves. It is useful to trim the leaves to curtail the expression of evil but evil will always exist until we can identify the root and take action against it.
The evil of slaughtering innocent people is growing in our nation and in the world. There is a large segment of our society – politicians, educators, entertainment types, religious leaders – who have seen the evil and misidentified (either purposefully or ignorantly) its root as the proliferation of guns. Obviously the use of guns can kill people, but they really are not the root of the problem. Guns in the hands of those who guard our political leaders and their families are seen as a blessing. Guns in the hands of law enforcement and military personnel are good not evil. A gun in the hands of a father or mother protecting family during a home invasion could be seen as a good thing.
Since guns can be used for both good and evil purposes, what is the deciding factor? You have to add in the other element of the equation which is the person using the gun. If the person using the gun is evil then the gun (or knife, or lead pipe, or poison) is used for evil purposes. Logically, (and the amount of logic required to reach this conclusion is minimal) the gun – the inanimate object – cannot be good or evil. It is the person using it that determines the nature of the usage. To assign evil to an inanimate object is pure nonsense and a diversion from the real problem.
We live in a time and place where standards have largely been thrown away. It becomes increasingly difficult to tell right from wrong. I wonder if those concepts can even be taught anymore in schools. To teach right and wrong is to hold up something as better or worse than something else and that will inevitably offend someone or hurt someone’s feelings and is therefore not allowed. We live in a time and place where religious teachings have been thrown aside, where they are rarely allowed to be expressed or considered in a public place. And yet, what is the basis for morality if not religious teachings? How do we in the Western world know that it is not right to kill someone if not for the Ten Commandments and a clear understanding of them?
The root of the problem of slaughtering innocent people is not an excess of guns. It is the vacuum created by not allowing moral truth to be taught in society. That vacuum will then be filled by whatever feels right to an individual even if what they feel is completely and fully wrong. Murder is wrong – completely – but without the teachings of religion you would not naturally know that.
So if these teachings are not allowed openly in the public square then one key part of the solution – the striking at the root – has to be that we teach them more clearly in the home. We need more homes with parents that understand their duty to teach children to understand truth and to act on it. We need more homes and more parents who teach right versus wrong, truth versus error, and good versus evil, and who teach their families to act forright and against wrong. Only then will we begin to see this evil of slaughter (and similar evils) fade away. The longer we keep misidentifying the root and offering solutions that allow us to feel good about trimming the leaves, the larger the problem grows. Feeling good about your solution doesn’t solve any problem, it’s only a diversion. Often a real solution is painful and takes serious courage.
We all see the same things. How we interpret the data has long term ramifications. We are in the midst of watching national leaders and opinion makers continually misinterpret the data and thus try to correct a massive problem in a way that will never fix it. We are being led by a stunning array of self-congratulatory leaf hackers who feel good but solve no problems.
A return to morality, to the teachings of the Savior of the world, is the only real and lasting way to make the correction.
Shauna
June 20, 2016
As I am merging most of my Young Women-Young Men Activities with my Seminary blog (most ideas can be adapted for any youth activity/lesson), I am posting one of my most requested activities from Young Women Camp.The Young Women Value Hike and Finisher’…
Shauna
June 20, 2016
An Activity is not over until the Thank-You notes are written and sent.An often overlooked detail of planning an activity is the review and thank you step.When teaching leadership to youth and adults, this detail is just as important as the assignments…
Shauna
June 20, 2016
The other hat I wear is Stake Young Women Camp Leader (you could easily adapt this to a Seminary project/gift – I made “Plan of Happiness” pillowcases for my Seminary students a few years ago. Attach a note that says, thank you for choosing …
Bro Simon Says
June 20, 2016
Originally posted on The Book of Mormon Translation Challenge:
Click on the graphic to study Mormon 2-4 “More good” Mormon desired to help the “more bad” Nephites repent, but because of their willful rebellion, he was forbidden by the Lord to preach to them. The “more bad” Nephites lost the gift of the Holy Ghost and other gifts…
Bro Simon Says
June 20, 2016
Originally posted on The Book of Mormon Translation Challenge:
Click on the graphic to study 4 Nephi-Mormon 1 In yesterday’s post I focused on Elder M. Russell Ballard’s emphasis and followup on the importance of using the proper name of the Church. As part of his comments he acknowledged that: “The term Mormon can be appropriately used in…
Bro Simon Says
June 18, 2016
Originally posted on The Book of Mormon Translation Challenge:
Click on the graphic to study 3 Nephi 27-30 Of the several topics that are covered in 3 Nephi 27-29 (what the name of the Church should be; the Atonement is the essence of the gospel; through the Atonement we may stand spotless before God as we repent, are baptized,…
Bro Simon Says
June 17, 2016
Originally posted on The Book of Mormon Translation Challenge:
The word “THINGS” seems like an insignificant word when isolated from other words. What does it really denote? It could be any number of, or kind of, or combination of “thing”. And yet, in 3 Nephi 23 & 26, the word, “THINGS,” is VERY significant. Excluding the heading…