Joining the Congregation

I know several people that have blogs and now I'm joining the masses and starting my own. There are a few benefits I see to having a blog and are the main reasons I decided to go through with this. They are mainly: (1)I can express my views and beliefs plainly and without restriction, (2)I can vent on days when I think my life truly sucks, and (3)through it all have a documentation of my thoughts and concerns over the years to realize how blessed I have truly been. You probably don't really care about why I'm starting a blog, but really what I plan on writing in it. Since this weekend was the 178th General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I have some pretty good subject matter.

Luckily for me, I had no prior commitments (i don't work and i live in provo) and so was able to watch all 4 sessions of Conference. I remember as a child feeling regret when I missed the Saturday sessions of conference, but I figured that all the important stuff was said on Sunday and so my decision to miss Saturday was not administering damnation to my soul. And indeed, missing general conference does not constitute grounds for ex-communication at all. But now that I am more cognizant of the words spoken in GC I realize that one of the most fundamental reasons for having GC is that in the first session we gather together to sustain our Prophet and his Counselors and Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators for the Church. When we raise our hands to sustain them we are covenanting to follow their guidance and counsel, as we believe it comes from the Lord. It gives an added importance to the rest of the meetings as we are next given the opportunity to hear the voice of the Lord through his sustained prophets and given the chance to act upon our covenant.

So everybody should just know that I love our Prophet, Presdent Thomas S. Monson. He is a heck of a priesthood holder. He spoke today on change and couldn't have addressed it better. I found tears coming to my eyes as I reflected on the many things in my childhood that I wished had not changed. And even now as I enjoy my time at BYU, I wish things wouldn't have changed as fast. I miss my brother and am sad that when he gets back, things will never be the same. I miss my sister and the relationship we shared when we shared a room. More than anything, I suppose, I miss the pretense of a united family, even if it was only a pretense. It made happiness for us a whole lot easier. Pres Monson's message comforted me in the sense, that as members of this Church, we have the absolute and never-changing truths from a constant God. The fact that I can find relief from the burdens of a changing world through Christ is reason enough to rejoice. And as Pres. Monson's talk progressed I found new gratitude for the experiences I had and new determination to make today the day to change me, not tomorrow.

I wish to speak on change as it applies to the world. I am not in AZ right now but have heard through friends about the upcoming election that will give citizens the opportunity to vote for or against Prop 102 which is on the definition families. I have never felt particularly strong about supporting legislation to "defend the family" because I felt that all in all, it wouldn't have all that big of an impact on society. Nevertheless, I always figured I would vote for any proposition that defined marriage as only between a man and a woman. It just wasn't something I was really adamant about. Then I found a statement from the Church regarding the several upcoming elections and the Church's standpoint on this issue. It is rather long, but very well written, so if you would like to read it the link is here: http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/the-divine-institution-of-marriage .

It's soooo true that marriage is ordained of God, I know that with all my heart. More importantly, I realized through this statement that these propositions will have a lasting effect on our society. Recently I have been pondering on the role of the family in society. I was reading out of my textbook for PL SC 170 when I came to a passage that read:

"When a family member tries to influence another member of the family, a variety of influence-seeking tactics may take place; so it happens between states. The family member can beg and plead, cry, threaten some kind of act, reason, or bargain. Just as a family member may try to coerce another member, so a state may seek to influence behavior in an attempt to get a desired to result"

Disregarding what it is talking abou(which is this case is power), I want to point out how it is talking about that. It is using a simile to relate the interactions of countries to the interactions of families. I don't believe this is a coincidence. The relationships of the family are what we base the relationships we have in the world on, including a nation's relations with other nations. Marriage between a man and woman is the only means by which the divinely designed institution of the family should be built and can be built to ensure the promised blessings of the eternities in our Heavenly Father's presence. And families built upon this principle, if whole, can bring about the greatest change in society than any legislative bill or human activist can achieve.

The statement also talks about how gay rights and religious liberties clash which I found to be an interesting and afore-neglected idea to me. I really suggest reading it if you have the time.

Okay, so I think that is all for this first and inaugurating post. I'm sorry to have made it so long and I hope I haven't scared you away from future posts with the size of this one. I also don't intend this to be a wholly relgious blog, but since my religion is rather important to me, you should expect it to pop up quite often. I hope things in your life are going well and I am really grateful you took the time to read my blog. If you have any questions or comments, please post them!