Choices

I've been reflecting today on the choices that people make in life and how they effect them later on. In particular I've been thinking about a friend of mine that I spent most of high school and college with. you could say that he was the reason I left the church but in a good way, he challenged my thinking and made me research topics that we would discuss, and I'm certain that I did the same to him. We discussed everything and often had heated debates on topics like religion, politics, ethics and life. He was my best friend for almost 8 years. Now here is where life choices come in to play. Our second year of college he started smoking pot, I didn't. He made really bad financial decisions, buying a car, motorcycle, big T.V., and furniture all on credit, I didn't. He moved to Arizona and got an apartment with an emotionally disturbed girl he had only been dating for a month, and two pot head roommates. obviously I didn't. After he moved to Arizona he would call me and tell me how bad things always sucked, then he would call me stoned out of his mind and try to tell me how great pot was, then he would call back and say how bad his life was when he sobered up. After a while he stopped calling, I didn't hear from him for about 6 months. He calls me one day and says he's going back to church. He connected his crappy life to not going to church, not to the fact that he had made huge financial and life style mistakes. Its so much easier to blame Satan for the problems in our life than it is to face the fact that we made bad choices. I miss having him as a friend, I feel like the only time I hear from him is when something traumatic happens in his life, and he calls me because I'm the only friend he has that really knows him because he hides parts of himself to fit in with the "young singles" group he hangs out with now. When I try to talk to him other then when he's having issues I feel like he is trying to convert me back to being L.D.S. to justify him doing it (something he's done with other things like leaving the church, drinking, moving to Arizona or smoking pot). I miss my logical, good humored friend. It's funny how choices in life lead us to very different places.

Porn!!

I know that there are some topics that often make us uncomfortable, but guess what it was in the news so I'm going to discuss the topic. Porn, lets get something out there, ALL MEN AND MOST WOMEN HAVE LOOKED AT PORN! To back this up, the University of Montreal tried to do a study of the effects of looking at porn comparing men who had and had not looked at porn, only problem is they couldn't find a man who had never looked at porn. If that makes you think that only men look at porn your wrong, the majority of women also watch porn. If I wasn't typing this on a work computer I would tell you an exact number but I don't want to Google "women looking at porn" on a work computer, it would be the last thing I did before I got fired.

So lets look at the story on ksl. First, the person they interviewed for the story is Dr. Reid, the clinical director at the Provo counseling center. (and there is no bias against porn in Utah county)

The article says

"It's devastating for a lot of marriages," describes Reid. "It's not just the pornography, it's not just that my significant other or spouse were going outside of the marriage to have their sexual needs met, but there are so many other components. Women, for example, feeling 'I can't compete with this pornography, I can't be all of that.' And then they start to have difficulties with self esteem. But there is also this notion of the secrecy and the lies and the deceit around the behavior itself. And you would be surprised, many women will say that the lies and the secrecy and the deception around the behavior is just as disturbing as the behavior itself."

First porn is not going out side your marriage, having sex with another person is going out side the marriage. Which they bring up later in the article with a man who almost broke up his marriage because of his addiction to porn..... AND AFFAIRS!! Looking at porn is no even on the same field as cheating. Second women seeing porn doesn't lower self esteem, they lower their self esteem. Only you can decide how you feel about your self, external forces only magnify the insecurities we have. Third the end of this paragraph says that they find the lying and secrecy as disturbing as the act it's self. Well if it wasn't such a taboo it wouldn't be hidden, Utah consumes more Internet pornography than any other state per capita, yet it is rarely brought up in conversations because the majority of people feel ashamed by it.

I find it funny that they don't bring up may doctors and scientists who say that it is medically beneficial to masturbate (for men AND women) and that looking at porn causes no mental problems.

This whole article was written for a group called "Out in the Light: Women Uniting Against Pornography." It is only disclosed later in the article that,

"‘Out in the Light' is a multifaceted, all out blitz on behalf of Deseret Media Companies to use every resource available -- ksl.com, KSL-TV, KSL Newsradio, Deseret Book and the Deseret News -- to bring this issue out in the light.

This campaign is funded and pushed by the very paper publishing the article! There is no conflict of interest there! Lets be honest, looking at porn doesn't make you a bad person, it makes you normal, and it's organizations like this that try to lower YOUR self esteem by making you feel bad about your self for doing something the majority of the population does.

What I do in my home is my business, not anyone Else's. this should be a decision between a husband and wife, if they decide that occasional porn watching is okay then that's their choice, just like if they want to use whips, chains and handcuffs in the bedroom. Just because it's not what you or I would do doesn't make it wrong, just different. so the moral of this post is quit trying to tell people what THEIR morals SHOULD BE and focus on your own life.

Mark Hofmann

How can someone read about the life of Mark Hofmann and not have some serious questions? I had never heard of him until I read a story on ksl.com. He sold dozens of forged documents to the LDS church that cast them in a negative light so the church bought and buried those documents.

According to Allan D. Roberts who wrote "The Truth is the Most Important Thing: A Look at Mark W. Hofmann, the Mormon Salamander Man" which was cited on wikipedia.com "In 1983, Hofmann bypassed the Historical Department and sold to Gordon B. Hinckley, a member of the First Presidency and the de facto head of the Church, an 1825 Joseph Smith holograph purporting to confirm that Smith had been treasure hunting and practicing black magic five years after his First Vision. Hofmann had the signature authenticated by Charles Hamilton, the contemporary "dean of American autograph dealers," sold the letter to the Church for $15,000, and gave his word that no one else had a copy. Then Hofmann leaked its existence to the press, after which the church was virtually forced to release the letter to scholars for study, despite previously denying it had it in its possession."
So The Church of Jesus Christ lied. No if and's or but's, It lied saying it didn't have a document that it had. Why would it surprise anyone if they would lie about many other things?

This is just one of many examples of things Mark Hofmann sold to the church. Please take the time to read about it, it will blow your mind. Mark Hofmann in my opinion has done more to prove the church untrue than any other person or thing, next to the church its self. I know that's harsh but that's how I feel.

Ground zero mosque

If you are against the "Ground zero Mosque" let me explain why you are wrong using the most common arguments against it.
1. "It's being built on ground zero."
Wrong, it's being built 2 blocks away from ground zero. That's like saying that the bar, "Keys on main" is built on temple square.
2. If we let them build it on ground zero then "they've" won.
No, if we don't let them build it "they" have won. If we destroy the first amendment to stop a community center/religious center from being built then they win hands down, they didn't destroy a building they brought down our constitution. Also the people who are building this are just as responsible for the terrorist attacks as you are for the christian crusades, the Indians slaughtered by the Mormons or the mosques shot up in Iraq.
3. We don't care if they build it, just not there.
There have been many other mosques that have been blocked from being built all over the country because people don't want them in their area. this is religious persecution at its best. If you want to practice your religion you cant stop others from practicing theirs.

If you have any other arguments let me know and I'll answer them honestly, and honestly I think this issue is stupid.