I am deleting and then reposting them in a new post because my blog got hacked I was getting thousand of spam comments on these blogpost.
96: THE DANGER OF BEING DEPENDENT ON OTHERS
Once upon a time, there was a city where the people became so busy that they oftentimes didn't have time to prepare their food. They preferred to "eat out" instead of cooking for themselves, which gave them more time to accomplish the things they wanted. Over time, these city dwellers actually forgot the basics of cooking and became dependent on the restaurants to cook for them. The restaurant owners liked this, since they began to profit from the people not knowing how to cook. Over the years, there began to be alot of different types of restaurants popping up all over the city. While the menu varied from one eating establishment to another, they all shared one thing in common... all of the food lacked flavor. Despite all serving bland food, each restaurant owner claimed and boasted they served the best food. They wanted more patronage in to secure financial stability since there was so much competition between the restaurants.
One day a young and upcoming man who loved food, desired to find which restaurant actually served the best food. He was determined to find out. He concluded after eating at all of the restaurants, that while the food was prepared differently and called different things on the menu .. all of the food tasted about the same. It was lacking flavor and never satisfied him.
This young man remembered reading in the town's history book about a very old man who lived far outside the city limits who used to teach people how to cook. Back in the day, the old man was considered the finest teacher in the culinary arts. But over time, people lost interest in taking cooking lessons. This old man even established his own restaurant at one time. But, since his restaurant was not conveniently located and his patrons needed to patiently wait for their food to be prepared, people stopped coming to eat at his restaurant.
This young man searched out this old man. He went out alone and found this old man's house and knocked on his door. The old man was still alive and at home. The young man told the old man of his desire of wanting to find the best food. The question was asked and an answer was given.
The old man said that all of today's chefs lacked the proper ingredients needed to make the food taste good. Not only did they cooks lack the ingredients, but the current food they served would make the people sick over time since it not only lacked flavor but also the important nutrients needed to sustain life.
The old man offered to teach the young man how to find, prepare, and then cook food which would be not only delicious for the young man to eat, but the importance of sharing this knowledge with others. The young man accepted the offered and embarked on this new journey. Many years of training was required for this young man to become a culinary specialist. The old man entrusted in the young man to impart old family recipes of some dishes and food never before tasted for many generations.
Word got around in the city that this young man was taking cooking lessons. He was mocked by most, but those who ate his food, knew this man truly was not only a great cook, but a baker, and a master chef. This man eventually set up his own restaurant, serving food that no one in the city had ever tasted before. The other restaurant owners despised this new restaurant opening. Unfortunately, this amazing chef and restaurant owner was killed tragically way before his time.
With the tragic loss of the founder, the restaurant was of need of leadership to replace the beloved cook, baker and chef and founder of the restaurant. A powerful entrepreneur volunteered himself to take on the role even though he knew only how to cook a little, he was never considered a chef or a baker. He would be known as the new President of the Restaurant.. Fortunately, many of recipes remained in the hands of who helped run the restaurant. Little by little as word continued to spread of the flavorable food being served at this restaurant, more and more people became regulars.
As the years passed, more and more talented and successful leaders were hired to help run the restaurant. It was not a requirement for these managers to be a chef, or a baker.. or even a cook. Due to some public relations problems with the staff and patrons, the current owner of the restaurant felt it best that those coming into the restaurant address him with the same titles that were reserved only to the Founder of the restaurant. So he was no longer just referred to as the President of the Restaurant but also as the Cook, Baker and Chef. The upper management also wanted to be referred to as cooks, bakers, and chefs as well. With the added titles, they received the respect from their employees and the patrons. They could do no wrong.
Some of the old recipes began to change depending of suggestions made by those who ate at the restaurants. Polls were conducted on how best to adapt to the tastes of the people. From the results from the surveys, the management thought it best that some of items on the menu were removed. Some recipes of the entree's were altered. People seemed to be happy with the changes without realizing that the food was beginning to start to taste just like all of the other restaurants in the city.
People who loved to eat at this restaurant started to become concerned that the food was beginning to lose it's flavor. They began to find out about the old recipes and how over time they had changed. They no longer wanted to be dependent on a restaurant cooking their food for them, but wanted to learn to cook for themselves with the right ingredients. They searched out to find the old man who lived outside the city. They went out and knocked on his door of the old man's house that still was standing. They had the faith that He would be on the other side to open the door and teach them how to cook once again.
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146: PURSUING THE OPPOSITE COURSE OF THE WORLD
In Abraham's day, the world was in a desperate state, ripe for destruction. And Abraham's own society was the wickedest. Included were the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, the most depraved society in all the universe: (Moses 7:36).
With all the world going in one direction, Abraham steadily pursues his course in the opposite. When all the inhabitants of the earth had been led astray in their own pride and self-sufficiency, Abraham still believed on the Lord, who then made a covenant with him. Abraham received his covenant only after he had made the first move. Speaking of him, "the prophetic spirit rests upon man only when he has first bestirred himself to receive it." Again, "the stirring below is accompanied by a stirring above, for there is no stirring above till there is a stirring below."
It was Abraham's unique merit that he loved righteousness in a hard-hearted and wicked generation, without waiting for others to show him the way.
A wonderful illustration of this principle is set forth in the newly found 1831—32 account of Joseph Smith's first vision, in which he recounts how for three years he sought diligently for something that apparently interested nobody else, and finally "I cried unto the Lord for mercy, for there was none else to whom I could go . . . and the Lord heard my cry in the wilderness." This was exactly the case with the young Abraham, who at an early age angered his father by questioning all the values and beliefs of his society.
So he did the only thing he could do and, exactly like Joseph Smith, appealed directly to God at an early age—it was he who made the first move, according to Abraham 2:12: "Thy servant has sought thee earnestly; now I have found thee."
In short, he wants happiness, peace, rest, righteousness, knowledge, and light, and he wants to be able to hand them on to others—to his own progeny and to the world. The world is not interested in such things, but Abraham was willing to pay any price for them.
In theses most inhospitable of worlds, Abraham was the most hospitable of men. It was said that charity was asleep in the world, and Abraham awakened it.
excerpts from Hugh Nibley's "Abraham in Egpyt"
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151: THE PARABLE OF THE SMASHED TOEAt the end of a busy and tiring week, I was cleaning up the clutter of toys scattered on our floor. With hands full, I tripped over a 10 pound dumbbell. The impact to my toe was so great, that I fell to the floor in extreme pain. My wife came running into the room. We carefully removed my sock to see that my toe was badly bleeding and my entire toenail had been ripped off, just barely still attached. My wife gently removed the rest of the nail and then comforted me. The exposed new skin that used to be under the hard protective shell of the nail was now cut, bare, raw and bleeding. My wife calmly washed and cleaned the blood, and then anointed my toe with healing oil. By adminstering constant care, we patiently await until the new nail begins to grow.
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224: IF YOU REPEAT A LIE OFTEN ENOUGH, IT BECOMES THE TRUTHWhen a particular movement of the body is repeated over and over again, a long-term muscle memory is created for that action, eventually allowing it to be performed without conscious effort. This is called muscle memory. Examples of muscle memory are found in many everyday activities that become automatic and improve with practice, such as riding a bicycle, dialing a phone number, typing in a PIN number, shooting free throws, or playing a musical instrument.
Somewhat related, when a lie is repeated over and over again, it becomes true in our minds. Living in this fallen world, all of us have been exposed to lies and believe misinformation which we hear over and over again. Even though the repeated information is false, we believe it must be true, especially if this information is told by someone we trust. Mainstream news, advertising, propaganda, correlationists, and public relations professionals all understand this principle and use it to their advantage.
I want to share a brief analogy. For a few years now, we have been teaching our kids how to play the piano. Before they learn to play a new song, we place the original sheet music in front of them that was written by the original composer. We will then play the music for them so that they hear how the song was intended to be played by the person who wrote the song. We usually go over the music, note by note, to make sure they are familiar with the notes so they are able to practice the song on their own. Our kids practice the song by themselves during the week and then on Saturday morning we sit down for their lesson and see how their progress is coming along. I have found that if our child played the wrong note repeatedly throughout the week, thinking they are playing the right note, they developed an errant "muscle memory" that is very difficult for them to break.
When first played, the wrong note will sound incorrect but when that note is played over and over again, it begins to sound correct in their ears. Sometimes the wrong note actually might sound better to them. So despite having the original music in front of them, and having heard what it should sound like, they begin to play a different variation of the song. In their mind they are playing it correctly and/or they prefer the new notes. Even after you correct them, they will often times lapse back into playing the wrong note. Often times our kids get mad when we correct them. Likewise, it is tiresome and difficult for us as parents to repeatedly correct them. But because we love them, we will continue to correct them.
Botton line, if you choose to play the song with deleted notes, added notes, or incorrect notes, the song takes on a different tune and is no longer what the composer had in mind.
I use that analogy as an introduction to posting about the LDS Church newly released official statement/essay entitled
RACE AND THE PRIESTHOOD. Much has been written about it on the internet. I don't mean to add to the chatter, but wanted those who might not be aware for the reasons behind the release. Here is a local news report about one of the possible reasons behind the releasing of this very controversial subject.
NEWS REPORTAccording to this news report, we can look forward to additional releases on other controversial and/or doctrine issues that will be addressed by the LDS Church. Hopefully all of us will be prayerful to decide for ourselves if these releases are scripturally, and doctrinally correct and not just politically correct.
