The Perilous Times In Which We Live But the Reasons to be Optimistic

A lot has been going on in the world since election day and I haven't even been paying much attention to the news surrounding Barack Obama or Sarah Palin's wardrobe. That news is of no concern to me. Things that are getting my attention are things that are in fact being somewhat ignored (though not completely) by the news. The country (or rather the media) trains it's eyes on Washington and President Elect Barack Obama, while turning it's back on California and Proposition 8.

This site has a large collection of news articles, some of which never showed up on the MSN.com homepage or a news feed that I have on my computer.

Michelle Malkin is a blog that I have recently come to have a lot of respect for, this is an entry she had concerning "the insane rage" as she called it, of the gay rights protest after Election Day.

The saddest part to me is that rather than reporting the news the media seems to report what they want us to see. They are like magicians in that respect. Most of my information comes from other blogs and Internet news, which doesn't have a guarantee attached to it, but if you see it from my view neither does the regular news. To not tell the truth, even if it is just to stay silent, is to me a lie. To pretend it isn't happening, is a lie and a disservice to the American people.

Here are several articles and blogs that I have read lately.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/1283903,gay-marriage-mormons111708.article
LDS churches being vandalised

Burning of the Book of Mormon in front of an LDS chapel.

Investigators found no signs of forced entry, and authorities don't believe the case is a hate crime. That would be because according to the article the fire was in the front doors of the Temple, how can there be forced entry when it is at the doorsteps? When the Ku Klux Klan burned crosses on or near someones home there was no forced entry either, but does that change that it was an intimidation tactic? Does it change that it was a hate crime? No. But it was not considered a hate crime because the term "hate crime" didn't enter our vernacular until the 1980's as reported by fbi.gov. Also on that same site it states, "Crimes of hatred and prejudice-from lynchings to cross burnings to vandalism of synagogues". Almost 3 decades hasn't helped the term to evolve in the people's minds to it's true definition.

"A hate crime , also known as a bias crime, is a criminal offense committed against a person, property, or society which is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin."

So I suppose when it comes to two protected classes the lawmakers must decide who is really to blame, and right now they are disappointing me in their obvious favoritism despite the cold, hard evidence of hate crimes being performed.

Mormons are not the only ones under attack. According to this article, "analysts report that the marriage measures would not have passed without black voter support - seven in 10 black voters supported the ballot initiative." Hmm...another protected class - let the barbarianism begin, or should I say continue? This article/blog reports that at a protest a gay black man was accosted by the white protesters simply on the basis that he was black. He writes, "This was stupid for them to single us out because we were carrying those blue NO ON PROP 8 signs! I pointed that out and the one of the older men said it didn't matter because "most black people hated gays" and he was "wrong" to think we had compassion. That was the most insulting thing I had ever heard."

But I've digressed, not to sound like the attack on the African American community isn't important to me, because I feel it is important, it's not right for this hatred to spill over on to anyone just for standing up for what they believe is right.

Members of the church even seem to be pitted against each other. Some disagree with voting Yes on Prop 8 despite The Family: A Proclamation to the World and it's first lines being "We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God..." 1995 that was released and not just to members of the church but to the world.


Less than halfway through this video I found that I was openly crying, yet, I couldn't stop watching. It's like a car accident in that respect, you tell yourself you won't look but you can't help yourself. I kept crying through about 3 minutes of it and near the end I thought, "No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing." I don't have the whole quote memorized so I took the liberty of looking it up. Here it is in it's entirety.

“The Standard of Truth has been erected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame. But the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and dependent till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, until the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the Great Jehovah will say, ‘The work is done.'” (History of the church)

Those words brought me great hope in a moment of complete despair. One thing I have always treasured has been the gospel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and it has always upset me when I have heard, seen, or read about the church being under attack. I find the actions of the small percent of rebelling gay rights activist disturbing and barbaric and completely working against their cause.

Attorney Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, said in a prepared statement he believes the ongoing vandalism and protests will backfire. “Californians are among the most tolerant people in the world,” said Dacus. “They are also not stupid, and they deliberately rejected forced acceptance of gay marriage, while leaving in place domestic partnerships and a host of other special rights based for homosexuals. The hatred and intimidation we are seeing right now from gay activists could set their movement back years. If anything, they are convincing a lot of Californians that we did the right thing by not caving in to their demands.”

This article from Catholic.Org is pretty detailed, including the account of the Hispanic women who were beaten by the crowd for removing the hateful signs from the Temple grounds. The women are not even LDS and yet they took a beating from the mob to remove these signs that they didn't feel should be placed there.

And now the state of California is investigating the aid given by the church towards the gay marriage ban. Read the article here.

"They tolerate everything that's bad, and they're intolerant of everything that's good. Religious freedom is going to go down the drain, too. I've never seen it worse than this, where the Constitution literally is hanging by a thread." (Senator Orrin Hatch)

I believe we live in a time when we need to take a stand for what we believe in. I know of many people who say, "I don't agree with what they are doing, but who are we to deny them the right to marriage?" Who are they to deny me the constitutional right of my vote meaning something in a democratic nation?

Those fence sitters who don't agree with gay marriage will allow it to happen because they feel ashamed for "denying" them the rights of marriage. Shame is a funny thing, it's like air in a way, if there is an object in a room full of air the air is displaced because air and that object can't exist in the exact same space. If one party refuses to own up to the shame they have they must put it on someone else. It's a tricky thing, it happened with the sexual revolution. The shame was once on the loose girl, now it is on chaste one. The girl who has sexual hang-ups or is waiting for marriage is considered a prude, is made to feel ashamed of their decision, made to feel like something is wrong with them if they are still a virgin. I'm not going to ever feel ashamed of supporting Proposition 8 (though they didn't vote on it in Virginia I was still in support of). Though "persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame" I will stand strong for what I believe in.

I've given up a lot of things because of the silent majority. Why they must feel ashamed simply on the basis that many others believe the same way is beyond me. There should be hope, comfort, and safety in numbers. Rather there is shame and guilt. "Why not let them have this one thing?" Brings to mind the Edmund Burke quote “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

If something goes against what you believe then I feel that you are held to defend it! We have become too complacent in our lives, we give up the things we believe in too easily. Not this blogger, I will not give up my beliefs (which include but are not limited to that marriage is ordained of God and is between a man and woman.) To allow gay marriage is to trample on a scared ordinance from God, any Christian should be appalled at the thought of offending their God, they let their fear of men guide their actions and fear is the arch Nemesis of faith.

In Doctrine and Covenants 3:6-8 it says, "And behold, how oft you have transgressed the commandments and the laws of God, and have gone on in the persuasions of men. For, behold, you should not have feared man more than God. Although men set at naught the counsels of God, and despise his words--yet, you should have been faithful; and he would have extended his arm and supported you against all the fiery darts of the adversary; and he would have been with you in every time of trouble."

These words were said to the Prophet Joseph Smith, but I think they are applicable to us. We must never fear man more than we fear God. What can man do to us that could exceed what God can do for us? Being faithful and righteous doesn't mean that everything will always work in our favor, it doesn't mean that life will be easy, in some cases it will be more difficult. And having life being difficult or being considered intolerant of others seem to be the worst things people could think of. "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." You can't serve the world at the same time that you serve the Lord. Choose you this day whom ye will serve.

Who is to say that we will not find ourselves in times similar to those of Captain Moroni when he rent his coat and made the Title of Liberty? "In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children" (vs. 12).

Alma 48:17, "Yea, verily, verily I say until you, if all men had been and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men." I think that it is time for more Captain Moroni's.

I'm not going to ever forget the persecutions, the murders, the mobs, and the hatred that the early church went through, I don't have to have pioneer ancestors to appreciate the sacrifices by countless people who had no examples of past heroics, no history to draw on for comfort, just their faith to guide them through. They did all of it because they believed that it was right, they did it so that I could have the gospel. They are amazing examples to me of standing up for what you believe, even in the face of fear, beatings, and for some, death. I don't know if it will be expected of me to do anything similar to what they had to do, but if it is I'm willing to do it.

Boyd K. Packer said of our children, "They will see many events transpire in the course of their lifetime. Some of these shall tax their courage and extend their faith. But if they seek prayerfully for help and guidance, they shall be given power over adverse things. Such trials shall not be permitted to stand in the way of their progress, but instead shall act as stepping-stones to greater knowledge...We must not ignore Moroni’s words when he saw our day and said, “Ye [must] awake to a sense of your awful situation” (Ether 8:24)." And finally when he said, "I do not fear the future." Despite everything that is happening, I find that I do not fear the future, and I'm indeed grateful for that.